Dear friends,
Although I wanted to go to Mae Hong Son, a town which was around 286 km from Chiang Mai, with a motorbike, I didn't have such a plan; I intended to go with a mini bus, which depart Chiang Mai every one hour from 6.00 AM in the morning. I wanted to visit Mae Hong Son, which is a town near Myanmar border, long time ago for some reasons. The main reason is it is said that I can communicate in Shan because there are many Shan people residing here. And I wanted to see the Shan culture here and how it is preserved. I left Chiang Mai around 8.15AM in the morning and arrived here at Mae Hong Son at around 3.00 PM. I stopped three or four times on the way because I rented and brought a motorbike. It was around 6 hour ride as described in the Google map although I stopped for about half and hour for lunch and some break time.
As soon as I arrived my hotel that I had booked in Mae Hong Song (เปริม เฮ้าส์ PeRim House @Maehongson), I was impressed by the photos hanging on the walls. One of them was a pagoda in Myanmar architectural style, you may notice that pagoda in Myanmar had bigger round body and a photo of a novice initiation ceremony parade, known as a Poy Sang Long or Shinbyu.
My motorbike trip was recommended by my tour guide acquaintance. When I checked TikTok, I found a group bike tour called Mae Hong Son loop - it is a a scenic 600km circular route starting and ending in Chiang Mai. It is said to have over 1800 curves. First, I consulted with the motorbike rental service whether it is feasible for me to go solo with my luggage. He said it was ok if I took 160cc engine bike because I would have to climb mountain roads. I rented that bike for 350 bahts per day and had to deposit 3000 bahts for it. First, I was worried if it can hold my 20 kg luggage but with the help of the motorbike rental shop owner, it was well fastened to the bike.
I rented the bike the day before I went to Mae Hong Son to see is I can handle the routes. There are many one-way roads in Chiang Mai and surprisingly, the Google map could handle those one-way routes very well. The following is my navigation system when leaving the city.
And the shop I rented the motorbike was recommended by the owner of the hostel where I stayed. She said you should look at the rating of the shop. The name of the shop she recommended was 'Tawan bike' and it was highly rated - 4.9 out of 5 and to my convenient, it was located near the hostel I stayed. On the way, I stopped at four or five places including Pai, which was one of the most tourist visited town. The following is the shop I first stopped at for a break and snack. I found other buses also came to stop there for a break. I was happy to see my bike was still alright.
The following photos were taken at Pai.
And I refuled the motorbike and had lunch there also.
I had a chance to stop at the entrance to Pai canyon, which was one of the tourist attractions near Pai.
After lunch, I found myself sleepy - I found my eyes closed by themselves so I stopped at a mini Big C that I found on the way to have a cup of coffee. I felt refreshed after that.
And I stopped at two viewpoints, which were near Pai after passing through it. They had pleasant views over mountains.
The other place also had a nice view also.
And when I was approaching Mae Hong Son, I found the names of the monasteries included Shan language also and I stopped my bike to record some of them. The second one has Shan long drum at its entrance.
The last places I stopped by was the entrance to the fish cave and the entrance gate to Mae Hong Son.
Currently, I am at Mae Hong Son and will return to Chiang Mai on the 31st Oct. I intend to return from the other route so that I complete the whole loop.
Bike trip from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son was a new experience to me and I felt rewarded - I could stop where I wanted to enjoy the pleasant scenery and I didn't find driving not tiring at all because the roads were smooth and there were road signs and direction everywhere. And there is a yellow line in the middle of the road and I just had to take care not to cross that when driving. So, I would definitely recommend motorbike ride if you are crazy about those bike riding. You would definitely love it.
