Chiang Mai - Mae Hong Son

  Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Sunday, September 30, 2007

Itinary : Chiang Mai - Mae Hong Son
Date : 30th September.
Mileage so far : 3422 km

Absolutely great day today! The best so far and I rated it 8 out of 10! Too bad for Kevin and his hangover...Huh stomach ache I meant...For those that are not aware I am doing a daily written diary, a video diary and I fill-up a logbook that I designed with all the information of the day. Some of you that know me well would not be surprised by this... I've done it every single day for the moment and it takes me maybe an hour and a half every night! Excluding when I have to update this travelogue which take ages with the uploading of pictures and the slow connections...Well nothing else to do anyway after the rides... I track and take notes on the border crossings, on riding data (with mileage, temperature, altitude, average speed, riding time,...), on road data (with road taken, condition of raod, landscape,...), on living data (with petrol info-cost, accomodation info-cost, F&B infos and cost,...), then finally my everyday expenses (excluding the tips for the lady boys...).

Anyway, now that you know let's get today's action...I did the famous 108 road clockwise and it's in the middle of the mountains...The turns seem to never end and leaned the bike all the way down...It's not that I like turns and leaning the bike but I want to get some rubber off the side of the tyres...You believe me?

Finally twisty roads!!!

Kept on stopping every 10 mins to film and take pictures as the scenary was just stunning.
Like the picture below where I saw this lying buddha out of nowhere in the middle of the mountain...And I regularly bumped into buffalos and some of them were surprised to see me...

Lying buddha in the middle of the hill...

You look at me so I look at you! Haha!

About 120 km from Mae Hong Son, I stopped for a water break (and a bit of walking for ass rejuvenation) when I landed on this family that was doing a small family gathering and getting waisted in the middle of the afternoon. The guy apparently worked for the military and offered me beer which I declined as I was still going to ride for a couple of hours...Then he tried to make me stay for the night so that I could drink with them, yet again I had to politely decline (I didnt want to get the army guy angry) because I had to hit the road so that I can meet Kevin tomorrow. The guy is a sergeant and spoke relatively good english, I was surprised...He kept on insisting for me to have a coffee instead of the beer but I was not to keen and couldnt understand his insistance until I saw the coffee machine behind the counter...I couldnt believe it...It was the most modern piece of technology in the region! It would even make some big corporations jealous!!! So had to have one. You will the guy on my right hanging on for dear life...Hhmmm I wonder if it's the beer...

Happy tipsy family with incredible coffee machine!

Then when I hit the road again, I did my last stop when I noticed a gathering in front of a temple. At first I thought it was a religious gathering and I wanted to have a look...And when I stopped the bike and parked, I noticed that it was a town party in the temple of the town! It was nice, friendly and entertaining. There was games, food, a sepak takraw tournament and loads of people. Of course I was the only foreigner there and I was really not at eased by myself and the bike was ungarded with all the stuff on it...So just got time to film a bit and forgot to take pictures! It was funny because everybody was all over the place watching the sepak takraw game, except the monks that were all sitting together very calmly, separated from everyone, on the temple "terrasse"...Would have been a nice shot...So I took off relatively quickly as I could see a lot of red faces because of beer...Not sun burns...Very good day indeed today...Great roads, great weather, great encounters...

I was having a great time in there!!!