Day 9 & 10 #MHS. Mae Sariang - Nakhon Sawan - Bangkok : Rough Roads Ahead

Woke up feeling better today as my pain from the mild food poisoning has subsided, although my body still feels a little weak. We have 800KM to cover for today and tomorrow from Mae Sariang - Bangkok, laying over one night at Kamphaeng Phet.

I must say the roads from Chiang Mai - Pai - Mae Hong Son - Mae Sariang really got better in general, with wider corners and smoother tarmacs. The most challenging part was indeed Chiang Mai - Pai.

Honestly, the amount of potholes we've gone through over more than a thousand corners has really taken a toll on our suspensions. You're enjoying the smooth roads, then suddenly the tarmac disappears and you find yourself bouncing around in gravel and potholes.

oh dear, my poor baby Ducati.. I bet it's totally not enjoying this

Initially, it seems ok. After a while, we start to hear our bikes squeaking "TAK TAK TAK" or "EEK AKK EEK". Our chain has also picked up a lot of dirt and dust so it's important to lub it every now and then.

As we made our way out of Mae Sariang towards Kamphaeng Phet, we thought the ordeal with bad roads were over.

Then.. this.

Still in the mountainous zone, we meet more road works..

Over 40KM of it.. (that's further than cutting across Singapore),

And.. MORE SHIT POT HOLES! Down slope, up slope, all also have! AHH.

Ahhhhh!

You can't see my face because of my tinted visor but I tell you.. it's pretty much like that.

Then finally back to smooth tarmac and nice curves, as the altitude gradually decreased and we feel our ears pop, we made our way out of the mountains.

It took us about 6 hours from Mae Sariang to Tak, where we continued onto Kamphaeng Phet for a night's rest at Riverside Hotel (S$24/night).

Wrapping up our escapade in Mae Hong Son, we were treated with a gorgeous sunset ride. 

Day 10

With another 400KM to clear today, we set off from Kamphaeng Phet for Bangkok via Nakhon Sawan.

Linking back up on the same route we took from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on AH2, braving the killer sun for more than 4 hours, we have arrived back in Bangkok safely. I'm missing Chiang Mai's weather already.

Hello again, Bangkok jam. Oh, all that honking and buzzing traffic.

The busy life of Bangkok goes on while we headed straight for Hua Lampong Railway Station where we'll be taking the overnight train back to Hat Yai.

We're hoping to get onto the last train which departs at 22:50PM. It's now 3:30PM so I think we stand a good chance of getting a ticket for both ourselves and our bikes.

Oops. Unfortunately when we got to the train station, the last train does not have a cargo section so our bikes won't be able to travel along. The train before 22:50PM was at 15:30 which has just left.

So instead of taking the train to Hat Yai, the train service staff advised us to take the train from Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat. It's the next nearest station to Hat Yai, 2 stops away, 200KM apart. Hmm.. it's not so bad lah hor.

So up our bikes went, went through the usual procedure and choo-choo! Off we go on the 13 hour train ride!

Tomorrow, we'll be crossing borders over to Malaysia.




[Singapore.Malaysia.Hat Yai.Bangkok.Lopburi.Chiang Mai.Pai.Mae Hong Son.Mae Sariang.Kamphaeng Phet.Bangkok.Nakhon Si Thammarat]

[Mileage Clocked: 3,435KM]

[Weather/Temperature: Sunny/31°C]

[Terrain: Mountainous roads/Pot Holes/Rough Roads/Tarmac]

Next: Ipoh, Malaysia