Motocross. Bats in a mine and a rocky mountain.

The original intention of this enduro trip was to ride up the mountain and visit the view point. A friend with some basic enduro skills joined and rode a Kawasaki rental bike from Bangkok. I had just picked my bike (Honda CRF250R) up from the garage after adjusting the valves and cleaning the carburetor so was hopeful it would run smooth.

The route was to lead us to a clearing where para-gliders took off and flew down towards the coast 10km away. There were several tracks up to the top, one for 4x4 vehicles dropping off the para-gliders and other smaller forest tracks for riders.

We had no previous knowledge that we would discover 2 caves/mines halfway up the mountain- our wrong turn became the right turn!

As planned, we reached the view point and arrived just in time to witness a para-glider taking off- trying to take off as the wind was apparently blowing the wrong way.

Unknowingly we had been followed by another rider, someone who lived locally and knew of other routes. We had already completed our route much faster than we thought so decided to visit another much higher rocky view point.

We were given only a hand signal to point us in the direction that we needed to ride. The track became more and more technical as we encountered rocks and fallen bamboo on steep sided hills.

As we came down from the first view point and circled the base of the mountain trying to loop round to find the next track we found a dam and had a quick stop.

A rocky clearing among trees suggested that there was a route up but we weren't sure if it was some sort of rock slide or rain wash. Loose rocks caused some crashes and added a few scratches and dents- well to the rental bike anyway!

What seemed to be the right route took us higher and higher up the mountain. A blurry cached image file of Google maps showed we were getting close to the peak. We didn't know if we would have to walk the final part but just kept on riding.

As the track finally flattened out we were only 3/4 of the way up. A dead end and a complete stop forced us to take a rest and rethink our plan.

Looking out at the view we had missed what was behind us. 2 caves or perhaps 2 mine shafts. This was 400km from the old abandoned mine that I had previously posted about but there were strange cuts in the rocks that didn't seem natural. Mine or cave, we weren't sure but in we went. Entrance #1 on the right was flooded with a very smelly blueish water so we went in entrance #2 to the left.

To low to stand we crouched and used our phones as a torch. There was only one tunnel with jagged walls that led back around 150-200 meters. I was hoping for an exit to the other side of the mountain- Indiana Jones style that came out to a cliff and sheer drop. There was no exit, just a dead end and lots of bats.

The cave/mine was too small to ride our bikes in and it was lucky we didn't try since the ceiling height became lower and lower and there were no turn out spots.

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As we returned and left the cave we made the decision to to go back down the mountain. Running low on fuel and time we headed back.

Getting back to the car just before sunset, I decided to stay on the main road. Upon arriving I thought I could shave off a few kilometers and a little time by taking a short cut! A rocky quarry stood in our path and it was either go around or go through.

I choose to go through and dropped down from some rocks catching my rear bumper on the boulder. It un-noticeably shunted the bumper up and stopped the tailgate from opening, meaning we couldn't unload the bikes. There was no damage to the vehicle, just a pivot on the bolts. A local garage on the side of the road had tools to loosen the bolts and let it fall back into place. 5 minutes later and a beer as payment we were down!

Anyway, it was this short cut that we avoided on the way back!

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