April is always at best a pretty wet and humid time of the year in Northern Thailand, but a friend had just taken delivery of a new KTM 390 Duke so an excuse to get out and take turns on riding the little orange machine was in order riding to Bo Klua and the 1148. The main aim was trying select some of the most interesting stretches of road to get the most grin factor on the way to Nan district and hopefully keep dry amongst the increasing storm clouds.
Coming off the 1174 the Phu Chi Fah range ahead.
Making the turn onto the Big Dipper 4018 it wasn't looking to promising.
As we climbed beyond the 1000 metre point pine needles everywhere from the previous nights storms.
The higher we climbed the worse it became as we reached the turn for Phayaphitak park.
Riding down to the new tourist shopping area and camping area.
Side by side the V Strom and the KTM, the Duke looks tiny in comparison.
Well the viewpoint had no view and was completely deserted, i can't imagine why they spent so much money here and it remains empty.
Looks even smaller from this angle.
Making a stop at the newly refurbished sala area, my mate clearly not into culture, location N19.86463° E100.33427°
Like the camping area heaps of money spent, but i am sure it will end up in ruin like the previous sala.
I notice a couple of the rangers gathered at the buddha shrine playing the Khene, so the gave me a short (thankfully) show, i think a little too much Thai whiskey had been consumed.
Making our way back to the 4018 scenes of devastation as the storms had taken down several tree's.
Not what we had hoped for this section was very slippery.
Some of the local Hmong people making full use of the fallen pine tree's.
Dropping down into Phayaphitak village, we gave the other viewpoint a miss the village was shrouded in mist.
Magically the mist disappeared and we could enjoy the ride.
Compared to the V Strom the KTM was making short work of the hairpins.
Still some debris to content with just to keep it interesting.
Taken several pictures from this point over the years, the famous "Big Dipper" laid out before us.
Turing onto the 1093 and heading down to Phu sang.
Seems like this will never get finished...
As we was to pass the Phu Sang border point we called in to enquire on it's status, was taking to the chief immigration officer, he inform me they have no plans in the future to open this for international travellers.
The only traffic coming through convoys of trucks, doing a pretty good job of destroying the road surface on both sides.
A couple of ice cold Beer Laos, given by the border guards gratefully received.
Heading to Phu Sang waterfall, a lots of the roadway has been widened and perfect at the moment.
Phu Sang camping area, is still undergoing improvements and best avoided until later in the year.
New car park opposite, with ticket booth to extract a few baht from would be tourists.
No dramas and we meet up with the final member of the group on his Ducati and hit the 1148.
Rider switch as we enjoyed a traffic free 1148.
We made the turn onto the excellent 1097 at location N19.33042° E100.71420° which has seen some improvements.
Meeting up with Ivo Hoornstra as his suggestion at the very busy Him Wat Café for a coffee break location N19.30969° E100.86304°
Adjacent stupa at Wat Ratchada.
At this point we considered our options, we had enjoyed the 1097 so much we decided to head back the same route to the 1148 junction at make our way to the 1256.
The final section of the 1148 meeting up with the 101 has to be one of the most boring stretches of road after the twisties.
The 1256 has to be one of the best kept secrets in the region, now has a lot of resurfacing done and very little traffic complete with fantastic views.
Perfect road surface, spoilt only by the occasional tree fall.
Tamnak Chao Luang Shrine is a good stopping point and the nearby viewpoint but views on this day not the best.
The spot held little interest for my riding buddies.
From the viewpoint to Bo Klua the road is amazing.
Nicely constructed curves.
Bo Klua coming into view and perfect blue sky's.
It was a little late in the day and the chances of getting to Nan in daylight had gone so a little poke around and a visit to the salt mine.
I had stopped several times for food at the Bo Klua View Resort and the food was always excellent so after some negotiation we secured rooms for the night.
River Nam Mae Mang from the resort.
Tents available if you like that style.
Several bungalows in the grounds, but a bit of a hike to get there.
The rooms to be honest for the 1,600 baht they initially wanted are hardly worth it, although they are clean and tidy.
That night huge storms went over taking the power out for the night, not a lot of sleep to be had that evening, the river view a nice orange from the washout up river.
The forecast for the next day was horrible and the storm was overhead, we had thought about doing the 1256 again but felt sure it would be littered with debris so we made our way onto a very bleak and wet 1081 to the 1148.
The rains made for some excellent misty mountain shots but sadly not the most enjoyable ride.
Reached to PT at the head of the 1148 to dry off and made our way westwards (the best way) on the 1148 to complete our two day ride.
An enjoyable couple of days as we all agreed perfectly suited to the KTM 390 Duke, only 676 km covered but some of the best roads in the area without doubt.
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