Another great ride out with my good friend Ally.
Making sure I was properly prepared for the cooler weather we have now, I eagerly awaited Allys arrival at my home in Mae salab, keen to get a much needed break from the day to day running of The Stratton ABC Foundation.
Just after 9am she duly arrived and we set off on our journey, riding up to Banthi and left towards San Kam Peang.
Turning right at the main road from Chiang Mai to San Kam Paeng Hot Springs we headed up into the mountains around Doi Saket.
Our original destination was actually was Chae Hom Dam, via the winding mountain roads that, whilst looking like short cuts on the map, are a much longer ride than the highways due to the extreme inclines, hairpins, and potholes along the way. But all this taken in to account , treat the route with due respect and you will enjoy some spectacular views, peace, fantastic mountain air, and friendly greetings along the way.
Not far into our journey we started to see trays of coffee beans laid out at the roadsides, drying in the sun.
A little further we rode through a delightful village and came across further stages in the coffee production process…..follow this link for more.
After enjoying the delicious coffee as well as tasting some of the freshly roasted beans,we pressed on.
There is something about the lush green mountain forests and those twisting roads with their overhang tree ‘tunnels’, brightly coloured flowers and sounds of the wide variety of bird and animal life that means that I can never get enough of it.
Around midday we joined the road that Boon and myself had ridden before , on our way back from Phayao. That ride had been in the early evening and we were not at all prepared, for what was a freezing cold trip in the dark,
in extremely treacherous conditions.
Ever since that crazy ride I had been itching to take that trip in the day time.
The road appeared to be in mildly better condition than the previous time but there were still stretches of potholes that would appear suddenly; stretches where the forest was doing its place to reclaim the road, making it very narrow at times; and most concerning, places where the mountain was reclaiming the road.
This means that even in the daytime you retain an almost constant sense of nervous anticipation; a branch cracks and falls somewhere along the roadside and you quickly look for signs of slipping mountainside; then you look through the gaps in the forestation and gasp as the stunning beauty of it takes your breath away and whatever trepidation you may have about the state of the road fades to insignificance.
We soon realised that our extended stop at the ‘coffee village’ had delayed us enough to mean that reaching Chae Hom Dam and getting back in daylight just wasn’t going to happen.
So instead of carrying on to Chae Son and Muang Pan we took a right through the National Park. At the check point Ally explained that we were simply passing through on route to Chiang Mai and not actually visiting the waterfall there, and so we avoided having to pay.
We did stop for lunch at the National Park restaurant which sits beside a delightful mountain stream and we spotted many varieties of rarely seen birds as we ate.
From there it was more winding roads, more great views and many picturesque fords on the way to Huai Kaeo and the main road back to Chiang Mai.
Before reaching Huai Kaeo we stopped to see Mae Kapong waterfall, which is just a few metres from the roadside and then stopped at a wonderful new coffee shop in the village that has a great balcony overlooking the main village in the valley below.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
For a more precise instruction on the directions we took and more photos please visit Ally site here.
Well worth the trip yet again:) I got back to Mae Salab a little after 6pm as the sun went down.
Now admittedly we were not there long enough to explore exactly what Phayao has to offer. The lake is huge, and I suspect good for boaters. But we were dissapointed to see no evidence of swimming areas and for me, apart from its size, I found the lakes landscape to be quite boring.
All efforts to find a guest house failed. The only information we got was on hotels costing 600 baht a night minimum and some lake side bungalows , which turned out to be closed down.
Having sorted our accomodation we went back down to the Lakeside where there are many bars and restaurants and had a very nice evening meal, where we ordered a few different dishes and shared. A little above Chiang Mai street prices but very good food and reasonable cost.
It was another baking day and we took it slowly again, always on the look out for more waterfalls , which proved to be quite elusive. We did find this small one just a little way into Chae Son valley.
Just a little way down the road we hit a long stretch of roadworks, where I thought it prudent to stop and put sunblock on as there was no let up in the scorching sunshine and my knees were starting to look very red.So it was a slow dusty ride for quite a way, and we were giving up all hope of finding the lake. It was around 2.30pm and we were about to turn around , when we spotted the sign post for Kiu Lom lake.
This trip was turning out to be full of anti-climax. I can only imagine that this lake increases in size considerably in the wetter seasons. Still we had been riding a long time in the heat of the day and it was still a nice place to take a rest and relax for an hour or so.
It wasn’t long before we found out why. And if I ever do it again I will use a more powerful bike. Be warned, the road from Mueang Pan is extremely steep in many places and takes you up and down several mountains as it takes you across to Doi Saket.
Once the light dissapeared it got bloody cold up in those fearsome mountains and all we had was our sunny day wear. Had we hit a problem, we had no tent, no chance of a phone signal, no food and little water. Ok , we had two bikes so hopefully one of us could have gone for help, but the look of those roads in places suggested that the chance of landslides ahead and behind us was not totally impossible. Just as well I hadn’t thought of all this before we started, or else we would have missed out on an awesome trip. I can’t say for sure how high we got but about half way down the last hill we passed a sign that read 14,500, (ft, i think).
This was just 3 weeks ago, in the first week of April, when Lars, a Danish plumber, with a penchant for interior design, had been visiting for a couple of weeks and was keen to get out and see more of Northern Thailand.
Boon had quite a busy schedule with his business, but we decided to fit in a couple of days traveling with Lars, who had turned up with Conga Dave, an old friend from the UK. Shame Dave had already gone home really.
Lars had been out and rented a 250cc Honda Chopper.By all accounts very comfortable and certainly handled the hills a touch better than my 150cc JRD., but then I did have a passenger.
By midday we were pretty much melting and on the hunt for a waterfall where we might be able to cool down.
It took a while but eventually we came apon a beautifully refreshing spot, around 30kms from Phayao, and free! Always the best.
We joined many Thais, including a bunch of village kids who had been taken there by a group of Buddhist Monks, soaking in the natural beauty, and getting soaked in the wonderfully cooling water that gushed down the mountainside.
The first is entered via an old stone stairway, which, apart from the very first few steps, which take you under a very impressive archway, is long but not so steep.
There are actually several small Temples of differing styles on this first site as well as quite an array of impressive stone statues, set amongst the mountain forest trees it is so peaceful, apart from the hums and buzzs of the forest insect life.
If ever I take the plunge and sign up as a Monk , this is definitely high on the list of places I’d like to do it.
So quiet, and so much beauty, both the architecture and the scenery, some great views of the surrounding countryside .
This Buddha was obviously very old and possibly in need of renovation, and looking across to the third sight where the replica of Buddhas Temple can be found.
Completely different in design to Thai Temples this blue/white stone edifice casts an imposing feature on the landscape. It is set in manicured landscaped gardens , another must for anyone interested in the Buddhist theme.
