This trip was the brainchild of one Markus Chisholm (or Market to most thai people) and he put the word out looking for companions. Initially there was due to be 3 of us on this trip but Reuven discovered he was working that week and couldnt get out of it. No matter, myself and Markus were confident we could manage ourselves. The trip consisted of a week long motorbike journey through the mountains of the northwest of Thailand along what is known as the 'Mae Hong Son Loop'. It takes in over 400km and famously has 1864 bends (i wasnt counting). To do this monster in a week was fairly challenging especially considering Markus's motorbike experience was limited and mine was nil. Anyway we rented two bikes in Chiang Mai, one was a Honda Sonic 125cc with a manual gearbox(Markus) and the other was a Honda Dream 125cc semi-automatic(me). I should point out that anything with two wheels and a motor is a motorbike over here whereas i would have classed the dream as a moped but thats just me being pedantic. We took a warm up lap of the moat in Chiang Mai, filled our tanks, I layered on suncream, we strapped on our helmets and sunglasses and hit the road north out of Chiang Mai towards our first destination; Pai.
The initial part of the journey was easy, it was motorway, straight and flat. We turned west off this after about 30km and began our trip in earnest on the windy, mountainous roads we would become familiar with over the next 7 days. Now when i say curves i dont mean a slight bend in a road, i mean big looping switchbacks up hills. This is what we coped with for the most part and it meant we werent moving too fast but that suited us to an extent as it meant we could drink in some of the amazing scenery. The descents were trickier but we managed. I guess my experience with a racing bike served me in good stead here as once i got the hang of the accelerator and brake i was flying. It was weird to just drive over little stones and cracks in the road though, i was tempted to yell "hole" and swerve wildly but i figured that wouldnt end well for me so i just ignored them and kept going. As i said above the scenery was beautiful so we would stop every now and again to take some scenic pictures and have a water break. But the first day on the road was remarkable for being uneventful really and we arrived in Pai in the late afternoon after about 3hrs + on the bikes having covered over 100km of mountainous road. Not bad for my first time on a motorbike. We scouted around Pai for a place to stay and found a decent spot for a decent price. We then found out that there were hot springs nearby and a few places offered the chance to soak in them so we having grabbed our swimming gear we hopped back on the bikes and went and soaked ourselves in the hot mineral waters. Just what the doctor ordered after a hard day's biking! After some time we dragged ourselves back onto the bikes and drove back to Pai. A quick shower later and we went in search of food. Now Markus introduced my previously uncultured self to the delights of Vietnamese food. We found a nice little resteraunt and between Markus and an extremely excited owner, they preached the wonder of Vietnamese food and converted another unsuspecting customer. The food is really light but delicious and apparently is good for body and soul. So to counter this bit of good work we went and downed a few beers. The town was pretty quiet and we were kind of tired so we called it a night and got some sleep.
The next day dawned in Pai and we slept in. This was a rest day and we were going to take it easy in Pai (its hard to do anything else). Firstly we changed hostel to see what else the town had to offer. It was low season so this was pretty easy and the second place was pretty cool. Next we made our way up to the temple on the hill in the late morning on foot which proved to be a silly mistake when we could have driven. Once we got to the temple we found our view blemished by some kind of haze. This was to be the norm over the week, beautiful countryside, a sunny day but what looked like fog settled over everything. I now suspect i have an answer for this. This is the time of year in Thailand when the rice fields get burned to make way for a new harvest so it could be that some of the dust and smoke settles as a kind of smog over everything. I think.... So a tad disappointed and even more sweaty we went back to the town for lunch. We had this in a place called 'The Witching Well' and proved to be one of the best meals i have had in Thailand so far so if you go to Pai go here! For the afternoon we were going to head to some caves that were 30km outside of Pai on the road to Mae Hong Son. We had read up on them and knew that sunset was a good time to be there so thats why we left it so late in the day to go there. So an uneventful ride later we found our way to 'Cave Lod' about an hour before sunset. We got a guided tour of the caves which included a guide with a paraffin lamp (caves are dark, who knew?) and another to steer the boat. Since there was a river running through the caves there is no other way to see them. The main parts are on land though so we got off at parts and were treated to a wonderful tour of the caves with our guide basically pointing at rocks and saying things like "looks like elephant". This would prompt a few minutes of me and Markus staring at the rock before one of us said "oh yeah i see it now" and we could move onto the next one. Some were interesting and it was a cool cave but the guides could use a bit of work. Maybe they dont get many English speakers. Sunset was fast approaching when we got to the end of the cave network and saw the exit point. This is where the magic happened. Every day at sunset, hundreds of thousands of swifts (and some bats) fly into the cave to their nests. We must have been there for a half hour or so and there was a steady stream of them flying in so i could believe the figure to be a little bit accurate. It was a truly amazing sight and created a sound like a loud waterfall as well with the birds rushing in so it was well worth the visit. Unfortunately my camera chose this moment to die so i didnt get many good pictures. I guess the memories will have to suffice.
Having spent a nice afternoon in the caves and witnessed the sunset bird show we got back on our bikes and drove back to Pai in the dark. Here i feel the need to blow my own trumpet a little. Having never driven a motorbike before i had in two days covered over 150km of tough terrain over mountains and on windy roads. I had also driven 30km of this in the dark and so covered night driving. All of this with no problems whatsoever so im fairly proud of that. Moving swiftly on we got back to Pai safe and sound, had our showers and went for dinner. Tonight i was introduced to Middle Eastern food in the form of falafels. It was good enough that i would try it again but wasnt as nice as the vietnamese food. We went in search of a bar to see out our last night in Pai and found our way to a spot with a live band. We started playing 'Guess that tune' which was tricky enough as these guys were playing a wide variety of stuff. We had a bit of banter with the band as well and after they finished they joined us for a beer. This drew over one of the staff who sat with us as well. The band moved onto another bar where they were to play again and the girl stayed talking to us (in good English). So having made a new friend we went back to our hostel and got a good night's rest before we moved on from Pai.
Pics: 1)Me and my trusty Dream
2)The Markus pose
3)The mountains of NW Thailand
4)The second place we stayed in Pai
5)"Look like lady"
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