The Mekong River Tour

This is the hardest of the Motorbike Madness road tours, a 2,135 kilometre run from Pattaya up to the Mekong at the Lao border and back in seven days. The operator grades it advanced, and the published daily distances of 380, 390, 340 and 360 kilometres show that grading is about stamina and pace as much as technical difficulty. Day one is deliberately light: hotel pickup, a briefing and bike introduction at base camp, and a 150 kilometre local loop with some trail riding to settle everyone in. Day two heads north on scenic back roads through Khao Yai National Park, more than 2,000 square kilometres of forest with elephants and monkeys, on tight fast curves to Nakhon Ratchasima. Day three continues on twisty country lanes with a weapon museum and the striking five Buddha temple of Phrathat Pha Sorn Kaew, ending in Thung Salaeng National Park. The fourth day is the reason to book the tour. It opens with a technical hill climb to Phu Tubberk at 1,768 metres, continues to the point where Thailand and Laos are only twenty metres apart, with a rooftop cafe overlooking it, and then reaches the Mekong River Skywalk, a glass bottomed walkway suspended eighty metres above the river with both countries in view. The night is spent at Chiang Khan, a riverside town of teakwood shophouses, a night market and boardwalks along the water. The route then turns south. Fast twisty roads and cliff top viewpoints lead past the Ubolratana Dam to the university city of Khon Kaen, then off road through rubber plantations and a wooden walkway across rice fields to Nang Rong, before a final 360 kilometre leg through the Bo Thong district and the Khlong Si Yat reservoir back to Pattaya. Private hotel rooms, breakfasts and lunches, fuel, park and historic site entrance fees, helmets, medical insurance, comprehensive motorcycle cover and both taxi transfers are included. Evening meals are deliberately left out so riders can choose for themselves.

Motorbike Madness grades this seven day, 2,135 kilometre route advanced, and the daily legs explain why: several days run close to 400 kilometres. From Pattaya the tour opens with a short local loop and briefing, then heads north through Khao Yai National Park to Nakhon Ratchasima. Day three climbs to the cliff top temple of Phrathat Pha Sorn Kaew on the way to Thung Salaeng, and day four is the highlight: a technical hill climb to Phu Tubberk at 1,768 metres, the twenty metre wide narrowest point between Thailand and Laos, and the Mekong River Skywalk, a glass floored platform eighty metres above the water, before an overnight in the teakwood town of Chiang Khan. The return runs through Khon Kaen and Nang Rong back to Pattaya.