Adventure Vacation Trip

Day 1 (Chiang Mai - Doi Inthanon - Khun Yuam)

We flew into Chiang Mai airport and boarded a taxi at 915am. Mr Mechanic is just a short 15 minutes and 120B drive away.

Sunrise from the plane

As arranged, Mr Mechanic already had 3 scramblers prepared for us - 2 Honda Degrees and 1 Honda AX-1. The staffs at Mr Mechanic spoke good English and were very helpful in setting us up for the journey. The bikes were checked, backpacks mounted using bicycle hooks and a GPS receiver mounting unit fixed onto the AX-1. We paid for the rental including insurance at 1300B per person for 2 days of rental. We also had to leave 1 passport as deposit.

It was 10am and we decided to have some food at KAFE, a small restaurant located a few shops away from Mr Mechanic. Having read about Kao Soi in the guidebooks, I gave it a try. It’s wonderful!

Kao Soi

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Route

The Mae Hong Son Loop of North Thailand takes us from Chiang Mai through Doi Inthanon to Khun Yuam and finally to Mae Hong Son. From Mae Hong Son, the route continues to Pai before taking us back to Chiang Mai. As a short weekend ride, there is not enough time for adequate sight seeing. The time is just about enough to finish the loop with minimal stops. More days are certainly advised for Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Pai. The total distance we traveled was around 640km.

Map of North Thailand and route taken

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If there is a riding mecca in South East Asia, the Mae Hong Son loop has got to be it. Probably the most popular riding route in Thailand, the Mae Hong Son loop is also known as the road of 1000 hairpin bends. Besides exhilarating bends on well-paved roads, the loop passes through scenic mountain regions blessed with points of interest such as caves, waterfalls, national parks, hot springs, temples and hill tribe villages.

The Mae Hong Son loop provides a good opportunity to visit North Thailand’s rugged north-west frontier. There are many possible side rides to places such as Mae Sa valley or even Chang Rai of golden triangle fame. This region of Thailand is also home to the famous Karen hill tribe. If the name does not ring a bell, the images of women with long necks adorned with brass rings would probably be familiar to you.

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Packing for a backpacking trip can be daunting for the first timers. How to pack and what to pack?  While part of it comes from experience, travelers should not worry too much about bringing the wrong stuffs, not bringing the right stuffs or packing it the wrong way. At most, there would be some minor inconvenience to your trip, surely nothing too detrimental to the enjoyment of your overseas holidays.

But to make things easier for the new traveler, I have written a short packing guide. As you can see from the article, I do not carry a lot of specialty traveler items. I carry a small backpack (34 litre Osprey Stratos) but I did squeeze (too) many items in it.

Please note that these photos were taken when I was half-way through my East Asia trip (China, South Korea and Japan), a 6 weeks long trip.

For this trip, besides the clothings I am wearing, I brought along another 2 pairs of convertible pants, 3 tshirts, 1 small towel, 1 light jacket, 3 pairs of underwears and 2 pairs of socks.

Roll the clothings into a pack-it bag.

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For this Laos trip, I am sticking with Lonely Planet Laos (Country Guide) for the travel guide book for information on country background, accommodation, maps, restaurants and places of interest.

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