Riding up to Doi Pha Phueng in Manipruek

Doi Pha Phueng in Nan province, North Thailand

One of my favourite rides is to ride from Pua to Manipruek, high in the mountains of Doi Phu Kha. I always make a stop at PhuVae Homestay & Coffee Shop for a hot choco and enjoy the stunning view. But I also always want to go to Doi Pha Phueng. But riding my big motorbike that is a bad idea as the last 8 km are dirt road or actually clay tracks. So this time I took the Kawasaki KSR110 of my wife. A great idea, but in hindsight riding with a bit shitty road tyres and riding alone was not a good idea. Follow me ...

First of course route route 101 from Pua to Chiang Klang and then route 4017 to Manipruek, the last 25 km of the route as some old & new landslides and damaged road parts. Then after PhuVae Homestay I continued to follow the cement road. But after less as 1 km the cement is gone and the road becomes a dirt & clay track between the pine trees. Very nice & easy part as the road is more or less at the same level. But I always thought that this part is just one road with one road to the right to Doi Pha Phueng.

But I was wrong! I passed a few side roads and of course no signs at all. And no telephone signal to check Google Maps but luckily Guru Maps helped me out to find the correct tracks. And I did manage to find Doi Pha Phueng. Wow! It is really impressive to stand there all alone, like you are on the top of the world. But actually only on 1.638m above sea-level. Some swallows were flying around me enjoying the thermic of the air at the cliff. You could even go camping here! But no facilities at all of course (mind you along route 4017 are actually 2 camping grounds with toilet and running water).

Riding back proved to be a bit more of a problem as I now had to go up a steep part and almost at top my little KSR had not enough power (I started at too low speed). Luckily there was a former nearby who pushed me and the KSR the last 10m up. Thank Buddha for a friend when you need them!

Following are some photos I took along the way. Click on the photo to enlarge. This travelogue follows my traveling in Thailand (and beyond) with in between information that might help you when traveling in Thailand. If you are interested to visit any place in Thailand and need some information then feel free to contact me by email at The Little Elephant Traveling in Thailand. I can also help you making a great tailor-made holiday in Thailand.