Big Bike Tours first run pre-Covid19.
5 days in reverse
An article series by: Tom Stenshavn
The 5 day tour, Fantastic Lanna Kingdom, in oposite direction.
Article 1: Day 1 – 24.08.20
Monday 24.08.20 – Ah… I love getting on the road again.
Due to the Covid19 situation around the world, most borders are closed for travelling. This also includes Thailand, so it is not easy for the travel businesses to get income.
Big Bike Tours has been closed down since March due to this situation, but now they offered a discounted rate for clients that are already living or staying in Thailand, and also offered discounts if they join one of their tours with their own bike. This is of course optional for everyone, but still even with your own bike, you will benefit greatly on going on one of BBT`s commercial tours.
Remember on these tours, there is a guide riding in front showing the way, looking out for traffic, potholes and other obstacles on the road. But also the routes that BBT has, is not easy to find by yourself. Remember, these guys have more than 10-year experience in riding in Thailand and especially the northern part, so they will find both routes and stops that you normally will not know even was there. In addition to this, the tours are all include, so you won`t even need to think about anything else than riding. They provide beautiful stops with sceneries, attractions, great authentic Thai food at the best places, good cosy hotels and everything else needed included in the low price. You don’t even need to fill up your gas or do your daily maintenance of your bike. It`s all taken care of.
As I am planning to be a part of the Big Bike Tour business, I was offered to hang around on this trip to see how it was done with customers also riding. I have been to a few friend-trips lately, but this was the first tour with actual customers that I participate in since 2016.
We headed out with 5 bikes on Monday the 24th of August 2020, and started from Amora Hotel in Chiang Mai as usual. Noah was guide on this tour, and Kay was with us as Tour leader. There were 3 customer bikes including myself, so in total 5 riders.
As the R118 is still under a lot of construction on the way to Chiang Rai, Noah decided to go the R1001 and over to R1150 to avoid the dusty road. I think this route is the best on the Way to Chiang Rai and if you are visiting the city and the White Temple as we would, it is a great option to ride over the mountain pass on R1150.
We had a quick stop for a coffee in Phrao, before we headed over the mountain to the Chiang Rai side.
The R1150 is a curvy and a bit narrow road over the mountain called Mae Waen on the Chiang Mai side. About half way it crosses the district border to Chiang Rai in Wiang Pa Pao. It’s about 55 km until we reached the R118 that takes us to the Highway one and the famous White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) just outside the city of Chiang Rai.
And… when you are trying to make a video without knowing what you are saying… this comes out. I get shy when i share it, but i thought, well… said is said! 
After having a beautiful Khao Soi lunch, a northern Thailand speciality, we ride towards Golden Triangle on the R1098 and stopped at the Wat Muan Buddha Mettakhunaram to see the great view and the fat Buddha symbolising this temple. This temple is also a children school, and you can read more about it in my blog HERE!!
Then our final ride to our final destination this day, The Golden Triangle in Chiang Saen District. First we stopped at the beautiful viewpoint and Noah told a little bit about the story of the what you can see from the Golden Triangle, and after we visited the House of Opium Museum before parking our bikes for the evening at The Imperial Golden Triangle Resort after 328 KM on the road.
Tom Stenshavn
stenshavn@gmail.com
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