Our Northwestern Adventure

LP Suggested Northern Routes

Leaving the hippies and the vast majority of the travelers behind we moved on from Pai to continue our loop through northwestern Thailand. The next stop was Mae Hong Son about four hours southwest of Pai. The town of 6000 has a Burmese flavour to its architecture, people, and food. It's not uncommon to see someone walking around in traditional hilltribe dress and we've learned that a good number of the northwestern hilltribes originated in Myanmar. They have fled their home country over the past several decades remaining in Thailand as refugees.

Dinner Spot With A View of The Wats In Town

 

 

We had arrived to Mae Hong Son in time for a Buddhist holiday meaning that the big wats in town would be a bit more active than usual. We started by taking the 300+ steps up to the Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu (aka Wat on the Hill) to catch what we were told would be a procession of candle-bearing locals working their way up the hill. It wasn't quite what we expected. No candles but several lanterns up top and lots of chanting. We worked our way back to the wat complex back in town to observe the happenings there (they had candles at that one) and we even lit a sky lantern and watched it rise into the night sky.

Keen to escape to see the countryside we rented a scooter and drove on country roads to see some of the sights. The scenery was lovely as we passed through several small villages and an otherwise largely agricultural landscape. As we neared our destination (a royal summer palace) the road started to climb and became rather steep as we got higher into the mountains. Our little scooter could barely maintain forward movement on some of the grades. Things took a turn when we approached a few road workers and an ongoing truck that took the curve into our lane. With no apparent alternative we turned towards the shoulder to avoid the truck and I slipped off the back of the scooter and watched as it with Dawn on board went over the side of the road and rolled down into a ditch. A bruise to the knee, a scraped up elbow, and what seems now to most likely be at least one fractured rib were the result. We're very thankful it wasn't a worse outcome and all credit to Dawn's masterfully executed fall to minize injury. Needless to say Dawn was a bit shaken up and bruised so I drove us back (after visiting the palace of course).

Scooter View

Moving on from our little adventure in Mae Hong Son we traveled another four hours by bus to Mae Sariang a small town a short ride away from the Burmese border. Similar to Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang is off the beaten track with few travelers and has a nice small town feel to it. The main purpose of our stay was to partake in a two-day trek and hilltribe visit. We figured that it was about time that we splurged a bit and hired a guide to be able to ask all the questions we have about Thailand and learn more about the local hilltribe culture. After a night in a wonderful guesthouse we met our guide in the morning. Our driver didn't show up so we waited around for a while until the guide decided to get started without the driver. Unfortunately, this was a sign of things to come.

Our Little Trek

To make a long story short we ended up spending the morning on a hike following our guide as he spent 90% of his time talking to the hilltribe people we bumped into. For the most part we felt like awkward observers of the guide's visit with friends and really weren't learning much about the local culture as we had no idea what was being said or even which language was being spoken. To be fair we did learn a bit about hilltribe agricultural practices and peeked inside a few huts but overall it was pretty unsatisfying. So after one of the worst meals I've had in Thailand we expressed our concerns to the guide and when he interrupted us to answer his mobile phone we decided to call the rest of the trip off. We were relieved to be out of what became a frustrating experience but sad to miss out on what could have been a neat little trip. We'll try it again somewhere else and hope for better luck with the guide.

They say that in the neighbourhood of 40% of people get some sort of stomach ailment within two weeks of being in SE Asia. I made it 20 days! The lunch the guide ordered for me was back in viscous fashion 24 hours later. I'll spare you the details. Thankfully we had a nice guesthouse with AC where I spent the next two days in bed recovering. A few days later now I still haven't fully recovered and expect there will be a few more days of unsettled stomach and a couple of weeks before I again get up the nerve to be adventurous with food. Thankfully Dawn didn't have the same lunch as me as I don't imagine food poisoning and fractured ribs go well together.

We're now in Chiang Mai again having completed our northwestern loop with a bumpy and hot four hour ride in a very run down fan bus (the fans mostly didn't work). We'll be here for a few days to rest up a bit and take in some sights.