November 9, 2022
When I first started getting serious about riding a motorcycle around the world in 2014, I began by laying out a general route and doing some research, beginning with weather patterns. I wanted to try to stay in what was typically late Spring or early Fall weather — not too hot and not too cold — but also avoid the “monsoon season” or other periods of heavy precipitation.
Based on this, I made a plan to leave home and ride south to the bottom of South America, then ship the bike to South Africa and ride north to Europe. From there I would head east into Asia, crossing Mongolia. At that point I had a couple of options: the first was to continue to Vladivostok, on the eastern seaboard of Russia, where I could take a ferry to Japan and spend a few weeks there before shipping on to South Korea and eventually Thailand.
The second, and at least in my opinion, more interesting option was to hire a guide and ride through China to Thailand. This can be expensive, but overland motorcyclists had figured out that they could coordinate and meet up at the border, sharing a guide and splitting the costs.
From Thailand, my plan was to continue south through Malaysia and Indonesia, working my way down to Australia.
In 2015 and 2016 I completed the first part of my plan, including South America, Africa, and Europe. After twelve months I took a hiatus from the ride and returned to work, intending to pick up again where I left off — at the Russian border — at a later date.
That was Round-The-World 1.0, a different world than today. Much has changed since 2016, some of it obvious to everyone and other parts only obvious to the motorcycle traveler.
Covid changed everything of course. It closed borders, shut down non-necessary shipping (including recreational motorcycles), and impacted the world economy. When we could finally resume the trip, shipping the bike by air from the US to Europe had gone from around $2400 to $10,000. Shipping containers for sea freight had become scarce, and so had shippers willing to deal with an individual that wanted to ship one motorcycle.
Then came the Russia-Ukraine war. This obviously had a detrimental effect on a US couple with a US motorcycle entering Ukraine and Russia. It can still be done, but the headaches and concerns had me questioning the sensibility of it. Some things I would have done as a solo rider I won’t do with my wife on the bike with me. In addition, there’s not only the logistics but the ethical or moral issues I have with spending my money in Russia right now.
Then there’s Thailand. About the time I stopped my ride in 2016, Thailand was introducing new rules, making it incredibly difficult if not impossible to bring your own motorcycle into the country. If I couldn’t enter Thailand from China or pass through Thailand to Malaysia and continue south, then my whole route would have to change.
So while we consider the options for riding across Asia from Europe on the bike that is currently stored in Spain, we’re going to approach Asia from the other side. We’ve rented a smaller bike in Thailand and another in Vietnam, and we plan to spend the next couple of months doing some exploring. We’ve already accepted that this isn’t nearly enough time to experience these incredible countries, and we want to see Laos and Cambodia as well if possible, so we already know we’ll have to return. But for now we plan to take in as much of the local culture, people, food, and scenery as we can.
We’re on the plane to Narita airport in Tokyo as I write this. We’ll then change planes and head to Bangkok for a few days to play tourist before picking the bike up in Chiang Mai. We’ve packed very light for this trip: basically sharing one backpack and a small tail bag on the bike. One thing we did pack was rain gear. It may not be the height of the rainy season, but it still rains in SE Asia regardless.
Taking a water taxi up the Chao Phraya River to the Grand Palace
Entering the Grand Palace
Monkeys and demons stand side by side in many places,guarding the temples and Palace
The monkeys are the ones without shoes. Here, it’s the white one. 
Not a great photo, but this is the Emerald Buddha. About a week ago, they changed his clothing to symbolize winter. The King changed Buddha’s hat, then workers did the rest. 
Before crossing the river, we stopped at a street food vendor and bought sticky rice with coconut milk and mangoes. It was very good and around $1.50
Wat Arun’s main prang is over 200 feet high. 
At many of the temples, there are nearby shops that rent traditional Thai dress to tourists for photos.
It’s hard to capture the enormity of the reclining Buddha. His head is over 50 feet tall. 
Note that all ten of Buddha’s toes are identical in size and length. It’s said this is to show his perfect form. 
Rows of Buddhas at Wat Po. 
Occasionally we would see a cat curled up and sleeping, while crowds moved past. Nothing seemed to bother them.
Mina, our tour guide. 
Wat Chaiwatthainaram consisted of five pagodas, with the main prang in the middle the other four spires at the corners of the cloister. 
Main Pagoda or Prang
When the Burmese Army attacked Ayutthaya, they chopped the heads and hands off of all of the Buddhas. In some cases they also dug below them looking for hidden treasure. 
A colony of bats lives in this corner pagoda. 
Two women wearing rented costumes pose in front of the ruins. 
Another large reclining Buddha. This one was originally in a wooden building which deteriorated over time. UNESCO chose not to reconstruct the building.
Due to its’ condition and location, you are allowed to touch the feet of Buddha in order to make a wish. Pretty sure she wished for shade and/or air conditioning. 
At our lunch stop we saw these tourists on an elephant. While this is no longer encouraged it is apparently still allowed on a limited basis. 
I also saw this Yamaha R1 at our lunch stop. This is very unusual here in Thailand, where the most common motorcycle is the 125cc Honda Wave scooter. 
At our last stop, Wat Maha That, we saw the famous Buddha head in the tree. The head was laying loose at the base of this tree which then began growing around it. 
The tree has begun to lift the head as it grows. 
Rider’s Corner was a good base in Chiang Mai. It was close to several good restaurants, markets, etc, and made for an easy departure out of the city. 
Inside Rider’s Corner.
Our ride for the next two weeks. We didn’t plan to have this much storage space, and since we packed light we actually have room left. But not enough for “souvenirs”!
The summit at Doi Inthanon. 
Everywhere we go we see tourists doing their poses for their social media photos, so I’ve decided it’s time to join them. This is my new “look at me!” pose. 
The summit at Doi Inthanon is 8421 feet above sea level. And the permanent sign here also said it was 9 degrees Celsius, or 48F. The sign is screwed in with rusty screws and the numbers aren’t changeable, so I’m not sure when it’s 9C, but I’m sure it’s right occasionally. It was closer to 16 when we were there, which is still a welcome change from the heat and humidity at the lower elevations. 
Buddha shrine at the top of the overlook. 
Diana taking a photo of the above shrine. In the background you can see… nothing. The fog was so thick at the top that there was no view. It’s probably a distant stretch of mountains on a clear day. 
People often make fun of me for using GPS coodinates instead of addresses when planning routes. I even give my home address to other travelers in the form of GPS coordinates. And here’s a good reason to use them: the sign in the photo is our hotel. Try typing that into Google Maps. 
Menu. Use Google Translate camera, get maybe three or four words to pop up but they change constantly. One second it says “chicken” and a second later it changes to “disloyal agent” or something similar that means nothing. Point at item that you think is somewhat identifiable. Roll dice. 
Beef. Looks and tastes like skirt steak or beef fajitas. Very good. Dipping sauce is spicy, somewhere between “Need a sip of beer now” and “My lips are on fire”. 
Fried seafood. Unsure what kind; possibly a combination of local fish and calamari. Also very good. There was a lot more on both plates, but we were so hungry we forgot to take photos before eating most of it. 
Not Starbucks. What Starbucks should be. 
Overlooking the fields from the deck at Posaho Café. 
No mechanical farm equipment here. Everything is done by hand.
Our hotel for the night. Even the nicer places such as this are cheaper than camp sites in Europe and the US. 
The owner of the hotel, like all Thai people we’ve met, was very nice. When she asked if we wanted a room in the main building or a bungalow for the same price, I asked which was nicer. Her response: she looked at me and said “The main building is not so far to walk.” Ouch. I hate getting old. 
It is pretty scenic.
There were a number of traveler stickers on the wall at the smoothie shop — mostly Thai bikers — so we added a 2RTG sticker. 
”Thirty thousand Baht and Ninety Six kilometers do not make you a biker.”
The village of Huay Pu Keng sits isolated across the Pai River in a section of carved out jungle. 
The Kayan villages are often referred to as “Longneck” villages, for obvious reason. They welcome visitors (for a fee) and sell their wares, from scarves and blankets to musical instruments and carvings. 
On the way, we stopped at this scenic overlook.
The mountains in the distance are Myanmar.
While we were there, a Thai guy pulled up on a Harley. Aside from a few large BMW GS adventure bikes, this was the largest bike I had seen in Thailand.
Across the road from the acenic overlook is a large strip of market stalls operated by Lahu Na, or Black Lahu women. The Lahu are an ethnic people from China and Mainland Southeast Asia. The color (in this case black) refers to their dress color. They were selling local fruits and vegetables, handmade crafts, and more.
The entrance to Cave Lodge.
Hanging out in the large common area at Cave Lodge. This is where meals are served, and there is a ton of information here about available caving and kayak trips that all start from here.
Our bungalow. Queen size bed, private bath, A/C, fridge, and a small porch off the back. $19 a night. 
Kayaking the Khong River. It had rained a bit the last few days so the river was muddier than usual. 
We stopped to have lunch about half way down the river. The lodge provided fried noodles with vegetables, a hard boiled egg, and a muffin. 
Our group consisted of a family from British Columbia and two brothers from Denmark, one of which has been living with his wife and kids in Bangkok for the past four years. And of course, us…”the old people”, as usual. 
While it never got more than about waist deep, crossing the river was a bit more tricky than it looks. There were large rocks that you couldn’t see, and the current was fairly strong. 
The cave is well hidden and deep into the forest. It took our guide a couple of tries and some hacking away at bamboo to find it. 
Making our way down into the mouth of the cave. 
Entrance to Susa Cave. 
We walked through two large rooms in the cave. Each was probably 60 to 70 feet high and a hundred feet across. There was a small river in the cave, well below the level we were at. It was a bit eerie being in such a strange place with nothing but headlamps and a large light the guide brought. For some reason everyone felt the need to talk quietly, as if speaking at a normal level might disturb the spirits living in the cave. 
Looking back out as we climbed back up out of the cave. 
These falls flow out of the caves in the mountain and into the river just downstream of where we waded across. 
Our early morning walk took us through the local village, where even the dogs felt it was too early to move. 
Crossing the river on a bamboo bridge to get to the back side of Tham Lod Cave. 
We passed several monks on the trail. One was carrying two walking sticks, and handed one of them to Diana just before a slippery muddy uphill bend in the trail. At the top of the hill, we met another older monk going down, and Diana handed the walking stick to him. Karma. 
Looking out from just inside Tham Lod Cave. It was all but impossible to avoid getting hit by bird poop as hundreds of thousands of swifts circled and left the cave. 
Pai in the daytime: mostly just another Northern Thailand town with a scooter problem, except about half the scooters here are being ridden by tourists. 
A Yamaha 100cc streetbike. But in Pai it is re-labeled a “420” in a reference to the weed culture. 
A bit hard to read but this is the menu outside The Alchemist, one of the boutique weed bars in town. 
Neon in the window at Cheese Madness is similar to many of the wine bars and coffee shops. 
I love this permanent sign on the side of the road that says “Accident A Head”. I guess it’s cheaper than putting in a traffic light at the intersection. And besides, it’s typically just a bunch of foreign tourists on scooters crashing into each other anyway, so no great loss. 
The streets are filled with tattoo parlors and massage parlors. Nearly all of the massage parlors here are legitimate Thai-style massage therapists. But since the town’s clientele are mostly entitled white tourists, the masseuses sadly have to put signs up that say “No Special. Only real massage”. Sad. 
The night market is several blocks long. 
We bought duck and chicken skewers from this street food vendor for 20 baht a skewer (about 55 cents). 
A sign on the walking street advertising the Pai Enduro. Looks interesting. 
Super comfortable bungalow with a bed and hammock on the front porch for relaxing. 
Beautiful landscaping. 
This cat came and hung out with us at breakfast. 
While stopped at the bridge, I saw this sticker on the rear window of a mini-bus. It translates to something like “Love life…Don’t fight wife.”
The whole place is covered in Halloween-style witches and pumpkins.
When we pulled in, the parking area was full of large adventure touring bikes, all belonging to Thai nationals. 
Watch out! In my prior life, we referred to these not-quite-correct interpretations as “Jenglish”, or “Japanese English”. Here I guess it’s “Thenglish”
Safety rules if swimming at Mok Fa. 
Screenshot of the section of 1095 to the Witch’s House. Not much rest but lots of smiling. 
The view from Route 1148 Cafe on Magic Mountain. 
Route 1148 Cafe. Popular biker hangout on Magic Mountain. 
Most of our dinners are at places like this one (Na khor koi, in Sila Phet). Outside table, under a thatched roof, overlooking the hills and fields. 
The menu at Na khor koi. Just pick something under “Yummy”. 
Looking out at the fields from our room near Pua. This place had no English name, and was down a tiny road behind town. My kinda place. 
We had just left our room this morning when we passed a sign that said “No. 3 Curve 26 kilometers”, and I was suddenly reminded that we needed to go there. 
You would think we were at Disneyland from all of the tourists posing for photos in the middle of the road. It’s not just motorcyclists who appreciate these beautiful stretches of tarmac. 
Pretty obvious why they call it the “Number 3 Curve” 
It’s true…I love Thailand roads.