Mae Hong Son by Motorbike part 1: Riding for the love of it

Motorbike is the only way to get around in SE Asia. Once you've accepted that the traffic has no rhyme or reason and it's every man for himself, you can start to enjoy being a part of the madness.

I realised that being away from home for 5 weeks meant I hadn't driven anything for quite some time - I'd always been walking or taking public transport. I especially missed my scooter, so it was with great joy that I met Daeng, my Thai tour guide, on the morning of 17th May to collect the rental bike that would be my noble steed for the next 5 days.

The guy at the rental place showed me a shiny red 125cc bike that was to be mine. In broken Thaiglish he said "that one yours. Semi-automatic, gears 1-4 you can see here. Electric starter. 250 Baht per day thank you lady." OK, I can handle that. I've driven these things before. Hold the brake, push the starter button, turn the accelerator and Bob's your uncle. However, when i started the bike and off we went, all I heard was a congested roar that only got worse the faster I went. When we stopped for gas, I had to ask Daeng what the problem was, I thought the guy said automatic?
"You have to change it yourself!! Ha ha you drive in first!" Thanks a lot Daeng. After a quick lesson in how to change gears (read: 3-second lesson consisting of "this pedal gear up, this pedal gear down" but no indication of when this gear changing should happen), we set off with full tanks of gas, still only costing about NZD$5, towards the hilltop temple of Doi Suthep. I was feeling rather terrified at this stage - I simultaneously had to learn how to change gears on a motorbike and navigate (read: survive) Thai traffic. Deep end, anyone?

In hindsight, nobody asked to see my driver's license or asked if I had ridden a motorbike before. I guess the 1000Baht note that would pay for my bike rental was more important.

Lesson learned and bike mastered, we headed out of town for the hills. Doi Suthep is located a good 20-something kms out of town. It's a beautiful temple, but more importantly the elevation means it's quite cool up there. It's instantly noticeable; the humid heat of town falls away the higher you get, and the breeze becomes cool and pleasant. It had rained the previous day and the smog/haze had dissipated a little, so we had great views of Chiang Mai from the top of the hill.

Doi Suthep: The 7 Buddhas of the 7 days of the week - each day has Buddha in a different pose; reclining, sitting, standing with hands in ___ position etc.

After Doi Suthep we headed West out of town towards Mae Sariang. We passed through beautiful countryside with rolling hills, rice paddies (dry at this time of year though) and the odd cow on the side of the road. At about 4pm it started to rain; at first it was a drizzle but I've been here long enough to know that the torrential downpour with thunder & lightning was on its way. Sure enough, a few mins later it hit us like a brick wall and we took shelter in a small shop at the top of a hill. I had put my raincoat on earlier to protect myself from the sun, which Daeng thought was hilarious, but when it started raining I was nice and dry HAHAHA :P



We waited out the rain for about half an hour before continuing on to Mae Sariang. It's a quiet little town with a river running through it, doesn't really feature on the tourist trail but that made it quite nice. I had a nice room in a guesthouse for 200B - bargain! :) A long hot shower was very welcome after riding the last hour in the rain. Based in Mae Sariang, we were ready to head into the hills to see some villages the next day.


Slept like a log that night in the relatively cool weather and comfy bed ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!