Road Trip in Thailand

After leaving sleepy Laos, it was a change in pace to arrive in the hustle and bustle of Chiang Rai. The boarder crossing was easy enough and we had our first Thai curry for lunch that day. Chiang Rai was not very touristy so we hunted high and low for some cheap accomodation. Following the usual protocol, the guide book recommendations were all mosquito infested holes and so we walked around with heavy packs for a couple of hours until we found a gem of a place just north of the main town. The night bazaar was great, with about 30 stalls all selling freshly made street food. Spicy noodle dishes, stir frys, tempura veggies and lots of different curry, all different colours and flavours - food paradise.

We only spent a couple of nights in Chiang Rai as we were keen to get to Chiang Mai and begin a tour of the northern villages by motorbike. I say we, but Leah was not so enthusastic about sitting on the back of a bike for a week but she was coming round to the idea slowly.

We arrived in Chiang Mai which is a huge city. Not the place I had imagined, being the place to organise trips to local villages and a place for outdoor activities. We went to see Tony, at Tony's big bike shop and he sorted us out with transportation for the Mae Hong Son loop trip, which involved staying about 7 nights in different towns and villages to the north and west of Chiang Rai. Over 7000 corners around national parks in perfect sunny weather - I was keen to get going!

The first stop was Pai, about 3 hours from Chiang Mai. The scenery was amazing and we had not even entered any national parks yet. Leah was comfortable on the back and we packed light, leaving a lot of gear back in Chiang Mai. Pai was a chilled place. Lots of Thai tourists which is great because the food is always amazing as they have such high standards. Also, 'farangs' of whities, pay the same as locals for food, so that is a first in SE asia. We stayed a few nights, where we managed to fit in a Thai cookery course, learning lots of local specialities.

Khao Soy - Red chicken curry with a mix of fried and fresh noodles - served with red onion and picked cabbage.

Wonder how much Waitrose would charge for this.

Ubiquitous Phad Thai ingredients

After Pai it was onto Soppong where there was loads of caves and jungle to get stuck into.

Everyday, at 6pm thousands of swifts come into the cave and bats leave for a night of hunting bugs.

Leaving Soppong we headed south of Mae Hong Song, where we ran into gear box problems. The roads were a dream to ride but a real bike killer, the gradients were seriously steep coupled with hairpin bends every 30 seconds or so. We got the bike to a  repair shop and they replaced something in the gearbox at a total cost of 35 baht (about 70p) including them working on it for about an hour.

The last stop was in the Doi Inthanon park, where we saw some spectacular waterfalls, more amazing food, before heading back to Chiang Mai the next day.

Now the next question is when is the next road trip? Off to Borneo tomorrow which Leah and I are very excited about. Back to leechs and learning numbers 1-10 in a different language.