A guid new year tae ane and awe

 Sitting writing this on Hogmanay in a very hot Mae Hon Son so to recap over the last week, here goes:

We got up which was a good start to a Saturday morning and loaded our Honda 125s then went for breakfast, the traffic in Chiang Mai is a bit manic and we were both bit worried. I started off by leaving the sidestand down, newbie mistake!

Eventually we made our way out of the massive upban sprawl , several near misses and a lot of swearing later we entered the Doi Inthanon national park which cost us 640 baht which is around £15. We met a fellow biker who spoke to us, being on lowly 125s we were surprised, he spoke good English and had a local tan but transpired he was from Afghanistan and lived in Norway for 30 years since he left his homeland as a child, super nice guy, offered us somewhere to stay in Norway the next time we are there, does track days on a sv650 in Norway.

The warden at the entrance shouted something about be careful of brakes. Then we began the climb up the mountain, the brakes are a joke and there is no power, i was down to first gear for the final climb!
Of course the local tour vans and tourist 4×4 transports had to get by us no matter what, finally we reached the summit which was over 2000 metres . We stopped to take a photo but it was mobbed so we didn't hang around. The downhill journey was equally stressful, no brakes and the engine over revving I was happy to eventually roll into Mae Chen to stop for the night. Over 130 kms and a sore arse that was enough!

We were having cutting out issues with our bikes so went for a wee run Sunday to see if they were better when they had cooled down, they were actually worse, it was like the tickover was to low and the gearbox seemed rough. We got in touch with the renter had a bit of a back and forth on whatsapp and then nothing. We spent an afternoon thinking about what to do and then out of the blue 2 guys from the shop arrived with two replacements ! Excellent, the latest ones have done over 70k kms but seemed smoother and more importantly they tick over !

We left Mae Chaen and the replacement bikes were so much better, just as well as we went up and down mountains, at some point i actually had to paddle the bike in first gear uphill. Fiona with her lighter weight kept passing me uphill, the constant bends meant you couldn't really build up speed. A stop at a very busy viewpoint for a cup of tea and then in a small village for lunch , around 100km today which I think is my limit driving the small bikes especially on these roads.

Heading back from our excellent pizza that night, served outdoor, dirt floor, sitting on 5 gallon drums with cushions to make it comfortable ( pizza was excellent btw) we spotted 6 young lads on their 125s loaded up with camping gear obviously away on a camping trip for new year. That could have been us years ago what happened to the youth, too rich? Lazy? Or just tied to their phones or TV? Mind you our weather doesn't help, who knows .

And then a 80Km run into Mae Hong Son, enjoyed the ride, we seem to be getting the hang of it, still not buying one! We have been here before, nice town and the are having a new year party tonight so we think we will stay here for a few days and maybe just have the odd loop around here. 

Rest stop with the latest bikes

Fiona always happy...

At the beginning of the Doi Intanon national park

Fiona walked to get this photo , I watched the bikes :-)

Beer

Test ride, not good!

Gone Fishing

Stunning

And this

And again

You get the idea

Taking shade

Roadside cafe

Local schoolgirls going to a end of school traditional Thing

Work related thing!

Not work related

Sorry

Happy guys on tour

Just near the park

Posing for a photo

Night market

Cool place to hand out

Breakfast on Hogmanay

Have a great 2026 wherever you are

A Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all

We are back in Chiang Mai having said a sad goodbye to our honda 500's yesterday, they were good enough but I don't think I'll buy one when I get home.

I'm writing this on Christmas eve, I was sitting in a cafe this morning thinking about how lucky we are and at the same time thinking how Bizzare to spend Christmas in the heat.

We finally managed to book  bikes for the next leg of the adventure, Honda Wave 125 which seems to be the most used bike around here, we got to take them for a wee test ride, I felt like a deranged orangutan on a circus bike. Hopefully I get better at it quickly, we pick them up tomorrow so I suppose it will be a Xmas present to us both. Back on the road on the 27th, watch this space 😎 

Keep on keeping on and have a good one

Our mighty steeds for the next part!

Stunning roads and stunning scenery

We left the very pleasant Maceo hotel in Non Kai and made our way to Chiang Khan, all following the Mekong, there were a lot of trucks in some bits, when I say a lot ,one or two occasionally, they are carrying material for flood defenses and they occasionally held us up but not as bad as Motorhomes back home. We were pretty wabbit so stopped at a small roadside cafe with a tremendous view of the river for a coffee to try to revive us. Unfortunately it was strong a hell and had other side effects which I wont go into. Quite happy to call it a day at around 1pm. Had some food ( noodles) and eventually,  found our hotel "the Pud Dee" a nice town, very rustic and full of preserved old wooden buildings. After some food at night we had a wander along the market where Fiona bought a enormous bunch  of  bananas for 20 Baht (around 50p)

Dogs, I am not a fan of badly behaved dogs especially when as a big group they start barking and howling every hour as if trying to outdo each other, then at 6am the monks in the Wat next door start chanting and playing a drum, very authentic.

On to a small  village Na Hao over the most tremendous pass with stunning roads, obligatory photo stop at the top. A young Thai couple were there and I asked if they wanted me to photograph the two of them , I took two shots then realised it was a old Nikon film camera, i hope they came out ok and I didn't waste film. 

Our digs for the night was an group of cabins  by the roadside, once again super nice people who couldn't do enough for us. Two motorcyclists rolled in later Bernard and Russell all the way from Singapore, nice meeting them. It turned cold later and I actually put a jacket on, my god! It was cooler in the morning but by the time we had the bikes loaded it was roasting again.

We took a short cut which was mainly a  single track over the mountains and quite honestly the tightest gradients and hairpins i've encountered for a while, certainly kept us on our toes. Eventually pulled into Uttaradit roasting and very wabbit at 1.30, that was enough  for the day.

Fi found a steak house just round the corner from the Hotel and a 7/11, a great result. Very nice sirloin and chips washed down with a couple of beers ,felt much better after that, the diet gets to you sometimes and although it was expensive for Thailand it was still less than half price from home.

It was busy leaving in the morning all the way to Phrae , stopped for a KFC to keep the spirits up then the road was great twisting and turning all the way to the outskirts of Nan. By then it was almost 1pm, the sun was relentless as was the locals driving! Glad to get to our hotel.

We left Nan and headed over to Chiang Khan, spectacular roads , the 1148 must be one of the great motorcycle roads anywhere, hairpin after hairpin and when you could take your eyes off the road stunning views. Eventually we rolled into town and even managed a nice pizza for.dinner!

Friday we decided to stay in the Another great day same hotel, £10 for the night, our dinner costs more.

Went out for.a run on 1093 & 1155, once again stunning but there's been a bit of damage with landslides which started to freak me out, one roadworks in particular was through wet mud, arse twitching time especially when we are on rented bikes, we have been on this road before 12 years ago, because i have the photo of the Wien keng police station. Another great day. Headed North to the tea region again some stunning roads and some quite scary , it was cold and I ended up feeling quite miserable at night because of that but next day it was sunny, the roads headed south were full of roadworks and crazy driving which wasn't the best but had a good night in wiang pa pao , found a nice place to eat and met some scooter guys, great to see youngsters having a life rather than playing games.

Monday we stopped at a hot spring place just down the road, been here before. A couple rolled in on a 1250 gs whilst we were having a cuppa, of course I went to speak to them, from luxenbourg, enough said , she asked to use the toilet and didnt even buy anything, full of their self importance I reckon, not planning to be buddies with them.

Pics tell the story,  but aren't in order but enjoy anyway!

It Rained for a while

But it was mainly this

And a lot of this

And many of those