August - October 2010

The Golden Triangle

Join us on our trip as we update you on our adventures and discoveries by reading this page Travel Diaries or Yahava's Facebook page. Be sure to let us know on Facebook if you are enjoying the trip.

2 September: Doi Chaang

It took us well over the expected 4 hours drive to arrive at Doi Chaang Coffee Plantation, approximately 4000 feet up the in mountains north of Chang Mai/southeast of Chang Rai. By chance we arrived amidst a tribal celebration with music, dance, food and great coffee served!

Originally the village was inhabited by the Hmong hill tribe people and later on the Lisaw and Ikaw (or Akha) tribes migrated to this village in 1915 and 1983 respectively.

Baan Doi Chaang is named after the mountain that looks like two elephants, mother and a child, pointing their faces to the north. The weather is cool with plenty rainfall, with an average temperature of 18 degrees, perfect to grow outstanding coffee.

The two key persons behind Doi Chaang Coffee are ‘Wicha’ (Wicha Promyong,) and ‘Ardel’ (Panachai Pisailert-Managing Director)) and we were lucky to be able to meet with Wicha (President of the Doi Chaang Coffee Comp) and learn about the processes of Doi Chaang coffee.

It was evident that the passion of the people, the facilities in place to ensure both an eco- and overall social friendly environment, that the cupping of this great coffee was going to be equally as impressive….we were right!

History tells us that Thailand started to cultivate coffee back in 1824 (with the help of the The Dutch and the British) and by 1855 the first commercial bean was picked. Not much has been recorded since until 1957

Doi Chaang’s 8000 acres of plantations is covered with four varietals of Arabica coffee plants: Bourbon, Caturra, Typica and Mundo Chaang Nova from which they process an Organic, Conventional and Peaberry coffee. Over the years they have been able to cultivate such strains of coffee plants to create immunity against the disease ‘coffee rust’. They have just passed their first Fairtrade audit and are preparing themselves for more  international recognition.
The coffee itself has a naturally low caffeine level (1.5%) and presents an exceptional smooth, sweet cup of coffee with wonderful aromas. The coffee has been compared to Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kona and is well sought after in the States, distributed by their partners based in Canada, where this coffee is retailed for up to US$80 per kg. Recently their main coffee cupped at 90 points and the peaberry at 93 which puts them right up there with the top 5% of coffees!

Without going into much further detail (more will follow over the coming year I am sure, as we are looking to bring this coffee into our KoffeeWorks) we feel that Doi Chaang coffee is well worth the price, also taking in consideration that 30% of the profits of Doi Chaang coffee, is distributed by the ‘Foundation’ to improve social facilities around the region.

Just having some breakfast, tasting the Doi Chaang Certified Organic Coffee Blossom Honey and I used their ‘Honeybee Coffee Soap’ in the shower last night, trying to wash away the crud from my face, it is clear there is a great story and product range here and we are sure it is something our customers will love!

It will take some real effort to get this coffee and we will pay handsomely for it so we would like your feedback as to whether you think we should bring it in.

28-29 August: River Kwai - Nakhon Sawan - Chiang Mai

Fast flowing water underneath our rafts ensured for a good nights sleep, ready to take on the River Kwai by long tail boat in the morning. 

Powered by a turbo charged 6 cylinder Isuzu engine the boat looked ready for high speed action! However the driver of the boat was nearing eighty years old and as a result, the speed of the boat did not exceed 3 knots ph.

After the boat ride we continued our adrenaline rush on our bikes, driving north towards Nakhon Sawan and getting lost trying to find a shortcut in the Uthai Thani region ending up on a dirt road leading up into the hills, around a ‘military secured area’ and back again, creating a frustrating extra couple hours riding whilst ending up 20kms south from where we started…not good!

Nakhon Sawan had nothing much to offer than a bed, a bathtub to do our washing in (we started to smell) and a not so bad cup of coffee followed by a good nights sleep, only to be woken by heavy traffic at 5.30am.

The ride north to Chiang Mai was mostly uneventful with only a couple of pleasant moments when  highway presented us with some scenic mountain rides approx 150kms south of Chiang Mai.

A very humid day of riding had us all looking forward to a cold beer as we neared Chiang Mai, when Gary’s Kawasaki 250c decided to give up the ghost.

Later we discovered it to be an electrical fault.
John strapped on the ropes and we towed him into Chiang Mai, a local mechanic helped fix the bike and refused any payment.

Now we were more ready for a coldy then ever!!

26-27 August: Ratcheta Buri - Ban Pong -Kantchanaburi

We over nighted in Ratcheta Buri about 60kms out of Bangkok and just 20 kms from the town we had arranged to meet Garry Warr from More Cafe. That night we headed out to a local Thai restaurant where met the DJ and great guy who sat with us all night as there was a live band. They were very good at old songs both Thai and Western. The next day, feeling a little hungover we waited to hear from Garry before heading to Ban Pong, the meeting place, before continuing on to the "Bridge over the River Kwai" in Kantchanaburi.

Garry was delayed for most of the day so when he finally got to us about 3pm we decided to find a place to overnight. We rode up and down the streets of this busy industrial town and could not find anything we could cope with. We were stopped on the side of the rode when a local man Peter, pulled up on a scooter and asked what we were looking for. We told him and ended up arranging to stay in his apartment which was attached to his workshop. He wanted 300 baht which is $10.

He then took us to meet his buddies. All of them are successful local businessmen. Peter owns an engineering business, and the other guys similarly own metal working businesses.

We ended up having a great night with them at a local restaurant sampling local fare. The next morning we headed out to the floating markets and then rode up to the Bridge over the river Kwai.

It was a hot day (39 degrees and very humid) which makes motorcycle riding very uncomfortable as you need to wear protective clothing. By the time we reached Kantchanaburi we were dehydrated and feeling pretty exhausted.

We managed to find accommodation on the Jungle River Rafts which are floating on the river. The river is literally passing by your window which fantastic. The rooms float on the river, you cross a small foot bridge to reach them and each has aircon & ensuites - no TV, nice and quiet.

As we rode around today we passed a cafe called "Cabbages & Condoms" we kid you not! We had to go in and see what this was all about!? Well it was all serious coffee inside. And they were selling the Doi Chang coffee that we will be visiting in the north. We were very encouraged by what we tasted. It is a soft easy drinking coffee and may be very good, so stay tuned!

24-25 August: Krabi - Ao Nang
Explored Krabi region in the pouring rain, driving past some amazing rock formations and also had to have a look at some of the beach resorts including the infamous Ao Nang beach which I am sure will fill up with tourists in the high season. Being the rainy season, it was all pretty quiet.

The road leading north took us through some of the best motorcycling journeys we have experienced in a long time! Scenery, good roads, excellent road side food stalls where we enjoyed the best noodle dishes ever tasted!

Had to cover over 1000kms in 2 days to get to our pre-arranged destination (200kms east of the River Kwai) to meet up with Gary Ward from More Café (Busselton) who has just flown in from Perth and hired a bike in Bangkok and will join us for 10 days, driving the very beautiful far north of Thailand where we are hoping to find some good coffee!

22nd - 23rd August: Penang, Krabi

We decided to leave early for the Thai Border expecting delays with the filling out of more forms and collecting stamps from various ‘authorities’ on the border.

Surprisingly it only took us just over an hour to get out of Malaysia and into Thailand under the whatchfull eye of one of the border control officers who took it upon himself to point into the right direction of the next office for us to visit to complete yet another form so we could collect another stamp until we had all four of them…it felt a bit like a treasure hunt.

Anyway, the system seems to work and we were on our way to Krabi which were hoping to reach before dark. We were delayed by heavy rain and 124 traffic lights!!

It was 8pm when we drove along the very quite streets of Krabi (the off season) to find a room at ‘The Mansion’….NOT!

Today we met with Danni and Jake’s friends (Stu & Punch) and had a look around, continuing up north taking the coastal road.

21st August: On our way

We hit the road early today in an effort to make up some lost time. It was hot again 36c and very humid. On a motorcycle this means you need to stop regularly for plenty of fluids. Inspite of this we made good time. We reached the city of George Town in Penang, around 2.30pm and had lunch of dim sums, chilli fried rice and beer.

Penang has a history that stretches back to the 14th century Malaccan Sultanate, more recently the British took over the island for a sum of 1500 pounds per annum when Sir John Mac Pherson  who was Governor General of India ordered a stopover point be found in the area to replenish their ships with food and water. 

The area we are staying on Penang is the very point they chose and is called Batu Feringghi. Feringghi is an Indian term for Europeans. Today the area still attracts European tourists on holiday. Now it is a great family holiday destination with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere day and night.

After lunch we rode around the island looking for a place to stay the night. That is when we happened on Batu Feringghi. Nice little beaches and plenty of accommodation. Its to off season so deals are good. A very comfortable room for $120 AUD including breakfast did the job.

Tomorrow we will hit the Thai border by late morning and should be in Krabi by mid afternoon!

That is exciting as we will be meeting Punch & Stu, friends of Jake & Danni who run the Yahava Swan Valley store.
Punch & Stu operate Krabi Imaging, which specialises in Hi-Definition Underwater Filming in Thailand.

It will be great to chat with people who have local knowledge and who can show us the area.

Here's to a smooth border crossing!

20th August: We have motorcycles!

Yay! We have our motorcycles after a long day of layer after layer of administative hassles. This included a drive to the old capital which seemed to be called JPJ by the locals. The city itself was amazing with beautiful buildings and bridges, but we went all the way by taxi (over an hours drive in traffic) to pay special road tax called ICP and it is free!?!?! Why we could not get that in Klnag I have no idea.

Any way we got all the paperwork, tax and insurance docs stamped by Customs and we were told thats it you're good to go "have a nice trip". Only one last thing - you have to go to the EDI for a stamp on this document.

Sooooooo we drove there by cab.... waited to see someone... and they said we didnt need it. Argh!
We then drove to the port and gave them our passports at the gate for "security reasons". We get inside and they say we don't have this stamp and you have to go to EDI.

Luckily for us, a local came to our rescue and got us around that somehow. Then we had to go to another port office where they said they could not release the bikes with out our passports! The Baron turned on the tears and we FINALLY got our beloved bikes out and ripped open the crates.

BMW in Perth had done a brilliant job and we rode the bikes back to the hotel to finish assembling our bikes as it was too hot in the warehouse.

By 7.30pm we were done assembling our bikes!
Tired, hungry and filled with excitement we planned our next days route over dinner and went to bed.

Tomorrow we are on our way north!

19th August: How do we get our bikes back!

What a day! First thing we called the Malaysian Automobile Association but we couldn’t reach anyone who could help, our shipping agent called and could not help, insisting we needed an import license.

We were running out of ideas when the power of the internet came to our aid, in the form of a reply from a blog we had posted on Horizons Unlimited a motorcycle travelers website.

We were told to call a specific person at customs and were given his direct number. When we called him he knew exactly what to do. He is a motorcyclist himself and had just got back from a 10 day ride in Thailand.

We had to get a taxi there which took an hour. He fast tracked our documents through for clearance (which took about 2 hours). Then we had to get road tax and insurance. This took another 3 hours and by the end of it we had insurance but no road tax.

Instead we have been sent to an office about 1 hour away. We then headed back to the shipping agent as we needed to convince them that we did have the right docs so they could provide a release document for the bikes.

We achieved that and learnt that we have to take that to ANOTHER office to be signed. Then we have to go back to customs with all of these documents, insurance and tax for their records. Then we can go to the port warehouse and maybe, just maybe we will get our bikes!

We however have run out of day so all of that will have to wait until tomorrow.

18th August 2010: DAY 1- The adventure begins...

Day one has been a day of drama's, not quite what hoped for. We arrived at Perth airport at 4.30am this morning to be told we would not be let into Malaysia because we could not show return flights. We explained to several airline people that this was because we were riding out of the country on motorcycles. In the end they reluctantly agreed that we could deal with any issues at KL.

As it happened once we arrived no one asked at customs and the only security guard we saw was sound asleep in his chair as hundreds of passengers walked past him laughing!

We found a driver and headed straight for Klang port where the bikes were meant to have been sitting for the last few days awaiting our arrival. However we know from experience that ports can cause all kinds of delays (which is why we sent the bikes so many days ahead) it turns out our ship was delayed 5 days and has just docked.

Also the documents we are carrying, which are the internationally required "Carnet du Passage" for moving motor vehicles across borders, are so far not recognised. We know these documents are correct and probably just have to find someone who recognises them.

So after running out of time we will push all the buttons tomorrow. Experience also tells us that if the ship has just docked then it may be a couple of days until we get to the bikes. These kinds of delays are likely at all the border crossings. But hopefully not too often!

We are excited to bust the bikes out and get on the road but I guess we will just have to be paitent - not a strong point. Tomorrow is another day and we should make some progress.

Stay tuned!

August 11 2010: One week to go!

Our bikes are passing through Singapore on their way to KL. We are still sorting a couple of last minute things.

Garry from More Cafe is booked to meet us on highway 323 west Bangkok just north of Nong O. Scott from One for the Road can't make that part of the journey so will meet us in Sumatra to ride through Java.

The first part of the ride will be heading north through Malaysia to the Thai border. Hopefully the unrest in that part of Thailand has settled down. We don't want to be caught in the cross fire! We want to find some beans not get our beans.

Then up to meet Garry and a little jaunt out to the bridge over the river Kwai, before heading north to the coffee plantations.

Needless to say we are getting excited now...
...keep watching.

July 22nd 2010: Bean Machines on the move...

Both BMW Bean machines are packed into their crates and heading to Fremantle today. They will be packed onto their ship bound for Kuala Lumpur.

All our personal documentation is prepared. Not just the usual passports and visa's but Carnet du Passage documentation for the bikes. Basically you cannot cross an international border with a vehicle unless you have the necessary paperwork and insurance to cover the machine. It must be stamped into and out of each country and you cannot leave without it. This is to stop black market trade in motor vehicles. So after filling out the forms and providing money to cover their value we are ready to go. We have spare tyres, parts and tools, maps, GPS and medical gear to ensure we can cope with most events. We have also had injections to protect us from all manner of possible disease and warnings of unrest, mosquitos and dodgy gangs have been heeded. We are ready to go. 

Garry from More Cafe in Busselton has signed on. We are hoping that Scott from OFTR will too. Garry will meet us in Thailand with a locally hired bike and he will stay with us for 10 days. While travelling Garry will learn more about green coffee and coffee processing, he wants to take in some local cooking schools and we hope he will have a great time and plenty of laughs. As we head across the border into Laos Garry will head south to Bangkok and fly home to Perth. 

We will pack simple clothing for on and off the bikes is all that is needed. Plus some coffee brewing equipment and supplies of beans of course! In fact one whole pannier on one bike will be devoted to coffee supplies! I know I know...we have a problem. It is the wet season up there so we don't expect a lot of sunshine. But most of it should be warm. Only the mountains will be cold. Either way good coffee is a must!

So now it is just the count down to the flights.

21 June 2010: The Bean Machines

We have got the bikes ready to go. Auto Classic in Perth are fitting them into crates for us in a couple of weeks.

The Bean Machines will take us pretty much anywhere we need to go. Good beans hide in mountainous regions and harvest is not long after rains so you need to be able to handle bad roads.

After planning the route we sat down for a couple of hours of paperwork. Carnet du Passage docs for the bikes and visa doc for us for Cambodia / Laos. No visas needed for Indonesia Malaysia or Thailand.

Although we have travelled in these areas before - we have to ride through some areas of unrest so careful planning is important. We have been invited to visit a number of interesting coffee plantations so we are hopeful of some good finds.

20 June: The Plan

After our successful motorbike trip around India, we are now in the final stages of planning our next adventure to Asia in search for the finest beans. This time we want to check out high quality coffees from northeast Thailand and other small plantations we have heard about in Java, plus anything else we discover on the way.

Once again we will use our favourite means of transport, the trusty motorcycle, only this time we will be taking our own. Our BMW GS Adventures are booked on a ship from Fremantle arriving in KL around the 18th of August. We will ride up through Malaysia, into Thailand and loop around through Laos, then south into Cambodia and back through Thailand & Malaysia across the channel into Java and finally into Bali around early October.

We have also invited our customers, Scott from One for the Road coffee drive thru fame and Garry from the great MORE Cafe in Busselton.

Along the way we will experience great food, no doubt some challenges as well as hopefully finding some new coffees worthy of our discerning customers palate back home.

Stay tuned...

The Koffee Baron