Motorbiking Northern Thailand

It's been a while since our last post....
We arrived to Chiang Mai via another overnight train. Not bad, but not the greatest night's sleep. Reminiscent of our Malaysia train ride long ago (loud and not the smoothest). We have grown a little bit weary of the typical tourist activities (i.e. eating banana pancakes, guided treks, minibus rides), so we decided to strike out on our own. We rented two motorbikes, and began a seven day loop tour of northwestern Thailand.

The first day took us 134 km (one of the longer days of riding), into a small town called Pai. Pai is becoming somewhat of a hippie-ex-pat mecca. Loads of farang here. We stayed a bit outside of town in a place that had a pool. Yes, we are suckers for that little luxury once in a while. It is so hot everywhere we go now. March and April are the worst months for heat, and it is proving to be accurate. Hot and dry. Even riding on the bikes, you sometimes can barely get relief.

We didn't linger in Pai, and moved on the next day to a very small village called Mae La Na. The scenery on the way was pretty, but we realize how much prettier it could be in a wetter climate. This time of year, not only is it the hottest, but it is when all the field burning takes place. Air quality is not the best which can burn the eyes and provide haze-covered views. Nevertheless it is fun riding. At least until we hit this long stretch of downhill, curvy, loose dirt, where I think I saw a turtle pass me I was going so slowly. You can see that stretch of road behind Keith here:

The inhabitants of Mae La Na are from the minority group called the Shan. There was one lady in town who ran a small guesthouse, and while we were prepared for some pretty rustic accommodations, we were surprised to find a lovely, modern bungalow to stay in. Meals were taken at the restaurant owned by the same lady (who also owns the only gas station in town...gas barrell would be a more appropriate term). We got there pretty early in the day, so we set out on the local roads trying to find a smaller Black Lahu village. We never did find it, but I got some good motorbiking practice on the backroads.

Here I am in full concentration willing the bike up the hill, hoping not to fall or stall because this truckful of Thais behind me would surely get a kick out of that...
The one saving grace in this climate is that at night the temperature truly drops. You even want to pull a blanket over your shoulders. So we slept well, said our goodbyes in the morning, and pushed on to our next destination of Mae Hong Son, about 60 km away.

A look at a small village from a distance that we rode into on our way out of Mae La Na:


It was a nice leisurely ride, and we arrived into town at about 2:00. This area of Thailand has many minority villages, with the one that is most commonly visited by tourists being the "long-necked" Karen people. The women of this hilltribe traditionally wear those heavy coil rings around their neck...giving the impression of a longer neck. (In fact, the coils are compressing their ribs/shoulders down). We had read in our travel bible (Lonely Planet) that the closest Karen village had sleeping accommodation available in the form of a homestay. We liked the idea of actually staying within the village for an extended period of time rather than traipsing in, staring, taking photos and leaving right away. So we pushed on from Mae Hong Son towards the village of Ban Nai Soi. Arriving in the town we quickly realized our book was less than accurate. First of all the town itself of Ban Nai Soi, is just another regualar Thai village, not the Karen village. Secondly as we asked around about the homestay, we quickly realized no such thing existed. "No, sorry, we do not have. Go to Mae Hong Son". We passed the house several times of two very giggly girls as we walked around the town trying to find a place to stay, and as we were leaving, they came running after us, and said, "You can stay here. It is OK". They spoke very little English (and... um, yeah, our Thai has not progressed beyond hello and thank you), and after several minutes of charades we felt comfortable we understood each other (that we would be sleeping in their house), and agreed to stay. We almost backed out, feeling we were really imposing, but by that time it was more awkward to leave than to stay.

It was about 5:00 at this time and instead of standing in their outdoor-kitchen area and staring and smiling at each other, we walked out to the school yard where we shot a few baskets with some young boys. I quickly got pulled away by one of the girls from the house and was given a tour of the city, and Keith entered into a volleyball game. Soon we were called "home" for dinner, and were served a wonderful, authentic (aka spicy!) meal. Conversation consisted mostly of Keith and I sticking our head in the only small, pathetic phrase book that we have trying to learn some Thai words. I think we said "arroy!" 20 times (means delicious) because we couldn't say anything else. The rest of the evening was spent being shown how they catch a locust-like bug for eating, and sitting around the living room looking at photos on their computer. They set us up in their living room on a nice set of pads, and we slept great, only being awoken by the plethera of roosters crowing.

Here I am with the family and some of their friends who came and went throughout the evening. Hands down, staying with this family has been one of the highlights of our trip.

Keith at breakfast:

Which brings us to this morning. We were again treated to a nice meal, and then continued up the road to visit the elusive Karen village. We are currently very close to the Burma border, and this particular village is a refugee camp. These people fled from Burma about 10 years ago and have since been confined to the borders of this small village, as it is too dangerous to return to Burma and they are unable to gain citizenship in Thailand. We always feel a bit strange about walking into these villages, but we made it less awkward by sitting down with two young adults and talking with them for a while. They recognize that life is better and safer for them here, but at the same time you can see how they yearn for freedom and get tired of being "on display" for the tourists day in and day out. We've been reading a bit about Burma lately, but actually meeting some of the people affected by the harsh rule of the Burmese government has really helped put it in perspective.

We spent the rest of today poking around Mae Hong Son. We went out this evening and tried to find a festival that was happening in a nearby village, but alas, the forks in the road never took us the right way and the answer to all of our inquiries as to the whereabouts of the village was always, "yes" and a smile. Gotta love the communication barrier (and the lack of Roman characters on the street signs).

We will head south another 60km tomorrow, stopping overnight in Kuam Yuam. We are loving being on our own two wheels!