Chiang Mai and surroundings
After the beaches, diving, and the moist of southern Thailand, our next stop is the main city of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai.
Indeed, after a pretty quick transfer by flight through Koh Samui (in order to cross the country we treated ourselves with some luxury and sweetness) we’ve arrived at our northern destination. First impressions are pretty good, we find the inhabitants relax and quite smiling. Of course, the town is definitely touristy, but there is a little hippie something in the air. Also, we learn that the Thai city is the foodies’ mecca. Also we undoubtedly decide to test as much food as we can to make the most out of it: soup, noodles, meat delicateness, papaya salad (watch out on the chilli pepper!)… And to ensure our total immersion with the local life, we decide to rent a scooter and explore the town and mostly the surroundings. Pretty quickly, Ben loves it and feels like a local pilot. He considers that it is easier to drive on Thai highways rather than on the “rocade” in Toulouse! Audrey is delighted as you guess, and rather focus herself on local gastronomy!
This stop is therefore the opportunity to walk around and discover the city which has a lot to offer in terms of temples (slightly different from the ones in Bangkok), but mostly in terms of walks around the city. We jump on our dear scooter, negotiated with two superb helmets (this precision is important for the rest of the story), heading to the Bo Sang village and the San Kamphaeng hot springs.
The Bo Sang village also called the “umbrellas village”, was a good spot for photos during the yearly festival that happened to be during our visit. We are not alone as many Thais also visit this festival and enjoy the handcrafts with us.
Not far from there, we’ve visited the San Kamphaeng hot springs. They are numerous in northern Thailand, and we strangely enjoyed a lot boiling some eggs in the 105°C springing water. It’s not only about eating as it is also possible to relax our feet in 45°C basins among half of the school kids of the region.
After two days spent in Chiang Mai, this time it’s set up, we decide to complete the famous “Mae Hong Son loop” on our scooter within a week to explore northern Thailand.
The Mae Hong Son loop with a Harley (or almost a Harley)
Get the leather jackets on (or the windproof jackets), the scooter riders are coming! In order to do, we need to leave our backpacks and replace them with two smaller bags which will be (absolutely) sufficient for the coming week. Understand by it the strict minimum, pretty ladies please don’t stop by! The story will lead us to think that cloth cleanliness is quite relative with a 15L bag…
Moreover, we need to reassure Audrey who is, as you may know, quite keen on bikes, mountains, and all activities which may lead her to harm herself, including opening a wine bottle!
To put this back into context, we are talking here of a 600km trip on mountainous road similar to Corsica island, and happens to be famous for the impressive number of curves, 1864!
We decide to take our time, (our motto during this world tour), and complete the loop within 7 days, divided into four main stages: Paï, Mae Lana, Mae Hong Son et Mae Chaem.
We are hitting the road, and despite the mountainous road which caused some fears to Audrey, it is a treat for the eyes! The tea and rice fields, the mountains, the woods, the smalls villages lost in the countryside, it is all worth the buts pain!
The first step of our journey, PaÏ, appears to be different than our expectations. Since instead of finding a peaceful and quite mountain town, we are quite surprised by the impressive number of guest houses and restaurants dedicated to tourists. It is nevertheless true that a hippie spirit is flying around the city, but they are also too much English breakfasts in this little city! Bad surprise, our nice helmets were stolen while having a nice beer, trying to coax Paï. This city tried to explained us gently to continue our way. However, the nice surrounding landscapes, and the kindness of its inhabitants easily compensate everything! Ben, after helping a Thai lady carrying some stuff has been offered a glass of local alcohol in the countryside!
Our days are articulated around our journey with the scooter, sometimes on concrete roads, sometimes on mud paths which force us from time to time to leave the scooter and finish by foot. Quite a few times a trip finished in some hiking! Also backpacker duties such a laundry to ensure some hygiene, and diverse discoveries.
The city which stands as our favourite during the journey is Mae Hong Son. A small nice town, with a great night market around a small lake and superb surroundings (tribes villages, viewpoints, and especially the sunrise on Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu dominating the city under a cloud sea).
In order to make sure that we were enough relaxed (quite a stressful life!), we are treating ourselves with some massage. But also an afternoon at the only mud spa in Thailand to loose every piece of credibility we may still have (cf photo).
We enjoyed as well visiting a non-touristy cave with quite a few chatty guide (not to say completely silent)!
In total, we have travelled no less than 1000 km between the initial loop and the numerous additional explorations. A journey that we are thrilled to have accomplished in order to discover another Thailand, far from the beaches yes, but with as much charm.
This trip also allowed us to meet Coralie and Corentin, the Belgian fleeing the crowds like us, and with who we were able to exchange some nice stories around the scooter rides. Melanie, Stephane and their kids, the Canadian family travelling for Six months already. And Lucie and Gary which reassured us on the size of our bags!
Then we left Thailand. Some days in Chiang Mai where we were able to sell back our newly purchased helmets, and “few hours” of night train, taxi and bus lead us to Cambodia… but this is another chickens’ story.
Talk to you soon.
Ben & Audrey