A 7am start for this Thailand off road motorcycle tour.
We know where the trail head is, a little tarmac north, then R 1090 is under repair, a good warm up i suppose.
Gassing up, the Karen lady was shy and didn’t what her photo taken
Even from the start, we could tell this was going to be good
Even with some burning around the viz was pretty good, a great day to get out in the sticks
Lots of gates to open and close on this trail, 6 I think in total
But some really fun elevation riding between them
This is the most southern trail we know of (from Colin), that leaves R 1090 so that you can head north on dirt trails. It’s got some unusual, unique views
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A scamper up the hill to get the best of this one
The old trusty CRF 250 L is eating all this up without a problem
Nothing like a trail you’ve never ridden before
P1000130_edited by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr
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Pig pen in a small village 1/2 way through the trail
This must be where we’re headed
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Fantastic trail, will do it again for sure, out onto the highway
A new, amusing thing in Mae Sot (even more amusing because they can’t spell “start” correctly) – The Magic Hill. One of those hills that looks like its up hill but actually a decline, quite fun when the bike does start rolling of its own accord
Nong Deere hadn’t seen the Myanmar border post before, so we took a quick trip down there
Looking across into Myanmar
Friendly Thai border control
The dirt border trail
The next day we knew was going to be a big day – Mae Sot to Omkoi, with as much off-road as possible. We calculated it would be 250 ish KM, with off-road average speed this would take most of daylight hours.
Government workers clearing a dam before the rains start
A little bit of beautiful tarmac to get east and pick up the dirt trails
500 meters of dirt and we’re into the river crossings already
Handguard bolt gone, time for the wire ties
Then up we go, no smoke around and its gorgeous
Then a little smoke!
Still looks pretty amazing
Probably where we headed below
Fueling up on the road link and a little air needed
Keeping a close eye
A remote village with no public electricity 1/3rd of the way north from Mae Sot
Nice bridge to get across here
20km further north and look at this beaut
Locals gathering sand to make cement from the river bank
Not sure this Karen lady had seen many enduro bikes coming through here
Out the other side and we can see the trail ahead
Beautiful hill tribe village on the way north
Out the other side and back into the wilderness
Some of the steeper hills have been concreted
Nice, cliff viewpoint
The KTM 300 EXC 2 stroke running well
10 km’s more and some rice terraces
Back out on the rollercoaster of dirts, you cross a lot of mountains on this trail
More rice terraces
Burning starting in some areas here
Every 30km or so there’s another village. Fuel is generally available in most
Nice mountain range’
More rice terraces
Then it gets real nasty
But the views make up for it
Village and the trail ahead
Lots of crushed limestone rock in this area, when it rains probably helps the water drain through
Another cool bridge
& we make it all the way through to Omkoi, 9 1/2 hours of riding
Back out on the trails, now west of Omkoi, hopefully headed to Mae Sariang
More hilltribe villages with no public electricity
They seemed pretty content in their village
Kind of confused why we were there for sure
This trail area south and west of Omkoi offers some of the best trail riding in Thailand
The limestone trail we just did
Off westwards
Hmong village gate to keep out the evil spirits
Westwards to some rice terraces
Pretty awesome
Huge bamboo
Laundry time
The sound of the loud exhausts and they came running
Might be my favorite shot of the trip, shows how delicious ahead will be
More hilltribe villages
They’d been fishing and caught some big fish
The hilltribe village we just came through
Views in the Omkoi area are some of the best out there
Into Mae Sariang & this might be my favorite restaurants in Thailand. Bricks of lean, BBQ’d pork
Home made spicy sausage
Pork with some fat, its all here
High season, we lucked out. the Good View GH wasnt full, its got great views
Great rooms
Next day, some new trails out of Mae Sariang, looking good so far, looks like autumn in the west
A rush to get the concrete down before the SW Monsoon
A little tarmac here and there
Cabbage harvest
More smoke from the burning
Time to look for some fuel
We’re told there’s some here
Then off northbound
Into Ban Houy Phun Mae for lunch and fuel
Tradition Hmong attire is everywhere
Some not quite so traditional
They even make their own ice cream there
Into Mae Hong Son for the night, this Chinese registered Smart car had driven 7,000 km from Beijing
Presume that was a fold out luggage rack on the back??
Salaween River Restaurant in MHS does the best food in MHS, its always packed
Nong Deere had some Thai food there he said it was excellent
Last day & the famous Elephant Trail from Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai
Pretty dusty out there, we had to ride at least 500 meters apart
Plenty of sign posts on the way through
Even with some concrete here and there its a nice trail
Real smokey as we get 1/2 way
Lunch in Wat Chan, there’s several choices
7 thats about it — a really great off-road trip.
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