After almost a full week in Chiang Mai, we decide to go discover the nearby mountains. And to do so we rented a scooter for 5 days to do the Mae Hong Son loop, a loop well known in the backpacker community.
Only accessible by narrow and winding mountain roads, the Mae Hong Son province is the most isolated in Thailand.
We chose to do the following itinerary : Chiang Mai – Pai – Mae Hong Son – Mae Cheam – Chiang Mai and adding a quick detour to the Myanmar border.
We rented a 125cc scooter because some of the roads are really steep. In total we should drive around 435 miles on these winding mountain roads at an average pace of 20 miles an hour. Noting that the road to Mae Hong Son counts 1864 curves! We won’t lie, we came back to Chiang Mai with our butts sore after 5 days but also with some incredible memories. We tell you everything here. Hope you enjoy!
Day 1 – Chiang Mai to Pai, then visit of Pai’s surroundings, 110 miles
We leave at 7:30 am on Monday morning. Why so early? Because we want to beat Chiang Mai’s morning traffic. Except it seems like this country never sleeps or slows down. Everybody says that New York is the city that never sleeps, but those people never set foot in Thailand. Because here there are traffic jams at absolutely EVERY hour of the day. So we start our ride in the heavy traffic of the city, trying to zig-zag between the cars and making blend with all the other scooters. Matt navigates perfectly, while Maider closes her eyes from time to time when we come a little to close to other cars… but we reach the highway alive and unhurt.
Naively we thought that once on the highway the traffic would be more fluid, but that was forgetting what our buddy Luc told us about highways in Thailand. Here they build villages, houses, shops right on the highway. So really it feels like we never leave the city.
We finally leave the city when we turn off the highway to get to Pai. As soon as we are off the main road our surroundings change completely and we find ourselves in the middle of agricultural fields.
Rapidly the landscape changes as we climb the mountain roads. The road starts to get pretty steep.
The landscapes are super pretty.
Before arriving in Pai, we stop at the Memorial bridge, built by the Japanese during WWII. This bridge isn’t used anymore, people now drive over the more recent bridge right next to it. This is an unavoidable stop on the 762 curves road that leads to Pai. We even see a couple taking their wedding pictures here.
We arrive in Pai right before lunch and go to find a hostel for the night. We had written down the name of a few hostels in town and are lucky to find a room on our first try. We book a small bungalow in a cute little guest house with a nice calm garden at the end of a tiny dead end street.
Pai is a little village that is becoming very very touristic (we hadn’t really done any research before coming here). It is in fact being compared to the famous Khao San Road in Bangkok (road where all the backpackers and tourists stay). The comparison might be a little exaggerated, but it is true that this village is starting to resemble the islands in the South of the country. We stopped counting the number of hostels, scooter rental shops, travel agencies but also all the bars and restaurants. And these are all adapted to the Western tourists, with signs advertising their non-thai food, or the loud American music in the bars that sell shots of Fireball (wait are we still in Thailand or back in the US?).
We have to admit, this isn’t the type of city we really enjoy, or are looking for. But fortunately this doesn’t affect the beauty of the surrounding mountains.
After a quick lunch in the city, we hop back on the scooter to go discover Pai’s surroundings.
Chinese village Ban Santichon
We start with the Chinese village of Ban Santichon. Years ago, 2,000 Chinese from the Yunnan province fled communist China to settle here.
This village was described to us as being a “China Disney Land” because of the different touristic attractions such as pony rides, crossbow shooting, fake over-done Great Wall reproduction and of course buses full of Chinese tourists. We still decided to make a quick stop, and actually found the village pretty cute.
We were also lucky that the village was empty and quiet.
From the village we also have a nice view on the surrounding mountains. We didn’t stay too long but it was a nice little stop.
Hyun Lai lookout
From there we continued our route towards the Hyun Lai viewpoint. We cross a few tiny villages to get there.
The lookout offers a beautiful view on the surroundings.
The sky is a perfect blue and we stay a little while just enjoying the scenery in front of us.
Mo Paeng waterfall
We aren’t very far from the Mo Paeng waterfall, so we decide to go check it out. The road to get there is very pretty.
But the waterfall is closer to a steep water stream than to an actual waterfall. Ploy had actually warned us that here in Thailand they call anything a waterfall, and she was right. We still enjoy sitting by this “waterfall” but won’t go for a swim. The water is way too cold, and it isn’t hot enough outside for us to really want to go for a dive .
We then drive to a second waterfall, Pembok, hoping this one is closer to our definition of a waterfall. On the way we get stopped at a police check point. We are a little stressed because technically we need a motorcycle driving license to be allowed to drive a 125cc, and of course Matt doesn’t have one. But our friend Luc and the guy at the scooter rental shop told us that all we risked was a 500 Baht fine ($15), that then gave us the right to drive the scooter for 7 days… but it just happens that the policeman isn’t at all interested in Matt’s driving license, instead he is just interested in drugs. Awesome ! We pass the check point with no issue and quickly understand why they were looking for drugs. Soon after the check point, as we are driving, some old Thai women tell us to slow down, and mimic the smoking gesture with their hands. So we understand that they are trying to sell Marijuana…
Land Split
After this we stop at the Land Split, a place were the land split after the earthquake of 2008 and the split continued to grow with the 2009 and 2011 earthquakes.
We were able to see the split from above, before walking down inside. Pretty incredible to see.
Pembok waterfall
As we leave the land split, Matt realizes we might be a little short on gas. We hope we have enough to go to the waterfall and come back to the village to fill up before heading to the Pai canyon for sunset.
So it’s a little tensed that we drive to the waterfall. Trying to hit the gas as little as possible… The waterfall isn’t incredible, and definitely not worth running out of gas for.
BUT we make it to the village and fill up the tank before running completely dry. Thankfully for Matt, who would have had an earful from Maider for the whole trip if we had run out of gas…
Pai Canyon
So we drive to the Pai canyon just before sunset.
And when we get to the parking lot we are shocked. It seems that every single tourist in Pai had the same idea, to come and watch the sunset over the canyon. This feels very reminiscent with the sunset over the Valle de la Luna in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, meaning people absolutely everywhere, something we are absolutely not found of. But we made here so we might as well go all the way.
OK so the canyon isn’t huge or super deep, but still pretty.
Here you can walk around the edge of the canyon, and some portions are pretty steep and slippery.
We find a quiet spot far from the loud groups and sit waiting for the sun to set.
And we admire the sun hiding behind the mountains in front of us. We are going to sound like spoiled brats, but this sunset is nowhere near the ones we were lucky to experience in the Australian outback… But we still enjoy the moment!
Night market in Pai
Tonight we go to eat at the local street market of Pai, where we see ONLY tourists.
A lot of people had told us Pai was awesome but unfortunately we do not agree. It is way too touristy for us, and everything in town is made for the tourists (Burger joints, Fireball shots and touts trying to convince you their happy hour is the best in town…). Not a town for us, but the mountains around are beautiful. If we had to do it over we would probably try to sleep outside of the city center, far from the mass tourism.
The next day a long journey awaits us to get to Mae Hong Son, where we will be far from the crowds.
Day 2 – Pai to Mae Hong Son, with a stop in Mae Lana, 80 miles total
The night was pretty chilly in Pai, we can feel that we are in the mountains.
Apparently the scooter was a little cold too as it decides not to start… So we go grab a delicious breakfast before trying to start it again.
Sai Ngam Hotsprings
This time the scooter starts and we drive towards the hot springs a little outside of Pai : the Sai Ngam Hotsprings.
Despite our hoodie and rain jacket we are pretty cold on the scooter. Good thing Matt had kept is gloves!
After paying a fee to get to the hotsprings, we arrive in front of a road so steep that Maider has to climb off the scooter… We are starting to doubt that the scooter is really a 125cc. Fortunately the landscape is beautiful.
When we arrive at the hotsprings, we are glad to find the place almost empty. Only two other couples arrived before us this morning.
The place is super pretty and peaceful.
We struggle to take our clothes off because it is still pretty cold outside, but the water immediately warms us up.
The natural pools aren’t huge but they are really pretty and enjoyable.
We stay a while relaxing here.
We chose these hotsprings instead of the Tha Pai ones, because they aren’t as popular. So no fear of seeing huge groups being dropped off here.
Road to Mae Lanna
Same thing for our next stop, the Mae Lanna caves. Indeed, on the road between Pai and Mae Hong Son, there is an impressive network of caves. Over 200 caves have been discovered in the area. The most famous is Tham Lot, a network of clay caves extending on 5,300 ft and crossed by a large river. We decided to skip this one, because it is on ALL the day trip itineraries that travel agencies propose from Pai. And after our experience with the crowds at the Pai canyon, we decide to go to the much less famous Mae Lanna caves.
So we drive towards the tiny village of Mae Lanna. On the way we stop several times to admire the view on the mountains.
Ban Jabo
To get to Mae Lanna, we first have to pass another little village, Ban Jabo. Way up in the mountains, the village offers an amazing panorama on the mountains and the valley bellow.
Mae Lanna
As we arrive in the village of Mae Lanna, we are happy to see absolutely no tourists around. This village seems just lost in the middle of the mountains. Exactly what we were looking for!
Tham Pakarang cave
If we came all the way here, it’s to visit the Tham Pakarang cave (or coral cave in English) and it’s beautiful rock formations.
There are other caves that can be visited from here but they require more time. We arrive at the entrance of the park and the local guard tells us we need a guide to go visit the cave. No problem, we pay for the guide, and he asks us to follow him down to the entrance of the cave on our scooter.
We are a little nervous because the road is pretty steep but going downhill is no issue. We get in front of the cave and the guide hands us headlamps before entering the cave for a 45 minute tour.
It is only the two of us with the guide to visit the cave. We quickly realize that our guide speaks absolutely no word of English. From what we have seen the guy might even be mute, we never heard the sound of his voice. I guess we won’t learn a whole lot about the geological particularity of the cave then… but the inside of the cave is pretty impressive.
We follow the guide that shows us stuff with his head lamp. At some point he shows us two scary spiders, and Maider starts to look twice before putting her hand on one of the walls of the cave.
The visit ends and we were far from the mass tourism of Tham Lat and we love it.
The road back to Mae Lanna is incredible. We stop many times to look at the view. The weather is absolutely beautiful again today.
And we even see a few buffaloes on the way.
Lunch with a view in Ban Jabo
For lunch we spotted a few small restaurants in Ban Jabo, with a beautiful view on the valley. So we stop there and have a homemade soup with an incredible view.
We hit the road after lunch towards Mae Hong Son. We only have about 25 miles left.
The road is absolutely beautiful, and we stop a lot to take pictures.
Mae Hong Son
We arrive in Mae Hong Son in the afternoon and start looking for a hostel. We end up at the Like View guesthouse, located right by the lake and with a nice view on the Wat Jong Kham temple.
Surrounded by mountains, Mae Hong Son looks closer to what we thought Northern Thailand would be like. Here tuk tuks and touts are absent for our biggest delight. Even though the region is getting a little more touristic, with some hotels being built, very few tourists make it this far past Pai.
Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu temple
As soon as we drop off our things in our room we decide to walk up to the Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu temple. Located in the heights of the city, this is a good spot to admire the sunset. And it feels great to walk a little after spending the day sitting on the scooter.
The temple is a very pretty white temple with a nice view on the city.
We climb a little past the temple and sit down on a bench to watch the sunset.
This time we are alone with a Spanish tourist who is traveling around South East Asia for a few months. A lot nicer than last night’s sunset!
The colors of the temple at sunset are also very pretty.
Night market in Mae Hong Son
We walk back down to the night market located right by the lake. This is the smallest night market we have seen in Thailand so far, and we are glad to see that there are many more locals than tourists. Here the dishes are all written in Thai, with no English translation, and of course nobody speaks English. We love it!
We manage to order food by just pointing at what the previous customer had ordered, and sit by the lake to enjoy our dinner. The lights of the temple reflect on the surface of the water, it is beautiful.
We really like this little village and are glad we will be spending two nights here.
Day 3 – Around Mae Hong Son, 55 miles total
We start with an excellent breakfast at our hostel before heading out for the day. Today we plan on going to visit the village of Ban Rak Thai, a small Chinese village right on the border with Myanmar, and 28 miles north of Mae Hong Son.
But as we are about to head out, the scooter doesn’t seem to want to start. So we call the rental agency that explains that we should start it using the kick, and if it doesn’t work we should simply (and these are the exact words of the guy from the rental agency) “ask local Thai people”. Thankfully starting it with the kick worked, because we don’t know where we would have found an English speaking local Thai person around!
We finally head on the beautiful road to Ban Rak Thai. We drive past a few villages along the river before starting to climb in the mountains. The road is super steep and winding, the scooter struggles but makes it up every hill!
Chinese village of Ban Rak Thai
We get to the village late in the morning and are happy to see that there are absolutely no tourist buses! The town is super quiet and it looks like we are the only tourists around. The village is built around a nice little lake.
A lot of shops seem closed, certainly because we are not in the high season anymore. So we drop the scooter off and start exploring the village on foot.
We spot on the map a little trail that brings us to the border with Myanmar. We decide to follow it.
We will read after the fact that this trail is for inhabitants only and not recommended at all to tourists without a guide. Conflicts between Myanmar, Thailand and China can start anytime in this area that is also known for being a famous drug transit. Oops, guess we should have read before going there…
But the scenery on the way is pretty nice, with several tea plantations.
At the border the guards let us go through without a question, we don’t even need to show our passports.
On the other side there is only a tiny, very remote, Myanmar village. Very cute by the way. We can now say that we have spent a few minutes in Myanmar 🙂 .
We backtrack and cross the border again before heading to the hills above the village. Once again there are plenty of tea plantations with cute little houses. A nice little stroll. Several inhabitants say hi and ask where we come from.
We then ride around the lake before sitting down in a Chinese restaurant for lunch.
Maider is thrilled to eat some Chinese specialties again (for those who didn’t know she lived 6 months in China when she was a student), especially from the Yunnan region. We spend a great time around a delicious meal and with a very nice view.
We read that this was a very touristic village, but apparently we got lucky and were almost the only tourists there. Once again, nobody speaks English here.
Pha Suea waterfall
Early afternoon we head back to Mae Hong Son, and stop by the Pha Suea waterfall on the way. We hoped to go for a quick dive because it’s getting really hot out. But unfortunately it is forbidden. So we just lie down and have a little nap before going back on the road.
On the way we stop many times to take pictures of the beautiful landscape.
Su Tong Pae bamboo bridge
A little bit before arriving in Mae Hong Son we stop at the Su Tong Pae bamboo bridge. Originally this 1,640 ft long bridge was built over the rice field so the people from the village could get to the temple on the other side. Today the bridge is still used by monks and locals but it also became a tourist attraction.
We are lucky to be all alone when we cross the bridge.
The bridge feels completely unstable and not very robust but we made it across so I guess it works fine…
We climb up to the temple where we have a nice view on the fields around.
We get back to Mae Hong Son and dream of only one thing, drinking an ice cold beer on the patio of our hostel. But the problem is that it is 4:30 pm, and we forgot to tell you guys that here in Thailand it is against the law to sell alcohol between 2 pm and 5 pm. Apparently this is to reduce alcoholism in the country… But only the shops like 7/11 really respect this law, the little street shops still sell beers at any time of the day. luckily there is such a shop right next to the hostel.
So we are able to sit down on the patio and relax with a nice local beer and a view on the temple before 5 pm!
We then go to grab some food at the night market of course. We really enjoyed our short stay in Mae Hong Son, where we would have loved to stay longer, but we have to continue our road trip. Tomorrow is our longest day of the road trip, and probably the most difficult one with a lot of altitude gain. Our butts are going to hurt!
Day 4 – Mae Hong Son to Mae Chaem, 110 miles total
It’s under a dense fog that we leave Mae Hong Son at 7:30 am. A very long day awaits us and we decide to leave early (and after the fact, thank God we did).
It is even colder than the other mornings when we leave Mae Hong Son and start to warm up only once we get above the fog.
38 miles of spectacular landscapes
For this 4th day, we had a couple of options : 1) drive directly to Mae Chaem only on the main road for 102 miles total, which is already a lot on a scooter. Or 2) take a side road and add just 8 miles in total but on very winding and narrow roads. We decided to take the second option, and that was clearly the right decision. Because these side roads were the most spectacular of our entire road trip.
As soon as we turn onto the side roads we understand we won’t see many people. The road is closer to a trail where two cars can’t fit side by side because of how narrow it is.
We drive on the ridge and are surrounded by mountains on both sides. It is absolutely beautiful. We are above the fog, which makes the view even more surreal.
But the road is really really steep and Maider has to jump off the scooter from time to time and climb on foot. At least now she isn’t cold anymore!
We stop often to take pictures and admire the panorama around us.
We drive through plenty of tiny villages where the locals must wonder if we are lost! A nice little lake in the middle of the mountains, dogs or even cows on the road, we are truly on a road trip in the middle of nowhere.
We pass in front of a waterfall that we can go check out if we pay 300 baht ($10) so we decided to skip it, especially since the waterfalls we had seen so far weren’t spectacular.
We arrive near Thung Bua Tong, a place well known for it’s sun flower fields. Unfortunately we are a month too late. The sun flowers bloom from November to mid December. Now they are all burnt, just a few still have their nice colors.
So this is what we see when we drive through :
Whereas here is what it looks like during the blooming season :
The landscape still looks amazing though.
Back on the main road
We get back on the road to Mae Chaem and stop for lunch in a tiny village. Once again nobody speaks English and there are no tourists around. Luckily a couple of people are eating so we just point to whatever they have and explain we want the same thing. We end up with a delicious soup.
We hit the road again, and it is still beautiful. There are a few incredible lookouts on the valley and the mountains so we stop multiple times to take pictures.
One lookout is surrounded by flowers.
Drama strikes !
We are only 18 miles away from Mae Chaem, and we thought the hardest was behind us. But the scooter decides to act up, and going uphill, it breaks down. This time impossible to turn the scooter back on, even using the kick.
So we call the rental agency and they simply tell us to ask locals to bring us to the closest mechanic. The problem is we are kind of in the middle of nowhere and nobody speaks English, and our Thai hasn’t improved.
So Maider starts to try to hitch hike when she sees a pick up truck coming our way. To our biggest surprise, the pick up immediately stops. A nice couple with a lady in the trunk stop and try to help us.
We show them that the scooter won’t start, the guy gives it a try and doesn’t understand what’s wrong with it. Communication between us is super hard, they speak no word of English, and we speak no word of Thai… Thankfully we have internet access and pull up Google Translate and ask them if they can bring us to the closest village to find a mechanic. Google seems to be working because they start laughing and accept to help us. That is how the 5 of us start carrying the scooter on the back of the pick up. And there we are, in the back of the pick up truck with a Thai lady, the scooter, bags full of ginger, peppers and garlic and drive towards the closest village, that wasn’t very far put up a hill.
At the garage we finally find the first person who speaks English. So as the mechanic jumps in the back of the pick up, this guy is able to translate for us. The mechanic tries to start the scooter, of course it doesn’t start, he laughs and explains that he doesn’t have the tools or the parts to fix this scooter. So he tells us to go to the other garage at the end of the village.
Luckily our Thai savior drives us there and when we arrive, the garage is closed. As we are waiting we see fire works that are shot nearby, and all of a sudden a ton of people come walking down the hill dressed in black. So we understand there must have been a funeral and it looks like the entire village was present. We even wondered where all these people live, because there are ten time more people than houses in the village.
Anyway, the entire village walks by but still no sight of the mechanic. We hope he wasn’t the guy being buried… A few people come and talk to our Thai savior (that is how we decided to call him because we never caught is real name). They take a look at the scooter and basically explain that the mechanic will never have the necessary parts…
So we call the rental agency and pass the phone to our savior so they can take it from here.
After a few minutes, the savior gives us back the phone and the guy from the rental agency explains that our savior will bring us to Mae Chaem (the next big city) for 500 baht ($15) that the agency will of course reimburse us.
So we drive his wife and the lady in the back with us to a house nearby and help them unload all the bags of garlic, ginger and peppers before climbing back in the pick up. Maider in the front and Matt in the back with the scooter.
Our savior starts the engine and starts to backtrack the truck and … drives into a tree. Thankfully there is almost no damage to the car but we start to feel that this ride to Mae Chaem is going to be fun! So that is how our 16 mile ride starts. Our savior starts to speed towards Mae Chaem, overtaking many vehicles, Matt in the back gets thrown all over the place, at one point gets just an inch away from getting hit in the face by a bamboo stick, the real adventure! At one point we even overtake a truck full of cabbage that literally lost a wheel in the middle of the road…
With all this it is only 4 pm when we get to Mae Chaem (you now understand why we were glad we left early this morning !) and our savior stops by the first mechanic in town, and once again tells us he can’t fix our bike so we need to go to yet another mechanic… Fortunately the 4th mechanic is the good one. We get the scooter off the truck and he starts to work on it. Our savior takes advantage of the tools in the mechanic shop to fix his pick up, remember he backed up in a tree when we left his village. And we hand him the 500 Baht and thank him very very much for helping us through this mess.
On a side note, it is very humbling to see how kind our savior was, he literally spent a couple hours helping total strangers. Nothing obliged him to stop, and much less put our scooter in the trunk and drive us around 4 different mechanics! And all that happened without even being able to talk to each-other.
Back to the end of our story. We don’t know exactly how long it will take to fix the scooter, so as Matt waits at the mechanic shop, Maider goes into town to try to find a hostel for the night.
Maider’s adventures (because if only the story stopped with scooter issues it wouldn’t be fun). Maider stops by a first hostel and asks if they have availability and of course they do, the receptionist brings her to a room and shows her that there is a free bed in an 8-bed dormitory (it is true that she forgot to mention that we were 2 and wanted a private room). So Maider tries to explain that we are two, so we need two beds in a private room. Ok no problem, she gets shown a second room, where there are 2 bunk beds but only one is free… Apparently English isn’t the receptionist’s strong skill. Maider being tired and apparently not getting understood decides to leave and try a second guesthouse nearby. There is one just around the corner that has pretty good reviews on Booking.com, but as she gets there, 4 older people are doing their daily exercise, so they ask her to go and sit down and wait until they finish. After 5 minutes, the “class” is over and the gentleman tells Maider : “wait wait I call my son”… So after another 5 minutes the son finally arrives and hallelujah he speaks English! The son asks if Maider had a reservation on Booking, and of course we didn’t. So he explains that he has a room left in the family house. Not sure what that means (are we going to sleep in a bunk bed next to grandma?) but Maider is tired, wants to get this all over with and accepts. The room is indeed in a different building than all the other rooms, and it seems like it is the same building than where the owners live. But the room is huge, clean and absolutely perfect for the night. Of course the first key that the son gives her is not the right one, but this wasn’t meant to be the day where everything works on the first try! Time for Maider to go back to the garage and tell Matt about the good news ; we have a place to sleep tonight.
Matt’s adventures : Matt stayed behind at the mechanic’s who is tearing down the whole scooter to find out what’s wrong. After changing the candle, it seems that the battery is actually dead. Before doing anything Matt calls the rental agency to make sure they will take everything in charge, so he passes the phone to the mechanic. The mechanic talks to the rental agency, hangs up and starts to change the battery. I guess he got the green light from the rental agency then… New battery, new candle, the scooter finally starts again and in total the bill only comes to 790 Baht ($25), that the rental agency will of course cover. Finally we have a working scooter again and can go relax at the guesthouse.
All’s well that ends well!
What a day ! But a great adventure, that ends well and that we will remember for the rest of our lives. We celebrate with a cold beer before going to bed early and leave for Chiang Mai the next day.
Day 5 – Mae Chaem to Chiang Mai, 78 miles total
After a long night in our family suite, we hit the road to Chiang Mai, for the last leg of our road trip.
The road that goes to Chiang Mai passes really close to Thailand’s highest mountain, Doi Inthanon (8,400 ft). And for obvious reasons we don’t want to try to climb up there, we are afraid the scooter might not make it alive. So all we will do today is go straight to Chiang Mai. But instead of taking the highway we do a little detour through side roads in the middle of the mountains.
When we get to junction that goes to Doi Inthanon, we are glad we decided not to go, when we see all the tourist buses going up there. After 3 days lost in the middle of the mountains, we aren’t ready to dive back into such a touristic attraction.
We don’t see many people on the side roads toward Chiang Mai. The landscapes are a usual stunning, even-though we stop a little less than on the previous days. Are butts really hurt and we can’t wait to get to Chiang Mai.
We realize we are pretty close to where all the elephant reserves are, when we stumble across a few, and see all the minibuses filled with tourists on the way.
We arrive in Chiang Mai shortly before lunch, and the traffic sucks. After being all alone for a while, it is pretty hard to get used to the heavy traffic again. We drop off the scooter early afternoon, get our refund for all the reparations we paid and head to our hostel, exhausted but with a big smile on our faces, realizing we just lived an incredible adventure.
Outcome : One of our best memories in Thailand
These 5 days in the middle of the mountains will remain as one of our best memories in Thailand. We admired incredible landscapes, drove through tiny villages in the middle of nowhere where people are happy with the little they have and smile all the time, we met people whose generosity amazed us, in this part of the world where the sense of community is so strong and of course ate some incredibly tasty food every single day. Thailand is a country we might have under-estimated to tell you the truth, maybe because it has been a very trendy destination these past few years, mainly known for it’s beaches and islands where people come from all over the world to party, and where some beaches even had to close because of the damage done by mass tourism. But these 5 days far from the beaten path really showed us a beautiful side of Thailand that isn’t advertised as much. And we would love to come back and continue to discover more of these less touristic areas.
In the mean-time we are back in Chiang Mai for a few days of rest, massages, delicious meals and time working on the blog. Before heading to Chiang Rai for our last days in Thailand.
ah Mat , tu nous as bien cassé les pieds quand tu avais 14 ans car tu voulais un scoot …..et bien tu l’as enfin eu à 29 ans. Il n’est jamais trop tard.
Tellement ravi que tu l’as éclaté …heureusement que c’était celui là et pas celui que l’on aurait pû t’offrir car ça aurait chier des bulles….oh t’aurais juste repasser du linge en plus.
merci pour ce récit , tellement magique comme d’habitude. On n’arrive pas a réaliser que l’on va bientôt partager un bout de votre tour du monde avec vous deux.