West Thailand Kanchanaburi Experience

Kanchanaburi province is mountainous, forested and pressed against the Myanmar border, and this nine day, 1,400 kilometre trip is the way Motorbike Madness gets riders into it from Pattaya. The operator grades it advanced, and the grading is earned on one day in particular rather than spread evenly through the week. Day one is logistics: airport collection or hotel pick up and preparation, with the riding starting on day two with a 300 kilometre transit to Kanchanaburi and a full briefing on the area and its terrain. Day three is the wartime day, covering the Death Railway mountain pass built by prisoners of war, the Bridge over the River Kwai, the war museum and memorial, with lunch overlooking the river. Day four rides the fifty kilometre road to Erawan Falls, which the operator calls roads to die for as they wind through valleys and climb steep inclines, with a hike past level after level of clear pools at the top. Day five is the hard one. Pilok is a subdistrict hidden in the mountain tops on the Myanmar border, once a tin and tungsten mining centre, covering 725 square kilometres that are around ninety five percent rainforest and jungle. The sealed road ends and the route continues on dirt with steep sections of rock and loose surface, finishing at a village homestay rather than a hotel. From there the tour turns north to Sangkhlaburi, which the operator calls the land that time forgot, for Thailand's largest wooden bridge, a boat ride to a submerged temple, the Khao Laem reservoir and an old golden temple with Myanmar roots. The final days run east through Phu Toei National Park and the Tewada summit to the century old Sam Chuk market and the Baan Kwai buffalo village, then the ruins of Ayutthaya, before the fast roads past Bangkok and a last stop at Silver Lake and Buddha Mountain. Private hotel rooms, breakfasts and lunches, fuel, entrance fees, two boat rides at Sangkhlaburi, airport transfers and third party liability cover are included. Evening meals, alcohol and personal spending are not.

Nine days and 1,400 kilometres take this advanced graded Motorbike Madness route from Pattaya into the jungle country along the Myanmar border. Kanchanaburi is the first base, with a day given to the Death Railway mountain pass, the Bridge over the River Kwai and the war museum, and another to Erawan National Park, reached by a fifty kilometre road the operator rates among the best anywhere. The hardest day is Pilok, a former tin and tungsten mining settlement hidden in the mountains where the tarmac simply ends and steep rock and loose dirt take over, with a village homestay at the top. Sangkhlaburi follows with Thailand's largest wooden bridge and a boat to a sunken temple, then Phu Toei National Park, the ancient ruins of Ayutthaya, and the run home past Silver Lake.