Pai and Mae Hong Son

Easy travel yesterday - flights from Krabi-DMK-Chiang Mai and at the bus station by 1:30, minivan at 2:30 to Pai in time for sunset.  Lovely countryside cabana (Pairenuthia Village) with really accommodating hosts.  They picked us up from the bus/minivan station and then gave us another ride into town and back so we could check out 'walking street' and have dinner.

We're off this morning on a 4-day motorbike adventure to Mae Hong Son - part of a huge loop.  :) Pai is pretty chill and nice.  Definitely worth a visit if you don't mind a 3.5 hour minivan through the windy mountain roads.  :)

Day 1:   (some excerpts from emails or Facebook)

Wow guys- something else to put on your bucket list. Holyyyy shit.  We rented scooters in Pai- there are a gazillion for rent.  We left the big bags and packed a 4 overnight 'day bag' just like Thakhek loop.

We left Pai around noon...Beautiful drive through curving mountain roads to Sappong (also called a different name on road signs) had lunch and a roadside place- 'hot' fish soup and fried rice.  (Oddly delicious)...and then found a cool-looking road north to check out a cave (not on map but on a road sign).  Blind luck and we're in this stunning- like 'wet your pants' stunning, Jurassic park type valley with an overlook...and roads that veered off to highland hill tribe villages. (Black Lahu, Red Lahu, and Shan villages). I mean...shiitttt. Beautiful. At the overlook, I took about 70 sunset photos.  We're Staying at 'Maelana' garden home guesthouse in the bottom of this valley near rice paddy fields and cliffs. Simple bed, mosquito net, toilet/shower. $5.50 with shared bath but we splurged and got private bath bungalow.  (We heard the cave was a cool adventure – the best one and definitely worth doing.)

From Charles' FB post: A few days ago, we rented a couple of scooters in Pai and struck out to the northwest and west along hwy 1095 to explore the northern part of the famous Mae Hong Son loop. It was a great experience affording us the time and independence to cruise through villages and parks that we may not have otherwise seen. On day 1 we traveled through Soppong (Pang Mapha) and eventually to Mae La Na guesthouse in the village of Mae La Na, near the cave of, you guessed it, Mae La Na.

Stunning views on the highway

Roadside lunch stop

Maelana guesthouse view from cabana

Sunset view from Ban Jabo village

My favorite overlook

Day 2:  So today was another epic day-amazing scenery and endless switchbacks on mountain roads. Getting from pai to Mae hong son- about 100km- has taken 2 days - with spur trips of course. Today we left the Shan hill tribe village homestay - watched the fog lift in the canyon...took off the highway a lot on spur trails. One was to Susa falls riding on thin dirt track through cool tall forests (and more windy steep travel). So there we found a waterfall. Nice! But there was this one gibbon that was watching us. As we we're walking back, she fucking hugged my leg. Yah- hugged by a gibbon. Scared the living crap out of me. The park guard said to peg the monkeys with rocks- but I never saw this one coming...ran and jumped on my leg, hugged it in a split second, and then ran off before I knew what happened. Fuck dude. Yah- I screamed. Called her a fucking bitch for scaring me. Hmm... Charles thought maybe she was trying to shake me down so I'd drop my water bottle. Hmmpph.

Then more little excursions off road to various villages. And then on to the Mae hong son to refuel and get an ATM stop. Then to the lake very near the Burma border- another vertical climb -endless. Gorgeous Stopped at the reservoir/lake- very serene but decided not to stay. Guest rooms were mats on the floor and expensive so we came back to town about 7 km down from the border town. I stopped to ask/mime with a couple elder ladies where a guesthouse was which started a series of events akin to a fire drill. 2 semi-English speakers - young teen girls -were put in front to speak to us ...they interpreted and the elder women and them were yelling to neighbors, neighbors were yelling to other neighbors. Suddenly a woman with a home stay appeared but said wait wait. One of the girls who first helped said it was her birthday and for us to 'come come' inside their yard. So in the end, we had a delicious dinner- a blend of Thai spicy coconut curry with noodles and crunchy Chinese noodles. Whhaaattt. We all talked/mimed. Big family with toddlers poking heads out and seeing us/Charles' beard. Broken English with the girls.  Hilarious - we were all giggly. I made 2 new Facebook friends and now...after all that...we're in this beautiful farm/country cabana a km from the village ...near a river. Breakfast, cold beer, internet. Crazy.... Nutty and very cool.

:)

Sunrise bridge to fields at Maelana guesthouse

Meditation valley

Foot bridge... but washed out trail...

Came up from walking over the bridge to this gibbon dude staring us down...(gulp)

The 'leg hugger'. This is the one that ran up behind me and hugged my left leg - I think an attempt to shake me down and get my water bottle?

River crossings

Way back from the falls (road goes straight down)

Bol bol

Sunset at the reservoir

Kingfisher

Our host Ying and family. (They helped us find a place to stay and fed us a beautiful dinner)

Charles birding (guesthouse by the river - what luck!)

From Charles' FB post: Day two of the Mae Hong Son motorbike (scooter) ride took us on an unexpected route into the heart of the Mae Surin National Park where we visited the Namtook Susa waterfall. What a beautiful ride. Afterwords, I saw on the internet that we encountered the infamous lars gibbons that pester tourists. I was nipped in the shoulder (nothing serious!) by the biting gibbon when I came between him and his family and Kristi Drexler had her leg hugged by another at the falls (shake down for food?). We ended up at Pang Ung lake for sunset and with the generous help of strangers found an awesome guesthouse in Ban Na Pa Paek.

Day 3: Today we started on the way back. Went to the border town of Ban Rak Thai and had Chinese tea on a lake, took in a lovely waterfall, and took a mystery road to a cave, past villages, and amazing views. Just crazy. 

Now back in Sappong at this river side groovy place called little Eden. :)) 50 km to pai tomorrow...visit hot springs? Water fall? The Grand Canyon? A cave? A village. :) Definitely shopping at pai walking street vendor market.  Feeling really grateful...

Charles FB: 
Day three took us up the windy road to Ban Rak Tai at the Myanmar border where an abundance of tea plantations surround the town and tea houses surround the small but picturesque town. We explored some of the northern spurs off hwy 1095 on our way back towards Pai, staying at Little Eden Guesthouse in Soppong.

Ban Rak Thai entrance

Tea time

Border of Myanmar

waterfall

Field on the way back to Sappong (near Fish Cave)

See through leaf at Fish Cave

Overlooks

Charles in his happy place - at Sappong's Little Eden guesthouse (right on the river)

Day 4: Back in Pai town

Hot spring near Pai

Our guesthouse in Pai

The 'grand' canyon

Off for more exploring

From Pai: It was a great idea to get a minivan from Pai to Chiang Mai so we could spend our last night in Thailand in Chiang Mai versus Bangkok. Got a red truck from the airport to our hotel 1 km away (since we had an early flight the next day to BKK).  So, we spent the whole evening walking the endless night market. Amazing stuff. 70 baht ($2) street massage (head, shoulder, neck, arms) and the exact scarves we needed - perfect end to a great trip!

Now, time to pick up Kit and share gifts with family. It's the holidays! :)smile emoticon