The last segment of the loop takes us from Mae Hong Son through Mae Sariang and then back to Chiang Mai, but that makes for yet another long drive so we will break the last leg of the trip into two with an overnight in Mae Sariang.

The trip out of Mae Hong Son is mostly due south, but we have a bit of time so the plan is to take a couple of side trips off the main road to see some viewpoints, waterfalls, etc.

One of the stops is marked on the map as a viewpoint and a microwave station, but the maps says ‘steep road’ so I am immediately drawn in. The road starts off fairly good, nice hardtop and not too steep, so I am feeling bold, but it quickly evolves to something narrower and quite a bit more steep!  Thankfully our trusty tin-can is powered by 2 gophers (vs just the one in Mrs. Columbus’ car back home) and the slope is no problem. A little more of a problem is the sharp, blind corners and the occasional oncoming truck or motorbike, and we often have to squeeze off the basically single lane road to both sides to pass one another. The Thai department of transportation has carefully marked all that on about 10% of the corners! 😉

The reward is at the end of the road though, and at the very top as advertised is a microwave station – that is not the reward however, because just past the station are panoramic views of the whole area and all the crops that the hill tribe people have planted on the hillsides. From the top you can see for miles across the ridges and valleys!

On the way back down we stop at a small village that we passed through on the way up. The people farming the steep hillsides live in this or one of the surrounding villages, but this one seems to be a focal point as there is a school here along with the typical houses of the hill tribe people. This village is the real deal though and not one of the touristy places we have seen before – there are no people putting on a show, or wearing costumes for people to take a picture, just very hard working people going about their normal routine and looking at the foreigners oddly as I am sure not many come past here on a regular basis.

The children running around are a bit leery of the foreigners, and my questionable Thai does not seem to help much as the hill tribe people typically speak a different language than official Thai, but the kids start to warm up to us a bit after we show them some photos, and a bribe of a bag of popcorn we bought in a market seems to go a long way to bridging the language barrier.

The village and viewpoint were great finds well off the beaten path, but time moves forward and we make our way down the winding road and back to the main highway. Mae Sariang is a few more hours of twisty road away, and I want to make it there in time to unwind and before dark.

Mae Sariang used to be a gateway stop for people going clockwise on the loop and had quite a busy tourist trade, but Pai has now become the popular spot, and most people just go there direct from Chiang Mai (counter-clockwise on the loop) and don’t even bother with the rest of the journey, just returning directly to Chiang Mai. The result is that the town is a little sleepy from a tourism perspective, but that is not always a bad thing 😉

We have a nice dinner along the river that goes through the town and watch the sunset before heading off to our hotel. The hotel is different from most places we have stayed and it is sort of built into the woods giving it a bit of a tree house effect.  The owners must have had some plan for future development as there are doors that are well labeled as going to nowhere, and open to a direct drop off two stories down! The quirkiness makes it unique, and the room is nice and comfortable so we have a nice sleep before heading off for the last leg tomorrow.

As we are having our breakfast in the morning our friends Bruce and Jackie from Australia that we have been traveling with for the last several days have decided that they want to stay a little longer in this area, so as we are packing up the car they are getting ready to find another room for the night and a guide that will take them up into the hills for a homestay with a hill tribe family. It sounds like an interesting adventure, but we are not really well packed or prepared for that sort of thing this trip, so we jump in the car and begin our trip back to Chiang Mai.

Like the day before we have a bit of time in the schedule for a stop or two along the way, and opportunity knocks about half an hour outside of the city. On the side of the road we see a blue sign written in Thai, but with a picture of a flower and a waterfall – looks good to us, so off the highway we go!

The road is a little more questionable than the road we took yesterday, but all along the way we see signs still indicating that we are on the right way to the waterfall so we press on. Finally after passing through another village, and past lots of rice and vegetable fields, we come to the end of the passable road and we stop the car. Again there is another sign pointing to the waterfall, so we decide that we are far enough in that we should keep going on foot. I am prepared for a walk of a few kilometers through the rice fields, but we are pleasantly surprised when we round a bend in the path a few hundred meters in and see a sign announcing the park / waterfall.

The spot must have been a going concern at one point as there are park grounds with benches and a concession stand but they have clearly been abandoned for a long time now. We are at the top of the falls, and the trail goes down alongside the falls, and even though the rest of the area has been let go, the trail is still in pretty good shape – it was once a set of concrete and stone steps but now has a full layer of decaying vegetation on top but is still passable for about the top half.

We make it down to the 6th pool (out of apparently 12) before the path gets too overgrown and decide to make our way back up to the top and where we left the car. We make our way back through the hills and the villages to the main road and then it is back to Chiang Mai to find a room for the night and reconnect with the rest of our local friends there.

As usual there is never enough time to do everything, and it is with a bit of sadness that we load up the car and wave goodbye to our little oasis at the Pai My Guest Resort. Pai has really impressed us – probably more than we thought it would, and I can see us coming back here for a longer amount of time on a future visit. However, the road ahead beckons and we are headed farther west up into hills to see the rest of the Mae Hong Son loop.

The road winds through more mountains and valleys and while we thought the road to Pai was twisty, this section claims to have even more curves and bends than the last section – I guess I need to be fully alert for another day of driving!

The road passes through the village of Soppong and is the site of one of the more well known caves in Thailand. Tham Lod (Lod Cave) is a huge cave with a river that runs through it, and you can take a tour through the cave with a guide.  You float through the cave on a bamboo raft, and then in a couple of spots you get off the raft to go into some of the larger caves within the main passage. The cave is featured in a lot of pictures of Thailand, and is one of the sights that I have wanted to see if we were ever up in this area.

As with any tour or day trip you don’t really know what you will get until you arrive and actually see it – what if the only highlights are the two things they pictured in the brochure? The cave however does not disappoint, and trip is well worth the stop on our journey!

The entrance to the cave is massive and you could easily fit a full sized house inside, and it is here that we board our raft for the journey inside. Our guide has a lantern and it is a good thing because we do not get too far in before we twist through a few corners and it is pitch black inside.  The raft takes us a few hundred meters into the cave and then stops on a gravel beach where we leave the raft and wander into our first sub-cave.

There are at least 3 sub-caverns inside the main cave that have been explored that tourists can go into, and we spend about half an hour going through the first two sub-caves before getting back on our raft to go farther into the main cave to see the last sub-cave.  We are about a kilometer into the cave when we can see the opening at the other end, and we have floated right through the mountain. We explore the last cavern here and then exit the cave for a hike back to the park entrance.

The cave has been a great experience and I am glad we took the time to stop. We had originally planned to stop overnight here in Soppong, but the day is still early, and if we press on to Mae Hong Son then we will have made up for the extra day we decided to stay in Pai, so after a quick bite to eat in the village it is off to Mae Hong Son.

The city of Mae Hong Son is tucked up in the north-western corner of Thailand and aside from the small hill tribe villages everywhere it is the last bit of civilization before going into Burma. On the west edge of the city there is a large hill with a temple on top, and we take a drive up to look out over the city and the valley farther to the west.

Unfortunately we don’t have enough time to explore any of the surrounding area and will have to do that another time, but I can easily see us coming back in the future for a longer stay and a more thorough exploration.

We liked the village of Pai and surrounding area along with our relaxing hotel room out in the rice field enough that we decided to stay here for an extra night.  That has given us a full extra day before we move on to the next place in the Mae Hong Son Loop to take in a few of the sights.

The village itself is not really anything special in my opinion, and in fact it probably picks up a few bad karma points for being riddled with hippie backpackers looking for that ‘chill spot to get away from it all man’.  However, the Pai river valley is very scenic and it looks like there is a lot to see in the surrounding area.

Our day starts off fairly slowly as we all seem to get a decent sleep out in our little oasis, and then it is a short walk to town to find some breakfast and decide what our plans for the day are. We find a nice little shop owned by a French guy for what turns out to be a really good American style breakfast and decide that later in the day towards sunset we are going out to see the Pai Canyon.

Once breakfast is out of the way we walk back to our hotel and decide that we are going to take a walk up to the temple that is on the hillside behind our hotel. There is a large Buddha statue that we can see rising out of the jungle that is part of the temple, and aside from the vertical climb it does not appear to be too far away. The helpful owner of the hotel tells us it is about a 20 minute walk and points out a bit of a shortcut out the back of the hotel and across the creek that runs behind our rooms.

After crossing the creek and a short walk down the road we find the entrance to the temple grounds and discover that there are two ways up – a set of stairs (’cause every temple seems to have lots of stairs) and a switchback road you could walk or drive up. We decide to not take the easy way out, and go up the stairs. A bit of puffing and a lot of sweating later we get to the top and can see some spectacular views of the Pai River valley and the temple that is built here. The temple has been around for some time, but the Buddha statue that we saw rising above the jungle is fairly new – in fact the access to the top is still under construction, so to get to the top there is a bit of a rough path that goes up for about 50 feet before you get to the partially completed stairs that go to the base of the Buddha.

At the top we are rewarded with some more great views and of course some good karma from the Buddha, and are extra lucky because we have the place almost completely to ourselves to grab some photos and just enjoy the surroundings before heading back down.  On the way back we decide to take the road instead of the stairs again, as we are getting a bit peckish and are hoping to find a restaurant along the way back.  The choice of the road was a good one as we find a nice restaurant with a terrace that has yet another great view of the valley below, and we have a tasty lunch and relax a little before heading back to the hotel for a bit of lounging around until later in the day for our trip to the canyon.

Pai Canyon is written up in the tourist materials as “Thailand’s answer to the Grand Canyon” and while that is just a bit of an overstatement, it is fairly impressive just standing on its own merit. It is not really a canyon, but more like a series of ridges that have canyon like drop offs on both sides. I suspect that eons ago the area was a single foothill that had some limestone veins in it, and over the millennia erosion has removed all the softer materials and left behind just the limestone ‘skeleton’. What we are left with is an area with a few miles of trails along the backs of the ridges, some that are only a foot or two wide, and lots of rock scrambles to get between the various levels.

As usual, the pictures are never able to capture the real feel of the place, and I am truly impressed with this very unique bit of geology. You never really know it until you get there, but it turns out we could have easily spent hours there, and in hindsight we should have come earlier in the day. We wanted to be here for the sunset because it would be a great setting to watch the sun dip behind the mountains to the west, but the trails are narrow and twisty enough that you would not want to be out here in the dark! Additionally, the weather is working against us also as the rain starts just before sunset, so we decide that the pictures we have will suffice, and make our way back to town for dinner.

We had decided earlier that the food and atmosphere were so good at the place we had lunch at that we would go back again for dinner. When we arrive the owner has a big smile for us and tells us that she is staying open until whenever we are done 🙂 needless to say dinner was delicious!

Tomorrow we will be packing up and heading towards Mae Hong Son, so after dinner it is back to the room to pack up a bit and get a decent sleep before another day of driving on the twisty roads.

PS: it seems like maybe it is a bit cooler up here in the mountains, as Mrs. Columbus found this guy outside of one of the guesthouses – maybe it is his hat that keeps him cool….

North of Chiang Mai up towards the Burmese border there are a series of valleys with a bunch of villages – some small and a handful bordering on what we might call a town.  There is a road that winds through the valleys and connects them all back to the main highways north and south of Chiang Mai, and the guide books often refer to this as the Mae Hong Son Loop.

The road loops through the little villages and most travelers will break the trip into a few places, stopping in the villages of Pai, and Mae Hong Son, and if you want to allocate the extra time you can add in any number of places along the way.  Our rough outline has us going to Pai, Soppong, Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang, and then back to Chiang Mai.

Once you know what you want to do, then the next step is to figure out the transportation. You could ride the local bus (AKA the chicken bus), and there are minivans going constantly between the main points (Pai, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai) but we want to be able to take our time and stop along the way at points we find interesting, so we have decided to rent a car and drive. This is actually a bit of a big deal for us as we have never driven here in Thailand before. Some of the traffic can look a little hectic, and they drive on the wrong side of the road, so that will all take some getting used to.

Tee has hooked us up with a Toyota Avenza for the next few days, and it is time for me to try my skills at driving on the left! I was a little worried about getting out of the city because this is where all the crazy traffic is, but all goes well and it is on to the highway to Pai.

Pai is a small town / village in the north that historically been quite popular with backpackers and hippies.  The lore is that the lax attitude to the ganja is what attracts them here, and the vibrant night life makes this an ideal stop on the Banana Pancake Trail. Coupled with that, a recent Chinese movie had some scenes shot here, and the town has now also become popular with the Chinese tourist, so Chinese mainlanders and hippies – makes for quite a mix!

The highway takes a very windy route through the mountains, crossing valleys, and snaking up and down the sides of ridges for most of the approximate 130 kilometers. The highway boats of having 762 curves and that along with things like potholes and livestock (ie cows!) in the road turns what should be an easy hour and a half drive into a 3 hour action ride.

The scenery holds up it’s end of the bargain though and there are amazing views everywhere along the road that on a map can often look like a plate of tossed noodles! The trip is otherwise uneventful, and by the time we arrive in Pai I am feeling fairly comfortable with this whole driving on the wrong side of the car business.

We are staying at a nice little boutique resort just outside of the city that is located in the middle of a number of rice fields. The setting is very tranquil, and before the first night is even over, there is talk of us maybe staying here for an extra night.

After a short 10 minute walk into the city we have a wander through the streets to see what the food offerings are like, and to see the young backpackers with their dreadlocks starting to fill up the pubs for the evening. After a nice relaxing dinner we walk through the street market for a bit of dessert before heading back to our room in the oasis for the night.

We have been out walking around the old city a bit and for the most part things are the same as last year here in Chiang Mai.  A few of the shops have changed – a restaurant or two have new names, a massage shop has closed and two new ones have opened, but pretty typical of what would go on from year to year.  There is not much sign of anything different as a result of the change in political power aside from the occasional sighting of an army officer and more frequent patrols from the local police (who are now reporting through to the military government).

Other changes are more noticeable to us – our friends Tee and Ian will be moving out to their place in Mae Rim at some point, and as we found out some people change jobs.  Our friend Riam who we have used as a driver / tour guide ever since we first came to Chiang Mai with the kids, and who we have recommended to a number of people, had a bit of a surprise for us this year when we called her.

Being in the tourism industry can be difficult anywhere, but in Thailand the typical feast (high season) and famine (low season) cycle adds it is own challenges, and then when you couple that with political instability some people just stop coming.  The result is that for some the ability to make enough cash during the high season is just not enough to last out the low season.  Almost every year that we have been here Riam has been telling us that low season in particular has been getting more and more difficult to get any reasonable amount of customers, and this year has been the worst – she told us she had not had a customer since Laurie’s sister was here at the end of February! A few months ago she decided to put her tourism job on the back burner and took all her savings to start a small brick factory on her land out in Mae Rim.  Which leads us to today’s adventure…

When we called Riam to schedule a day trip she told us she does not do that anymore, that she was working in her factory.  She still wanted to get together and offered to take us around on the weekend, so when she arrived and we talked about where we wanted to go, I of course wanted to see the factory.

Most of the people here work very hard, often 6-7 days a week with little or no vacation time, but some are really trying to get above the base working class and create some opportunity for themselves.  Riam is one of those people. Some time ago when things were going very well they bought a small piece of land outside the city to have some fruit trees and just some extra space – I would say it is probably an acre or 1.5 acres.  When the tourism went into it’s big dip her and her husband decided to get a small business loan and buy some equipment to manufacture bricks.  They have a small staff of Burmese workers who work along side them as they produce about 1500 bricks per day that they sell to local suppliers.  After some initial startup bugs, they have a pretty good system going now and are currently selling their bricks almost as fast as they make them. They still work 6 days a week, but if they continue to ramp up production and get the process refined they hope to be able to be able to let the staff take over more, and Riam says she would maybe be able to return to the tour business if things start to recover there.

It was interesting to see the ‘factory’ – which is really mostly manual labor with a bit of machinery for pressing the actual bricks – and to see what they have done with the land since the last time we were there.  Hopefully their hard work will pay off!

After visiting the brick-works we decided to go for a small hike at the Mae Sa waterfall.  It turns out that their land is about a 5 minute walk from the river and the base of the falls so rather than driving back out we are able to just walk over and then spend the next hour or so walking up to a few of the 12 tiers of falls that are there.

To round out the day we head down to Baan Tawai, an area south of the city where there are lots of markets for wooden goods – furniture, carvings, artwork. etc. Unfortunately it is Sunday so none of the actual woodcarvers are working as it would have been interesting to see that.  Some of the work that they produce is incredibly intricate, and they have a ton of talent.

Tomorrow will likely be a bit of a slow, hang about day. We need to get some arrangements made for our next adventure which will be a trip to the north west corner of Thailand on the Mae Hong Son loop.