Scootin' Along - Days 1-5, Road from Chiang Mai to Soppong

We are currently sitting in the common area of our residence of the night, CAVE LODGE, which is just a skip away from one of Thailand's largest caves.

It's been an awesome first five days, learning to hug the neverending curves of the Mae Hong Son loop, my scooter frequently putt-putting like the Jetsons' car. We've been taking it pretty slow because Eric was fairly sick, but hey, no problem, we are on a loose timetable.

Watchirathon Waterfall

Day one involved a trek from Chiang Mai to the small town of Mae Chaem, climbing through Doi Inthanon National Park. It featured an awesome waterfall, and then my scooter's almost downfall.

Shortly after we left the waterfall parking lot, I noticed that my steering was wavering a bit. I thought maybe I was running out of gas so we pulled off at a viewpoint, when both Eric and some locals pointed at my poor flat rear tire. They motioned that if we drove down the dirt road to the next to us, that we would be able to find repair.

Boontam and his son

We slowly made our way to what ended up being the Mae Klang Luang hilltribe village. At first it seemed no one was able to help, but then a friendly man with a toddler pulled up on a scooter and recruited his brother to take me and my scooter in a truck to the nearest repair shop, which was about 5km away. The friendly man, Boontam, exclaimed breathlessly once we got to the repair shop, "I am so drunk." Apparently he had been drinking rice liquor all morning (it was only 1230pm!), so while we were rescued by the nice town drunk, I am thankful it was his brother who drove.

We had some food and a beer with Boontam (don't worry, staying well below the .04% Thai driving limit) to thank him for his help, and my new tire + transport only cost me about $10. If I can find rescue in the middle of a national forest, I am confident that we will make it through the rest of this trip unscathed.

Ban Mae Klang Luang - their livelihood is rice crops and tourism

Beer with Boontam

Hills of Mae Chaem

Our journey that day literally peaked at the highest point in Thailand at the top of Doi Inthanon, but as it was socked in with clouds and fog, we were unable to appreciate the view. It was SO cold, though, and I'm glad we decided against camping in the park that night. We ended our day in the nearest city of Mae Chaem after getting turned around a few times and found a bungalow for the night. We were tired and unable to navigate the real town of Mae Chaem in the dark, so ate a quick dinner and headed to bed.

The next morning we got turned around in navigation a few times - I do NOT know what I would do without both my phone with a data plan and the locals, and easily conquered the 128km to our next evening's destination, Mae Sariang, in a few hours. People, including a man from Wenatchee we ran into in Chiang Mai, kept giving us skeptical looks about our planned distances of travel, but we must just kick ass at traveling via bike. 

The road that day included a stop at one of the MANY Royal Agricultural Research Stations where there were water buffalo grazing. We decided to put the camping gear I purchased to work and went to Salawin National Park, right outside of Mae Sariang. 

On the way to the campground, an army officer noticed my bag was falling off my bike and helped me re-strap it on, and it turned out he lived at the campground. Suddenly we had an escort to take us there and help check us in. 

Our camping spot ended up being in the lawn right in front of the headquarters building, which was a little strange. We were visited by an owl in the night that would NOT leave us alone, but was a patient photo subject, and there were many large creepy bugs in the bathrooms. My dad (the bird expert!) guessed that we were impeding on the owl's territory - sorry owl.

Thanks Army officer!

Hey!

Eric's illness started to peak the next morning so we drove the quick distance north to Khun Yuam, and after checking out the dying sunflower fields (we were about a month too late), settled at a nice resort in the hills, where we had the top floor of a two story building. 

Eric took to the king size bed and napped for a while, then we watched some ridiculous Thai soap operas, and I went to bed in the coolest window seat ever which was large enough for a mattress.

My sleeping area

View from deck

Still not feeling any better the next day, we finally bit the bullet and take Eric to the hospital at the next largest city north (which was also an intended destination) in Mae Hong Son. Mae Hong Son is a province, city AND what the loop we are driving on is called, which can be a little confusing. We got to the strange hospital and Eric went to the "ER" - a large room with multiple curtained off areas and no patients (it seemed all the Thai patients were crowded into another area). He was seen by a doctor who appeared to be half his age (Thai Doogie Howser!), but they confirmed he had no infection, which was what we really wanted to know, and sent him on his way with some medication. 

We went to a recommended guest house on a small lake in the middle of the city, rested, checked a temple and the night market, and I bought about 7 bags made by the Lisu hilltribe. Oops.

Today was definitely the most eventful yet. Eric almost feels human again, and the roads just keep getting more and more fun as we go along. I wanted to see a Chinese tea village on the Burmese border I head read about, so we started up a mountain and ended up distracted by another agricultural research station, that turned out to be some kind of zoo/animal sanctuary.

We played zoo tourist, then took off for the tea village, on a picturesque lake. Naturally we ate and did a tea tasting, which involved interesting technique. They pour the tea into a small tea "shot glass," then quickly flip it over into an actual tea glass and let it sit for a minute. Then they remove the shot glass and you are supposed to smell the tea flavor that way. It was absolutely delicious!

The lake at Mae Aw, Chinese Tea Village

Terrible tourists

Tea tasting

Back on the road, we visited to the Fish Cave along the way, which as Eric read, was just.. uh, fish, in a kind of cave. Not too exciting. We backtracked about 1km at the suggestion of my friend Jesse and found the monk who has lived at another cave for 10 years. We checked out the cave digs, and took some photos with the monk while I kept hearing something screeching in the background. I thought an animal was dying, but then the monk led us behind his "kitchen" and there was a small monkey, looking terrified on the roof... 

I can't make this shit up, the monk had a pet monkey. A monk and his monkey. It was hilariously wonderful and one of the random surprises that makes travel awesome.

There was no real way to top that, outside of a viewpoint on our way into Soppong. Tomorrow we will take a sunsent tour at 530am to the famous cave. 

Monk Cave

Road to Tam Wua Forest Monastery

After some sunrise cave exploration, we will drive to Pai, then abandon the rest of the Mae Hong Son loop, which would  just take us back to Chiang Mai. Onward and upward to the northernmost city of Thailand, and the Golden Triangle, where the countries of Thailand, Laos and Burma meet.

I think I've found a lifelong obsession with motorbike travel after just 5 days, and can't wait to continue to see the globe (and re-explore my home - Darryl is onboard!) in such a freeing fashion. 

My butt might be a little bit sore, but in the end, the journey is truly the destination.

-Erin