Motorcycle Touring in Northern Thailand! How many times as an Adventure Motorcycle Touring Rider have you said those very words out loud? It’s time to investigate the possibilities.
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes Have you got Northern Thailand at the top of your Bucket List? Are you and your Adventure touring Motorcycle ready to tick this one as done? Yes. Great news MotoDreamer has been the number one prominent and independent thinking Motorcycle Adventure Tour Operator for lots of years for this very destination. Great news for all Adventure Motorcycle Touring Riders who love touring on two wheels. Mike and his dedicated team will never disappoint you with their knowledge and expertise. What can you expect? MotoDreamer’s mission is to pick parts of the globe still unspoiled by mass tourism while avoiding becoming part of the problem. Also, their mission is to take travelers to some of the most mind-blowing riding destinations the world has to offer. In summary, read Extreme Pillion Rider – Fiona Davies’s first-hand account of her experiences when adventure touring in Northern Thailand. |
Asia’s Capital destination for Adventure Motorcycle tours is Northern Thailand.
For many experienced travelers, Thailand tends to conjure up visions of paradise lost. Images of once beautiful islands now sinking under the weight of sunburned day-trippers and trinket sellers.
Sadly, the cities are less famous beyond the beaches for their fantastic street food than their spruikers, scams, and traffic jams.
Author´s Note: A Spruiker is Aussie for someone who tries to persuade us to buy something dishonestly or in an exaggerated way. Here in Oz, we find Spruikers roaming around in the property market.
When tourism moves too fast, Thailand is what happens.
Is there any appeal left in Thailand for motorcycle riders with a desire for adventure?
Part of MotoDreamer’s mission is to pick parts of the globe still unspoiled by mass tourism while avoiding becoming part of the problem.
It’s also their mission to take travelers to some of the most mind-blowing riding destinations the world has to offer.
In Southeast Asia, when it comes to the sheer awesomeness of easily accessible riding.
Then add superb sealed roads, sensational scenery, and plenty of variety both on and off the road.
Northern Thailand wins, hands down.
Northern Thailand has nothing like the overdevelopment that has devastated southern Thailand’s coasts. But that’s not to say it hasn’t entirely fallen victim to tourism of the most disappointing variety.
The north’s unofficial capital, Chiang Mai, is a travel hotspot. It never fails to amaze with the ancient beauty of its temple-lined streets or the ethical indifference of scores of brochure-clutching tourists who embark every day on so-called “elephant safaris.”
Most of these elephant “camps” are just a few kilometers outside the city limits, home to vast swathes of the forested hill country and fertile rice fields, fed by the tributaries of the mighty Mekong River.
With so much incredible scenery so close by, it’s easy to see why Chiang Mai is arguably where the story of adventure riding in South East Asia began.
Northern Thailand – My First Motorcycle Touring Love.
The first time I took off on a two-week adventure ride through Northern Thailand (my first long-distance ride anywhere in the world), I carried two travel guides with me.
Naturally, I lugged around that brick-in-a-backpack, The lonely Planet Thailand Book, religiously. But my real bible turned out to be tiny enough to slip into a motorcycle jacket pocket.
A Motorcycle Guide to the Golden Triangle (published in 1998) by David Unkovich (aka the legendary GT Rider) was the key to unlocking a part of Thailand (a country I’d traveled and worked in for six months) I’d never before experienced.
For little more than a handshake and a few hundred baht a day, my partner and I hired a Honda CB400, escaped the tuk-tuk cluttered Chiang Mai streets, and headed for the hills.
I remember the 400cc engine puffed and sputtered reluctantly as we climbed one incredibly steep highway while scooter passengers jumped off the back to help push their riders up the hill.
We held our breaths as we rode through timeless landscapes – 2,500m high temple-topped mountains, monsoon rainforests, and emerald rice fields. Everywhere we went, we were met with surprise, curiosity, and cheerful welcomes.
On that trip, I fell in love with motorcycle touring. I would never look at travel the same way again.
How did Thailand Come to be a Motorcycle Touring Mecca?
Two decades ago, Thailand was in the midst of a global tourism boom. Motorcycle travel was in its DIY infancy. Adventurers like David Unkovich mapped out hundreds of highways and backroads. Why? So other foreigners could experience Southeast Asia’s Holy Grail of motorcycle touring.
The wheels for motorcycle tourism to grow in popularity were firmly set in motion.
- Unlike most adventure riding destinations, Thailand’s tourist infrastructure was already well established, accessible to travelers on almost any budget.
- Independent-minded visitors with a genuine interest in history, nature, and culture needed a way to avoid the tourist traps and manufactured cultural attractions.
- Motorbikes are the transport of choice in Thailand. They’re cheap, they’re everywhere, and back then, rules regarding hiring them foreigners were vague and barely enforced.
Once a few entrepreneurs locals collected a shed full of beat-up Hondas, ready for renting to any foreigner who could stay upright from one end of the street to the other.
Chiang Mai’s motorcycle touring in Northern Thailand culture was born!
Getting a bike and blasting away to freedom in Thailand was easy. But accessibility alone doesn’t make a place an epic motorcycling destination. Consider this:
Just a few kilometers outside of Chiang Mai are some of the most magical motorcycling routes on earth.
Here you will find no traffic, with silky smooth asphalt for days. Perfect for pure pavement enthusiasts. Friendly local towns with outstanding cuisine, unique hill tribe culture, mystical mountains, and untouched forests.
The Royal Decree of the King protects all the forests. And an endless network of hidden temples, caves, hot springs, waterfalls, and ancient villages.
To get these places means to go where no tour company minivan goes – chasing cliff-hugging corners, taking seductive, high-speed arcs in broad sweeps, blistering down steep ravines, and bursting through clouds on hill ascents to the heavens.
Motorcycle Touring in Northern Thailand Today – Same Same But Different?
It’s hard to imagine many other countries that have been transformed as rapidly by tourism as Thailand.
Yet, while development appears to continue unabated, some things remain the same.
Northern Thailand provinces like Nan and Mae Hong Son are the nation’s least industrialized. Almost entirely dominated by forests, rivers, rice paddies, and rural villages.
Getting around by motorbike, you’ll discover that, save for a few mainly backpacker-dominated spots, almost everywhere in the North is still basically off the beaten track.
But, the motorcycle tourism culture in Thailand is certainly not what it once was.
The “anything goes” attitude is increasingly being looked down on by tour operators and authorities.
- If you’re scooting around on a 50cc moped without a valid motorcycle license at home, you’re riding illegally. The police occasionally check for permits, especially if you’re doing something else illegal (yes, a shirtless guy without a helmet means you!)
- Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance is required when renting a bike in Thailand. A good rental company will also offer additional third-party and personal damage protection insurance.
- Serious riders now have way more legit options and are more likely to hire bikes from licensed tour companies that provide guided tours, well-maintained late-model bikes, and quality protective gear.
We believe Thailand is one of the most amazing adventures riding destinations on earth, and in many ways, one of the most rider-friendly.
However, despite its enormous popularity as a riding destination, shockingly, Thailand is the most dangerous place in the world for motorcyclists, with more bike-related fatalities per year than any other country.
While these grim statistics almost entirely apply to locals, don’t be blindsided by being in a tourist paradise. The tiny backpacker hamlet (population 2,300) of Pai in the North experiences dozens of motorcycle accidents per day. Almost all due to tourists riding illegally. In contrast, most fatalities occur in or near dense urban areas.
Throughout the country, sub-standard training, drunk driving, dangerously defective vehicles, and chaotic conditions in traffic are the norm.
Many Thai motorists seem to drive with a death wish and a reckless approach to other road users.
You could be riding a brand new MotoDreamer BMW F850GS, and you’ll have Corolla taxis and 150cc pizza bikes attempting to pass you at top speed.
The lesson here: take absolutely no chances riding in Thai traffic – and get the hell out of the cities – quickly (and safely!)
Experienced Rider? Novice Tourer? Riding Thailand is for Everyone
So, is Thailand still the adventure-riding paradise of decades past?
We say yes, absolutely!
Pretty much everything great about it is still great.
Thailand’s congested freeways are still sadly unsafe for riders. But it’s rare for experienced foreign road riders to get into trouble.
And with operators like MotoDreamer offering experienced guides, quality machines, and a comprehensive safety checklist, motorcycle touring in Northern Thailand is arguably safer than ever.
You don’t have to be an off-road rally champion to experience some of the best adventure riding in the world.
From the exhilaratingly twisty mountain terrain, the serenity of the countryside, and the warmth of the people, riding in Northern Thailand will stoke a passion in your heart for “doing travel” differently. Just like it did with me.
Written by: Fiona Davies (extreme pillion rider and adventure travel writer)
If you are the kind of Adventure Motorcycle Touring Rider we think you are then check out the next set of articles focused on the greatness of Asia and beyond.
MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE TOURING IN ASIA
Motorcycle Adventure touring in Asia. How about you taming a continent? Let’s see how to start preparing you for this adventure.
MOTORCYCLE TOURING IN SOUTHERN INDIA
Motorcycle Touring in Southern India. Are you contemplating a Motorcycle Adventure tour in Southern India? Shall we see what’s available?
Tibet on a Motorcycle
Mystical, Mythical, & Mysterious Tibet. Tibet on a Motorcycle: Adventure Tourers Most Experience riding “THE ROOF OF THE WORLD.” So why not you?
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Edited for SEO optimization by Mike Bowley at www.mikedbowley.com
Join us for Motorcycle Touring in Northern Thailand!
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