Mae Hong Son Loop - Catching Up Part 5

An amazing experience in the north of Thailand, highly recommended with a scooter, The Mae Hong Son loop refers to a road going from Chiang Mai to Pai to Mae Hong Son to Mae Sariang to Chiang Mai. The ride between each of these points in ~4-6 hours and there are a lot of turns worth taking and stops worth making.
As a tribute to leaving the north of Thailand, we rented out a scooter and went out to breath the wonderfully green landscapes of the area. That was our way to greet 2013. Enjoy the pictures :)

Lake temple in Mae Hong Son

Common view from the road

Pseudo-traditional dresses meant for Thai tourist

Noodles in the Chinese village near the Burmese border - Ban Rak Thai

Ban Rak Thai (love Thai village) - interesting name for this Chinese immigrants village close to the Myanmar border. Aside from the beautiful road towards it, the village itself has spectacular natural surroundings.

Between Mae Hong Son and Ban Rak Thai

Morning mist on a Mae Hong Son stupa

The Buddha in mist, Mae Hong Son

The sun has risen on the Buddha, Mae Hong Son

Riiiice fields for-ever

Buddhist hen in a Mae Hong Son temple

Meditative spider in Mae Hong Son

Too many birds fly too fast for my lens, this one was likely resting

Missed the yellow flower carpets so well known in the area but flowers abound

Trees, houses, Thailand

Flower power

Stinky hot springs, you can cook eggs there if you're (unfortunately) not yet vegan

Taken from some horror movie set... or just next to the hot sptring

Life is happy, but happier with bubbles

Mae Sariang, from our room on the river bank

Pretending to think about something of great importance

Pretending to work on Colnect ;)

Frognector chillin' with the Buddha

"Take me back to that boat on a river"

"Silence is golden golden"

On the way to Thailand's highest peak

Dragon stairs or a fun park slide?

Colnect's BD manager with Colnect's mascots on the top of Thailand's highest peak

Family & beer in Mae Sariang. Notice the amazing ice solution on these glasses? Free the glass when half full of water. Brilliant!

Spiderman was ...not... here

Did you actually make it all the way here? How many of these pictures were worth a whole click and few seconds of your valuable time? I hope a few. I hope you like spiders, beer and chickens. North of Thailand is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

Scootering Near Pai, Mae Hong Son, Ban Lak Thai

Beautiful scenic views are a scooter's throw away from Pai and scooters are easy to rent and of good quality. Lotsa people end up in cast as the twisting roads are quite the challenge for inexperienced riders. Add alcohol and over confidence and you'll get good revenues for the nearby health industry.

Here are pictures from two occassions when we rented out a scooter. The first was with a couple of friends who came to Pai for a few days. We just explored around and saw nice views and a waterfall the next day. The second time was a more challenging 48 hour trip from Pai to Mae Hong Son, passing through Ban Rak Thai and many other unnamed unknown turns on the way. There was no specific goal set so if a turn seemed nice, we took it. The whole experience has been marvelous. Seriously.

Challenges did include riding in the dark with hordes of insects flying to my barely protected eyes. Add some nice slopes and > 180 degree turns and you're good to go. But then again, without challenges, where's the fun?

I'm now writing this from our sweet new apartment in Pai but that's on the next post. For now, enjoy the pictures and write something about them.

Quite a few nice waterfalls with freshly chilling water

Frognector enjoy the garlic heads

The Thai version of a Chinese village next to Pai. If anything, it reminds of ridiculous park in China that try to display other countries.

Pai's walking street has all kindsa artsy stuff on sale. These magnet coasters are always pinned to a cool WW beetle

Leafless tree reflecting on Dana's sunglasses

Frognector and Moo enjoying the view from the area's highest peak while we get eaten alive by sand flies. It took us a few days to realize that's what the new odd bites were.

Straw Buddha at Mae Hong Son

First time I see something of the like in a Buddhist temple...

Museums at temples (and churches) are often an odd conglomerate of things that made sense to someone at some time. For now, this sense eludes me.

Tourist info + police station: efficiency in Mae Hong Son

Appreciating our wonderful scooter, 125cc but went up and down like a real horse

Brand new scooter it was. We got it with ~700km and returned it with 1,000km+ :) Unfortunately I missed the 777.7 and 999.9 marks...

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

Ban Rak Thai has a significant Chinese population so we get a different kind of yummy noodle soup here

Ban Rak Thai - BEAUTIFUL village near the Myanmar border

I kinda half-visited Myanmar

At the army base near the border I saw the specs of the Negev, an Israeli-made machine gun

Ban Rak Thai... again

Mushrooms on a branch close to a waterfall

Close to Pai

Close to Pai, higher up

Mirrors for sale in a local Pai market

From a previous scooter trip with a couple of friends