Trip from Bangkok to North and Isaan

[bard]

Will do a ride in March which goes as follows;

3rd Bangkok to Mae Sot
4th Mae Sot to Mae Hong Son
5th Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai
6th and 7th Loops around Chiang Mai
8th Chiang Mai to Udon Thani
9th Udon Thani to Laos and back to either Udon Thani/Khon Kaen or Korat
10th Udon Thani/Khone Kaen/Korat to Home via Sae Kaeo and 3295 through the National Park

Currently it's me, Tony, Trent the buyer of Trent's T-Rex and your more than welcome to join.

Please join up for a blast of a trip guys and girls

 

[Marco]

Bart

are you seriously gonna ride in 1 day from CM to Udon thani?(8th)
that will be tough one..

 

[johngooding]

I have ridden CM to Udon 3 times now, taking slightly different routes for part of the way. Takes me about 7 to 8 hours stopping for fuel and snacks. A very nice route with little traffic on much of it. The last route I took was about 670km. Not sure where you are thinking of going into Laos, but the Friendship bridge at Nong Khai does not allow motorcycles into Laos unless on a preapproved guided tour. Can come back from Laos into Thailand there however. There is a bus from Udon that goes to Vientianne, but you need to get your visa before you take the bus.

 

[johngooding]

Hi Bard, Further to my post above, I would be interested in joining up with you in Chiang Mai for this one, dropping off back here in Khon Kaen. John

 

[bard]

Hi John,

Sounds like a plan, join up in CM and we can have some fun in Udon Thani together, some nice places there. Will be a blast mate, can't wait.

Marco, yes it's a good ride from CM to UT but from what I gather it's not a bad ride. Below is a map of what the trip kinda looks like (draft)

Cheers Bard

 

[Marco]

bard wrote: Hi John,

Sounds like a plan, join up in CM and we can have some fun in Udon Thani together, some nice places there. Will be a blast mate, can't wait.

Marco, yes it's a good ride from CM to UT but from what I gather it's not a bad ride. Below is a map of what the trip kinda looks like (draft)

Cheers Bard

Bard

i see what you mean, yes not that bad,, i was just thinking if you guys run and follow mekhong all the time,,until Udon,,,that would be twist and turns..
Fun in Udon,, well We stood few night's in "Meeting point" no problem to have "fun" in there, but beware,there is some one who like to pour beer down to your arse,,, :wink: and lot's of "Soda"spraying around.....
Peter can confirm that..

 

[bard]

Hahaha sounds like you guys had a blast, will go to Soi Easy Falang in Udon Thani and just let Trent out of his cage and see what happens, normally it's a disaster zone when me and him are teamed up, I will break Tony's camera so there is nothing holding anyone back

Cheers Bard

 

[Marco]

haaa,, i got something out from tony,,,on last one,, will make full report out of that,,,,,

 

[bard]

Tony is lethal with that camera man, that's why when I took him to Rayong Secret Soi he did not have it with him, and he was having "fun" instead of making me look bad.

You're not joining us then Marco?

 

[Marco]

Bard

No i cant join u guys as i been on the road now guite a while and we have our Pharmacys official opening ceremony on 14th

But i will be in KK 20-21st.

 

[bard]

To bad Marco, well maybe I'll do a trippy 20th or something to Isaan, not so far to ride up from Rayong.

The 13th - 15th I'll ride down to Koh Chang or something, not decided on it yet. First priority is to do this journey which will be a load of fun.

Cheers Bard

 

[Marco]

Bard

I think Dougal will come from Sri ratcha and i think i heard tony saying that he jon from Bkk as well...

not sure...there was brown fluid in my system in that time,, like dougal say,, in my very large hollow leg's take so lont time to be filled up....

 

[bard]

Sounds good, Tony will go with us for sure, great if Dougal joins as well. Start sounding like a blast of a trip mate.

 

[TonyBKK]

Enjoyed a spectacular ride from Udon with Jim, Peter, Andrew, Anthony and Gerhardt-

~1600km in 3 days!

Great to finally meet Peter. He's loving Trent's T-rex and he knows how to ride and party!

I'm very much looking forward to a great ride with you guys in March.
Happy Trails!
Tony

 

[pin2ride]

Bart ,

Why not you try ride from Cheing Mai - Phayao - Nan - Phrae - Uttradit ?

There're nice road to viewing on the mountains.

You will see amazing on the mountain in the morning.

Trust me!

it's take about 9 - 10 hour to UdonThani. Also very very less of cars on there. but good road.

 

[bard]

Good idea,

Have to run it with the boys to see how they feel about it, could really be worth while.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[DavidFL]

Just a note of caution for R11 North of Uttaradit.
I rode through there 2 weeks ago on Monday 9th Feb & the heavy traffic negotiating the "single lane & road works" was absolutely shocking.
Maybe they have fixed it all up now & it is ok, but in 20 yrs I've never seen so much traffic bumper to bumper on the road for tens of kms, going up & over the mountain.
If anyone else has done R11 in the last 2 weeks - please report in.

 

[bard]

Davidfl

Was that between Den Chai and Uttaradit? Then it makes sense to use the route over Nan anyways.

Here is the two alternative routes... I am really keen to go via Nan, and with the R11 screw up it might be the wisest.

Another question on the alternative route is there any fuel stations before Loei? The Yamaha's will do fine with range but Tony's Er6 and Jim's CBR400 has a 200km range, is there a possible nightmare for those with smaller range?

Original Plan;

Route via Nan

Cheers Bard

 

[DavidFL]

bard wrote: Davidfl

Was that between Den Chai and Uttaradit? Then it makes sense to use the route over Nan anyways.

Here is the two alternative routes... I am really keen to go via Nan, and with the R11 screw up it might be the wisest.

Another question on the alternative route is there any fuel stations before Loei? The Yamaha's will do fine with range but Tony's Er6 and Jim's CBR400 has a 200km range, is there a possible nightmare for those with smaller range?

Original Plan;

Route via Nan

Cheers Bard

Yes the road works were on the Uttaradit side of the mountain between Utt & Den Chai.
It is possible that most of them are complete now - widening the road from 2 to 4 lanes, but when I came up it sucked big time because of the traffic, not the gravel road surface. It was the last day of a long weekend & the Chiang Mai Flower festival. It was unbelievable, just one or two trucks & a couple of weak drivers unable to pass in the right gear & the lines of traffic went back kms.
Another alternative is to take R101 from Den Chai - "Uttaradit", then hop back onto the 4-lane of R11 before heading for Chat Trakarn / Nakon Thai / Dan Sai / Loei.
R101 is an awesome fast flowing rolling hills for a good part of the way there too.

Re the Nan alternative, I'm not sure about the exact fuel stops, but I find it hard to believe you can't get fuel every 100 kms "anywhere." Just pay attention & top up as you go.

 

[bard]

Thanks Dave,

Great advice, sounds like a very good alternative. Not sure if all the guys are up for a 895km via Nan route, as they want to enjoy some local attractions in Udon. So you're route sounds like the one to go for if they all want to enjoy Udon and not lay on there bellies crying over sore butts.

The route is 90% hacked out now just need to get the guys to all be happy (difficult) then we are off the 3rd of March for the ride. Will come by and hope to see you all up in Chiang Mai for some beers and a good laugh. Shall post the trip report when we hopefully all are well and safe back home again.

Is it possible to link in youtube vids directly in here as well? Think Jim has a helmet cam and shoots a lot of nice vids.

Cheers Bard

 

[TonyBKK]

Oy!
Just got back from the Khon Kaen Bike Week- it was a blast and I had a bunch of great pictures, but then I had a 'minor' equipment malfunction- :shock:

You might notice the camera is labeled "shock proof" and "crush proof", but apparently the camera is not Tony proof! :wink:

Guess someone else will have to post pics!
Happy Trails!
Tony

 

[TonyBKK]

Hi Bard!
Man, I had some great pics of the SSR gang abusing and molesting your new FZ6, but then my camera got run over by a truck and not even the memory card survived! :roll:
I'm not too worried about fuel- the ER-6n goes 200-220 before the fuel light comes on, and then I've still got about 3 liters left, which will take me at least another 40-50km.
See you soon!
Tony

 

[bard]

You obviously got me worried there man, and made me call and wake up Mr. Man who claimed that was untrue and 0 km has been added to my toy, and nobody have molested here. Cruel Tony cruel and evil while I sit here defenseless offshore sulking away these long days until I can get back again. Karma man wait and see karma

Hey try to claim warranty for the shockproof camera, would be fun to see the face of them when you slam it in with "no good"...

I managed to order an ebay camera mount for FZ6 was 20 odd $ sent to Thailand and it appeared to be of great quality actually. So I will test it out as my camera is defo not shockproof Hopefully it will be there in time for the ride.

Want me to pick you up a new camera in Singapore on my way home?

What happen to Trenty? Heard he slept over the KK ride...

 

[TonyBKK]

LOL Bard- oh no- I was just kidding with you- we didn't harm your bike and all of the evidence has probably already been washed off. If the seat is a little sticky, well, I woudn't know anything about that! :wink:
Mr Man is a cool dude- it was fun riding with him and partying with him this weekend.
Poor Trenty really overdid it the first night and slept through the ride on Saturday. They gave him an FZ1 for the weekend- nice bike, but as you've said- it doesn't fit very well with that bulging tank, and for some reason the bike Trent was riding kept overheating...
I need a new camera, but not sure what I want to get yet... That last one was nice because it was waterproof, but the video quality was terrible and picture quality was only average...
Happy Trails and see you soon!
Tony

 

[Marco]

Tony

Im not sure if there is such a camera what is '[email protected] 55555

looking forward your guys pictures form kk.
we are sailing to Danang now.