Bike Touring the remote North of Thailand #43

Bike Touring the remote North of Thailand #43

Initially we planned to cycle the famous Mae 
Hong Son loop in the Northwest of Thailand   before riding our bicycles into Laos. However, after completing the first stage of this
highly popular motorcycle route from Chiang Mai to Pai, we decided to shake things up. While we enjoyed the comforts and
amenities of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pai, we long for a more authentic
and adventurous experience. So, over the course of this episode we 
climb excruciatingly steep roads along the remote northern Thai / Myanmar 
border, meet very kind people,   sleep in temples and eventually reach Chiang 
Rai, and later the Mekong river and Lao border. Join us, as we turn off Highway 1095 
and into the lush and thick rainforest. Oh my gosh!
Ah! *moaning This minor road leads through the remote
north of Hua Nam Dang National Park and you have to scroll-in the map all the way to see it. On the upside there is pretty much no traffic and over
the next two days we will certainly learn why. Yes, this is one of the episodes with
a lot of moaning, but bear with us. In our experience extreme effort is usually worth it! Also, over the past 6 weeks we barely cycled and
instead focused on eating delicious Thai food as well as editing videos in between
the inevitable food comas. This did not exactly help our fitness and with 34° Celsius
this is a fairly hot November day early in the dry season. Sawadee Kha *hello in Thai Oh my gosh!
Sh**!  No!!! Oh la la… Today we should at least reach Ban Muang 
Noi, a tiny village just 26 kms northeast of Pai. 26 kms with a staggering 900 
metres of climb and 750 m of descent. Followed by another 26 kms with 970 m elevation 
gain and 900 metres descent the following day that comes down to roughly 3600 m
of elevation gain per 100 km, a lot of it on gravel, especially on day two.  For reference, the Pamir Highway has an average 
elevation gain of just 1450 metres per 100 kms. Oh my gosh! By the way, this road is also part of 
the Lanna Kingdom bikepacking route. This is most certainly the 
steepest road we’ve ever done. I mean…This is 20% on average. Why?!
Why is this like this?! Well, building the road on top of the ridgeline   is probably the cheapest way to 
make it survive the wet season. Anyways, we are pouring sweat like crazy to no avail. Due to the thickness of the
forest there is barely any wind that could help with the evaporation
and thus cooling down our bodies. What an astounding landscape
and eco-system that is. It hasn’t rained in weeks, the sun is searing,
yet it is green as far as the eye can see. It looks so peaceful. To imagine how much harder it must have been to cross these seemingly endless forests without this road boggles my mind. Just for us humans of course,
not for the native inhabitants. According to the Thai Department of National 
Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation all sorts of animals, ranging from cute squirrels 
and gibbons, to porcupines and the sambar deer,   but also cobras, boas, wild boars, as well 
as elephants, tigers and even bears call Huai Nam Dang National Park their home. 
Let’s hope we don’t meet the scary ones. In the late afternoon about two thirds 
into the second big climb of the day   I am pretty much done. I am dizzy and 
completely exhausted. I can barely move. Only a handful of cars and some locals 
on motorcycles passed us all day. I’m alone in the jungle next to the border of Myanmar. We did 20 kms by now and these were 
the hardest 20 kms probably ever. Iinsane!  Actually I feel a little bit dizzy, so may be 
just like Arev I should have had hopped on that 4×4 pick up truck, because she was 
suffering really badly today and so we decided it was not possible for her to 
continue to the next village and we don’t have enough water to camp somewhere here, 
because we drank pretty much all of it, so… This is what’s left.
I’m almost at the top now. It’s maybe 5 more kms for me, mostly downhill.
So I will make it before the sun sets. But it’s good to be back on the road,
even though the first day is rough. Oh, sh**! Holy moly! Oh, sh**! I finally reach the only settled area, Ban 
Muang Noi in the heart of the national park. Wow!
Oh my gosh! Wow! The area looks stereotypically 
Southeast Asian to me.  A beautiful karst landscape with dramatic 
rocks overlooking rice paddies left and right. You made it! Hey baby! Come here!
You are a sweetie… How are you? Close to passing out the last meters. I think now I feel a little 
bit like you felt before. In the beginning it was going downhill and I 
thought maybe I should have stayed with you. It was so beautiful.  It was beautiful, yes!
But then… Shawadee Khap.
Khap Kun Khap. Oh, what a day! I was feeling 
terrible and I wasn’t able to cycle. It was just not my day and the last five kms 
a pick up truck took me to the next village. There I asked the monks if we could camp here.  This is so amazing! This shelter 
has a toilet and bucket shower. They even organized dinner for us. A horrible day with a nice end. The village slowly awakes starting
with the morning twilight. We slept well, but I had some muscle cramps
during the night. Too much sweating. Today it should be somewhat cooler as we will 
climb to 1400 metres above sea level. Shortly after sunrise the 
monks do their morning alms. They are selling breakfast as well, I think.
Let’s check this one out.  Although there is not a lot of variety, we manage 
to buy some simple yet affordable and yummy food. Good morning!
Another tough day is ahead of us. So today the climb will be even 
more brutal than yesterday, because yesterday it was split in two parts 
and today it’s just one very very steep climb. 15 kms long, just going up up up,
hitting easily 20% inclination a lot of the time. By the way, sorry for the 
squeaking that I am doing.  It’s my new suspension seatpost and 
I don’t know why… I put so much oil and grease everywhere, but it’s still squeaking. We knew that this road would be 
brutal with our heavy bicycles.   However, crossing this National Park 
was the only alternative apart from continuing the busy Mae Hong Son 
loop or riding back to Chiang Mai. Going back the same way is 
of course never an option. It is so beautiful here. We can 
only hear nature, birds chirping. It’s really worth it… Well, and the squeaking of my saddle of course… Oh my god, this is so painful.
It’s so steep. It’s crazy! They don’t build switchbacks really.
Most of the time they are just like   “let’s go this way”…bam…
it’s absolutely mental! And this with the temperature and humidity. Who builds roads like this…  Why?!
Oh my god! Forget it!  Really… After the Pamir Highway we thought there 
can’t be anything worse, but this is horrible! This is so tough, this is so steep! I wouldn’t imagine this! Go, Mathi! It’s brutal! Absolutely brutal!  But we are almost at the top. 
Only 200 metres of climb. Oh no! Come on! That’s a joke! Why?! That’s so mean, when you think you did it – 
the worst of the day – and then you didn’t. Come on! Ok, it is a small one at least! This is so painful! I am so done! Oh, gosh! Please! I really hope we are done! I think we did it! We are at the top! Yes! Finally! Let’s go and have some …late lunch! After our first two brutal climbing days we are now
rapidly descending 700 metres in under 10 kms. It is so steep that our rim brakes overheat quickly. Hello!
Sawadeekrab! It seems like there is a 
celebration at the temple. Hello!
Sawadeekrab! We hoped to find shelter
at the local temple again, but there are some big festivities
going on in this Wat. We were thinking to ask if we 
can maybe sleep somewhere here.  We have a tent.
Camping… We have a tent…
We are very tired, we went through   the mountains and we need a place to sleep. Is it possible to put the tent somewhere here? Just for 1 night, we have the tent… You are coming from Pai? Yes, we are coming from 
Pai, through the mountains. Excuse me, I only speak a little English… Is today a special day? Man dead… Oh, someone died… you can see… A monk died… Yes, a monk died. Sawadeekrab! Unfortunately we couldn’t stay in the temple 
we intended to. They had a funeral ongoing. There were too many people everywhere 
and he said “sorry, not possible today”. So we cycle another 5 kms 
and will ask in the next one. In this remote region almost no 
touristic infrastructure exists.   We had heard from other cyclists that 
in Thailand it is possible to camp at ranger and police stations, and most temples 
will allow you to stay the night as well. Arrive before sunset, and find a 
monk to politely ask for permission. Turns out, temples provide fantastic
conditions for us – cyclists. To be able to hold festivities during the rainy season
they usually have these massive roofed areas, as well as squat toilets with a
huge bucket for taking a shower. There is even light and electricity.
What more could we wish for? The next day we take it super slow and after a couple of kilometres we find
a cute cafe on the side of the road. Exhausted as we are,
we decide to take a rest day. In the late afternoon when we want to continue the owners insist that we stay the night and even invite us for dinner. You take the boat? Maybe, yes. Laos? Laos, yes. Maybe the boat to Lao Prabang. Luang Prabang. Thank You! How is “Khop Khun Ka” in German? Cheers! *Thai Vielen Dank! *German Thank you! *in German With great food and company we
spend a lovely evening together and help them to register their new
homestay on a booking platform. Oh   this is so easy! It’s asphalt. Now this is an interesting mountain village. Maybe they are of a minority that is not buddhist? We’ll see… First – food! After another long day of cycling along the 
Thai – Myanmar border we reach Ban Kae Noi. Is this chicken or pork? Is this a coconut shake? One?
One! Not exactly what I expected. I guess we take what we get. It’s not so bad. A little difficult to eat though. Cheers! *Thai Thank you! What is it?
It’s good! It is pretty strong.
It is definitely strong,   but the taste is good. What is this made from? Rice. Did you make it yourself? So this is from sticky rice, he made it himself 
and it’s pretty strong, but the taste is good! The translation is not good, 
but I think you should also come and drink. Thank you! That was very necessary to get our bellies filled. And it was very tasty. Yummy food. It seems like this village could be 
from a Chinese minority. It looks very different, also very poor to be honest. We are now looking for a place to stay for the night,
because it’s already almost 4 pm and there is no way that we can make it to the next bigger village, which is 1000 metres of climb and 30 kms away. And it looks like there is absolutely nothing 
in between, so we need to buy water, some food… Gasoline? We need something for breakfast… After some groceries shopping we look for 
the next temple. After all, this is Thailand. Hello! *Thai  We are bicycling and are 
searching for a place to sleep. Camp.
Can we camp here?  There?
Thank you! *Thai I’m not sure if he means here or in the front.
I’ll wait and see what he really means. We can camp inside or here outside.   Where do we want to camp?
Well, inside we can dry the tent. Thank you! Thank you! With the Buddha…! The air is a little bit heavy inside, but it will be warm and
maybe we can finally dry our tent and the sleeping bags. Very nice! We ate! We ate in the restaurant! Soup!
Thanks! *Thai Water?
Thank you! Desperate times need desperate measures.
Dry… We also bought dinner for the monk, which he 
politely accepts and then feeds to the dogs. What we had not realised is that Thai Buddhist 
monks may only eat between dawn and midday, basically inventing intermittent fasting. I have been looking for weeks now, because we 
forgot my brilliant hat that I had bought in Iran, we forgot it in Kazakhstan
or Kyrgyzstan actually. I was suffering a little bit, but now
I found one and it has this mesh, so the air can stream through
and my head doesn’t get too hot. Hello!
How much is this? 100? Ok! Try it on! Which way? Where to? This way! Thank you! Yesterday night we stayed in that tiny 
monastery in Ban Ke Noi, the village down there. It’s very interesting here, because it seems that 
a lot of people here are from a Chinese minority. A lot of them seem to be christian. There is a church down there in the
village playing the “Silent Night” tune, and I just realized it’s December, so
it’s only 2 weeks from Christmas. We, however, will be in Laos for Christmas
if everything goes as planned. For that we need to cross into these mountains
today, another 1000 metre climb, it’s very hot, because the sun is scorching, but I got
lucky and found a new hat. Actually Arev found the hat. So it’s a good day. Let’s go! Hi… Some downhills end like this: I lost my phone and my water. I hope my phone works. Luckily it does, but has this 
really cool spiderman app now. While roads in Thailand are generally pretty good,   these are some of the most remote 
and rugged mountains of the country. Thailand gets about 40 million foreign tourists 
per year, of which literally none come here, so fixing these roads is not a priority. There is nothing much to see except ordinary,
hardworking, very friendly and genuine people, some rice paddies and loads of rain forest. Use low gear! Ok! This was the first part of us 
cycling the very North of Thailand,   literally off the beaten path. Some might call it sleepy or plainly arduous, but for us this pristine and undiscovered
backcountry is a hidden gem! Help us reach 1000 likes and we 
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Instead of cycling the very popular Mae Hong Son Loop we ride our bicycles through the relentless mountains along the Thai – Myanmar border. Part of the Lanna Kingdom Bikepacking Route the gravel road features extreme gradients and high heat and humidity make it even more challenging to go off the beaten path. Luckily we get shelter in temples and help from friendly locals.

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