Back in late 2009 I was injured pretty bad in a low side accident. I had to go through a long recovery, but even before my recovery, I told my wife that I wanted to go on a long motorcycle ride and get back into riding. Lucky for me, my wife said ‘Go for it.’ Searching for a tour was not difficult, but picking one was. I finally decided to go to Thailand and see the Golden Triangle with Thai Motorcycle Tours and the GT Tour. Thailand had a lot to offer me – empty roads, a new cultural experience, and warm weather. After exchanging e-mails with Miles (the owner of Thai Motorcycle Tours) and sending my payment for the tour, I was off to Thailand in January 2011 with a helmet, a vented jacket, and a thirst for something new.

The tour started in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. San Francisco to Hong Kong was a 19 hour flight. Then the Hong Kong to Bangkok flight was delayed 4 hours due to mechanical problems, then it was Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Anyway, I finally got to Chaing Mai 30 hours after I left home.

Sunrise at Hong Kong Airport. I spent 6 hours at the airport – including a 4 hour flight delay and a change in plane because of a fuel pump problem on the first aircraft.

Miles met me at the Chiang Mai Airport and took me to the hotel. Then it was on to some beer, dinner, and a stroll through the Chiang Mai night market. The nice thing about a tour is that you don’t have to make any plans. The tour guided makes all the plans on where to eat and things to do. That is just what I wanted while touring in northern Thailand and the Golden Triangle. (The Golden Triangle is the area where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet.)

Night market in Chiang Mai.

With some of the pretty girls at the Thai Cultural show in Chiang Mai.

The next morning it was time to get on the bikes. The first day was a day to see the sights around Chiang Mai and learn how to ride in Thai traffic. The tour group was small - myself and 2 couples from England. Our guides included Miles, his wife Bpuk (pronounced Book) and young assistant named Ning. Miles rides a FZ-1, Bpuk and Ning follow us in a pickup truck. Our bikes for the week were Kawasaki ER-6N’s.

Our bikes

Typical riders in Chiang Mai.

Just a few of the rides parked at the local market.

The first day riding outside of Chiang Mai included stops at the Monkey School, an orchid museum, and the X-Centre (http://www.chiangmai-xcentre.com/ ) – a place where you can bungee jump if you’d like, and I did. At the Monkey School they train monkeys to pick coconuts. At the X-Centre I experienced my first bungee jump. It was exhilarating to say the least. Making that step off the platform was scary, but worth it. I’d bungee jump again.

The road outside Chiang Mai

Monkey School

In case there is any question as to which bathroom you should choose, these signs should help you.

The next day it was off to northern Thailand. Here’s the towns we were off to visit for the next 5 days. Besides Chiang Mai and many other places, we visited Thaton, Mae Salong, and Chiang Rai. Here’s a quote from the http://www.thaimotorcycletouring.com/ website that describes what we’ll be up to.
This tour also includes many attractions to see en route, national parks, waterfalls, hot springs, gardens, the mighty Mekong river, lakes, mountains, temples, The Three Tribes Village (Eghor, Karin longnecks and Musoe), the largest cave system in Thailand, the famous Golden Triangle (where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos converge) including short visits to these countries, along with lots more (elephant rides, boat trips, etc).

Day 1; 245km, Elephant camp, exploring the largest cave system in Thailand.
Day 2; 167km; Boat ride, 7-temples hillside, Chinese village, optional palace and gardens trip
Day 3; 152km; Trip to Myanmar, visit the Golden triangle, souped-up longtail speedboat to Laos.
Day 4; 250-350km, dependant; Opium museum, temple ruins, the tulip fields when in season.
Day 5; 273km; Waterfalls, hot springs, astonishing views on the return to Chiang mai.

At the elephant camp.

In the caves.

Roads and Thailand Scenery

Long boats on the Mekong River.

Typical view on a road in a Thai village.

They know how to roll up the sidewalks at night in the small towns in Thailand. This is the main road through Thonton at about 9pm.

There are Buddhist Temples all over northern Thailand. They are all very well kept.

Typical road signs along our route.

We never went hungry on the tour. The food was always great. Great food always makes for a good trip.

In the mountains near Myanmar.

The boarder crossing into Myanmar

We could not take our bikes into Myanmar, so we walked across the boarder for a short tour of the boarder town. Crossing into Myanmar was quite an experience. We crossed the boarder at Mae Sai, Thailand. The boarder crossing was very easy because our guide, Miles, had everything worked out for us in advance. There were a lot of street vendors wating at the boarder in Myanmar. One difference was that in Myanmar there were vendors carrying a box around their waist of different items to sell - stuff like cigarettes, viagra, CD's, watches, etc. We were told that all the stuff they were selling was counterfeit - Miles told us the cigarettes being particularly nasty to smoke and even the Thais would generally pass on those smokes.Myanmar is not a wealthy as Thailand and not as clean. There were lots of counterfeit good for sale in Myanmar.

These are our chauffeurs for our short tour in Myanmar. Those 150cc 3-wheelers shake like crazy at full throttle.

Crossing into Myanmar (AKA Burma) was a real change from Thailand.
Street vendors in Myanmar.

Street scene in Myanmar.

A temple we visited in Myanmar.

Ring neck girls in Myanmar.

A road sign somewhere in Thailand. I never could figure out how to read the Thai alphabet.

A nice place to stop for lunch.

Our short trip to Laos required a crossing of the Mekong River. Our bikes were left in Thailand while we were in Laos.

Enjoying a beer in Laos.

Back on the road in Thailand.

One of the more elaborate temples we visited in Thailand.

We had the chance to sample some different foods on the trip. At my request we samples some fried insects. The crickets were quite tasty, the mealy worms were OK, the insect pupa were my lest favorite.

The snake wine was pretty strong and didn't taste bad at all. We were told in help to make you more manly.

Getting gas in Thailand was never a problem. all the big towns had gas stations. There was no self serve, an attendant put in the fuel, and we always paid cash. Gas was about $1/liter

The bathrooms were sometimes a little to be desired. I was warned before going into this one not to stand too close to the urinal because your piss just drained out onto the floor and then into a hole on the floor.

Check out the squat toilets that are very common in Thailand. I never had the pleasure of trying to squat on one for taking a dump.

One thing I haven't described is the riding techniques I learned in Thailand. I expect that every driver in Thailand started out on a scooter. There were 125cc motorbikes everywhere. The drivers let motorcycles pass on narrow roads. Lane splitting is the norm in cities, as well as on the highways. Cars move over and let you pass even with on coming traffic. I wish people drove like that everywhere. I had a great time riding with Thai Motorcycle Tours