After having had Ghadafi for breakfast, the clear skies following recent rains beckoned.
Headed up the 107 past Chiang Dao then left up the 1178 to Lin Luang; travels amply documented on this site, but I reconfirm, as enjoyable as ever.
One rides through Muang Ngai just a few kilometres before the R1322 turn-off to Wiang Haeng, the route by which we would return. The road to Wiang Haeng via Kae Noi was not in fact operational, realistically non-existant in its entirety, until into the late 1990's; indeed, due to fighting along the border, any access to the area was strictly prohibited until that time.
In the mid-1580's King Naresuan whilst fighting the Burmese set up a large military encampment of thousands of foot soldiers & elephants at Muang Ngai. English explorer Holt Hallet records in 'A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States' (1890) that in 1854 a Shan Chief from Wiang Haeng attacked & burnt down Muang Ngai driving out its occupants - the town was subsequently repopulated chiefly by 'witches' (people considered possessed) turned out of Chiang Mai, as a result of which others were reluctant to settle in the area!
We took the left fork at Lin Luang in the direction of Muang Na, Kae Noi & Chong (rather than the right to Arunothai).
Muang Na is a pleasant village with a nice Shan style wat, inhabited by a mix of KMT, Shan, Thai & Lahu residents & set in a nice rural setting:
The road is typical of the many that run through the mountians adjoining Burma - the 1340 to Doi Ang Khang or the 1095 to Mae Hong Song spring to mind - with all the 'twisties' & all the magnificent views. Here, however, there's virtually no other traffic - its not 'Thailand on Motorcycle', but 'Thailand to Yourself'!
Heading on to Kae Noi through the occasional control point or past a still authentic hill-tribe village - Jia Chan, a small Lahu village just out of Muang Na, was relocated here from higher up on the mountainside after a number of villagers were reportedly killed in disputes with drug warlords - the road varies from bitumen sometimes potholed & a very short section of (good) dirt to a recently resurfaced wonderful run over the top of pine-clad ridges. Simple enough even for Dad's Army on their Verseys!
(In the hope that it will add something to your trip, I insert the following from my GTR post 'On the Trial of a 'Mule' - a Drug Run through the Golden Triangle)..... The route across to Piang Luang via Kae Noi was a drug distribution route into Thailand. Kae Noi like many KMT border settlements was a drug smuggling village set amidst poppy fields & opium processing refineries. It was an area of cross-border bandits & robbers with intermittant attacks & shelling from the Burmese Army; where 'farang' could easily be mistaken as 'spies' & be quickly in trouble - with constant battles along the border, access to the area was strictly prohibited until the late 1990's. Be aware that 'mules' carrying speed, ice & ecstacy still infiltrate Thailand through this area so stick to the principal route avoiding detouring towards the border.
Down on to Kae Noi:
Although quite a large town, Kae Noi with its mix of Chinese, Shan, Lahu & Lisu was wonderfully quiet. It was as though everyone was attending school prize-giving day - only the Chinese shops were open; some perhaps wouldn't attend even if their child were dux! Kae Noi like many KMT border settlements was once a drug smuggling village set amidst poppy fields & opium processing refineries.
Shortly after Kae Noi the road turns to an all weather dirt rode for some 25klms on the run down to Chong. The first half is heavily impregnated with stone, the second half a comfortable dirt surface. Despite the recent rains there were no surprises.
Looking down to a fertile Ban Chong. 'Chong' is Shan for 'Wat' & a visit to Wat Mak Gai Yon is worthwhile:
Turned right on reaching the 1322 at Chong heading to Piang Luang & then Lak Taeng.
(I've added the following from my GTR post 'On theTrail of a 'Mule' - a Drug Run through the Golden Triangle' in the hope that it will add something to the trip here)........ Piang Luang lying in a mountainous & relatively isolated part of Thailand had it all - illegal logging, opium growing, heroin trafficking, subterfuge immigration, contraband, communist insurgency, fugitive criminals & a KMT massacre by Thai authorities. It also, at Lak Taeng, marked one of the few vehicle crossing points into & out of Khun Sa's territory & offered a myriad of distribution routes into Thailand including those through Kae Noi, through Wiang Haeng & through Pai. At both Doi Larng & Mae Aw (near Ho Mong) Khun Sa's position was compromised by adjacent Wa positions, but at Piang Luang he was in sole control - Piang Luang was truly the jewel in Khun Sa's crown.
By 1985 Khun Sa dominated the Shan-Thai frontier; his trafficking flourished as did his army now equipped with an impressive array of arms purchased on the market in Thailand. Burma desperate for the black money turned a blind eye whilst simultaneously moving masses of illegally logged teak across the border at Piang Luang. The drugs crossed the border in pick-ups & in secret compartments in the logs with plenty of heroin for kick-backs to Thai army & police. The restricted access to the area ensured the easy relationship between Khun Sa & Thai officials & the co-operation between Khun Sa, Burma & Thailand in the internationally condemned teak logging would not be seen by the world.
Piang Luang was also eerily quiet, so much so I feared another prize-giving but no, a funeral on this occasion, as the below photo testifies:
Onward to Lak Taeng on the Thai/Burmese border. Its here that you'll find Wat Fa Wiang In - an intiguing place, a temple situated in 2 different countries. The wat complex was built along the border on 2 adjoining hills to serve both Thai & Burmese buddhists. In 2002 (recently for old blokes like me) in fighting between the Burmese & Shan State Armies, the Burmese army ironically seized half the 'symbol of piece' temple complex.
The below photo shows the Thai Yai, seven-tiered wat seized by the Burmese with the bamboo divide line & Thai flag flying alongside. The site has been abandoned, though access to it from Thailand is apparently mined, the Burmese setting up a less vulnerable a surveillance station further up the ridge.
The above photo was taken from a hill overlooking the Wat at a site where the revered head of the Shan State Army, Zao Kornzurng Chanasuek is buried. A photo of his headstone appears below:
The complex contains a further Wat, a meditation centre, a museum, the Naresuan The Great (revered king who fought to free Siam from the Burmese) memorial & the greatly respected Marachina pagoda a photo of which appears below:
The pagaoda is divided into 12 mural containing chapels & was built in 1969 to commemerate an eminent monk whose bones & a wax effigy are contained therein. Since 1991 it has also contained the remains of Mo Heng, an opportunistic warlord who operated for many years in the area losing his left arm in a battle against the Burmese. One of the interlinked chapels with the pagoda's guardian isone of which is photographed below:
With the dose of culture well received I headed back down the 1332 in the direction of Wiang Haeng only to stumble across another cultural icon - 'Cowboys'. Check out the entrance to 'the saloon bar' below:
1.30pm & the place was humming as the photos below attest (eat your hearts out Kob & Happy Go Lucky):
Started throwing back the beers with the team.....I thought there was something ominous in the fact that the building opposite was the funeral parlour!
The ride onwards to Mae Ja to complete the route through Pai/Mae Hong Son twisties was just so easy - gee, those new Pirelli Scorpions are good, it could just not be the beers! So good was it I manged only one last photo of the stunning scenery:
Headed up the 107 past Chiang Dao then left up the 1178 to Lin Luang; travels amply documented on this site, but I reconfirm, as enjoyable as ever.
One rides through Muang Ngai just a few kilometres before the R1322 turn-off to Wiang Haeng, the route by which we would return. The road to Wiang Haeng via Kae Noi was not in fact operational, realistically non-existant in its entirety, until into the late 1990's; indeed, due to fighting along the border, any access to the area was strictly prohibited until that time.
In the mid-1580's King Naresuan whilst fighting the Burmese set up a large military encampment of thousands of foot soldiers & elephants at Muang Ngai. English explorer Holt Hallet records in 'A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States' (1890) that in 1854 a Shan Chief from Wiang Haeng attacked & burnt down Muang Ngai driving out its occupants - the town was subsequently repopulated chiefly by 'witches' (people considered possessed) turned out of Chiang Mai, as a result of which others were reluctant to settle in the area!
We took the left fork at Lin Luang in the direction of Muang Na, Kae Noi & Chong (rather than the right to Arunothai).
Muang Na is a pleasant village with a nice Shan style wat, inhabited by a mix of KMT, Shan, Thai & Lahu residents & set in a nice rural setting:
The road is typical of the many that run through the mountians adjoining Burma - the 1340 to Doi Ang Khang or the 1095 to Mae Hong Song spring to mind - with all the 'twisties' & all the magnificent views. Here, however, there's virtually no other traffic - its not 'Thailand on Motorcycle', but 'Thailand to Yourself'!
Heading on to Kae Noi through the occasional control point or past a still authentic hill-tribe village - Jia Chan, a small Lahu village just out of Muang Na, was relocated here from higher up on the mountainside after a number of villagers were reportedly killed in disputes with drug warlords - the road varies from bitumen sometimes potholed & a very short section of (good) dirt to a recently resurfaced wonderful run over the top of pine-clad ridges. Simple enough even for Dad's Army on their Verseys!
(In the hope that it will add something to your trip, I insert the following from my GTR post 'On the Trial of a 'Mule' - a Drug Run through the Golden Triangle)..... The route across to Piang Luang via Kae Noi was a drug distribution route into Thailand. Kae Noi like many KMT border settlements was a drug smuggling village set amidst poppy fields & opium processing refineries. It was an area of cross-border bandits & robbers with intermittant attacks & shelling from the Burmese Army; where 'farang' could easily be mistaken as 'spies' & be quickly in trouble - with constant battles along the border, access to the area was strictly prohibited until the late 1990's. Be aware that 'mules' carrying speed, ice & ecstacy still infiltrate Thailand through this area so stick to the principal route avoiding detouring towards the border.
Down on to Kae Noi:
Although quite a large town, Kae Noi with its mix of Chinese, Shan, Lahu & Lisu was wonderfully quiet. It was as though everyone was attending school prize-giving day - only the Chinese shops were open; some perhaps wouldn't attend even if their child were dux! Kae Noi like many KMT border settlements was once a drug smuggling village set amidst poppy fields & opium processing refineries.
Shortly after Kae Noi the road turns to an all weather dirt rode for some 25klms on the run down to Chong. The first half is heavily impregnated with stone, the second half a comfortable dirt surface. Despite the recent rains there were no surprises.
Looking down to a fertile Ban Chong. 'Chong' is Shan for 'Wat' & a visit to Wat Mak Gai Yon is worthwhile:
Turned right on reaching the 1322 at Chong heading to Piang Luang & then Lak Taeng.
(I've added the following from my GTR post 'On theTrail of a 'Mule' - a Drug Run through the Golden Triangle' in the hope that it will add something to the trip here)........ Piang Luang lying in a mountainous & relatively isolated part of Thailand had it all - illegal logging, opium growing, heroin trafficking, subterfuge immigration, contraband, communist insurgency, fugitive criminals & a KMT massacre by Thai authorities. It also, at Lak Taeng, marked one of the few vehicle crossing points into & out of Khun Sa's territory & offered a myriad of distribution routes into Thailand including those through Kae Noi, through Wiang Haeng & through Pai. At both Doi Larng & Mae Aw (near Ho Mong) Khun Sa's position was compromised by adjacent Wa positions, but at Piang Luang he was in sole control - Piang Luang was truly the jewel in Khun Sa's crown.
By 1985 Khun Sa dominated the Shan-Thai frontier; his trafficking flourished as did his army now equipped with an impressive array of arms purchased on the market in Thailand. Burma desperate for the black money turned a blind eye whilst simultaneously moving masses of illegally logged teak across the border at Piang Luang. The drugs crossed the border in pick-ups & in secret compartments in the logs with plenty of heroin for kick-backs to Thai army & police. The restricted access to the area ensured the easy relationship between Khun Sa & Thai officials & the co-operation between Khun Sa, Burma & Thailand in the internationally condemned teak logging would not be seen by the world.
Piang Luang was also eerily quiet, so much so I feared another prize-giving but no, a funeral on this occasion, as the below photo testifies:
Onward to Lak Taeng on the Thai/Burmese border. Its here that you'll find Wat Fa Wiang In - an intiguing place, a temple situated in 2 different countries. The wat complex was built along the border on 2 adjoining hills to serve both Thai & Burmese buddhists. In 2002 (recently for old blokes like me) in fighting between the Burmese & Shan State Armies, the Burmese army ironically seized half the 'symbol of piece' temple complex.
The below photo shows the Thai Yai, seven-tiered wat seized by the Burmese with the bamboo divide line & Thai flag flying alongside. The site has been abandoned, though access to it from Thailand is apparently mined, the Burmese setting up a less vulnerable a surveillance station further up the ridge.
The above photo was taken from a hill overlooking the Wat at a site where the revered head of the Shan State Army, Zao Kornzurng Chanasuek is buried. A photo of his headstone appears below:
The complex contains a further Wat, a meditation centre, a museum, the Naresuan The Great (revered king who fought to free Siam from the Burmese) memorial & the greatly respected Marachina pagoda a photo of which appears below:
The pagaoda is divided into 12 mural containing chapels & was built in 1969 to commemerate an eminent monk whose bones & a wax effigy are contained therein. Since 1991 it has also contained the remains of Mo Heng, an opportunistic warlord who operated for many years in the area losing his left arm in a battle against the Burmese. One of the interlinked chapels with the pagoda's guardian isone of which is photographed below:
With the dose of culture well received I headed back down the 1332 in the direction of Wiang Haeng only to stumble across another cultural icon - 'Cowboys'. Check out the entrance to 'the saloon bar' below:
1.30pm & the place was humming as the photos below attest (eat your hearts out Kob & Happy Go Lucky):
Started throwing back the beers with the team.....I thought there was something ominous in the fact that the building opposite was the funeral parlour!
The ride onwards to Mae Ja to complete the route through Pai/Mae Hong Son twisties was just so easy - gee, those new Pirelli Scorpions are good, it could just not be the beers! So good was it I manged only one last photo of the stunning scenery:
