Dude, where's the ride report? It's in the descriptions of the photos. :) Here is the executive summary: We took a bus up from Chiang Mai to the border (4+ hrs), stayed in a little guesthouse right on the border- defining River Sai, got up at 6:30 to cross the border, have breakfast in Burma and explore the border town a bit (not allowed to leave town on the on-the-spot visa), re-crossed the border and headed south towards Chiang Rai (60 km as the pick-up drives, 100 km as the passhunter rides), to catch a bus back to Chiang Mai. Once out of town, we headed through a plain of rice paddies on increasingly smaller roads, with Doi Tung towering 1000m over the plain to the West. Around midday we started into the hills that separate the Mae Sai valley from the Chiang Rai valley, and had a fun time finding the dirt tracks that actually went to where we were going. Asking the locals is not always that helpful, as invariably they will tell you how to get back to the main highway that leads to your destination, NOT the direct route, as they (understandably) assume you are lost, and assume you would have no chance of finding your way through the hills on your own.
Once we got out of the hills, we realized that time was running short, and we decided to kick it into high gear and cut to the main highway so we could catch our bus. Our mad, hour-long 30 kph dash--fueled by Gatoraid from a 7-Eleven and emergency ration gummies--paid off as we got to the station in time for a quick bite of restorative soup noodles before hopping back on the bus for the 3 hr ride home. Cheers, Gernot On Jan 31, 10:30 am, Earl Grey <earlg...@gmail.com> wrote: > Try this link instead for my > photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/25150892@N08/5402500499/ > > (or remove thewww.google.comfrom the URL that google inserts for > some strange reason) > > On Jan 31, 10:28 am, Earl Grey <earlg...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Paul and I headed up to the Burmese border on Saturday to renew our > > Thai visas. These border runs are a boring fact of life for many > > foreigners in Chiang Mai, who take the morning bus up to the border > > (5-6 hrs), cross the border, have lunch, and take the afternoon bus > > back to Chiang Mai. > > > I always bring my bike and stay overnight and find an interesting way > > to ride to Chiang Rai, a third of the way back to Chiang Mai. This > > time I brought Paul along as well, for an all-Sam, mixed terrain, find- > > the-smallest-roads-and-dirt-tracks-we-can, riding adventure. > > > My photos start here:www.flickr.com/photos/25150892@N08/5402500499/ > > > Paul's photos start > > here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulatwork/sets/72157625812729019/with/5... > > > Btw, I planned the route withwww.ridewithgps.com(whichuses Google > > maps) and uploaded it to my GPS. Otherwise it would be impossible to > > do such a route in unfamiliar territory and make it to your > > destination in time to catch a bus. Google maps and my GPS map are > > often wrong about the tiny side roads in Thailand, but with a planned > > route and a GPS to re-orient yourself when the road you were planning > > to take doesn't exist, it's just the right mixture of adventure and > > predictability for me. > > > Cheers, > > > Gernot -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
