Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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CHIANG MAI’S BIG BIKERS
Exploring the Country and Lending a Hand

Text : Parkorn Chaiwudi (Editor)
Images : Realbiker Magazine

For as long as a decade, every winter, we big bike enthusiasts have come from all corners of Thailand to enjoy adventurous trips roaming round the chilly North on our motorbikes. We don’t simply start our bikes and drive anywhere aimlessly. We have goals, and know our destinations. I for one have never thought of biking as making a lot of noise and going nowhere special.

As evidence, I’m happy to invite you all to The Real Biker Custom Show, Chiang Mai 2011, on the 10th Dec, at which we hope to raise money for charitable purposes which our own activities have shown to be needed.

How did this come about?

This year the big biker Chiang Mai chapter got together in March to plan our next ride, deciding our objective would be Mae Dtuen village, at the end of a long road south from Chiang Mai, through the district of Omkoi, and close to Tak Province, some 250 kms from the Northern capital. We departed Chiang Mai around eleven am, entering Jom Thong and Hot districts, turning right to pursue winding tracks and passing Op Luang National Park, and here we began to feel we were really meeting nature. Rows of majestic pine trees stood tall, with their tree tops swaying in the cool refreshing breeze – as if welcoming our presence. Arriving at Omkoi we took our first break, having covered seventy kilometers. The track we now followed became narrower and narrower as we crossed one mountain after another, making us wonder what lay ahead, hardly able to believe what spectacular vistas were opening up before and around us.

Encircled as we were by the lofty tree-girt mountains, we saw ahead of us other deep green mountain-ranges, overlapping each other, with rain clouds floating just above the peaks and also so low that we felt we could reach up and grasp them. Small wild pigs were running around, too quick for us even to get snapshots.

We finally arrived at our destination – Ban Mae Dtuen – a small quiet village in the Omkoi district, hiding itself amongst forests and high hills. There was a bridge over a river before entering the village where we got off our bikes to take some memorable pictures. This area is renowned for its superb weather and, bathed in its cool breezes. we could vouch for its reputation. But more than just cool, as we discovered. As the temperature dropped during the distinctly chilly evening, our Omkoi hosts plied us with the local liquor – daoloi – to help us keep warm.

As dawn came over the mountain peaks, we walked out to meet the village children at Ban Mae Dtuen school. The village has no less than three schools; the one we visited and two others called Huai Lor Duk and Choomchon Ban. We arrived at Ban Mae Dtuen school to be greeted by the welcoming faces of the children, wreathed in delighted and honest smiles. The school’s condition was so-so; a wooden building with worn out blackboards in the classrooms, quite like the country schools you see on TV. We heard that the daily budget for school meals was 13 – 15 baht , obviously not sufficient for satisfactory meals, since some of the children board at the school, their homes too far away to return to at the end of each day. Just how insufficient the budget was becomes apparent when you think of week-end expenses and the need for books and clothing. Deeply sympathizing with the teachers and their charges, we were pleased to be able to give them some assistance in this respect.

It was this encounter with rural poverty in Ban Mae Dtuen that gave us the idea of arranging a big bike rally together with other big bike clubs and associations around the country, with the objective of travelling to remote districts to help the children in need.

Our next outing was in April, when we made a ride to Phuket, calling it ‘The Real Biker Southern Trip’, to get some publicity and meet our biker friends on the way. It was a round-trip of three thousand kilometers, involving driving by mountain routes until the first stop at Suphan Buri province, where we got a warm welcome from numerous big bike lovers and club members from all around. The next part of the ride was to Chumphon, which took us a while, so that it was nearly eight pm when we arrived there, to be warmly received and provided with a place to stay by the Seven Warriors Club.

We continued the next day, heading towards Phuket, the ‘Pearl of the Andaman’, to join the Phuket Bike Week 2011, where our Phuket friends - especially the people from Ride Thailand Magazine and both Thai and international riders – made a deep impression on us with their great hospitality and friendship. This, plus the wonderful Phuket atmosphere dissipated our aches and pains, making us feel as if we’d come hardly any distance at all.

This trip was not just a great outing. It provided me with a wider perception of the world around me, opening up new routes to drive across, disclosing new views of nature and – most importantly – introducing new friends. Any readers interested in taking part in ‘giving to others’, should meet us at the Real Biker Chiang Mai 2011 event this month, an activity to promote Chiang Mai’s special affinity for motorbikes and to encourage travelling. Since our magazine team has had a lot of experience of roaming through the country’s many provinces, various regions and diverse rural areas, we have now established a charity project called ‘Two Wheels to the Child’, and would like to invite both Thai and international big bikers to join us at the Real Biker Custom Show Chiang Mai 2011 gathering on the 10th of December.

Apart from raising money for charity, the project aims to bring before the public a compilation show of motorbikes designed and built by Thailand’s leading artists who are professionals in this field. We’ll also show vintage motorbikes, rare classic American cars and Volkswagens which aren’t seen on the roads any more. It’ll be a chance too to enjoy the various booths and stalls offering food, clothes and motorbike accessories as well as be entertained by the musical concert we’re arranging. And of course, we look forward to welcoming not only bike enthusiasts but the wider public joining us in this opportunity to exchange ideas and information.

The Real Biker Custom Show, Chiang Mai 2011, kicks off on the 10th of December, 16.00 pm., at the Mooanjai Zone in Central Airport Plaza Chiang Mai. For more information, please contact 053-289238.