Metro 145 pressing on

:khao yai

PRESSING ON...

As Thailand’s wine industry gears up huge tracts of jungle are being cultivated, and it appears that Thailand is in ‘the grip of the grape’.

Rakau joins Spice Roads on a mountain-bike tour through one of the better known and most promising wine-producing regions of central Thailand.

It was a serene moment in time as we stood on that small grassy hillock.The sun was out but it was not too hot, and a gentle breeze blew across us as we soaked in the vista over the vineyards and down the lush green valley past the forbidding row of limestone cliffs. It was the first time we’d climbed up off the valley floor, and from here it seemed like we were in another country – all we needed was a beret on our heads and a baguette under our arms and you’d have sworn we were on the French Massif Central. As it was, we’d just traversed the most difficult section of our mountain-bike excursion, and were looking forward to the descent through the vineyards to a posh little restaurant on the edge of the vineyard which was our designated lunch stop.

This was the second day of a two day cycle tour through the AsokeValley on the outskirts of Khao Yai national park. For years this secluded cleft of native bush had escaped development, and was the domain of a handful of peasant farmers. It’s claim to fame was as a habitat for the endangered Hornbill, until the Boonrawd Empire identified it as offering ideal conditions for cultivating grapes (and ultimately wine). Now the only signs of the hornbill are on the gates of the PB Winery, and the plentiful advertising hoardings lining the otherwise pristine valley.

Ironically it’s this massive investment in developing the landscape that has made the valley accessible to eco-tourism. Our tour was touted as traversing the “Wine

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:khao yai Trail”, but as a frequent pilgrim of NZ’s Hawkes Bay Wine Trail, which takes you around dozens of boutique vineyards plying you with a wide variety of wines in copious amounts, I was decidedly underwhelmed by the paltry offerings of the valley’s only two wineries. To give them credit, the valley is still in it’s infancy as a wine-producer, and the wineries (both owned by PB) do not really have the charm or the depth of product to excite a true wine connoisseur. Perhaps more interesting than the wines are the other products, like jams and preserved grapes

On the bike she remarked that I was like an impala the way I bounded forward, camera in hand, to frame a picture as the sedate peloton rode by. I thought “wounded buffalo” might have been a more apt description, until she added that Impala’s are the “MacDonalds” of the African Veld – they have a big M on their butt’s and they’re an easy meal for almost all the big game.

Oi, was a freelance tour guide, and the leader of our small party. Clearly being an accomplished mountain-biker kept her adequately employed at Spice Roads, and when she wasn’t on tour, she’d go traveling to remote corners of Thailand and Asia with mates.Without the customary gaggle of tourists, she kept up a cracking pace, and kept us at the limits of our endurance while casually tossing out travel tit-bits like crossing from Kunming to ShangriLa in a rickety Chinese provincial bus.

The fourth member of the party, Lin, was driver, logistics manager, and mechanic rolled into one.We were his charges.

He shadowed us the whole time in the minivan, protecting our rears on the open road sections, and when we hit the dirt he’d scoot ahead and find a shady spot to prepare a cold towel and some fresh pineapple.

(no, they’re not like raisins, but more like the sticky dried tamarind sweets). The wineries did however serve as welcome ‘pit-stops’ along the cycling trail, and a couple of glasses of wine certainly made the rest of the day seem much more lively.

But we weren’t there for the wining (or whining). We’d come for the riding, and the gently undulating vine-covered terrain made an excellent off-road adventure playground with a diversity of surfaces and scenery. One minute we’d be dropping down a rutted track, or shimmying under a gate, and the next plying along the asphalt of a disused airstrip or crossing a ford in one of the many creeks, as we criss-crossed through the vineyards and the bumpy support roads.

The trip is well suited to intermediate riders, who can handle themselves in the saddle but are not looking for too much excitement off road.We were just two riders, along with the guide and the driver.

Pinette, or Pinky, was a South African, teaching English at the French International School (probably to Thai kids too – I never asked). On the three hour trip up in the mini-bus we’d gotten to know eachother quite well, and had discussed everything from the up-coming Springbok rugby tests, to colonic irrigation. It’s lucky we did get along, as it could be an awfully long three hours if you had nothing in common.

En route to the Asoke Valley we had detoured through Khao Yai, and took in the 15 minute walk to the Haew Narok waterfall. It was a great limber-up for a bike-ride, but surprisingly we didn’t saddle up at all in the park. Instead we drove straight through to a lunch spot on the western outskirts, and then on to ex-Senator Meechai Viravaidya’s Cabbages & Condom’s resort, where we were to camp for the night.

So despite an early departure from Bangkok, it was after 2pm when we finally took to the saddles. That afternoon was the warm-up for the cross-country excursion the following day. We kept pretty much to the main roads, and made our cursory tours of the wineries.We’d covered 26 kms by the time we got back to Cabbages & Condoms for a welcome beer and a hearty Thai dinner.

Having proven ourselves capable on the first day we headed off-road almost immediately on Day 2, and very rarely hit any tarmac.With no wine tastings or shops to distract us we traversed farm land and vineyards with just the occasional stop for refreshments. It seemed we were just working up a head of steam when we pulled into Boonrawd’s “Hornbill Restaurant” for lunch, and the slow realization that the cycling was over.

The natural beauty and allure of the AsokeValley is obvious. But like Koh Samui in the ’80’s, while it still retains much of it’s rustic charm, the secret is out and it’s only a matter of time before the developers turn it into a massive tourist trap. The signs are already there – the Hornbill restaurant, which overlooks the picturesque vineyards, caters for tourists with deep pockets and little taste for true traditional fare – and the billboards announcing upmarket subdivisions under construction are starting to litter the landscape.

We came away with the distinct impression that, while the Asoke Valley is an excellent venue for mountain-biking, the tour was a little frustrating in that we spent the whole time closeted in a relatively small area and our endurance was never really tested. Oi told us Spice Roads have a variety of different rides, from day tours to two weeks treks, and they’ll do any of the scheduled tours so long as there’s at least two riders. In addition, they will customize trips for four or more riders, which I’d say is an excellent option if you’re really looking for adventure. Personally, I’d have liked this trip to include some riding in KhaoYai on the first morning, a picnic lunch and a bottle of wine in the vineyards, and riding a little further up the valley into the native jungle at it’s edges. Perhaps that’ll be my motivation for a return trip and a more intensive itinerary.

Rakau

“one minute we’d be dropping down a rutted track, or shimmying under a gate, and the next plying along the asphalt of a disused airstrip or crossing a ford in one of the many creeks”

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