A piece of cake

From Mae Chaem I continued my journey to Mae Hong Son, the city that gives the loop it’s name. The first ~100km were kind of exhausting. I even took a detour of about 10-20km, but luckily I noticed when I checked my google maps gps. The last 60km of the trip to Mae Hong Son were so much better. The street was new, not as many curves and not much traffic. It became my racing track, since I actually could pick-up some speed for once.

While driving, I always had stop myself to enjoy the view. The scenery in north Thailand is so beautiful! Behind every turn there’s a great view. I felt really bad for not stopping every time to take a picture, but I probably wouldn’t even be in Mae Hong Son by now if I did.

I arrived at Mae Hong Son pretty early this time and found a hotel pretty quick. Mae Hong Son has a much better tourism infrastructure compared to Mae Chaem, but still I haven’t seen many western tourists there. I spent the rest of the day looking around the city and having some food.

At night I wanted to go to a bar called crossroads, which was the only bar I’ve seen in Mae Hong Son, but there were only 3 people there. Two older western tourists and one older asian woman. So I decided to call it a day and went back to my hotel, so I could start my trip to Pai earlier the next day.

In the morning I met a guy from South Africa at the hotel and we had breakfast together. He had coffee, I had some watermelon I bought the day before, perfect.

After a rather long breakfast I started my trip to Pai, which was only about 105km. It also was a pretty good street for the most part. Because of that, I allowed myself two stops. One at a hotel/cafe in Soppong, where you can sit on a deck next to a river. This one was a recommendation of the guy from South Africa.

The other stop was at the Tham Lot, which is a big cave. I had a guide with a gas lamp guiding me through it for 150 Baht.

Starting at this cave, there were so much more tourists. This trend continued to Pai, where I am now. It’s pretty much a cheaper and more relaxed Khaosan Road, I really like it. I’m still a bit hungover from yesterday. I was at a reggae-bar with some guys I met in the dorm-room I’m staying in. There was a bonfire and it got quite crowded.

One thing I think is really strange is how cold it gets in northern Thailand at night. In Mae Chaem and Mae Hong Son I was actually waking up at night / early morning because I was so cold. The blankets they have in the guest houses and hotels are really thin, like they are made for the hot days and not the cold nights.

I’m going to get some breakfast now and maybe a massage, because my back is fucked up from the scooter-riding with my backpack.