Along the border – Chiang Khan to Kok Thong

Spoiler alarm – an epic day in Loei!!!

Another cold morning in the North of Isaan so let’s take it easy and start late after coffee and some simple breakfast.

Leaving Chiang Khan direction west on the Hwy 2195 always along the border / Mekong river until we arrived at the parking of the Chiang Khan skywalk.

Some said that this is not really crowded…let me tell you it is. At least when we arrived there it was like on a German Christmas market on the weekend.
And, you need to go up there by car, 50 Baht per person. This means, wait for the car is full, wait for can enter the skywalk and wait again for the car is full on the way down.

After a short chat, we decided to skip that, continue the trip is the way better option.

Spoiler: it turned out that it was the right decision not to “waste” time on the skywalk.

As close to the border as possible on small roads, passing quiet valleys on twisty roads this ride was one of the best I made in Thailand so far. Not hot, not cold, around 23 to 25 °C, no rain, perfect conditions for riding.

Enjoying the nature and the ride, we made our way to Phu Rua.
Phu Rua is a not really great town along the Hwy 23 but famous for the Phu Rua National Park.
The peak of the Phu Rua mountain is almost 1.400m high is – officially – one of the coldest places in Thailand.

The ride up there to the parking is great with some view points in between. From the parking to the peak it’s around one kilometer. You can either rent a car or walk. We decided to walk,,, some excersise is always appreciated.
Well, some less sporty female in our 2 peoples group complained a lot about this and that!!!
(Too hot, too steep, too long).

After the refreshing walk, arriving at the peak is really an experience. A small Buddha overlooking the Loei mountains, great views and fresh air is what you get.

Up there, at the Phu Rua peak what feels like being on the top of the world we decided not to look for a room now and instead continue the trip to the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary.

There are three seasons at Phu Luang. Summer runs from February to April with an average temperature of 20-24 °C. During this season, flowers such as dendrobiums, white wild orchids, white and red rhododendrons bloom.
The rainy season is from May to October, when the temperature is equal to or slightly higher than in summer. There will be tiny wild flowers in purplish pink scattered in the savanna. The temperature drops during the winter to 0-16 °C in November – January. On some days, the temperature can drop to -4 °C. During this season, kuam daeng (Acer calcaratum) will turn red and shed their leaves. Kradum ngoen (Eriocaulon henryanum Ruhle) and lady’s slipper orchids (Paphiopedilum sukhakulii Schoser & Senghas) make up the undergrowth of the hill evergreen forest. On the east side of Phu Luang dinosaur footprints on the rock, aged more than 120 million years, were discovered.

Why we decided this? As you can read above, Phu Luang can be really cold and we thought it might be more smart going up there in the warm afternoon than in the cold morning.

The downside was, we were a bit late so not much hiking up there. But the ride on twisty roads with some technical parts was worth it.

On the left of the big sign you can see the temperature in the morning. Fresh 10 °C!!!

When we arrived back in civilization, on the Hwy 23, it was quite late already.

Instead of turning left to Phu Rua and find a place to stay, Sang decided to turn right in the unknown. Yep, sometimes she can be adventurous!!!

Our hopes to find a hotel / resort along the main highway were not fulfilled. On the map there was a lake shown and we both thought that we are lucky to find a bed for the night.

And yes, close to the lake in a small village named Ban Khok Thong we found an awesome home stay surrounded by rice fields and rubber farms.

What an epic day in Loei, Thailand… I really start to love that province more and more.

Find the details of the trip in the Calimoto link.

Ride safe guy’s and take care!!!

#dustysocks #fuckspeed #loei #thailand #phurua #triumphtiger #fortheride