Motor Bike Trip
Trip Start
Dec 09, 2007
1
21
52
Trip End
Jul 07, 2008
Mae Hong Son,
Mae Hong Son,
Thailand
Saturday, March 8, 2008
In Mae Hong Son
Don't know what day it is.....but Yesterday was a full day. Woke up from a nice sleep in the Friend House. Like the guidebook said I got a nice room with a view of the lake for only 150 Bath, shared bath downstairs. The Hostess was kind and beautiful. Full of life and so playful and sweet with her equally joyous daughter. I was in Mae Hong Son. Woke up and went to the expansive Day Market North or my guesthouse. Managed to only almost get hit by the plethora of motorbikes once. This place was saturated. Navigated the market with awe and after some difficult found the watermelon I was craving.
Hopped on the bike said goodbye to the Japanese friends I'd made the night before and off to the Karen village. Determined not to go to the one that I had read about being a zoo of tourist watchers and Long Neck captives I made my way to another one next to it, reachable by motorbike. Deep into the valley I had to cross several streams and maneuver around elephant dung before making my way to the village. I didn't see any long necks upon arrival and it didn't take long for the ticket takers to spot the newly arrived Farand
on way to mae hong son
. They called me over and a stern man passed me a lament sheet in english and simply said, "250 bath." I understood this to be the same charge for the zoo. I was rather disappointed and after reading how the money was supposedly going to help the Karen refugees I stubbornly made my payment and down the covered alleyway past the stands of the same craft crap I've seen everywhere over the bridge and into the zoo. Well, I saw my Karen Long Necks, got my photos bought a scarf that I had seen being weaved by a hand, and though intimidated to be the only Farang there at first was also pleasantly surprised to see ease and joy on many of their faces. If they knew they were being exploited they didn't seem to mind, or maybe it came as a minor cost compared to the oppression they may have experienced in Burma.
After cruising some more of the village and realizing that if I had just ventured a little further into town I would have had my wish and seen some of them minus the zoo, I made my way for Soppong. First I stopped at the Fern Restaurant as recommended in the guide book. At 11Am I was the first there, some local stragglers meandered in later. It was more touristy, expansive, clean and classy then expected. I was hoping for a little more gritty local flavor, yet the actual flavor still satisfied. Mok Hok, fried fish in curry, apparently a local Northern dish.
Then to the caves. 7 KM over the roughest roads I've encountered in Thailand. Thai roads are surprisingly good for the most part
on way to mae hong so
. I had no problem gliding over and through the misty mountains on my way out. I managed to find a hand pump stall for some gas in order to make my trip complete. The entrance to the caves was nice filled with large leaf shade treas and huts. A market sits outside and parking lot with bamboo sitting areas and a gazebo rounds it out. I followed a Thai guy on a scooter in front of me through the gate and towards the info. center and could have made it all the way if it weren't for stopping with a confused look on my face. Sitting along the gate were 15 or so mostly female thai that just pointed to the parking lot and made some very direct and simple thai statement in unison as if they've done it many times before. I got it, park with the rest of the tourists you Farang. After some confusion and navigating the language barrier I agreed to pay for a guide with a canteen lantern and a bamboo raft into two of the caves for 350 bath. Quite expensive for a Thai tourist attraction out here in the middle of no where. I was disappointed to find out later that the one cave left out was the famous coffin cave that housed a large wooden coffin said to date back nearly 2000 years. But that disappointment could not remotely damper the shear splendor of the greatest caving experience of my life. As soon as I started gliding down the shallow stream on the bamboo raft into the massive mouth of the caves opening I had already felt this was money well spent and an adventure was on it's way not an attraction
fish caves
. My guide and I, her name was Lang and she'd been through the mill, not enough to take her spark however or strength....she carried the heavy lantern up and down rocks and stairs with ease. My guide and I climbed sharp stairs cascading over amorphous calcite formations and gazed a the most massive and interesting columns, stalactites, stalagmites, that I've ever seen. A new touch were the fascinating shimmering formations made with some particular calcium mineral deposit. There was no manicured walkways and hand rales. No this was climbing and maneuvering through holes, and narrow passages, and over strange magical and unsteady ground. All with only a canteen to keep the blackness at bay. And since my guide didn't speak English the silence only illuminated the spectacle even more. No history or science to fill in the space with sound that was easily forgotten anyway. Full of adventurous glee we finished the trip. I said goodbye to my guide and made my way to he back side of the caves 1KM away to witness hundreds of thousands of swifts and bats as they wizz in and out of the cave for some dusk dinner. Once to the massive cave entrance I noticed a staircase leading straight up into the cave maybe 30 meters high. From on top I saw a camera's flash. Then noticed two people making there way down. I made my way toward them to investigate where they had been. Maybe this was the coffin cave after all? I passed them, an older gentlemen with white smock and wild helmet with flames on the side
carp at fish caves
. I said to myself this is a burner or ex hippy or easy going cool guy. He put off a grounded vibe that suggested he may have been out there but cool about it. His companion was a beautiful mixed Asian and European girl, looked to be early twenties or late teens. I assumed right away that this was his daughter even though it would have been just as easy in Thailand to assume this was his lover. They told me what they had seen, not much as it were, some good views atop the steps and it opens in the back to a large room but no foreseeable way to continue deeper. I ventured anyway excited and amazed to work back to the plateau atop the steps close to the giant stalactites that hang low to the river below and in which the swifts maker there home. Perched here I had an excellent place to record the beginnings of there active nightly ritual. The sound was acoustically perfect with a slight and amplified cave reverb. After recording them I made my way back to this opening or room. I passed two areas of broken and hollowed out wood that were roped out. These wood pieces could have housed small bodies and may have been the coffin relics I had heard of but not sure. Once in the back room I was surprised to be hit with sudden and deep silence. The swift sounds had faded and the river had faded, in fact all ambient noise had faded and couldn't remember the last time I'd witnessed, if ever, such an experience of sensory deprivation. Without my light on it was pitch black as well
wow!
. I recorded the sound of silence and some things I said then made my way out to catch the swift display.Got talking to the Man named Dave and yes, his daughter...oops here name often escapes me like...Chondra. They were very nice and Dave was interesting in that he's one of those characters. He's spent many adventures and years and lives traveling the exotic corners of the earth, back when there were exotic corners. And now a father and man into his wisdom years spends time going back between his farm near Seattle and his meditation temples in Thailand and else where. In fact he taught foreigners about Therevada Buddhism and meditation in Wat Doi Suthep which is the amazing and most sacred temple in Northern Thailad that I had motorbiked to on my last day in Chang Mai.
We hit it off and decided to get dinner together and even head back to Pai together on our bikes. Dinner back at the markets outside the cave gate was nice and simple and Dave seemed to take much enjoyment and opportunity to speak about the Buddha mind and practice as much as he could. I've been readily intrigued by his experience even if it does come off forced from time to time. We made our way out the 7 Km road to the main highway 1095 and to the gas station. I was on less then 1/2 tank and had planned on hitting the station after the caves .Only the station was closed! It was only 6:30 strange.
I told Dave my predicament and he shrugged it off saying once we made it over the mountain it was all down hill from there and if he had to push me he could
Luang Tai and monks at Mountain monestary
. Well we made it too the top, especially after he suggested I slow my speedy ass down to better conserve the gas. At the top it was in the red and we agreed that I would shut er' down and cruise downhill just relying on my breaks and his headlight. At the bottom and the first incline we still had 18 KM to go. I turned the bike on and off as needed to go over straights and smaller hills. Then the last 7KM were with the motor on and some prayer and even thought the bike was on black for most of it. We managed to pull right up to the rental office at 9PM just 1/2 hr. before it was due and I would be charged late fees. Nice!!!!!The evening was nice and standard Pai. Phu Pai for some drinks munchies and great music. Then Bamboo Hut for campfires a Sansom Bucket Yeah!!! and some sweet and sour chicken, and good conversations with crazy drunk europeans. I managed to go into some depth and connection with a French Guy named Oden. I'd met him on another night but we didn't talk cause' he was hitting on my friend Allison. We had so much in common from our basic likes and dislikes to our dispositions on life and daily affairs to deeper awareness to being electro dj's and producers. A bit like meeting my French self.
Today was a great red curry to Dave and Chondra's american breakfasts, getting my bags from the Sun Hut here to the Friendship House. Nice hut, no bathroom, for 200 b. and to work on this writing, music editing, and audettes tracks.
