05 Jan Motorbike on Mae Hong Son Loop
There is an error uploading photos to my site – they will be posted/updated shortly I hope!
**Warning: Extra long post for an extra awesome adventure!**
After our random free night at the hostel Gina and I changed our plans. We had initially decided to rent motorbikes and check out some of the surrounding coffee plantations and tea farms. However, the weather had other plans and since it was supposed to rain all day we decided to grab tickets to Chiang Mai instead (only 130B on the Green Bus!).
While waiting for our ride, we stopped at two coffee shops to enjoy the local brews: Nangnon Coffee, and Smiling Moon. Both were small, lovely places. We had a delicious cinnamon roll at Nangnon, but I preferred the coffee at Smiling Moon. That might be because they had this SUPERAMAZINGDELICIOUSHOWDIDINEVERTHINKOFTHIS drink – espresso with GINGER!! Not ‘hint of ginger’ or ginger syrup, but real, spicy ginger. It was incredible. The food was good, too. As a side note, a notable restaurant in Chiang Rai was Khao Soi Phor Jai/Pho Chai. Their kao soi was off the hook! Yum.
Chiang Mai Scene
When we arrived in Chiang Mai we headed to the downtown square to find a room. Most of the cheap ones were full, but we happened upon a sort of seedy place that did the job. Then we went out for BEER!
I had heard there was some ‘real’ beer up north, just like there is more ‘real’ coffee rather than Nescafé instant. Coming from Colorado and Oregon, I have missed good beer terribly. We found a craft beer bar called Craffity (clever, right?), and decided to check it out. Beers were very expensive at 220-240B for a bottle and 300B for draft, but they were fricking good! We started with a stout on tap, then tried a few bottles once we started chatting with some other travelers. Gina is my one true love – she bought my beer.
Interesting tidbit: Turns out the beer companies in Thailand don’t allow new brewers to open in the country. Home brewing for sale is illegal, of course. Capitalization *eye roll*. So what happens is that brewers will start a company in Cambodia, but brew in Thailand. So all the beers say they are from Cambodia, but they are actually local. Clever Thais 😉.<<<<<<< rning we headed out to find some motorbikes to rent. We wanted to do the famous Mae Hong Son Loop with its curvy, mountainous roads, beautiful scenery, and small rural villages. On our way we passed a coffee shop that drew us in. This was Bird’s Nest Cafe, a vegetarian friendly coffee bar and restaurant. We had noticed that Chiang Mai has a very…hipster, bohemian-type vibe. This definitely fit that stereotype. There was local art and jewelry, a vegetarian cookbook by the owner, and flyers about local events. We sat in the loft area and enjoyed an incredibly delicious meal and coffee.
Now that we were relaxed and full we moved on to our mission. Cat Motors came highly recommended, so we stopped there first. Unfortunately they only had one motorcycle in and no manual scooters. We went to Bikky’s next and after spending a lot of time explaining that we wanted a motorcycle not a motorbike (scooter), it turns out they didn’t have any either. We had a choice of heading across town to try another place or just go for the scooter.
We opted for the scooter! Two 125cc semi-automatics. It was 1800B each for a week long rental and they promised us it would do the job on the loop. *post-ride: gas ended up only being 300B for the whole loop. It took me a while to get the hang of the shifting (backwards from motorcycles, you shift up by pressing down), and weight distribution was a bit weird with my big backpack, but I’m honestly impressed with what these things can do! More on that later.
Real Thai Cooking Demo
We started heading south towards Doi Inthanon, intending to take the scenic route to the highest peak in Thailand, but we got distracted very quickly. We stopped for a hot cup of coffee shortly before the park at Khuang Pao Coffee. On my way back from the bathroom a woman cooking something wrapped in banana leaves over a grill began chatting with me.
Her name is Im (pronounced ‘Eem’), and she has learned English from some of her past jobs working with tourists. Her friend, Tos, was working in the room behind her pasting putty on the off-white walls. I asked what she was making (because it smelled divine), and we started to talk about food and travel. She got very excited and invited Gina and I to eat with them.
It turns out that this building is the start of a project. A sort of trade school where local people (and tourists!) can learn and experience Thai cooking, massage, hair trimming, etc. They were in the middle of prepping a room for their business display. Im had a cooking school in Chiang Mai previously, and is now working on this new project. Her plan is to have some organic vegetables growing nearby and start a new farm to table cooking school. She says her cooking style is based on traditional Thai medicine. Here you eat to balance the four elements in the body: earth, wind, fire, and water.
She decided to give us a brief cooking class (Sweet!!), and Tos brought over a bunch of baskets and bags and tables and they set up a little booth. We were going to make papaya salad, or som tam, since we didn’t have a wok to cook with….Buuut we also didn’t have any papaya!! Dun dun duuuunnn…Im said we would just make it with cucumber instead, no problem! She says you can make it with any old fruit or vegetable. We had a blast learning to mix the sauce, cutting vegetables and chatting. And the salad turned out delicious! And we got more of the banana leaf wrapped pork 😍. I will post recipes shortly, check them out!
They offered for us to sleep in the empty room overnight and Im said she would teach us another dish tomorrow, so we decided to stick around. We set up our tent on the tile floor, and when I went around the front of the building to move my motorbike I was accosted by an elderly Thai woman. She yelled at me in thai and hooked my arm in hers, then handed a phone to her friend and pointed back and forth between us. She wanted a selfie with the foreigner!
They asked me to sit and eat with them, so I grabbed Gina and everyone sat down for second dinner. We obviously don’t know any Thai, but everyone had a grand time drinking and joking. The older woman called herself Jin-ee, which is my mom’s name (Ginny)! So we had a lot of fun teasing about that and everyone was getting sloshed on Chang beer. Another woman there, Lucy, offered to teach us her award winning pad thai the next day, and Im agreed that would be even better than what she had planned, so we all decided to meet together in the morning.
Cooking Demo Day 2
Gina and I broke camp early morning and since Tos is a hairdresser, he kindly gave my mohawk a trim. We packed up and Lucy took Gina, Im, and me to the market. That was fucking cool. We walked around, pointing at things and asking questions. They picked out items needed for pad thai and we contributed to some of the cost and mostly gawked at all the strange and colorful things on display.
When we got to Lucy’s we saw a few people separating and bundling dried plants. It turns out they grow and package tobacco there! So as we pull up the whole family stops work and gathers around wondering what these ‘farangs’ (white people) are doing here.
Lucy’s home is an open concrete building with few doors. We are ushered into the kitchen, which has one bamboo wall with woks hanging from it that is open to the yard. Another wall is stove tops and a small counter, and there is a small wooden table with some tree stump chairs to the side. It is very small, but very open with lots of sunlight and fresh air.
The room quickly became a whirlwind of activity. Im and I are chopping, someone else is finishing up a tamarind sauce, they are washing and separating vegetables, and some of the grandmothers have come in and started rolling tobacco in banana leaves and showing us different things. Gina was enthusiastic about that and learned how to roll tobacco with tamarind. When you smoke you apparently also chew this other leaf to improve the taste. They described it as a tea leaf, but not the kind you drink. I was just trying to take it all in…while also helping and trying to learn and watch Gina and talktoeveryoneatonce.
Whew.
The meal was delicious, the company was fantastic, and Im even dressed me up in some traditional Thai clothing for pictures, since we are about the same size. It was a very cool experience.
Hill Tribe Villages
We said our goodbyes, and a lot of ‘we’ll be back!’s, and we headed onward towards our next stop: Mae Sariang. We made a pit stop when we saw these huge Buddha statues on a hillside.
This was Suttichit Buddhist Park. It is up the hill from a Wat and there are statues of everything from mermaids to dinosaurs to Godzilla to…Buddha. Huge Buddha with a lot of honeycomb hanging from his face. It was beautiful and since we were the absolute only ones there…very peaceful. I’m so glad we stopped.
We got to Mae Sariang just after dark and found a cute little hostel called North West Guesthouse. No one was there when we arrived and we sort of milled around until an Englishman came downstairs and asked what we needed. We asked if he worked there and he said no, he just stays from time to time, and he grabbed a key and showed us to a room! It was affordable and when we met him later, the owner was very friendly. He works with the local school to find English teachers. The young girl working the counter makes jewelry for sale and all in all it was very homey and we loved it.
The next day we decided to do some backwoods exploring. I asked Gina to take the lead since this is sort of her thing. We went to Kaew Komol crystal cave first. It was a short cave loop, but very pretty and unique. 80B entrance fee. Then we moved on and Gina turned up a random road that should lead to some less populated areas. We ended up in Ban Thung Pa Kha, and from there explored many side roads and ultimately were cut off in Ban Mae Sampheng Tai when the ‘road’ turned into a river.
It was a hell of a ride. I am really impressed with the scooters and their durability. Sure, a Honda CRF 250 would have been really nice. But that’s not what we had. We were on some heavily rutted rough roads, muddy ground, pools of water, and steep hills. We made it through with no problems and had a blast. The villagers were friendly, but confused. They kept pointing us back to the main road and laughing when we shook our heads. I’m glad Gina led the trek through, I might have turned around earlier if I was by myself and it turned out to be an awesome adventure.
Pha Bong
We headed north, intending to get to Mae Hong Song not long after nightfall. We stopped for a break at the Pha Bong viewpoint. Even in the dark it was beautiful. There was mist and stars and you could see the shadow of the mountains…after some discussion we decided to camp there for the night (being very sneaky because who knows if it’s allowed!). We set up our tent and I woke up (actually, I hardly slept) before dawn and waited.
It was totally worth it. It was a gorgeous sunrise, and the café at the rest area started opening soon after the sun rose. We met Ping, who was happy to practice his English. He asked how we slept (wink wink, nudge nudge, I know you camped here) and we hung around and chatted until they were fully open and food was available. Totally randomly, Ping said he had to go but that we could stop by his restaurant and stay the night if we wanted.
Sweet!! He had piqued our interest so we decided to at least stop for another cup of tea or coffee. Four kilometers north from the viewpoint on the left hand side is a green and white sign all in Thai. The name is Kublaikhan, and the restaurant/café is fucking awesome. Ping built it according to his memories as a child. It is all bamboo and natural wood, leaf roofs, sprawling gardens with bamboo bridges, separated bungalow-style rooms, set by a beautiful river.
He set us up in a bungalow and said we could stay as long as we liked if we help out around the restaurant a bit, whether it be taking orders, cleaning tables, or helping to make bamboo cups. He was gone all day, and we tried to help the girls working, but they mostly just giggled when we would try. Later in the day Gina went on her own adventure to see some hilltribes a bit more intimately, while I relaxed and helped with the bamboo cup making.
Since it was New Year’s Eve, and he had invited us to stay and celebrate with his family I thought it would be a grand idea to bring a bottle of rum to share. Who doesn’t like SangSom?! I could have bought it anywhere around there, but I decided to take a ride into town just to get out for a bit. I parked in Mae Hong Son, locked up my bike, and found a little shop. No problem! Until I got back to my bike.
My lock was stuck. At first I didn’t believe it. I tried different combinations, bending, twisting….Despite me working on it for a long while no one had stopped to ask what was up. I finally got someone else to look at it and they couldn’t get it unlocked either. So I kicked the curb (ouch, but worth it), and walked back towards Ban Pha Bong with my arm out to hitch a ride.
I got a motorbike ride back and waited for Gina. Maybe she would have the magic touch! We went back to Mae Hong Song to take a look, but no such luck. It’s like 7:30 on New Year’s Eve, and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but it’s really hard to get anything done after dark in this country. Everyone shuts down except for food and tourist shops. We tried to find someone with some bolt cutters, but no luck. Finally, someone called the police for me and said they were sending someone to help.
Some guys in orange ‘rescue’ shirts pulled up on motorbikes, assessed the situation, then called like 30 people. Apparently bolt cutters are not easy to come by. Good to know, I guess. Finally someone showed up with an angle grinder…an angle grinder! HAH! They sawed the lock off, and everything was good.
We had a low key New Years Eve eating a communal dinner with Ping and his employees. I wasn’t feeling well and went to bed early. In the morning we took it easy, said our goodbyes, bought some of the delicious tea they serve, and moved on.
Ban Rak Thai
We headed further north to visit the village Rak Thai, which is famous for its tea plantations. It was a beautiful winding ride up to a gorgeous town. Surrounded by hills covered in tea plants and jungle, the town is built into the hills and around a lake in the center. At night everything is lit up and just beautiful.
We found a campground for 150B each and rented a tarp for another 60B since it was supposed to rain. You can camp next to the lake for free, but I didn’t want to be in the middle of town, and we didn’t have a rain fly. The camp is just past the touristy entrance to town on the left hand side. There is a very steep hill to climb, but it overlooks the town, has electricity to plug your phones in (say what?), and bathrooms. It’s surrounded by tea plants and you get a nice hay bed for under your tent!
After we dropped our things off we headed up a heavily rutted dirt road. Gina wanted to see the Myanmar border. It happened to be very close and…the small gate was ajar! Gina couldn’t resist and asked the local Thai guards if we could walk across. They seemed confused and uncertain, but said ok, just a few minutes. And so we stepped across into another country.
We walked down a steep hill gazing at jungle and mist clad mountains and the farms below, each crop segmented by a raised mound of dirt. There were a few scattered bamboo scarecrows. Everything looked deserted, but there were fresh picked bananas in one of the huts that indicated they most certainly were not. We hiked for a while up and down the hills, but the farther we got away, the more uncomfortable I became. I remembered the guard saying ‘a few minutes’, which had definitely come and gone, and though we are in the middle of nowhere, Shan State is not considered safe for travel at the moment.
I called up to Gina that I was turning around. As I headed back down the path I heard someone yelling. I froze, silent, trying to determine what they were saying. ‘Touriiiist! Tourist!’ I breathed again and moved forward and saw the guard come into view, sweating and out of breath. ‘Where your friend??’ I said I didn’t know…she went ahead. He said he had to close the gate. The fluffy black dog from the guard station and another soldier popped up. He said ‘It not safe to go past here…Myanmar army.’
We ran together back up the hill to find Gina, who had thankfully also turned around and was heading towards us. I waved for her to speed up and we silently trekked back to the station. Once we had returned, the soldiers were no longer concerned and smiled when we got back to the camp. We slid our motorbikes back down the hill into town to find some dinner. As soon as we grabbed something to eat it started pouring down rain and as we waited it out we realized we would have to go back up that steep, muddy hill to our campsite…
We got our bikes to the base and Gina says ‘I’m going for it’, so I follow, of course. I walked the bike up, and Gina was soon forced to do the same. We got just over half way to the 90 degree turn and we are both stuck, Gina ahead of me. It’s so steep we can’t drop one bike to help the other, so we stand there in the rain and the mud, twisting and revving our bikes. We are exhausted from pushing and holding the brakes to keep us from sliding all the way back down. Luckily, a group of local girls about 10 years old were bringing dinner up the hill. They directed us and helped push my bike up to the turn in the road where I could stop, then went back to get Gina up there. By then a couple of young boys from up the hill also came down and with team effort we made it to the top!
We parked and exclaimed exuberant ‘thank you’s, and by the time I got down to our tent I saw Gina, a young boy, and the girl running the campsite using their hands to dig trenches and drain water that had pooled around our tent! Luckily, everything inside was still dry. We decided that even though it would likely be fine the rest of the evening maybe we should move. So we re-set camp and crawled in to watch a movie and get drunk on a cold, rainy night.
Pai
The next day we decided we should definitely make it to Pai, so other than stopping for viewpoints and a coffee we pretty much bee-lined it there. I was told multiple times to stay at Pai Circus Hostel, and it sounded great online, so we stopped there first. They had an open room in a little bungalow shack that was just perfect and 370B each for two nights. Lucky for me that we had our own place, because soon thereafter I got violently ill. I had time to look around town a bit and see some of the night market, but for two nights and almost all of the second day I was in bed, doped up on anti-diarrheals. TMI? Tough shit. This is real, yo.
Anyways, from the little I saw Pai seemed really cool! If I had to make a comparison to the states, I’d say Chiang Mai is like Denver and Pai is like Boulder, but on steroids. Reiki, yoga, crystals, kombucha…everywhere you turn. It was pretty awesome. I loved the atmosphere, but it was kind of sad that I saw more tourists than Thais. It was cool that most of the Thais there embraced that hippy vibe,, though, also wearing flowing clothing, crystal jewelry, and hair wraps.
A few notable places to check out for food (as if you need recommendations for a place with this many restaurants!):Two places were recommended to me by a friend. They happened to be closed the day we went in search of them, so I can’t vouch, but they were Burger Queen for..well, for burgers, and Garden Om for coconut porridge with fruit. We ended up going to Boom Burger, which Gina said was ammmmmazing (I couldn’t eat). I went to this cafe called Malamong, which was a bit pricey, but had a really good vibe and art, delicious and very spicy ginger tea, and a bomb fruit bowl. The next day I tried some homemade ginger beer and banana pie from the Pai Seedlings Foundation, which was delicious, but also goes to a good cause. Then we both had some sushi off of a food cart on the same road, which we are told is the best sushi in town!
We had to return our bikes by noon the next day, and since it seemed I had made a full recovery we booked it back to Chiang Mai and made it in 3 hours. I had to pay 300B for their broken lock, but they gave me the wrong change, so I actually only paid 200B (thanks, karma!). According to them if you push the lock in it resets the combo. Thanks for letting me know, guys 😑 as if I would cut the lock off for fun. I even called them before I cut it to ask!
But here we are! We are staying at a hostel in Chiangmai tonight so I can take a cooking course, and tomorrow we head to Crazy Horse for some climbing!
Expense Report
Transport: 1,943B + 305B gas + 200B bike lock = 2,448B ($74.57)
Lodging: 1,160B ($35.33)
Food: 2,210B ($67.32)
Alcohol: 395B ($12.03)
Water/electrolytes: 66B ($2.01)
Massage: 220B ($6.70)
Activities: 880B ($26.81)
Souvenirs/Gifts: 1,160B ($35.33)
Misc (sunglasses, soap): 139B ($4.23)
= 8,678B or $264.34
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