Solo motorcycle road trip on Northern Thailand: Part 1

I’ve always wanted to do the northern Thailand loop after completing MHS road trip some time back. I wished to ride up there from Singapore directly but it requires more time and currently I’ve sold off all my motorbikes. Luckily renting a bike in Chiang Mai is easy so there was no excuse. Also Thailand opened travel without the need for quarantine from May 2022 and I need to clear some leave from work; this happened to be the perfect opportunity to go.

Planning the route was challenging as google maps doesn’t allow for more than 10 waypoints in total. I also wanted to balance the distance rode each day, so it took a couple of iterations to somewhat decide on the below. Found this link to combine multiple waypoints for route planning: https://www.morethan10.com/home/en

Even after all that, the itinerary was not confirmed, thus I only booked for the Chiang Mai accommodation on the first day and reckoned I will play by ear for the rest of the trip, depending on where I was.

After much research on the web, the trip will be roughly as follows;

Day 1: Chiang Mai -> Aruno Thai -> Doi Ang Khang -> Fang -> Chiang Rai

Day 2: Chiang Rai -> Mae Salong -> Doi Tung -> R 1149 -> Mae Sai -> Golden Triangle -> Chiang Khong -> Phu Chi Fa

Day 3: Phu Chi Fa -> Route 1148 -> Pua -> Bo Kluea (R1081) -> Nan

Day 4: Nan -> Lampang -> Chiang Mai

Starting the journey: Chiang Mai -> Aruno Thai -> Doi Ang Khang -> Fang -> Chiang Rai

Relive video :

Started off early from Chiang Mai as the feeling of excitement builds up.

Stopped by 7-Eleven for “breakfast”, learnt that food intake is very important on long rides to ensure body has the energy to focus.

Anyway one can practically live off 7-Eleven in Thailand as they sell EVERYTHING!

Below taken just before reaching Arunothai on Route 1340. It sits on the border with Myanmar thus those peaks in the distance is their territory. The town is Yunnan styled as they are established by remnants of KMT.

Stopped by a school in Arunothai for a toilet break and took a photo of the school with chinese name.

Picture along route 1340

Sui Thang viewpoint, enroute to Doi Ang Khang

Managed to find the Doi Ang Khang campsite after being a bit lost.

All shops are closed and I’m the only person there.

Made a friend though, was she happy to see a human being!

Went to the campsite. It was totally empty!

The highest camp ground in Thailand stands tall at 1787 meters (cant see clearly)

The weather was extremely cloudy, so I merely took a photo and left

Began my descent of Doi Ang Khang, more twisties.

At this time, I decided to stop by for lunch on one of the roadside shops. At this time, I saw some of the local truckers drinking beer in the middle of the day so I followed suit. (just one to ease the hot weather)

Enroute to the White Temple, saw this from afar and thus decided to make a detour.

Reached the White Temple in Chiang Rai, paid for the entrance fee and went in for a walk.

It was without a doubt quite beautiful. Anyway I took alot of photos as I paid for the entrance fee, but I’m not going to post them all here as you can easily google it.

Headed to Chiang Rai city center to look for accomodation, after that took a quick walk to the night market for dinner passing by the Chiang Rai clock tower.

Night market was not crowded. Guess not too many tourist are there, mostly locals. Took my dinner and went back for the day.

Day one was kinda like the appetizer before the full course. To be honest I was abit disappointed by the lack of people/activity at Doi Ang Khang and cloudy weather which blocked the views. Well not everyday is a Sunday and this is part of the adventure!