Wednesday 30 May 2018

Mae Ping to Salawin National Park Camping

Day 2
After little sleep in Mae Ping due to the lighting storm it was off to the Salawin NP camping just outside Mae Sariang, the day turned out to longer than we expected covering 466 km.






A tentative ride back to the 106 after the rains.















Once on the 106 things quickened up although in some places the road was slippery as hell.












After a lunch stop for a Thai pizza in Ban Tak it was back the glorious 1175 which for once is was in pretty good condition.






One of the many huge Buddha images being created up and down Thailand at the moment.









Feeling weary time for a coffee stop.






And for Johnny a wee nap.






Heading north now on the 105 towards Mae Sariang getting late in the day.




 

We arrived at Salawain NP after a bit of searching very few signs to indicate the place even with a gps it was a nightmare, the park guide was a little surprised to see us arrive so late and was charged the Thai rate on producing our pink ID cards.



The guard pointed us towards the camping area, pretty enough place but they had no facilities other than toilets and showers. It was several km back to town to collect drinking water and other essentials and we voted to pass on camping and stop the night in Mae Sariang and save this place for another day.



It had been a long day, 11 hours all in and the prospect of a cozy bed for the night was too tempting for us all, an early night was in order for another long day ahead to Ban Rak Thai.....

Sunday 27 May 2018

Mae Ping National Park Camping

Day one of a four day three night camping trip with the guy's from Chiang Mai, as we are well and truly into the dry season we hoped for nice cool dry nights camping over a few beers whilst enjoying some of the best roads in the area, the first night was to be Mae Ping National Park.

The whole loop would take in the MHS Loop in a clockwise direction covering just under 1700 km, well for me anyway.

The ride down from Chiang Rai is a lengthy one of around 370 km, it doesn't get interesting until you're nearing the national park.

Trying to bypass all the traffic i stumbled across this aircraft graveyard near Bo Sang

 

Even had a Thai Airways plane i wonder how they shipped them here and did the owner just purchase them for scrap or some wild theme park idea.

The route south along the 106 is not the most interesting route, but it is the quickest and the odd point of interest along the way.

Making the turn onto the 1087 got more interesting, this looked like an interesting place to spend some time.

At last some mountains coming into view and with it darker skies.

Always a Christian church to be found in the middle of nowhere trying to force religion onto the uneducated ethnic people.

The entrance to the Mae Ping park.

Having never been here before i was surprised how much it had to offer.

Very friendly park rangers.

Sadly dual pricing here, but my pink ID card got me Thai prices since i'm a resident.

Small restaurant centre picture.

Generally most parks are well managed, this one was having some road resurfacing done in readiness for the high season.

Wat Phra Yuen in the small village of Ban Ko Chatsan.

Turn for one of the waterfalls in the region.

The storm that had been following me since the turn was making this section a tad slippy as i headed to the campsite area.

Reaching the camping area, the views are spectacular over the Kaeng Ko Reservoir which is fed by the Ping River

The other arrived moments later and we pitched up to the sound of thunder over the range across the water.

The impending storm headed south, we had the place to ourselves and checked out the facilities.

A couple of floating restaurants and floating houseboats in the distance.

A small store which produced some welcome warm food and cold beer.

Clear skies, we hoped for a dry night.

Very nice sunset to round off a good days riding.

Justin carefully making his way over the woodpile bridge as we made ready with our cameras for an early bath.

That night a huge thunderstorm went over us making for a sleepless night, plus the farang hungry mosquitos had made a meal of me.

We broke camp in the rain and headed for our next destination the Salawin NP and some of the fun riding you can find.

Visiting the Mlabri (Yellow Leaf People)

One year now since our friend Auke passed away suddenly, I promised Sieste (Aukes son) that we on Ride Asia would do our best to honour thi...