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Published: August 6th 2007
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2 motorbikes, 10 days, 600 plus kilometers, a few hundred mountain climbs, countless hairpin corners and a couple of sore bums later and we’re both safely back in Chiang Mai the starting point of our road trip around the far north of Thailand.
On the trip we saw some stunning scenery, experienced hill tribe life, stayed in some great (and sometimes rustic) places and spent some time finding our inner selves in a thai temple!
We went from 'Chiang Mai' to 'Pai', a touristy traveller 'hippy' town by the river with a chilled out vibe. From 'Pai' we went to to 'Mae La Na', a tiny village where the people are from a hill tribe called 'Shan'. They are semi-nomadic and have a completely different language and set of customs from Thailand. The village was set in a valley surrounded by rice fields and mountains.
From 'Mae La Na' we rode to 'Mae Hong Son', a town popular with Thai tourists. This town is pretty close to the border with Burma. There is a really beautiful lake in the town and it's surrounded by mountains. We went swimming and explored the surrounding villages.
Next stop was 'Khun
Yuam' via a dirt road that literally took us to the top of a mountain, it was a crazy drive but the views made it well worth while. From 'Khun Yuam' we went to...well we don't know the name of the town but we slept at a place called 'Hot Coffee'. It was such a great place (see more in the highlights below). Our last stop was ‘Chom Tong’, which randomly involved spending a night in a temple practicing meditation (see more below!)
Some of the highlights of the trip were:
The winding roads: Some of the roads were crazy, they took us up and down mountains and around steep corners - it was great fun driving the bikes!
The Scenery: The scenery was amazing - in the mountains the views over the surrounding countryside were amazing, in the valleys we saw picture postcard green rice fields and untouched, traditional hill tribe villages. We also saw a number impressive waterfalls and traditional Buddhist temples along the way.
Monk Blessing: Somewhere on the way to Mae Hon Son we came across some Buddha statues that had been placed in the rock
at the side of the road, we stopped to take a photograph. While we were walking around we noticed a cave filled with Buddha statues. In the cave was an old monk. The monk gave us a blessing to give us good luck for our journey, this involved tying string around our wrists and saying a mantra. He didn’t speak any English so haven’t got a clue what he said!
Hot Coffee: We just happened upon this place a couple of hours in to our drive one day. We spotted a sign in English 'Hot Coffee 150m' as we were in the middle of nowhere and there weren’t any signs in Thai let alone English we were pretty intrigued. The sign was right the coffee was hot and really tasty but the setting was fantastic, overlooking a river with the mountains in the background and such friendly people. In the end we decided 2 hours was enough riding for 1 day and stayed in one of their bungalows. We swam in the river, chilled in our hammocks and walked around the village. As well as the coffee and the rooms, 'Hot Coffee' is also a hostel for
disadvantaged and orphaned children from local Hill Tribe villages. They have about 20 children boarding there and they provide them with schooling opportunities etc. Find out more at Thai Care.
Meditating: It was getting late and we didn’t have a place to stay, the guidebook said a temple in the town sometimes had rooms. We asked about a room and from then on everything became a bit surreal but we weren’t really given a chance to back out! Within 5 minutes of asking I was given a bed in the men’s area of the complex and Lara in the women’s (men and women cannot sleep together). We were given white clothes and instructed to change in to them. We were told that as it was after 12pm we could not eat until breakfast at 6am. We were also told that in about 30mins we should meet in the meditation centre to begin our meditation practice. In this room we spent about 2 hours learning mediation techniques and then were instructed to go to our rooms and practice for 2 hours (we managed a bit less though) and then get up at 4am to do 2 hours before
breakfast at 6am. Breakfast was in silence which was a bit weird. We left the temple after a bit more mediation a lot more relaxed than when we went in. It was a surreal but awesome experience where we learnt a lot and which I don't think we'll ever forget!!
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