First riding day, and for some riders the first time riding on left hand traffic.

Up into the rush hour of the morning traffic of Chiang Mai the second largest city of Thailand with 1.2 million inhabitants, this really wasn't a big deal for our group. 
The mountains are soon showing up and the road gets more twisty, at the gateway of the jungle we have our first break and enjoy best iced coffee at the lovely Bee & Rose Café in the lush green sourrounding. 
But we want more, so we enter the Khun Chae Nationalpark it offers steep valleys and a number of waterfalls and of course small roads swinging like a huge snake line thru the forest, pure riding fun! 
A short break at a lake before we stop for lunch, not at a typical restaurant no we want the authentic Thai experience so it's a small local food stand. 
On the following wide and curvy road we need to behave ourself not to ride like on a racetrack, at our last stop the Wat Tam Pha Jarui temple we can see what happens with us in hell when we commit sins. 
It was a exiciting day, and it ends with Gudruns Birthday celebration, Michael, Pablo and one of the local women are playing the guitar at the best place where you can stay in Chiang Kham. 

Oh what a Day )

First Thai boxing fight for Gudrun

Today it doesn't take us too long to get into the twisties, the Highway 1148 is a doorstep from our Hotel. Ranked as the top 10 motorcycle road of the world, and it's true we're in riding heaven it's almost no traffic on this scenic 80 km stretch the road is in perfect condition so we enjoy every curve. 
A must stop for a rider is the Highway 1148 Café, where we can buy a sticker as a souvenir or leave one to show the other riders we've been here too, and the view is outstanding. 
But it still can get better, on a bit smaller road with more tight turns we ride up and down again and again curve after curve like on a rollercoaster, before we get dizzy we stop for lunch. 
With new energy we continue on more curves, yes there's more. For our last stop Michael found a small village where truly almost never a tourist stops, there is only a small shop where we can get iced coffee we are the highlight of the village, with a big smile on all our faces we leave to our destination Nan. 
By passing the night market we have already a first impression what this lovely city has to offer, as tomorrow is our Restday so let's see who wants to ride or visit the historical sites of the city.

Not all of us are riding today, but the most of us Gudrun and Patrick staying in Nan to rest and visit the city which is also absolutly worth it. 
Before we head out the city we make a short stop at a school where we can see the ceremony which is hold before the kids are going to class, they where super excited to see us. 
The ride continues and we enter small mountain roads today it's cloudy and we enjoy cooler temperatures in the morning, there's no traffic at all on this stretch but a lot of cow leftovers and also the bushes growing already over the asphalt so this road is surely not much in use.

We stop for a picture where we can see the mountains of Laos, for lunch we had a simple but very tasty soup at a basic local restaurant. From there on we ride on smooth perfect paved roads, here we can go faster and enjoy again many many twisties. 
At the Sao Din earth pillars we have a look at this fascinating rock formations these have been created by earth crust movements, wind and rain in over million of years, what a natural phenomenon. 
After arrival in Nan we have a dip in our pool, the best thing after a long and at the end hot riding day. 

Before we leave Nan we stop for a picture at the Wat Sri Panton or Golden temple, its over 600 years old,  in and outside completely golden which makes it very unique. 

Right next to our lunch stop is the Phu Sang waterfall where some of us getting refreshed, it’s nice located in the forest with a beautiful garden. 

The roads are fun and twisty, from the forest we ride to a very small narrow jungle road where we climb up the mountain, we come to a wonderful swinging road along the slope with wonderful views and cute little villages. 

Our last stop is the Phu Chi Fa viewpoint, to get there we need to do a little hike but it’s worth the view on the top we’re also on Laos border so we’ve had one foot on each side. 

In our outstanding Hotel in Chiang Khong awaits us May with delicious dinner in this outstanding atmosphere, the Baan Sakuna Hotel isn’t just a Hotel for us it belongs to our local guides Nak and his Mom so it’s like visiting family.

Today we meet the Mekong river, on a wide big road we reach the Golden Triangle the point where Thailand meets Laos and Myanmar we have a short break for a iced coffee, turning bad luck into good with walking 3 times underneath two big elephant statues, and the huge golden Buddha statue is watching our bikes. 

Afterwards we hit the mountains, on steep hairpins we make our way up in a breathtaking sourrounding with tea and coffee  plantations all around. 

Nice twisties bringing us down where we follow again the Mekong, we can see the farmers harvesting the rice on the field worth to stop for a picture. 

Our Hotel isn’t so far and a dip in our pool or a massage in the room is on the list today after this fantastic riding day.

For the first hour we’re riding thru small villages with agriculture around a little construction side seems to block our way but a small dirt path wide enough for our bikes makes us possible to pass it, that gives us a little adventure feeling. 

We come back on a wider sweeping road where we can speed up, Michael’s favourite road is ahead a small narrow jungle track where the trees make an arch above us and we’re going steep up and down the mountain with some nice hairpins. 

We enter Elephant area today, signs show  us we should watch out for them on the road and first we find only the leftovers on it. We stop at this wonderful restaurant at the river in the middle of the jungle we order our meal and walk to the camp where the elephants are before the food comes, so that’s the moment when two elephants are walking on the road. Three Elephants are waiting for us feeding them in the camp, so we don’t want to dissapoint them until it’s time to fill our stomach with some delicious and very spicy food.

The road of 1000 curves “Highway 1095”  is ahead, 80 km full of tight turns, hairpin bends, and wide curves that’s a joy for every rider on this scenic route.

Another day in motorcycle paradise. Yesterday we did the road of the thousand curves and today we continued along the Myanmar border on the Mae Hongson loop, nearly 2000 curves. Great riding on good pavement. But the highlight was the boat trip to a Longneck village, where we had lunch. What an experience!

Our last riding day back to Chiang Mai. Still a lot of riding fun on twisty roads through the Thai mountains. Lunch at an impressive waterfall. City traffic in Chang Mai, very hot too, but we made it!

Thanks to a wonderful group. See you again.