'Thailand Motorbike Tour ( from the east to the north and down to the south )'
In 1993 I made a motorbike tour across Thailand. I started in the east of Thailand, the so called Isan, were I visited some of my friends in Ban Dung a small village near the border to Laos.
Here, that's me and the motorbike in front of a house were we sleeped at night.
The village was about 90km east of Udon Thani where I bought the motorbike. The first trouble I had was to register the bike to get a number-plate. At the end it was not possible to get one, so I decided to drive without and I had no trouble at all about this. Amazing Thailand. The bike was a Honda AX-1 cc250 and this bike run and run and run. It was not too big for off-road, even with the baggage and for the tour the best choice and I had not one brake down at all.
Top you see the bike and left a typical house of the Isan and two Isan-tractors :).
From Udon Thani I drove first to Nakon Phanom and from there than along the Mae-Nam-Kong River (the mother of water). This river is also the border to Laos and I hit gen north to Nong Khai and over Loei, Utaradit to Chiang-Mai.
Because driving on the big roads isn't so exciting I tried all the time driving on small roads. One story happened on the way to Utaradit I'll never forget. I drove from Loei in the mountains near the border to Laos up and up and the roads get smaller and smaller. First it was asphalt-roads but this change after a while. Then the last village was also about more than one hour ago when I came to a village were nobody stayed and a lot of the houses was burned and it was like a ghost-town and I got a bad feeling. Actually I got very scared as I saw after the village on the roadside a few guys standing with loincloth and Thai-turban and there had very old gun's with so a long barrel.
There looked at me and standing motionless but this made me even more scared. I had absolutely no idea where I was but the only thing what I wanted from now on was not going up anymore. Going back was also not possible because the last village with people was too far away to make it with the gas what was left in the tank. So I drove ahead trying to go down. On a crossroads a while later and I got already worry about the gas, stand again so a strange gay but this time I didn't see the gun. And I stopped to ask him for a village with gasoline. He looked at me like I was crazy but told me that a few kilometers more up the hill I will find what I looking for. Actually I didn't trust he but I had no choice also, but he told the true and I found the village and got gasoline ( 1:25 tow-tact gas but who cares in this situation).
Then I drove only down and when I passed by the place where the guy stands he was gone and I happy. Down and down the mountains and finally the road got better and asphalt again and then, this was also happened along the Mae-Kong-River that from time to time and on intersections army had road blocks, I came to one and actually this was the first time in my life I was happy to see soldiers.
They stopped me or I stopped I don't remember and I asked for the way to Utaradit. But I not forget the face and what they told me after I explained to them from where I came because they asked me this. When they heard that I came from the mountains they shaking the head and told me that they not go there or only with a lot of soldier, because this area is occupied by rebel who flee from China and that I must be a lucky bastard nothing happened to me and - I guess I was.
When I came to Chiang-Mai I also drove around a lot and I stayed for around three weeks and drove there around up to the golden-triangle region in the Chiang-Rai area. It's very nice in the mountains of Chiang Mai - Chinag-Rai. Elephant villages, dschungel, the mountain-people poppy-fields, water-falls, hot-springs and a lot more to see. And driving motorbike on winding roads or dust-roads is also fun.
From Chiang-Mai I drove to Mae-Hong-Song and back and over Pitsanalok, Uhtai Thani, Lop Buri to Bangkok and from there over Hua Hin to Ban-Sapan a small village near Chumphon. I read in the Bangkok-Post that in Ban-Sapan is one of the longest beaches in Thailand, so I liked to take a look at this and it was really amassing. A small fisher-village with a few bungalow resorts on one side the beach and the other side the mountain, the border to Burma. A big Buddha on a mountain, gold-fields, caves and a really pretty large beach without any tourists.
Here on the Beach-road at Ban-Sapan on the way to the Big Buddha in the mountains in front. On a beach like this I could not resist and drove along the water. That's real fun. But, sometimes also a little bit tricky. On the right photo you see what I mean.
From Ban Sapan I drove to Ko-Samui, a famous Island in the gulf of Thailand, where I stayed also about 3 weeks. Beach fire, guitars, barbecue, and small bungalow directly on the beach, boot-trips in the marine-park and to Ko-Phangan famous for the full moon party's. A lot of backpack-tourists, waterfalls in the dschungle and a lot more. At Ko-Samui I made a lot of tours by feed in the dschungle and when I was bored of beach and to do nothing I was on the way to Had Yai and to Malaysia down the road No.4.
Utaradit
After one week in Had Yai, this is also an exciting place and a trip to Malaysia to Penang I went over Krabi to Ko-Phuket the famous island of Thailand in the Andaman Sea.
boot-trip Pi-Pi Island
Phuket is a very nice island and the largest in Thailand. I had friends who living in Patong-Beach so I visit them first and stayed there for a while. With the bike I explored the island. With the boot I made some trips to Pi-Pi Island and to the mangroves nearby Krabi.