Mae Hong Son loop - Day 1

The Mae Hong Son loop is a popular motorbike route connecting Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Pai. We'd been planning on doing three quarters of it, clock-wise, from Chiang Mai to Pai over three or four days using the same service as I used back in October to rent bikes and take your bags to Pai for free. Our plan to leave nice and early didn't quite work out but we were on the road by noon. The first hour or so is a main highway but then we entered a National Park and got some amazing roads, weaving around mountains and through forests.

We stopped at this nice waterfall for a coffee and then headed up to the top of Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. It was freezing cold (apparently 19 degrees but the wind-chill factor on the bikes and my shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops made it seem more like -10). The ride down the mountain was great fun and we reached a small town called Mae Chaem around 4pm so we decided to stay there for the night.

We got ourselves a nice bungalow at a resort in town. I had a swim in their outdoor pool and then we went in search of food and drink. We didn't find a single bar but we eventually found a nice restaurant overlooking rice fields. By the time we finished eating, a storm was brewing and the wind was getting very strong. We walked back with dust blowing everywhere and stopped at a 7-Eleven to buy some snacks for our movie night back at the bungalow. The power went out in the store and the back-up generator kicked in. It was kind of creepy being in a 7-Eleven in the dark.

Our movie plans were being ruined by the power-cut. Our A/C was off, so the room was hot and dark. We sat on our porch for a while and a member of staff brought us some candles. We moved inside and watched a film (one we already had as the wifi was also off).