I hope you are heading along the '120' ??
Looks like a fun bit of bitumen to finish off

Damn you Lonerider, now you have got me looking up airfares
Thanks to your RR, I will be heading north east next trip, via CM of course

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Just landed in CM, yes went up the 120, great little road to finish on, will finish RR later, food and in order
Don't blame me for all the money you spend

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The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Had a good breakfast at the Cosy Nest before I left on my last leg of a good 36 day journey.
It was Phayao to Chiang Mai using the 120 and the 118.

Day 36, last day, Phayao to Chiang Mai by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Day 36, the last day, Phayao to Chaing Mai by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1890 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1892 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1894 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1896 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1898 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1908 by Wayne 66, on Flickr
Just for you Bucket1960

On the route I stopped off at the Tad Tong Waterfall, coords N19.07005 E99.72940, which was just off the main road. Only a little one but it was nice, there was a family living there who did food and coffee etc, so I had a brew and relaxed for a bit. I was in no rush.

IMG_1899 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1902 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1904 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1907 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

I also passed through a town and on the hill in the distance I could see a big temple stupa, which was Wat Prachaoluang, coords N19.20725 E99.49144, so I went there for a visit, very nice and the view from the top was awesome, you could see for miles even thought there was a fine layer of fog or what ever it was.

IMG_1912 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1921 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1914 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1918 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1923 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1925 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1932 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1935 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1937 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

In another town there was a really old looking temple made of stone and wood, coords N19.11596 E99.46385, so that was another stop done with more photos.

IMG_1940 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1941 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1943 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1944 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1947 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1949 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1952 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

So all in all a good last ride with things to see, good scenery and great roads.
Arrived back at CM and straight to Riders Corner so sort things out ready to hand the bike in tomorrow.

Wayne

Conclusion to follow shortly

What a fantastic journey you have had Lonerider
You have certainly shown me the way to do a blog properly & backed it up with some awesome photos & co-ordinates

Thanks for taking us poor people along for the ride

Now, what the hell am I going to do with my spare time the missus will probably want me to pick up a paintbrush or something silly again
Cheers Wayne

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Glad you enjoyed travelling with me, I enjoyed posting it. Conclusion to follow. I have enjoyed the comments

Don't blame me for you having to do the decorating hahaha



Thanks again

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Well what can I say….Its been an amazing trip and I have been in touch with and met some really wonderful people. Fellow travellers and locals alike. I have been made warmly welcomed in both the countries I have visited.

Firstly I would like to thank Phil at Riders Corner and C&P bike rental, both in Chiang Mai for the bike hire to allow me to do it in the first place, secondly thanks to family and friends for checking up on me and all who have followed, commented and met up with me, its been fantastic.

The Full Route, all 5054Km:3158mile by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The full route

Back to the conclusion…….I travelled a total of 5054 Km as the speedo had 500km on it when I got the bike so in real terms 3158 miles in 36 days and by no means was that rushed.

IMG_1953 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

The roads were sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes I wondered why they called it a road when its a single track and your fighting your way through trees and undergrowth. But whatever state the road/track was in the scenery was superb all the time, around every corner there was a different view, including a closeup of the tarmac
The people who I met everyday on my travels, locals and other people from all corners of the globe were outstanding. Warm, welcoming people everywhere. Only really had one run in at the Chinese market in Oudomxai, where there were 3 Chinese taking the p*ss because I was trying to explain that I only wanted a small bag of Nescafe 3in1, I kept picking up 'falang' (foreigner) but it wasn't what they were saying it was the tone, so they they put in the picture rather sharply, my tone said it all, falang from Chinese in Laos, Ummmmmm haha. Otherwise I cant fault the helpfulness, hospitality and friendliness of any others.

The Bike.
A CRF250L, never let me down once even after been slid down the road on top of me and dropped in the mud on the hardest day I had between Muang Sing and Houayxai, although it did break. A great little thing and all I did was oil the chain every other day and do basis checks. The oil level stayed spot on as did the rest of the machine. It pulled me over some very rough enduro type terrain and breezed me down some very good roads. If I had to pick a fault it would be that it could do with a little more torque as it did struggle sometimes when going up steep or long uphill tracks and roads. But maybe thats because I used to own the CRF250X which was a outright enduro beast. Oh and I would fit a bigger tank if I owned my own haha. When I handed the bike in I was billed 400 Bht for a lever and the gear selector, it was to be expected as I had damaged bits but it was great not to get ripped off in the process I would really recommend using C&P either direct or through Phil, I have details if anyone wants them. C&P provided all the paperwork to cross border, which went smoothly.

The Gear.
As I said at the beginning of the RR I was going to use my own gear. The reason….I knew it all fit, was serviceable and was comfy, enough said…..Fox offroad helmet and goggles. Had the GoPro mount on the helmet. Light weight offroad shirts, glad I had two as one was shredded when I slid down the road. On that note I had full offroad body armour, arms, chest, shoulder and back. It came in handy twice and has the scars to prove it. One pair of offroad trousers which got binned as they too bore scars of tarmac rash. Knee protectors, they came in handy more than once, O'neil motocross boots and a pair of short leather enduro type gloves. Yes it was a bit nippy on a morning the further north I went, but it was great when the sun came out.

Mapping, Gps, Getting about.
I did go with a loose plan and a route, I also did a fair bit of research on the areas I would have like to have visited and what to see and do once I got there. I say would liked to have visited because as I said early on in the RR, no plan survives first contact. Two days bad weather, coming off on diesel totally blew my plan of going to Phonsaly and on to the Northern most point in Laos. But hey, adapt and overcome.
For the maps I used the German made Reizen maps of both Laos and Thailand. I found them to be good but lacking in some tracks due to the scale, but they were a good source of confirming with the GPS
The GPS is a Garmin Montana 600 which worked really well and has an awesome battery life. I was getting between 14 and 16 hours per charge. The battery is rechargeable but if you really get stuck you could use AA batteries in it. I did not use any Garmin mapping at all, instead I went with OSM from Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap, I found it to be good but again not all of the tracks were on it and I sometimes found myself riding on a blank screen on the Montana. I would use the OSM again for other areas of the world. All my plotting was done on the Garmin basecamp programme on my Mac which was then automatically transferred to the Montanna as I plug it directly into my Mac rather than remove the micro SD card all the time.

Bits and Pieces.
I had the GoPro Hero4 mounted on my helmet, what a great bit of kit, only problem is battery life is only about two hours. Will take a spare battery on the next journey.
All the photos were taken with my iPhone 4S which was donated to me by a mate as he had got a new one
I also carried a windows phone which I used for putting Thai and Laos sim cards in, with internet. I just liked the fact I had most kinds of comms in most places, you never know!?
I also got myself a rechargeable recharging device which worked on both my phones and the GoPro, although it was ultra slow at charging the GoPro on the road, worked well with the phones.
CamelBak, really glad I took it along, needed it no end in some of the places I rode. I kept it in a daysack along with my tools for the bike and puncture repair kit
Mac Air 13inch, I took this with me as it is relatively small, robust, light and has a superb battery life. The reason I went with the 13 inch rather than the 11 was, I prefer a bigger screen and the 13 has a SD card slot.
Wolfman tank saddlebags bought from Advspec.com, glad I brought these with me, good for carrying spare gloves, goggles, small food items etc.
Oxford Hump visor carrying bumbag, Not that I had a visor but it was good for the phones, passport, wallet, earplugs etc and whenever I left the bike it was all with me
Oxford Gold disc lock, good for piece of mind.
A small powerful torch which came in very handy more than once (spare batteries)
Carried a hammock that can also be used as a hooped tent complete with a mozzie net which I acquired from Brake who is on the rideasia site. Better to have than need. Just incase I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for whatever reason

Monies.
On food, accommodation and fuel I reckon I spent about 1300 GPB, thats excluding the first and last week in BKK. The bike was 36000 Bht (1000 a day) so about 728 GPB on todays exchange rate. That equates to just over 20 GPB a day, not bad really. I left 20000 Bht or about 500 GPB as a deposit which is now the spending money in BKK.

Regrets.
None at all, it was all just awesome, even when I was struggling with the terrain sometimes. Just wish I had got to Phonsaly and right up north

Arrived BKK at 0700hrs and went to the hotel I was in when I first got here. Got a great room. As I was here really early I couldn't get in to my room till 1000hrs, so went out to wander the streets, went for a full english then found a nice salon and went in for a pamper, haircut and shave, they even did ear, nose and eyebrow hair, sorted, feel like a new man, metaphorically speaking of course

IMG_1971 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1970 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1974 by Wayne 66, on Flickr



Just a few extras, sorry to use that word, maybe its because I am in BKK now

IMG_1895 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1815 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1756 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1819 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1649 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1609 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1557 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0946 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0930 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0890 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0524 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0474 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0397 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_0366 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Any questions, queries etc I will get back to you as best I can, but its now time to chill in BKK for a few days before heading back to the normal turmoil we call life, roll on my next trip.


Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Mate.

Was this from the shop that has all the ice cream cakes in a fridge out front and a heap of wierd dwarf statues in the corner?
My bro and I had an afternoon coffee there... so much cakey decadence!

__________________
IN TIMES OF TRIAL AND ADVERSITY... LOOK HARD, LEAN HARDER, AND OPEN THE THROTTLE WIDE.
"WHEN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ARRIVES, WILL YOU BE READY? WILL YOU REALLY???"

Awesome, you found the Hub! Alan is a crazy dude. Did you toe wrestle? Did he tell the tale of how he rode a bicycle around the world... and did he drink more than EVERYONE else in the pub? Did you get to meet his little fella Mario?

Like yourself I stayed on the river, but I promised myself that next time I would stay at the hub Bunkhouse!

__________________
IN TIMES OF TRIAL AND ADVERSITY... LOOK HARD, LEAN HARDER, AND OPEN THE THROTTLE WIDE.
"WHEN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ARRIVES, WILL YOU BE READY? WILL YOU REALLY???"

Yes mate I think it was, the cake was great after loads of rice and noodle haha

Wayne



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Alan was great, no toe wrestle though, yeah met his son and his lovely wife May
Had a great Christmas with them all.
When I came back from Laos he was not there so had a natter to May .
Hope u enjoyed the read mate

Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Hello Lonerider
Thanks for getting me through some long days at work and well done on what was obviously a brilliant trip, great to see that you didn't just talk the walk. Hopefully one of these days we'll be able to get that pint of Guinness together somewhere on our travels.

Rigs94

Glad you enjoyed the read Rigs. It was an awesome trip, yeah a pint would be good, always time for a haha
Back in BKK at the moment till around mid March just chilling with some good company!

Cheers
Wayne


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__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Mate. How amazing was this? When I was over in 2013, I sat on the verandah(I think in the motel next to yours!) about 1 am with a Sang Som in hand, looking over the Mekong at the lights of the town across the water.
It was THAT moment that I vowed I would be back, for longer, and get over the border into Laos.
I am just over a month away! Excitement grows. I am going to apologise to YOU and everyone else now. You travelled many of the roads I was looking at and areas I have not seen yet.
My mission will be to get photos different to yours! But you have pointed out some amazing places that I am now pencilling in.

I think my RR will have to be called "NO! I am not following Lone Rider!"

CHAOS!

__________________
IN TIMES OF TRIAL AND ADVERSITY... LOOK HARD, LEAN HARDER, AND OPEN THE THROTTLE WIDE.
"WHEN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ARRIVES, WILL YOU BE READY? WILL YOU REALLY???"

Thanks for the comments, yes it was an amazing trip. I have just got back to the UK from BKK, otherwise we could have had a pint if you were coming into BKK. because I have been in BKK since apart from about 4 weeks in the UK. As I said, the only regret was not getting up to Phonsaly and up to the Chinese Border, but due to bad weather and having an off I didn't make it. If you are wearing motocross gear my only bit of advice would be to take a long-sleeved undergarment to put on under your gear, as I was a bit chilly in the mornings the further North I went.
I will be following your Ride report with great jealousy

Cheers

Wayne

__________________
The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Wayne,
Thanks for all the info. you posted.
I searched high and low for this kind of info. Exactly the trip I had envisioned. I thought of starting in BKK and your approach to busing to Chiang Mai is brillent. Bookmarked the thread and have a good amount of time to research before I leave Feb. 3rd thru 19th.
Cheers and good going!