Blogs from Mae Hong Son, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

We started today with a flight into Mae Hong Son, a popular vacation spot for local Thailanders. It was easy to see why with the small town, relaxed feel - but it did not offer any respite to the heat as temperatures continued to stay in the mid to high 30's On reaching Mae Hong Son we visited the long-neck Padong Hill tribe village on a long-tail boat. This tribe mainly includes refugees from Burma (Myanmar). As our guide explained, there are two potential explanations for the women wearing rings around their necks; (a) long necks considered a sign of beauty and (b) more practically, these rings protect the neck area against animal (mainly tiger) attacks! We ended the day by watching the sun go down from the Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu.... read more

12th Jan ’12 Mae Hong Son Loop Well we got up this morning and for the first time it’s raining!! Apparently its’ come from China and just in time for our bike trip! So a bit of re-thinking was needed as even from Chiang Mai you couldn’t see the hills. So we went for a good full English breakfast (especially as we didn’t know when we would get food next), studied the map and decided to do an even bigger loop by going to Mae Sairang first as it avoided going high up into the mountains. This decided we left our rucksacks at the Yindee Guest House and I donned my Olive from On the Buses crash helmet, climbed aboard and we were off. On the bike it was wet and miserable, the traffic around Chiang ... read more

The bus took about two and a half hours to get to Mae Hong Son but it was a very enjoyable trip with the nice scenery we passed. I arrived at the new bus station which isn’t in my guidebook and decided not to take an expensive motorbike taxi and just walk the couple of kilometres. After asking a couple of locals I found the guesthouse I was looking for and got a room for about $7 a night. I had a look around town and then in the evening went to the Chilli Bar for a drink where I met Ryan, an Englishman who is married to a Thai woman from this area. The next day the friendly couple who run the bar invited Ryan ,his wife, and myself to join them in the afternoon ... read more

After a rickety bus journey but through some amazing valleys and beautiful scenery we arrived at Mae Hong Son! So much different to Pai, quite built up but still very small with a beautiful lake in the middle. Our first guest house was owned by Ken Dodds Thai twin who slept the whole time, we had to wake him up to look at a room, but after being woken up at 5.30am the two mornings we stayed there by dogs and cockrels and bloody chickens we were not impressed and found a nice bungalow around the corner. There was a really nice restaurant that we ate most of our meals in and the owner (who fled from Burma 12 years ago) and her family were so sweet and helpful, most amazing food too! Greg had the ... read more

Figyelemremelto utazasi teljesitmennyel vegzodott az oev December 30-an. 4 ora Kairoig 3 ora varakozas 8 ora Bangokig 4 ora varakozas 1.5 ora Chiang Maiig ahol Dana vart engem 1 ora takkerral at a varoson Szilveszteri oruletben. 1 ora sorbaallas buszjegyert 2 ora varakozas 9 oras buszut a hegyi szerpentineken fel Mae Hong Sonba nehany kilometerre a Burmai hatartol ottani hajnal 5-kor erkeztunk meg olyan elmeallapotban, hogy nem tudtam volna bizton felelni sem a nememre sem, a nevemre vonatkozo kerdesre, egesz uton ha fel orat sikerult aludni ( nem talalom az idezojelet a thai klaviaturan.. ) Elajulas, meg alomhoz kepest is bizzarr modon szurrelais mentalis elmenyek. 12 ora vizszintesben leves utan kesznek ereztuk magunkat az ujev unneplesere. Csendesen telt, zenelgettunk, setalgattunk, ketten megittunk egy uveg bort. A kisvaros kozepen levo to mellett laktunk, kilatassal a... read more