Seeing Ian's post above featuring my ex-ride, the S1000RR, here are some pics I took a couple of weeks back while enjoying the loop on our smallest addition to our personal transport fleet, the excellent Honda PCX. Not the conventional photo points, maybe some things that one does not have so much time to see when negotiating the curves and the sometimes inconsiderate traffic.
I like to get the town traffic out of the way first and start from the Canal road, 1269 junction. Travelling clockwise also has the advantage of finishing at the X-Centre, where there is usually someone to compare notes with.
So here the nice stuff starts, 36km to Samoeng village.
Fondcome Village Resort, I have never stopped here. Is it worth it, for food, or anything else?
Some of the many featured attractions along the loop, again, I am afraid I usually ride merrily along, totally ignoring these.
Now why has someone parked this in their garden, Maybe awaiting the next flood, but then at around 400M?
The locals prove that you do not need the latest most powerful machines to enjoy these roads, nice cornering technique
Quarrying or natural erosion?
A nice entrance to the estate
Peaceful Valley living
After some relatively gentle climbing with fun curves, one descends to a few of these rather severe dropping S Bends, best to get the braking done before the bend!
Approaching the junction, where the 1269 continues 4 or so km to the village of Samoeng or the loop continues as the 1096 branches off right toward Mae Rim.
The junction ahead, with its sleepy Police box and inhabitants. Maybe not too much to disturb a quiet life here.
The view from the shelter at the Police Box, looking down toward Samoeng. I do not go down today, but its a good road down, with great views of the valley ahead, and some pleasant refreshment stops. One can get to Pai from Samoeng, small, sometimes rough, sometimes unsurfaced, roads wind through mountains and villages to Wat Chan and then to Pai, a much longer alternative to the busy 1095, but better suited to lighter, dual purpose, trailie type bikes.
So to continue the Samoeng loop, turn right on the 1096 and the road climbs up, around good curves, with great views to the left. Now only 27km to Mae Rim, 44 to Chiang Mai.
If you have no transport, you see a lot of these yellow buses on the loop, so take one of them. Not sure where they start from.
Just 1km further on, something being cultivated on the hillsides, I wonder what it is?
A view of the well known view point, just a few bends away. I did not stop there as it has been pictured many times.
More cultivated and machined hillsides, roads being made up the hill and earth being removed for building fill in, as we drop down toward the more inhabited areas
This very impressive and unneccessarily large junction, is likely to owe its presence to somebody needing the work rather than the traffic demands.
For those of you who were not sure that Thailand was Paradise on Earth, here it is.
Dropping down now past a number of attractions, such as the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden. Many others not photographed, where you can see, elephants, monkeys, insects, bees, etc etc......
But for me it was a regular stop for refreshment and company at the X -Centre, courtesy of its lovely owners, Ian and Long, (well Long is lovely anyway)
