China Border Ride, Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot

Ride Itinerary:

Day 1 : KL - Surat Thani

Day 2 : Surat Thani – River Kwai, Kanchanaburi
Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot
Day 4 : Mae Sot – Mae Hong Son
Day 5 : Mae Hong Son - Pai
Day 6 : Pai
Day 7 : Pai – Chiang Rai
Day 8 : Chiang Rai – Huay Xai, Laos
Day 9 : Huay Xai – China Border, Boten
Day 10 : Huay Xai – Chai Nat
Day 11 : Chai Nat – Hua Hin
Day 12 : Hua Hin – Hatyai
Day 13 : Hatyai – KL

Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot

We have expected the ride was gonna be far to Mae Sot towards the Northern Thailand... We left Ploy Guesthouse in Kanchanaburi at 6.00 o’clock in the morning.. We planned to have breakfast along the ride to Nakhon Sawan..

First, we decided to ride along Route 324 and Route 321 which passes few towns such as Uthong Nakhon, Suphanburi (via By-Pass Route 357), Chai Nat and exits at Uthai Thani.

I have taught Otai how to use the road map so he would have ideas on our current location and where we were heading to. To know our next destination (through towns) is important when riding using map and we can estimate the distance and time to reach our destinations. Sometimes if we could have missed the Route number, we could use the town name as our reference.

It was a fine and hot day leaving Kanchanaburi to Mae Sot.. Mae Sot is located at the border of Thailand and Myanmar. The Burmese border town is called Myawaddy.

There are only 2 routes to reach Mae Sot from Kanchanaburi, which are Route 333 and Route 324, but the easiest and shortest route is riding through towns so we did not need to worry with fuel stops.. After passing Uthai Thani, we used Route 1 towards the North passing through Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet..

We stopped couple of times for refuelling and coffee break at Kamphaeng Phet.. Met new people who were excited to snap photos with our Harley Davidson bikes.. 

At Tak, we took Route 105 which leads us to Mae Sot.. The 80 km of riding is the ‘warm-up’ ride of Mae Hong Son’s 1864 Corners where the Route 105 starts to be hilly and full of corners in the mountain..

It was such a relief we reached Tak as we were starting to feel sleepy and tired riding along the boring straight road on Route 1 highway.. 

We reached Mae Sot town and started to look for Picturebook Guesthouse.. I found the boutique hotel via its website (www.picturebookthailand.org) .. The number of accommodations in Mae Sot have increased for the past 5 years… I remember 5 years ago, it was very difficult to find a decent accommodation in Mae Sot.. 

The Picturebook Guesthouse is situated in the middle of Mae Sot town and located in housing area.. It was easy to find and there are ample of parking spots for big motorcycles. 

Each of the room is beautifully decorated and has different theme such as The Zen Room, The Write’s Room, The Room By The Sea, The Naturalist Room, etc.. We booked two rooms with breakfast for RM60.00 each including breakfast..

I booked The Map Room for myself and Otai took The Drawing Room.. 

In the evening, we headed to Thailand – Myanmar border and we decided to enter Myawaddy in Myanmar to see how the border town is like..

To enter Myanmar for a day, we had to pay USD 10.00 per person and got our passports stamped.

Myawaddy, Myanmar

The day was turning dark.. At first, we thought of having dinner in Myawaddy but we were very concerned with our safety for staying late in Myanmar..

Therefore, we went back to Mae Sot and went to Tesco Lotus as we can have dinner at MK Restaurant.. At MK, we had steamboat and roast duck..

Today, we rode almost 6 hours covering 500 km from Kanchanaburi to Mae Sot.. It was a long ride and we really deserved to get a traditional Thai massage after the dinner.. We needed a good long rest before our Mae Hong Son’s 1864 Corners ride on the next day..

Ride in Style... HooRahh!!