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Old 03-14-2008   #1 (permalink)
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Burma Border Run - Scrambler vs GS

A Brit mate of mine is just about to return to Blighty and we decided to meet up for a final blast with the two bikes as well as allowing a back to back comparison.



Marcus was picking up my GS in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai,
which had just had a Wunderlich Powercommander & Snorkel fitted.
Both bikes were now shod with Metzeler Tourances



Whilst I was going to ride up from Bangkok - a dull five hour hot run - and meet up in the north-western city of Tak,
before heading down to the border town of Mai Sot and beginning the trip proper.


Arriving just in time to watch the sun slip down behind the Ping River with a cold one.
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Old 03-14-2008   #2 (permalink)
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It's a nice ride from Mae Sot up through Fang and Mae Salong. At least it was 20 years ago...
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Old 03-16-2008   #3 (permalink)
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Looking forward to more Rhodie! Based on your prior trip reports - this ought to be good!
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Old 03-17-2008   #4 (permalink)
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Love how you chronicle your rides! More, more, more!
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Old 03-27-2008   #5 (permalink)
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We stayed at the Viang Tak 2 Hotel, a big corporate impersonal Thai number overlooking the Ping River, the highlight was the in- house "Ancient Massage" in the basement.
They were not lying about one factor - walking through the doors to be confronted by a glass panel on our right with around 8/9 old biddies perched behind it!
Needless to say we made a quick exit.



OK, back to the road, and the next day was a nice ride down the 105, a great fast road through the mountains with sweeping corners and super-grippy surface down to the exotic border city of Mae Sot.



First priority was a Big Boy's late breakfast at Krua Canadian, run by Canadian Dave and his wife, Chulee, who serve great food an the best coffee in Thailand.



Mae Sot has become one of the main centres for refugees and resistance groups fighting against the military regime.
Krua Canadien is the informal hub for information where mercenaries, missionaries & misfits gather to exchange information and tell tall tales.


Burma - the bridge across the river brings smuggling and intrigue.
Assassinations and disappearances are all too often regular occurrences.
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Last edited by Rhodie : 03-27-2008 at 03:16 AM.
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Old 03-27-2008   #6 (permalink)
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Burning Season

Next destination Umphang and the infamous highway 1090 “the highway of death” name earned for its lawlessness and banditary that has only recently been tamed.


bullet holes!
This is a great winding, twisty up and down road interspersed with grippy surfaces and some shoddie bits, stretches over 160 kilometres!



We would pull over for a break where we could see through the burning haze the villages below.



At times the fire was right by the road.



The Scrambler was the hot choice for this road - really loving the short twisty stretches
whilst the Beamer felt like a big lumbering barge.
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Old 03-27-2008   #7 (permalink)
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The 1090 could be done on any bike with time but any thing over say 250cc and you can have a blast as we did!


Using the torque of our twins to point and squirt our way around the many corners, and shortish straights to pick up speed!


Perfect stuff and we had huge grins on all afternoon
Only to be removed by the harsh realities of the Karen refugee camps.
The Thai hosts are not keen on their plight being known - photographs are not encouraged and entrance to foreigners forbidden.
Many Karens find work in sweatshops near Mae Sot working 16-hour days for less than a $1USD.



Our arrival drew the attention of some kids.



All we had to give them were a few sticks of gum.
That and the bikes put a smile on their faces.
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Old 03-27-2008   #8 (permalink)
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Rhodie,
That's absolutely the best looking Scrambler I've seen. I love those flat black pipes and the overall look of the bike.

Fantastic ride and pics once again!
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Old 03-28-2008   #9 (permalink)
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Hi Rhodie. I got a bit concerned when you appeared to go AWOL for a week. I thought perhaps you'd had an allergic reaction to eating fried tarantulas . Another great post!

Thanks,

Dave.
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Old 03-29-2008   #10 (permalink)
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Apologies Dave
Got stuck in Chiang Mai doing action promo shots of the bikes with a couple of buddies
for the Bangkok motorshow where they are on display.
http://www.triumphrat.net/triumph-tw...vs-bmw-gs.html
Am tied up with the show at the mo, but will try & post more tomorrow.
Cheers
Rhodie
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