2022 Northern Thailand Ride Part 2

Continued from part 1.

DAY 3

Today I make my way down to Nan, the capital of great riding roads in Thailand. Along the way I'll revisit the famous "wall of road" of Ban Phaya Phipak and experience the sublime 1148 multiple times before reaching Nan.

Sunrise on the Mekong river

After setting off at 8am I went straight to a workshop to get my tyre pressures checked. Turned out the rear was 45psi and front was 38psi cold. No doubt POP rental increased the tyre pressures to preserve tyre life, but that probably made the bike feel more nervous and tippy than it should be. I reduced the pressures to 34psi front and 30psi rear to err on the safe side. 

Morning ride along the river

The morning started with a nice stretch of 1155 that runs alongside the Mekong river with great views of Laos. The road then turned inland into the mountains. Road condition was generally alright and about 5-10km before the turnoff to 4018 it was superb with lots of elevation changes and tight bends to play with. The tarmac was actually dark grey in colour instead of the usual dusty looking light grey tarmac that I've had since the start of my ride. It was so good that I had to ride it again after coming down from 4018.  

Route 4018- the famed "big dipper" or what I'd like to call "wall of road" is as steep as I remembered. About 300m of vertical elevation over a distance of 1000m, this is one vertiginous ride. That being said, tackling what is possibly the steepest paved road in Thailand is actually not too difficult, although it did require a fair bit of concentration and bike control. For my first ride up I had to use gear 1 for most of the tight hairpin corners which I had never needed to before. After reaching the top however I noticed that my Insta360 X3 failed to record which was a real bummer. So what to do but to ride all the way down and climb back up again after making sure that the camera started recording. 

A wall of road

The descent was easier in comparison, one just need to take it slow, use plenty of engine braking and focus on body position. Quite an exciting ride and a little challenging as well. I then rode down the plains via 1155 and avoided using 1093 as I remembered the surface to be a little rough. At Chiang Kham town I had a cheap & fantastic bowl of beef mama noodle soup at the beginning of the famous route 1148. Here I saw a number of local bike groups and there's no doubt I'm at a popular riding road. 

The phenomenal 1148

Route 1148... where do I start? It is such a sensational piece of road. The whole stretch from Ban Mai Pang Kha (beside Mae Kha river) to 1279 turnoff measures about 53km in total. It is 53km of first rate entertainment and sensory overload. It mainly consists of tighter 2nd-3rd gear corners with constant elevation changes as one navigates past hills after hills, all with impeccable tarmac and negligible traffic. This is a road that I can finally ride the bike as intended and stretch its legs, keeping to gear 2-3 and constantly revving out the engine. The road is so good that I U-turned all the way back and did the entire stretch over again, which makes about 150km total of pure unadulterated excitement.

Now, I was blessed with pleasant dry weather for the past few days, but today my luck ran out. Around 4pm it rained heavily when I was finally making my way to Nan. Thankfully I managed to find shelter relatively quickly and was joined by a group of local Harley & Vespa riders. One of them showed me a video of a V-Rod rider cornering knee-down while the chasing bike was keeping up with one hand filming haha. Awesome shots. About half an hour later, as is usual for tropical storms, the rain eased and I proceeded to the small but lovely town of Nan. As night fell I had dinner at a small town square with live music and roadside eateries, where I had one of the most memorable BBQ honey pork stick ever. What a fantastic day of riding. 

DAY 4

There's really only one objective for today which is to experience the legendary 1081. Repeatedly. Boy did it prove itself to be the very best road in Thailand. 

I started the day around 8am and rode out of Nan via 1169. Already the road was incredible and serves as an excellent preview of what's to come next. One doesn't spend much time upright that's for sure. Seems like this area is popular for road trippers as there's numerous cafes & lookout points being setup to lure the typical tourists.

1169, a fantastic road in its own right

A short while later I arrived at the start of today's objective, the 1081. Immediately the fun begins with multitude of excellent curves being thrown at me relentlessly, all with beautifully smooth road surface that entice me to ride as fast as I dare. As with 1148 the road consists of medium radius corners with constant gentle elevation changes, rolling past hills after hills. It's quite hard to express in writing just how good this piece of road is, one really has to go and experience it for him/herself. The entire stretch of 1081 is 40km long and it takes awhile to finish, but man this is such an electrifying ride that sampling it only once is simply not an option. I duly turned around near the end and rode all the way back to the start, and then U-turned to savour the road all over again. Suffice to say that 1081 is possibly the very best riding road in Thailand. 

Throughout the ride I stayed on gear 2 & 3 to fully utilise the bike's powerband, the CB650R's 94hp is more than enough and its linear power delivery typical of an inline 4 makes it such a thrill to ride fast. The old saying that it's better to ride a slow bike fast rather than the other way is absolutely true.  

'Curve number 3', because it literally looks like the number '3'

The magnificent 1081

After that good bit of morning exercise I reached the little village of Bo Kluea and had some really yummy spiced pork and glutinous rice beside Hello Bokluea Coffee & View restaurant. Then it's on towards route 1256 which is the road on the other side of the loop. Compared to 1081 it's narrower, more tortuous and climbs higher. At the top there's a viewpoint at 1715 metres high, which sees many tourists as well as a group of Italian riders. Due to the elevation the temperature was so pleasant and comfortable even in mid day. View was nice enough and it's a pleasant rest stop.

The subsequent downhill section of 1256 was not in the best condition with areas of loose stones and gravels particularly at the braking zones. Adding to that it rained properly for awhile before subsiding into a drizzle. I was riding slowly and focused on keeping the bike upright as these OEM tyres are pretty hopeless in the wet. The road surface looks glazed over too, and with most of Thailand's roads the top surface of the tarmac is finished with fine stone chips not offering a great deal of grip. Thankfully the rain only affected a particular section of the road and the rest including all of 1081 remained dry for the whole day.

 

Down at the plains temperature rose a little so I had a nice cup of ice coffee by the riverside to cool myself. 

Ice coffee at Kham Pet noodle shop.

Completing the loop I reached the start point of 1081 yet again. Obviously there's no reason not to do it once more so I rode it the 4th time today until the shrine at midway point. It's really such a fantastic road that one can never get tired of riding it, no matter how many times.

Tonight at Nan there was a huge and lively night market that occupies the entire road in the middle of the city. There's live music at every corner, with magnificent old temples standing tall just behind the market, the city truly came alive. It seemed like the whole town was there too, such was the crowd. During my previous ride here I came in the middle of the week hence did not see this side of Nan, however this time the city has utterly charmed me. When I come here again I'll spend some time to explore the city properly.

 

DAY 5

Today I leave the playground of Nan and head back to Chiang Mai via a series of B roads. Based off memory I was expecting to just have some fun on route 120 however the roads have other plans for me. 

Beginning the ride early morning the weather was cold but once the sun rose it became a comfortable cool ride. Riding out of Nan via 1091 I was very surprised to find such a breathtaking piece of road, I had totally forgotten about it from before. It throws you magnificent corners after corners, all of which with flawless tarmac and zero traffic. When I reached route 1251 the greatness of the road continues with never ending stream of beautiful curves. I was totally blown away by them and would say that these 2 roads stand head and shoulders alongside the fabled 1081 and 1148. There's no higher praise for a road than that.

Reaching Phayao I turned to route 120 towards Chiang Mai. The road became a 2 lane hill climb with high speed, sweeping, 3rd-4th gear corners and flawless tarmac (notice that it's a theme in Thailand), all with nonexistent traffic which transformed it into a racetrack. I likened it to the ride up to Genting Highland but with perfect surface and no traffic. In some ways it’s even more fun than the roads in past few days as this is a wide 2 lane road with lots of room for error hence one can be more relaxed when blasting through these corners at full speed. It certainly gave me the fizz even when sitting here in Singapore 8 months later writing about it.

Reaching Mae Kachan hot springs I had KFC for lunch at a large petrol station & rest stop area with 7-11 and Amazon coffee before taking route 118 to enter Chiang Mai. As if I haven't have enough of fun already 118 showed me that northern Thailand truly is a rider's paradise. On my previous trip the 118 was full of roadworks hence when I was presented with this freshly paved 2 lane highway with endless series of fast 4th-5th gear corners that lasts for a good 50km, I was awestruck. It's Thailand's version of the legendary Karak highway but with much less traffic and elevation changes.  

As I cruised into Chiang Mai basin the subsequent section of 118 became a 2 lane straight road that heads right into the city centre. The traffic gradually became heavier as I entered the city and I checked in at the excellent Sleep Mai hotel just 10 metres away from my bike rental shop. As with every previous trips here I ended my tour by riding up Doi Suthep temple to give thanks to the local deity. The road uphill although pretty good has a slippery glazed look to it and low grip, adding to it the corners were more technical. The temple itself was crowded as usual but always a pleasant place to be at, with unobstructed view over the entire city.  

Riding back into the city I hit rush hour traffic which was pretty bad with standstill at various places. CB650R being a fantastic city bike (literally what 'CB' stands for) filtered and weaved through traffic with ease thanks to its superb steering lock, manoeuvrability and low speed composure. Returning the bike at 5:10pm I recorded down the total mileage and fuel consumption which was 1494km and 78.3L or fuel in total. Out of 1494km probably 1400 of those were curves, such is northern Thailand, truly a rider's paradise.

Overall this is one of the best riding trips that I've had. As I gain more riding experience every ride here is better than the last. As of writing (August 2023) I'm in midst of planning another ride to Mae Hong Son and Nan, but this time with my friends who have not ridden here before. One thing for sure they'll all be blown away.

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Top roads:

1. 1081- heaven on earth, simply sublime

2. 1148- as good as the 1081

3. 120- 2 lane high speed hillclimb

4. 118- Thailand's version of Karak highway

5. 1169, 1091 & 1251- phenomenal roads in their own right

LY