Living outside of Tha Ton I find the main highways and city roads a fraught and noisy challenge with everyone fighting for a bigger space. Having got used to the isolation I ride solely to enjoy the views and enjoy the mountain air.
At 68, and recovering from the aches and pains of repairing terraces and ditches on my wife's Mango farm, I took advantage of the cool clear weather this morning (Sat 21 Sept.) to take off into the hills.
Our small house is 10kms east of Tha Ton on the 107, a road far busier now than 10 years ago when we moved in but still a joy for bike riders.
The road from Tha Ton is in good condition, two lanes going through Thai and Shan villages, past some new Buddha statues and starting to rise into the hills at Saen Suk, a mixed Chin Haw - Akha village with big lynchee plantations on the lower slopes of the valley. Then up the wide but heat damaged tarmac (sloughing) on steep slopes past Ya Pha (Akha) through Santi Suk (Chinese) and on to the Mae Salong junction. Left here takes you up to the most famous Chinese village in the north but I am not too keen on the pushiness of some of the sellers, tea vendors and tend to avoid it.
From that army checkpoint at the junction its a lovely, well surfaced, twisty road down a steep narrow valley past several Akha villages and finally into wider rice terrace fields.
About 16kms brings you to a well marked junction with the 1089 posted on the left. Its a wide, unused road that begs the question why did they put such a good road out here to just a few villages, but heh, thats why I'm on it.
Note; one picture that shows the weeds have encroached in to the road almost one meter because of the lack of traffic.Its up and over a hill with almost no traffic and some great views. The biggest village here is a Yao, where the locals look to be putting in some fruit and rubber trees but have a great school wall painted with what looks like an advert for growing poppies. Some quite tight turns on a fairly steep road but nothing serious. Finally out through some old forest growth and to a T junction where the road joins the 1130, the usually route to Mae Salong from the Mae Sai highway. Turn right here but only 3 kms and then a left clearly signposted at the big police station for Doi Tung. More ups, downs and turns, few cars, no noise and lots of trees until you hit the last steep downhill with some very tight bends that brings you down to a bridge over the river and a resort advertising bamboo rafting. Just after that is a left turn to Therd Thai that I shall be trying soon.
Some old rubber plantation around here, maybe part of the Royal Project work, a then a gradual climb up past more Akha villages to the Royal Villa's and gardens. Luck was in when I found the road blocked just before the gardens by a huge funeral festival for an Akha elder. I had to wait for people unloading from cars and found myself dragged in for a quick blast of Lao Kao and a chat to explain where I was from and why I was here.
I'm a slow rider, 50kph slouch and enjoy seeing the views, stopping to look and take pictures. The road surface was mostly very good, no dangers and even if you enjoyed a regular breakfast at Tha Ton you would still be here for a midday lunch. A lovely morning considering all I was doing was ending up at Tesco at Mae Chan to do some shopping.
View attachment 132319
At 68, and recovering from the aches and pains of repairing terraces and ditches on my wife's Mango farm, I took advantage of the cool clear weather this morning (Sat 21 Sept.) to take off into the hills.
Our small house is 10kms east of Tha Ton on the 107, a road far busier now than 10 years ago when we moved in but still a joy for bike riders.
The road from Tha Ton is in good condition, two lanes going through Thai and Shan villages, past some new Buddha statues and starting to rise into the hills at Saen Suk, a mixed Chin Haw - Akha village with big lynchee plantations on the lower slopes of the valley. Then up the wide but heat damaged tarmac (sloughing) on steep slopes past Ya Pha (Akha) through Santi Suk (Chinese) and on to the Mae Salong junction. Left here takes you up to the most famous Chinese village in the north but I am not too keen on the pushiness of some of the sellers, tea vendors and tend to avoid it.
From that army checkpoint at the junction its a lovely, well surfaced, twisty road down a steep narrow valley past several Akha villages and finally into wider rice terrace fields.
About 16kms brings you to a well marked junction with the 1089 posted on the left. Its a wide, unused road that begs the question why did they put such a good road out here to just a few villages, but heh, thats why I'm on it.
Note; one picture that shows the weeds have encroached in to the road almost one meter because of the lack of traffic.Its up and over a hill with almost no traffic and some great views. The biggest village here is a Yao, where the locals look to be putting in some fruit and rubber trees but have a great school wall painted with what looks like an advert for growing poppies. Some quite tight turns on a fairly steep road but nothing serious. Finally out through some old forest growth and to a T junction where the road joins the 1130, the usually route to Mae Salong from the Mae Sai highway. Turn right here but only 3 kms and then a left clearly signposted at the big police station for Doi Tung. More ups, downs and turns, few cars, no noise and lots of trees until you hit the last steep downhill with some very tight bends that brings you down to a bridge over the river and a resort advertising bamboo rafting. Just after that is a left turn to Therd Thai that I shall be trying soon.
Some old rubber plantation around here, maybe part of the Royal Project work, a then a gradual climb up past more Akha villages to the Royal Villa's and gardens. Luck was in when I found the road blocked just before the gardens by a huge funeral festival for an Akha elder. I had to wait for people unloading from cars and found myself dragged in for a quick blast of Lao Kao and a chat to explain where I was from and why I was here.
I'm a slow rider, 50kph slouch and enjoy seeing the views, stopping to look and take pictures. The road surface was mostly very good, no dangers and even if you enjoyed a regular breakfast at Tha Ton you would still be here for a midday lunch. A lovely morning considering all I was doing was ending up at Tesco at Mae Chan to do some shopping.
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