This post will cover two days; one last quiet day in Chiang Mai, and one motorbiking into the hills south-west of Chiang Mai.
January 2 was another full day in Chiang Mai. After so many busy days, we decided that it would be nice to just relax. After a great breakfast at the hostel of sticky rice with tonkatsu-style pork, we sat down in our hostel, and then thought about what we wanted to do for the day.
First, we decided to go seek a market that another traveler told us about. It was only a half mile or so from our hostel, so it was quick to walk to. This market was filled with beautiful flowers, tons of fresh fruit, and many different foods and crafts and anything else imaginable. After walking through the wonderful market, we wandered through the city for an hour and a half or so.
Before coming to Chiang Mai I had heard of a restaurant called Khao Soi Khun Yai. This place serves a cheap, spicy curry based soup full of noodles, grilled chicken or pork, and vegetables. Known on TripAdvisor as being one of the best places in the city, I had to try it. Bryden and I walked home, grabbed our motorbikes, and headed across the city to the restaurant. The place was great. The khao soi was perfect, and so flavorful and inexpensive. It was at this restaurant that my camera ran out of battery, however, so I didn’t really take any more photos during the day.
Next, Bryden and I figured that we might go try and see Star Wars. We found a big theater across town, and headed towards it. After discovering where we were supposed to park our bikes, we headed in. It took about twenty minutes to find the theater in the mall. We looked and saw that they didn’t have Star Wars playing, but they did have Jumanji, which was supposed to be good, so we bought tickets and had a snack while waiting.
We went in to the theater and watched a ton of ads, as expected. These were extremely interesting. All of the Thai ads had very inspiring stories within them. They were always positive. Some of the products were interesting as well. There was one for sweetened condensed milk in a tube, one for a bank which seemed to be an ad for some medication, and another for a Ford truck, which was not advertised as being tough or durable, but as a regular family car. Eventually, the movie started, and we realized that it was dubbed over in Thai. We stayed for about twenty minutes, and then headed back to the hostel.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, finding good food in the city, and relaxing some more. While at the hostel, we met a student from Denmark who had just finished a semester abroad in Singapore. We chatted with him for a while about Singapore, education in different countries, and our plans in Thailand. We then walked out to a local market with him to find some snacks and look around. While at the market, we sat down for some French fries, and met a roughly 65 year old from Missoula, Montana who had spent most of his working life in and out of Thailand. It was great to speak with him about the changes that are occurring in Thailand, and his views on the country. Afterwards, we returned to our hostel, and prepared for our motorbike loop which would begin the next day.
On January 3, we woke up early to start the motorbike loop we had planned. I had researched a loop that is relatively well known which would bring us south of Chiang Mai, west through Doi Inthanon national park, north through Mae Hong Son along the Myanmar border, and then east though Pai back to Chiang Mai.
Setting off early at about 7:00am, we made good time while traveling down a quick highway. After about an hour and a half, we turned off towards the national park. Before entering the park, we stopped at a beautiful pagoda and took some photos and grabbed a snack.
After entering the park, the scenery started to become amazing. We drove on some great, windy, and well paved roads. Along the way, we saw a number of signs for waterfalls. We visited four or five during the first couple hours of the drive. They were all spectacular.
Next we headed towards the main attraction of the national park; the peak. Doi Inthanon is the tallest peak in Thailand, and it is easy to ride there. We veered off towards the top. On the way, we passed a garden complex with two large pagodas. This was built recently, but was still beautiful. The pagodas looked over towards the valleys and other hills below. Next, we went to the peak, which wasn’t all that impressive, but being able to say that we were at the highest point in the country was quite cool.
We rode down, out of the park, and on towards our hotel in Khun Yuam. After so much riding, we were running slightly low on fuel. We were able to find a gas station after a fair bit of riding, and fill up. This was a problem, however, as we were almost out of cash. We only had about 200 Baht left, which is the equivalent of $6, so we split three liters of fuel, and found an ATM a little ways away on our map.
We arrived at the ATM happy, as we would be needing fuel again soon. Normally we would have enough cash, however renting the bikes and staying in our Chiang Mai hostel (which we will be returning to) required deposits. We were therefore forced to let go of about $160 in Thai currency. Because we would have the deposits returned when we returned the bikes and checked out of the hostel, we didn’t want to take out too much other cash, to avoid losing money at the airport converting what we had left over. When we arrived at the ATM I handed the remaining money to Bryden so he could get a snack. He went and got a popsicle, and I went to take out money. The ATM said that it was not active though. I didn’t think this would be a problem, as there was a second ATM nearby. This one didn’t work either, however. It seemed to not like my card.
Feeling defeated and broke, we aimed for another ATM not too far out of the way. Luckily, this one did work, and we finally had money. We were able to eat and get fuel again.
After a good meal we headed to our hotel in Khun Yuam. During this drive I began to truly appreciate Thailand. The roads were perfect, and the sun set slowly and beautifully, and they temperature was exactly how it should have been. This drive from Doi Inthanon to Khun Yuam was the exemplification of pleasant. The air was cool and calm when we stopped, however it seemed to contain a warm element that was only noticeable when we were riding. As we accelerated on our bikes, we didn’t cool down due to the wind, but rather stay comfortable. The roads were perfectly paved and this 100 or so kilometer drive made me feel like I was riding on the world’s longest scooter-designed racetrack. The flow of the turns was amazing and every corner felt predictable and well placed. We finally arrived at the Khun Yuam Resort, a cool hotel made of bamboo and other timber with many balconies overlooking flowing hills below.
It is hard to not compare this loop to the one we did in Vietnam. Here in Thailand we spent three days in the northern hills, just as we did in Vietnam. We rode 125cc Yamaha scooters, like in Vietnam, and were exposed to some very rural and undeveloped and beautiful countryside, again, just like in Vietnam. There are differences too, though. In Vietnam we rode through some of the most dramatic and huge mountains we had ever seen. These limestone karsts, covered in lush foliage, popped up everywhere. In Thailand the hills are just as tall; their scale is immense and certainly can’t be appreciated by just looking at photos, but they are much calmer. The roads are different as well; in Vietnam they were not busy but they were rough and sloppily thought out. The Thai roads are still quiet, however they are perfectly planned and executed.
We will spend the night in this hotel and continue to Pai tomorrow, excited to see more of this wonderful country. For now, feel free to add comments or questions below, and expect another update soon!