We had a rough plan but as you know, things don't always go to plan.
The idea was to take our little 250 dirt bikes and keep to the dirt as much a possable from Tha Ton heading north west following the boarder to Doi Ang Khang. From there take the 1178 to Chong, head south to Muang Noi then north east along the trail that ends up in Ya Pa Nae.
I have to say that I didn't take too many photos but there is a few interesting things to report that I actually did get a snap of, so here goes.
So we met up in Tha Ton and headed off Pang Ton Kong and on to Nam Hua.
A lovely little road this
and the usual check points along the boarder
with army camps
You pass through this little valley where I swear things haven't changed for hundreds of years. I have been through here a few times and never seen any mechanized anything at this spot, not even a scooter
On through this wonderful little road
Eventually we came to the place where the road had gone down the valley. Now this part is being repaired with a huge amount of rubble to fill in the gaps
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Unfortunately when we came to the first steep section they wouldn't let us through saying it was too hot?? There was a sign saying the road was closed between mid-day and 4.00pm. I'm not sure what that was all about but the guards insisted that it was too hot at that time of day. In the end we had to head back and head down towards Fang, Chia Prakarn and Arunothiai. As it was now getting into the end of the afternoon it was time to find somewhere to stay. Arounothai is not a place that looked too interesting so we headed south a bit and found digs in the Chiang Dao National Park. Basic but did the job.
Rooms in the park
Down the road we found a good little restaurant which the owner wanted to sell. It has two houses, five rai of land and is very pretty indeed.
The owner told us that the government has approved three entry points into Burma to be opened in two years. The one that exists at Mae Sot, one at Kanchanaburie and one at Arunothai. Time will tell if this happens
The grub was good and we went back for Khao Tom for breakfast. Well there was no where to eat else anyway!
Waking up in National Parks are, in my humble opinion , never disappointing. The view, peace and quite wonderful which soon overcame the effects of the wooden mattress and stone pillow
Leaving the park, we stopped off at a nice little waterfall
Now sort of back on track for the original plan, we headed north back towards Arounothai taking a left turn at Kong Lom.
Following that road until we found the track we were after we turned off to head north over and around the north of Doi Li Ki. As far as the planing went, this was to be the main event and it diddnt let down our expectations.
The track is about 80 kms of just about everything. At the start you could get a pick up along the track but then it turned into a pine covered single track running along ridge lines for quite some way. Up deep rutted inclines at some points and down others with the same surface. A great deal of it was just wonderful. Other than about five check points and the odd village here and there, there was just about no one around and beautiful jungle on either side of the trail.
One point was like the Scottish six day trials with rocks and boulders to get over up a hill. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of that being at the time petrified at the prospect of getting through it.
I'll let the pictures do the talking for a while here
Some kind of mini hydroelectric plant to feed what community I don't know
This water pump was interesting. It fed fome rice fields
For this village
Stopped at this check point for a chat
where there was quite a big army camp
and then around the corner... what have we got here? Looks like some poor aviator had a bad helecopter day
Looks like it just fell short of the helepad by a couple of meters and had ropes tied to the front to stop it slipping down the hill
Naturally its been gutted so no free dials to be had
On our way we went with more of the same, just lovely
My little CRF good a grand job but the day was long and we were pleased to head into Sopping River Inn for some of Khun Joy's excellent food and ice cold beers.
The original plan was for about five days and in the morning we planned to head off to Mea Hong Son catch up with a mate and then head off south and then east to explore more trails. However the smoke haze was so bad the next day we pulled the pin and went home.
Having just got into the pure enjoyment of being in the middle of nowhere along terrific trails, it was indeed a shame to call it a day but neither of us could see the point in riding around in the smog when you can't see a thing.
Oh well, until next time..... and we know that wont be far away either
The idea was to take our little 250 dirt bikes and keep to the dirt as much a possable from Tha Ton heading north west following the boarder to Doi Ang Khang. From there take the 1178 to Chong, head south to Muang Noi then north east along the trail that ends up in Ya Pa Nae.
I have to say that I didn't take too many photos but there is a few interesting things to report that I actually did get a snap of, so here goes.
So we met up in Tha Ton and headed off Pang Ton Kong and on to Nam Hua.
A lovely little road this
and the usual check points along the boarder
with army camps
You pass through this little valley where I swear things haven't changed for hundreds of years. I have been through here a few times and never seen any mechanized anything at this spot, not even a scooter
On through this wonderful little road
Eventually we came to the place where the road had gone down the valley. Now this part is being repaired with a huge amount of rubble to fill in the gaps
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Unfortunately when we came to the first steep section they wouldn't let us through saying it was too hot?? There was a sign saying the road was closed between mid-day and 4.00pm. I'm not sure what that was all about but the guards insisted that it was too hot at that time of day. In the end we had to head back and head down towards Fang, Chia Prakarn and Arunothiai. As it was now getting into the end of the afternoon it was time to find somewhere to stay. Arounothai is not a place that looked too interesting so we headed south a bit and found digs in the Chiang Dao National Park. Basic but did the job.
Rooms in the park
Down the road we found a good little restaurant which the owner wanted to sell. It has two houses, five rai of land and is very pretty indeed.
The owner told us that the government has approved three entry points into Burma to be opened in two years. The one that exists at Mae Sot, one at Kanchanaburie and one at Arunothai. Time will tell if this happens
The grub was good and we went back for Khao Tom for breakfast. Well there was no where to eat else anyway!
Waking up in National Parks are, in my humble opinion , never disappointing. The view, peace and quite wonderful which soon overcame the effects of the wooden mattress and stone pillow
Leaving the park, we stopped off at a nice little waterfall
Now sort of back on track for the original plan, we headed north back towards Arounothai taking a left turn at Kong Lom.
Following that road until we found the track we were after we turned off to head north over and around the north of Doi Li Ki. As far as the planing went, this was to be the main event and it diddnt let down our expectations.
The track is about 80 kms of just about everything. At the start you could get a pick up along the track but then it turned into a pine covered single track running along ridge lines for quite some way. Up deep rutted inclines at some points and down others with the same surface. A great deal of it was just wonderful. Other than about five check points and the odd village here and there, there was just about no one around and beautiful jungle on either side of the trail.
One point was like the Scottish six day trials with rocks and boulders to get over up a hill. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of that being at the time petrified at the prospect of getting through it.
I'll let the pictures do the talking for a while here
Some kind of mini hydroelectric plant to feed what community I don't know
This water pump was interesting. It fed fome rice fields
For this village
Stopped at this check point for a chat
where there was quite a big army camp
and then around the corner... what have we got here? Looks like some poor aviator had a bad helecopter day
Looks like it just fell short of the helepad by a couple of meters and had ropes tied to the front to stop it slipping down the hill
Naturally its been gutted so no free dials to be had
On our way we went with more of the same, just lovely
My little CRF good a grand job but the day was long and we were pleased to head into Sopping River Inn for some of Khun Joy's excellent food and ice cold beers.
The original plan was for about five days and in the morning we planned to head off to Mea Hong Son catch up with a mate and then head off south and then east to explore more trails. However the smoke haze was so bad the next day we pulled the pin and went home.
Having just got into the pure enjoyment of being in the middle of nowhere along terrific trails, it was indeed a shame to call it a day but neither of us could see the point in riding around in the smog when you can't see a thing.
Oh well, until next time..... and we know that wont be far away either
