2018 Northern Thailand Ride Part 3

Continued from part 2.


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Day 6

Today I'm riding at the backyard of Nan around the Luang Prabang mountain range. And today I'll ride route 1081, one of the many top roads in Thailand. An exciting day lies ahead.

Having ridden the 1148 and many other fantastic roads over the past few days in Thailand I was wondering how great can 1081 be to place it even higher on the rank. Turns out even the road out of Nan (R1169) to 1081 already blew my socks off with impeccable surface, wide runoff, fast flowing curves with few tight corners and little traffic. It's an incredible piece of tarmac in its own right.

For breakfast I had some pork noodle soup from a roadside stall before the start of 1081. Always my favourite way to eat, it tasted great and only cost THB35.













After that it was time for 1081, the highlight of today. Immediately upon turning right to 1081 it greeted me with a wide, smooth gentle left uphill curve that reaches speed of above 90kmh. Then it was a series of wide flowing turns and bends on top of a hill that turned into series of tighter bends down a valley. The greatness never ends and it continues on for 40km all the way to the village of Bo Kluea, up and down several hills and valleys with uncountable fast corners and tight bends.

Beautiful, beautiful curves.

Large white pagoda with Buddha statue midway.

Endless great road.

Seriously if you want to ride a great piece of road just come here to ride 1081 and repeat until you're satisfied with riding. Obviously the Thais know it well as I saw at least 4-5 Thai biker groups here even on a weekday, this is definitely a playground for Thai riders. 

Genuinely pleased.

At Bo Kluea turning left to R1256 I climbed uphill to Doi Phu Kha viewpoint at about 1700m elevation. The turn to 1256 was just below 700m and that meant a 1000m ascent in about 13km distance, complete with smooth roads, cool weather and light traffic. It was a blast.

Over the peak the road turned gently downhill with the scenery turned amazing. The view overlooking the steep terrain was impressive for Thailand's standards and forces one to slow down to take in the grandeur of the landscape. Overall 1256 was one scenic ride with roads close to the greatness that is 1081. The roads may be more narrow and choppy at parts but the view made up for it.

At this part of Thailand there can be wildlife on the road. Just today alone I saw a snake and centipede crossing the road. As much as I hate stupid dogs that jump into the middle of the road (many of them do and my first crash was caused by one such incident) frankly seeing venomous snakes and centipedes are even less preferred.

By the time I joined back to 1081 at its western section it was 1pm. Quick petrol stop later I had lunch at an interesting riverside place (Kham Pet noodle shop- click here for Google Map location):

Bamboo bowl and sitting by the river with feet dangling in the air. THB35 for the noodle.

After lunch it was back on 1081 that started from the "greeting curve" all the way to Bo Kluea, 40km of thrill and exhilaration all over again. It was obviously not enough and I U-turned at Bo Kluea to savour 1081 for the third time. I'll let the pictures tell you why this road is so amazing:

Before this trip I have surveyed a few roads here with Google street view. On screen R1257 certainly looked nicer than R1333 which was the other alternative route I had in mind, with smoother surface. With that in mind I turned to R1257 to take a longer way back since I still have some time to spare. The road started out perfect for about 1km then turned into what I'd say less-than-ideal-for-spirited-riding with some loose gravels on top and slightly uneven surface. The road was narrower than I thought too and had more abrupt crests and turns.

This road will not worry the mighty 1081 however the scenery was indeed incredible during my ride during the golden hour (about an hour before sunset). The warm glow of the setting sun was illuminating the undulating hills and golden fields, I was riding on the ridges and was awarded with continuous stream of mesmerising scenery.

By the time I reached back 1169 back to Nan the sun was truly setting behind the clouds and sky turned magenta-orange.

An accurate representation of the perfect ride that was coming to an end.

After sunset the condition was too dark for my tinted visor so I rode in a relaxed pace with visor up for most part which was rather uncomfortable above 60kmh due to wind blast. Oh and also the large number of mosquitoes that flew into my helmet on some parts of the road freaked me out a little.

Reached back to my hotel at Nan around 7 and after dinner and some beer was time to wind down and rest for the ride back to Chiang Mai tomorrow.



Day 7

Early start today as I wanted to ride unhurried to Chiang Mai and visit the famous hilltop temple of Doi Suthep as I always do after each riding trip. When searching Google map there were 2 routes suggested: one via the boring highway 11 through Lampang, the other through a few national parks with twisty roads. Estimated time difference was less than 30 minutes so naturally I chose the fun road.

After simple breakfast I was on R1091 out of Nan. It was surprisingly huge fun and easily rated as another top road in Thailand for me. It is really true that any road out of Nan could be a great riding road and I figured that next time I come here I'll probably base myself at Nan. I love Nan.

After R1091 the road continued to R1251 and the greatness of the road carried on. It was a solid 2 long hours of big fat fun. Contrast this with what could be a sleepy boring commute to Chiang Mai via highway and it's a no-brainer to take this route if you're on a bike.

After all the excitement I stopped at a rest stop at the start of route 120 for toilet break and snacks. Then I remembered that I forgot to collect back the hotel key deposit of THB500 from my hotel yesterday. I left the hotel around 7:30am and just placed the key on the front desk as no one was there and it seemed like a few other guests had also left their key there too. Then I just rode off totally forgetting about my deposit. Oh well.

Today's weather was cloudy all day. First time in this whole week that the temperature doesn't soar even after 12pm, it was a nice change and I was just riding comfortably all day.

Also saw a few local kids on mopeds having fun with one all tucked in and another doing wheelie while carrying a passenger and the third kid filming the whole act with his phone. Probably posted somewhere on Youtube or Instagram already.

While resting also saw a couple of local biker groups as well, no doubt as this area was all great riding roads and without exception the road ahead turned out to be spectacular as well. Route 120 in the direction of Chiang Mai from Phayao. Miles after miles of 2 lane uphill curvy flowing roads all the way to 900+m elevation. You know how usually when the road goes from uphill to downhill your 2 lanes will turn into one and the opposite (uphill) traffic gets their 2 lane instead? Well that doesn't happen on 120 and you get a wide 2 lane playground all the way up and down for quite awhile. It was like the smooth and wide climb up to Doi Suthep mountain however with more flowing curves and a much longer route.

After R120 I joined R118 towards the city and the traffic increased heavily. Though the road still wide and bendy however it was much less enjoyable because of the traffic. That continued on for awhile all the way back to Chiang Mai proper and I skirted around the city towards the hilltop temple of Doi Suthep.

An extended lunch stop and rest at the foothill later I joined by parents who were visiting Chiang Mai as well and had my last fun ride of the trip up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep on its wide 2 lane twisties. Just like my 2 previous rides I went up there at the end of my trip to thank the gods above for an uneventful ride.

And what a truly wonderful ride this is.


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Notable roads:
1. 1081 Nan's backyard
2. 105 & 108 Ban Tha Song Yang to Khun Yuam
3. 120 Nan to Chiang Mai (2 lane uphill in that direction)
4. 1148 to Nan
5. 1290 to Chiang Khong
6. 1149 Thailand-Myanmar border road
7. 4018 to Ban Phaya Phipak special mention for how steep it was.

LY