11 (is November) NAN (is pronounce as ‘none’, a Northern province in Thailand), and 22 is, well, year 2022. Nan shares its border with Laos, to the North. It is very mountainous and has several National Parks. Friends who visited Nan was full of praise for its wonderful motorcycling roads and beautiful sceneries through the mountains. It has been my dream for some years now, of riding to Nan.
Earlier this year, while fiddling with my Nav5, the usual prompt; “Where To”, appeared on the display at start-up. Immediately, Nan sprang into my mind. And only a short time ago, KM7 also asked me the same question when chatting about our next motorcycle trip.
And the seed was sown……
When Cookie Monster got wind of it, he suggested visiting Maehongson as he has never been there. And his buddy Insane Rider wanted a mountain ride. So Phu Tak Boek, elevation 1768m above MSL, in Phetchabun, also came into the picture, together with Maehongson. KM7, who has lived in Thailand, speaks the language like a local, and knew Thailand like the back of his pudgy hands concluded that to accommodate us The Three Stooges, a multi-mountain ride is the way to go. Killing many birds with one stone, says he. The plan grew and KM7 got ambitious. I mean Really Ambitious! Why not fulfil his own dream of traversing the border roads of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar on these mountains instead of the usual highways. That would mean plenty of mountain roads, B roads, some tracks and highways only when unavoidable. Preposterous!
Thus 11NAN22, was conceived.
It would mean 22days on the road, if you start and end at SG. Accommodations would be at a different location each night. It works out to be about 280km per day of riding when in the mountains. The longest day being 411km and shortest 108km. The sections northbound and southbound to and from Ayutthaya don’t count as they are flat.
KM7 started planning around July. By October, the plan was in its final stage. He worked hard planning the route and the accommodations. None of us were able to offer any meaningful input as we cannot match his local knowledge of this Land of Smiles. But I did kept abreast of the plan as it took form, offering useless suggestions here and there, asking for Google Maps of destinations and converting the files for input into Garmin devices. Generally, I was just a pain in the butt.
19 November 2022:- The journey begins………
‘Follow’ if you think it’s worth your time. I am still trying to put things together and will be posting snippets of this awesome journey every now & then.
Chill.
Jaywalker, 16 Dec 2022
2 wheels and an engine 