Post RideForCambodia...SEA ride continues

[SteveST1300]

Great pictures we are stuck back here waiting for a snow storm that could drop anything from an inch to over two feet. Green with envy!

 

[Indian Express]

Great pictures! Fun stuff. We have a lot of concrete narrow rds in the Himalayas also, slippery when wet but seem to hold up better than the tar/chip style rds.

 

[George]

3AM and they just turned the music off. Our $60 room is beautiful but Pai is a party town and lives up to it's reputation. Makes me wish I had loud pipes for my early morning departure.

The sections of concrete are intermittent on the road Raven and I took, the dirt very rough in spots, and both were pretty steep. The views are great tho. Pics are coming, here's a preview:

 

[George]

Gotta luv my zoom,,, here's a couple shots of the same house in the rice fields:


...and a close-up of the pic of "Mac" Danny found.

 

[George]

Initial is 20x, second one is 80x

 

[Digiamo]

Finally got some WiFi going for a quick addition to yesterdays adventure and our toe into Myanmar.
The border town of Ban Ruk Thai is like no other I've ever encounted. Like a mini Chinatown, it sits quietly on a tranquil lake under the frontier mountains.
It's main industry is apparently Tea and importing Chinese and Myanmar Candies, dried fruit and chotchskies.


TIP, can you translate this sign for us?


Here is VT Dans slow healing burn wound from dropping his scooter on his leg. I gave him some anti bacterial ointment with zinc and some gauze which he said helped.

All our waterproof boots were in over the top just before arriving so at a very late lunch stop we set socks and boots out to dry.


Here are the very freindly border guards who apparently haven't read the news that there is fighting in Myanmar near the Thai border.


I am thumbing this as we wait for George to get here from his and Dace's separate adventure.
VT. Dan got his phone back.
Smash, I got an S load of video. I am tempted to post it all raw to cheap out on having to spend hours and maybe days editing it. If a viewer were patient, they will get choice footage and choice words inadvertently blurted out.
Not sure if there is much interest in this much raw riding footage though...
Enjoy!
Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[TipSTer]

the post said, some things about drugs smuggling at the border

 

[TipSTer]

Guys, TIPS from Tip. Be aware of people try to smuggling drugs on your bike, bags so-on....you guys are in Da outlaw territory Golden Triangle closer by.

 

[Raven]

Well, today George set out to backtrack North and West to connect up with the guys whilst I explored Pai and turned South and East back towards Chiang Mai and my flight tomorrow night. About an hour and a half later, I got a text from George saying he was almost to Chiang Mai. Only about 60 miles in the wrong direction! We ended up having a roadside lunch together as we passed each other with him going back and me headed out. Of course it was 60 miles of fabulous twisties so he wasn't the least bit upset about being directionally impaired!

George and the guys managed to miss each other today but are within 20 kilometers of each other.

Meanwhile, I'm in the Mea Sa Valley and will get in a few more twisties tomorrow before I turn in the bike and head for the airport.

I haven't transferred photos yet but will get them up tomorrow.

 

[Digiamo]

VT Dan makes another bold border run and exploration. Such enthusiasm to ride the unknown single tracks of SEA is difficult to resist especially on these CRF Twofiddies. I've gotten more real dirt riding in the past two days than I've had in years. The bond between me and this bike is complete. It will be hard to turn it back in as it is a versatile, stable and sturdy platform for third world style LD riding. Maybe its not the bike for the SS 1000 but I could live on it for weeks and maybe months at a time if the surface varies as much as it does here.
It is really fun to ride and gives me more confidence to follow experience trackers like Dan down hours long you name it paths to who knows where.


Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[Digiamo]

Guys, TIPS from Tip. Be aware of people try to smuggling drugs on your bike, bags so-on....you guys are in Da outlaw territory Golden Triangle closer by.

Thanks for the translation, Tip, didnt see any ladened mule teams hauling opium yet but following Dan....it could happen today.

Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[Digiamo]

... you've certainly discovered the down side of having a GoPro...

Yes, the downside is it's easy to collect the videos but managing and editing is the hard stuff.
I am tempted to youtube some unedited videos to post being as I need to attend a class on Windows Media or some such.

Feedback would be apreciated. Meantime here's todays pics:


Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[Digiamo]

Most of us made it to the Piyaporn Hotel in Mae Sai at the Golden Triangle.
Dan did a late border run alone and will meet us here.
Tomorrow we'll look around and maybe get to the Opium Museum ...though it might put me to sleep.

A woman in our breakfast restaurant prays and burns incense.

George poses at a tea pot in northern Thailand where the Chinese population is predominant.


Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[olegeezer]

This is our guest house near the Myanmar border at Ban Rak Thai. The construction looked like the materials came from all the left overs from the village. We really liked the place which Vermont Dan dubbed the "crows nest". Not to be confused with "eagles nest". It was complete with gas hot water, dipper toilet, natural ventilation and all the blankets you needed for the cool night at the higher elevation. The owners' wife did our laundry (a couple of kilos) for a 50 bhat tip.
The laundry hangs in front and dried just before leaving. Just below our porch, coffee beans were laid our to dry below the laundry. We were able to sample this coffee and it was quite good. The only negative was the schools loud speaker system and the Thai laughing lady coming on at full volume around 6am. There was no need for lingering in bed after she began her recital.

 

[TipSTer]

Looks fun, thanks for Da pix....Go looks for this Dragon steps it's just up hill from where to guys took those pix with strange sweetheart.

 

[Digiamo]

A self serve fuel stop at the Golden Triangle.

The house of opium museum.




A photo of a photo of the Northern Thai tribe of long necks.

Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[Digiamo]

We can get a world TAG going, Tip.







Droid S 3 & TT2

 

[TipSTer]

If you guys in Chiang Rai besure to stop check out this theme temple... Haven/Hell. Also stop for hot spring on the way back to Chiang Mai.

 

[olegeezer]

[video=youtube;ZeJzovv5i9I]

A short video of some easy but fun creek crossings on the way to the Myanmar border. The pics at the end of the video are of the merging of the Rauk and Mae Khong (Mekong) rivers at the Golden Triangle. The tiny spit of grass covered sand where the rivers meet is Myanmar and the gold dome structure on the opposite side of the (larger, Mekong) river belongs to Laos.

 

[TipSTer]

Also stop check out these Elephants park, on your way back to Chiang Mai.