When I was asked if I would join the international gathering of paragliders somewhere north of Thailand near the Laos border, I was a bit hesitated but after I checked that it is like one of those places that is rarely visited and offers spectacular views, flying characteristics etcetera, I packed my gliders and confirmed my participation.
I have a meeting in Alor Setar anyway, so I brought along the gears with me and after all the meetings were done I contacted Asri and we went to Phu Tap Boek by bus. It took us about 26 hours via HatYai and Bangkok before we reached Lom Kao to meet with Bin Bin and Chip, the contact person that organizes the event.
The site is located at 1,768m above sea level and the weather is freaking cold especially at night. But I loved it, had a good 3 days of long distance flights. The landing zone is located about 8km away, on the first flight I couldn’t find it and only at about 200ft I spotted the LZ but it was too late to detour, so I landed on the adjacent field.
In one of the flights, I miscalculated the lift and couldn’t find thermals to ascend and made a second mistake for not choosing the easiest bail-out area to land, instead I foolishly decided to cross over the ridge via a small opening and I missed the height by about 50ft… landed on the leafy trees of teak forest. Packed the glider, walked down the hills through corn and green beans farm. One of the farmers helped me with the short-cut to get out of the hilly area and hopped on his motorbike sending me to the designated landing zone.
In overall, it was an awesome experience and I would fly Phu Tap Boek again for sure. Just that I won’t go there by bus anymore, I will fly to Bangkok or ChiangMai and take a 4 hour bus or van to Lom Sak/Lom Kao instead.