My sides still hurt from laughing my **** off so much this weekend!
We got things started in Bangkok when Trent came over to have me install new chain and sprockets on his newly stickered KLX 250. Only took us ~7 hours to get it done!
Quick flight up to Chiang Mai on Thursday afternoon on Thai Air. Let's see, passport, beer, ticket- Sorted!
Caught up with a bunch of mates at "Tiger Kingdom" where every waitress was hotter than the next
Then some bar hopping and hell raising
Reckon it's pretty hard to get kicked out of the Spotlight Gogo, but we managed it!
Dave couldn't find his car and we were almost eaten by a pack of wild sewer rats. I ended up driving us home
Friday morning we met up at the Eurodiner for brekkie. Good to catch up with Franz and Nikster there, but they couldn't join us for the ride.
Then we're off! Today's plan is to sniff out this "Motorcycle Only" trail on the GT-Rider map:
Dave decided to spare his F800GS from more abuse and took his KTM 640 instead. He said he was going to thrown some dualsport rubber on the KTM, but seems that would have been too easy and he decided to head out with a Pilot 3 on the back and a rain tire on the front. The Thais have a great expression for this kind of self-imposed suffering: "SOM NAM NA!"
We're off! Dave knows some good back roads to get us from Chiang Mai to Sop Poeng. Dave rips on the pavement, but as soon as we reach the dirt he has to slow right down. Early on he loses half a bottle of Absolut and a shoe!
The road from Sop Poeng to Sop Kai is nicely paved in the beginning and gets rougher as you go, but all in all is in pretty good shape. You can see that the road has been upgraded in recent years and in some places you can still see traces of the older road-
After you cross the Mae Tang river at Sop Kai the road north gets rougher and more fun. At the next village the large concrete bridge has collapsed in rather spectacular fashion and has been replaced by a suspension bridge for pedestrians and motorcycles and a wooden bridge for cars and trucks-
Approaching the bridge from the south there is no indication whatsoever that the bridge is out. Reckon someone could come through here after dark and drive right off the end if they weren't paying attention!
Some pics of the suspension bridge-
Crossing the wooden bridge-
I can't remember the name of this village, but it was pretty big and had a large school. Some cute kids came out to say hi-
Some more pictures of the bridges-
We asked the locals which way to Muang Khong and received conflicting directions. One track looked like it might follow the river but seems the river ate the track, so we U-turned back to the village and again spoke to the locals. I pointed at another track that went roughly west and they said we could get to Pai that way. Hmmm, interesting, not on the map, let's check it out!
The track is awesome! Single track, muddy and slippery in some spots due to recent rain, and lots of sketchy bridges and water crossings!
Trent and I are loving it on our KLX's, Dave, maybe not so much...
The Pilot 3 on the back and rain tire on the front are not making his life easy...
But gotta give Dave credit and respect- he powers on no matter what!
Some fun water crossings-
Do Kwai play Takraw?
The trail rises and falls. Amazing views from the ridgelines-
I just love the smell of pine trees!
Some of the bridges were really dodgy, but thankfully none collapsed under us!