My elephant is called Meehan

Location: Mekong
Miles: 950

My elephant is called Meehan and is 40 years old.  She lumbers slowly through the jungle, large ears wafting and she is a slow lolloping ride.  Kevin is behind me on his elephant, who never catches me up as it seems too interested in stopping to eat.  The river is on our left and although it’s only nine o’clock, the heat is starting to rise.  We watch the elephants bathe, with their mahouts scrubbing their backs.  It’s a calm and peaceful scene.  By eleven we’re back on the bikes and joined by Thai rider, Mr Pe O, who has a home in Chiang Mai where he keeps his R1200GSA.  He and Kevin speed off, whilst I meander through the hills.  We are heading north again to the Golden Triangle.  This is the area where you can see the three countries, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, from the banks of the Mekong River.  And as the sun sets over the huge Golden Buddha that watches over the borders, we eat more local delicacies at a riverside restaurant. 

Next day, we take some time out to visit the Hall of Opium, a spectacular modern interactive museum, then turn south to the small town of Nan.  Yet again, Thailand delivers some awesome riding through breathtaking scenery.  We take some of the smaller back roads – they are endlessly twisty, with steep gradients through spectacular national parks.  Nan is our last night in Thailand and we have both been blown away by the friendship and hospitality, as well as some truly not-to-be-missed landscapes.  We look forward to coming back next year and sharing this with the 20 riders we will be taking on the final leg of Discover our Earth.

It’s border day and an early start to cover the 100 miles to the tiny northern border with Laos.  It’s a Sunday and it’s delightfully quiet, with the usual flurry of paperwork and one man and his computer that we are used to seeing in Central America.  We wave good-bye to Kai, Eak and Mr Bee who has also joined us on this final ride to the border and then it’s a new country.

There is nothing quite like the buzz of riding your bike in a brand new country, with no idea of what lies ahead, what the roads will be like, what challenges await.  Unfortunately for us, our visit to Laos will only be a short transit as our gateway to China.  There is a new road about 2 kms from the border to the Mekong River.  It already has been impacted by landslides and we slip our way over patches of thick red clay mud.  The new tarmac surface is littered with rocks and stones that have tumbled down from the steep hillsides and we weave in and out, as more torrential rain falls from the sky.

By the time we get to the Mekong, it’s dried out again already and we take the ancient, small house boat barge for the 5 minute crossing – it takes one car and two bikes and it’s full. That’s going to be fun with twenty riders!  On the other side, the road winds its way through small villages, busy bringing in the harvest.  There is a real happy innocent feel to this place, as naked kids splash around in the rain gullies bursting with water at the sides of the road, people wave and smile at us and whenever we stop there’s the buzz and clicks of the jungle life.  The riding here is laid back, through lush surroundings and it would be easy to just forget the journey, stay a while longer and munch on freshly baked baguettes (remnants of French colonialism!).  But it’s only a few hundred miles to the Chinese border and entering China has to be done to a strict pre-organised schedule.  Our guide will be waiting there on Wednesday 25 August and it’s a date we can’t break.

Should Tip Over 100,000 Miles

Location: Sukhothai
Miles: 270


It’s 7am on a Sunday morning, the rain is holding off and we have a Thai rider on a BMW K1200R to lead us out of the city.  His number plate is “1”.  The bikes are packed and ready to go – they’re running great after the long cargo flight.  Julia is riding a F800GS, with a Scottoiler fitted.  With around 14,000 miles ahead of us, we don’t want to have to carry chain lube and this should be a saving grace to keep the chain in good condition.  I’m on my R1150GS – it’s the Guinness World Record Around the World GS and it’s got over 87,000 miles on the clock.  This journey should tip over 100,000 miles (it’s been a secret ambition of mine for a long time to get the bike over 100k!)

 Anyway, one week in a big busy city is more than enough for any traveller.  A Sunday morning start means the roads are quiet and soon we find ourselves on the northern road out past the old international airport.  Mr K1200R is very controlled, signals well in advance and gives us a brisk “blow the cobwebs out” pace to a main fuel station where a few other Thai riders are waiting with “BMW Riders of Thailand” stickers.  I’m always sticker greedy . . .

We then blast another hundred miles or so to Nakhon Sawan and a behind the scenes local beef noodle place for brunch.  The temperatures are dripping hot.  We ride in the fast lanes - the speed brings some welcome relief and these lanes are shaded by trees hanging out from the central reservation.  Our destination is the ancient city of Sukhothai. 

Sukhothai at sunset is magical and you can’t help feel a sense of calm as the sun silently sinks to the trees casting a golden glow over the stupors and buddhas.  We slowly wander amongst the ancient remains.  In the morning, we are up early and bring the bikes to some spots before everyone else appears.  First the elephant stupor, then the hiding big Buddha and finally back to the heart of the old city.  It’s utterly magnificent.

It’s a short days ride to Mae Sot.  Finally, half way there, we see misty hills appear.  Amazingly, it’s still dry so we can test the bends to the full – bearing in mind animals, people, scooter and the like . . we’re both impressed with the quality of the roads and the backdrop.  The benefit of the wet season is that everything is bright green, lush, growing and alive.  Mae Sot is a stopover destination, but has a small local restaurant with some of the biggest tiger prawns we have ever seen (and eaten!!).  These buggers would cost £5 a prawn back home but here we can a plateful for the same amount.  Utterly delicious.  But why oh why is wine so expensive in this country?  Its easily £40 for a standard bottle of white or red; so far we have stuck with the local beer!

Mae Sot also right on the border with Myanmar.  Kai and Eak, (Kai is the founder of Storm Club and manages what is the only formal motorcycle training with Thailand; Eak is a local enduro racer who knows the jungle like the back of his hand.)  Now rainy season is really not the time to take a R1150GS into the jungle . . .!!)  Anyway, the two of them take us to the Myanmar border a few kms out of town.  It’s a sad and edgy place.  Within easy sight is Myanmar, where the well trodden trails across the water’s edge show clearly where people clearly go back and forth, undercover.  Kai tells us that many people in Mae Sot are from Burma, they can’t speak Thai.  The immigration problem, existing all over the world in different forms.  Standing on the edge of the Meoi River, it is so them and us.  There’s yet nothing special really about us, just the luck of the country of our birth. 

The third day’s riding is the best yet.  We are on the road of 1,864 bends.  Ya Hoo!!  Except the downpour has started and smooth and gentle is the name of the game.  Even in the wet, this is incredible riding.  The road heads directly north, brushing the Myanmar border and another glimpse of the lot of those refugees who have sought shelter from the oppressive regime.  The camp is spread roadside and climbs up the dense forested hills.  Police check points prevent the movement of people beyond a tiny specific area and here they wait out their lot.  I can’t see how those born here now will be able to accept such an existence.  Change in whatever form has to happen.

The road today combines everything a motorcyclist and a traveller could want.  The road is nicely challenging, varies from open swooping bends on perfect surfaces to tiny broken roads, pot holes and mud.  For the most part it is deserted.  It passes small villages and life is teeming on the road everywhere.  You can smell the dampness, the cooked foods and the smoke.   Close your eyes and drink in the smell and you know you are in the tropics.  Our average speed is quite slow and it is a full days ride to do the 240 miles. It’s been a great day.

In Mae Hong Son, we have a day off to explore the many temples and take visit to the hill tribe of the Long Neck Karen people.  Another refugee camp – self-sustaining due to their embracing of tourism, but yet another product of the Myanmar regime.  Again we feel torn between the commercialism of these rare people and the practical need for survival.

Tomorrow, yet again it is north bound to find elephants!

A Welcome from Touratech Thailand

Location: Bangkok Miles: 0

Bangkok looks grey from the plane.  Heavy skies and low cloud.  It’s rainy season. Stepping out of the airport, the air is thick, muggy and within minutes beads of sweat are popping out from Kevin’s forehead.  Phew!  It’s not exactly the best weather to ride a bike, but other commitments have only left this slot in the calendar, so away we go.  The taxi races towards the Silom Road – it is only quick because it’s a Sunday.  We have heard Bangkok traffic is worse than London, which seems hard to believe but it turns out to be true.
Surrounding the hotel are narrow streets packed with street vendors, smells of fried foods waft in the air and dogs wander in and out hoping for a quick bite.  To the drone of blessed aircon, we catch up on sleepless airplane rest. 

On Monday, we head over to Touratech Thailand to meet its owner, Peera.  He turns out to be fantastic help and passes on a wealth of knowledge to us, as well as treating us to lunch, then introducing us to the two BMW dealers in town, BKK and Barcelona.  Our agents are processing paperwork for the bikes and we have an appointment for 9am the next day to sign off documents and fingers crossed get the bikes.  That night, we are taken to Silom Village for a welcome Thais dinner and meet local BMW bikers, friends of Peera. 

We are at the Customs Building next morning, present our documents and wait.  It’s only a couple of hours for us to sign off our temporary bike permits and then we wander across to the warehouse to collect the bikes.  Obtaining there release is another two hours clock watching as agents run around, pass money and get us to sign more papers.  The warehouse is chaotic, with boxes, forklifts and people zig-zagging haphazardly, and all without a fluorescent bib in sight – it’s a miracle!

Our bikes, still beautifully crated by James Cargo appear from the depths of the warehouse and are taken outside the warehouse, where they are left outside an office for us to un-crate in the muggy afternoon. No one seems to care about the timber we stack up against a wall.  The bikes roll off the wooden pallet and fire up first time.  We have just enough fuel to get to the nearest station.  It’s taken the best part of a day.

Peera calls to invite us for something to eat at a local restaurant lakeside.  Don’t try to get into Bangkok between 4 and 7pm he says.  It’s impossible.  Motorcycles are not allowed on the Expressway and so have to fight their way through the packed underbelly of Bangkok traffic.  If we were on tiny scooters, skinny bikes, that would be fun, but on the large bikes, with narrow lanes, we might as well be a car.

Around 7pm, Eak a local rider, accompanies us back to the hotel.  The traffic is still horrific, it’s now pitch black too and it’s like being in a video game. The cars are fairly polite, give you space and tooting is rare.  This is NOT like riding in China – there is a courteousness about it that belies the Thai culture.  The scooters are like annoying mosquitoes – they’re everywhere, quickly, all over you, then gone.  Changing lanes runs the risk of swatting them. 

Huge lightening strikes are now flooding light across the skyscrapers and with only 1km to go to the hotel, the full leash of torrential rain splashes everywhere.  Eak tris to pull us over to the far lane, which has some cover from the Skytrain overhead, but it’s of little use. Everything is misted, the pavements are a mass of stalls rain bouncing off temporary plastic sheeting, and there’s an odd mix of the Duke of Wellington pub and Deli France alongside chicken satay vendors and tacky waving gold buddhas.  By the time we get to the hotel, we are sodden and dripping, but still warm!

The next few days sees us take in some of the tourist sites, look out hotels, get our bearings.  Having talked about routes with the local riders here, we also decide to get our Lao visa in Bangkok.  That way we have full flexibility about which border to cross into Lao.  Without it, we have to cross at the Friendship Bridge.  As the best riding is in the North of Thailand, we decide its better to stay exploring around the Golden Triangle area and use a small northern border for Lao.  It takes us longer in taxi rides to and from the Lao Embassy, then it does for them to issue a visa.

We’re ready to get on the road now.  We’ve eaten too well thanks to all our invites from BMW riders here and the food has been delicious – fried curry crab, shrimp patties, steamed fish, beef thai green curry, spicy prawn soup and so the list goes on.  There’s a bit too much of a holiday atmosphere appearing!  So it’s a cool 7am set off, about 280 miles and another World Heritage Site to culturally soak in.  Falling in love with Thailand will be all too easy.

Big thank you to Peera, Mr Pe O, Vallope, Kai, Eak, Pukki and the rest.  It’s been so much fun, you’ve looked after us like royalty and we can’t wait to ride some with you and be back next May.


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