After traveling according to bus and train and plane schedules, we were excited to arrive in Northern Thailand where we rented a car for our road trip around the Mae Hong Song loop (Thanks Brad and Xiao Ling!). This 4 day loop out of Chiang Mai and up toward the border with Myanmar (Burma) takes you winding through the mountains far away from major cities for a look into rural life. Rachel, of course, took care of packing a variety of snacks for the drive and Colin took care of the actual driving.
We’ve seen t-shirts and magnets and such referring to the Mae Hong Son loop that brag about how many turns it has. We weren’t about to keep count, but will just say this – the steering wheel is never kept straight. The moment you get out of one turn, you’re entering the next! It’s not a drive for the faint of heart or stomach, and they do offer buses that make the loop, but we are really glad we went on our own. We’re also really glad we opted for the car and not the motorcycle. It rained on the trip with and the wind blew around lots of flying twigs and leaves. It even knocked over a large tree that closed the road for a while and took down 12 cement power line poles! We saw a young couple take a tight wet turn a little too fast and their bike came right out from under them! We pulled over quickly to help out, and were amazed to see them both stand up with nothing more than scrapes and racing heartbeats. Yikes!
Of course, the best part of having our own wheels is being able to pull over whenever we want – like when we saw several mopeds and trucks parked in the middle of nowhere. We pulled over to find several small bamboo huts built in the middle of the river where families had set up to have picnics and play in the water. We also pulled off into a wildlife preserve for lunch where we had a nice long chat with a ranger who said he was excited because he doesn’t have many opportunities to practice his English out there. We talked about everything from marriage (he says it’s too late for him now because he’s over 30!) to the current politics in Thailand. Much of it was unclear, but we smiled and nodded and just appreciated the chance to connect with someone out here in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world. At one point, he asked if we had maps where we lived and requested that if it wasn’t too much trouble, we send him a map of the world. He says he’s met people from Germany and France and America and would like to see where these places are. Before getting back on the road, we had a quick workout with his homemade weight set.
Along the way we saw pickup trucks stacked 6 feet or more above the bed with nothing but garlic. We later passed the farm and saw dozens of people loading countless bundles of tightly packed garlic onto trucks. We also stopped at a temple that had a 10ft tall wicker Buddha. All along the way we saw low level forest fires burning. This is apparently fire season where fields are burned clean for the next planting and whether intentionally or accidentally, all of the forests burn as well. On the plus side, since it burns every year, the fires are never big enough to kill off the larger trees, but it didn’t seem to leave much underbrush for wildlife.
We kept passing signs for waterfalls, caves and hot springs along the way but none of them gave any indication (that we could understand anyway) of how far off the main road they were. We finally decided that we’d stop at the next hot spring we saw a sign for and got lucky that it was just barely off the main road. Of course it’s way too hot to actually enjoy a soak, but we figured it would be worth the experience regardless. What we found was a cute little resort with private cabins, a large hot pond, a communal foot bath and swimming pool … all completely abandoned. The front gate was open so we went in and walked around a bit, but it was a little creepy. We couldn’t tell if the place was closed for the season or if it had been closed for years. The pool was completely empty and the drain for the foot bath was plugged so it was developing a nasty film on top. The pond looked like something out of Yellowstone – pale blue water with sulfur bubbles coming up all around and layers rotting leaves that looked like small, orange islands.
Farther up the road, we saw a sign for “Fish Cave” and knew we had to see what that was about. This was also right off the main road so we parked and walked in. There were a number of stands selling sliced fruit and leaves for the fish so we picked up a bag of what looked like Creeping Charlie and walked on. As we approached the cave, we walked across a bridge and looked down into the river inhabited by some of the fattest fish we’d ever seen. They watched the bridge intently, and as we walked across it, they followed waiting for food to drop.
The cave itself was more of an indent in the wall than a cave and had a statue of someone meditating in a tiger skin robe. There were a few places where you could look down into a crack and see where the river seemed to be flowing directly out of the mountain. Looking down, the fish were packed so tightly that you could barely see any water between them. When we tossed down a handful of leaves, they thrashed and leapt over each other like they hadn’t eaten in a week, though they were clearly well fed. We spent the next half hour or so happily tossing food to frantic fishies before starting the walk back to the car.
We’d saved a little food for the fish under the last bridge and while tossing it in, a bug landed on Rachel’s head. She swatted at it and, in doing so, sent her glasses flying into the river below. Luckily, the water wasn’t very deep, so Colin went down to the banks to get them. Unluckily, the mud at the bottom was deep, so he ended up getting wetter than expected in the process. In the end though, Rachel got her glasses back, Colin got a refreshing dip, and the other visitors got a good chuckle.
Since the “cave” aspect of fish cave was a bit disappointing, we were excited to see a sign that pointed to the “Longest cave in Asia.” This stop was definitely not a roadside attraction as we drove several miles down into the valley, through a number of villages, and past one military checkpoint and on and on. After a while we started to get nervous. We were getting low on gas and were definitely getting farther away from the nearest gas station. The roads were very narrow and steep and at times we weren’t sure if our little car would be able to make it back even with a full tank!
We finally found a place we could pull over and decided we would walk over the next rise and if we still didn’t see the cave we’d turn around and try to find the nearest filling station. Luckily as we walked around the next corner we saw a small building with several men lounging around. They waved and pointed to the window where cave admission prices were listed. Due to the distance and price we decided to skip the longest cave and instead chose Crystal Cave. After paying admission, the guide said there would be an additional fee to rent a moped to get to the cave entrance. Being the hardened travelers we are we told them we’d just walk. We should have reconsidered this immediately when all of the guides, except ours, burst into laughter. One of them said, “Maybe you walk and the guide takes a moped!” It was a very hot day and we could smell smoke from the burning forests and heard thunder in the distance. As we walked farther and farther down the steep switchbacks, images of Batad back in Philippines came to mind. We realized, once again, that we needed to reconsider our budgetary constraints.
We finally got to the cave entrance and were already exhausted. As the guide handed us our headlamps Rachel asked if there were bats “No,” he said. “Spiders?” “Yes,” he said with a grin, “but only very big ones”. We’ve been in caves before but there was something special about this kind of pure undeveloped cave with no paths, no lights and no sign that anybody had been there before us. We saw sparkling stalagmites and hollow columns that rang when you knocked on them. There were massive stalactites that had fallen from the ceiling, making us think twice when walking under others. And yes, there were a couple of very big spiders.
By the time we got out the thunderstorm was fully underway. Our guide must have been very confident in our ability to find our way home, since he hurried up the hill ahead of us and disappeared. We trudged up the rest of the way appreciating the cool rain on our heads. As we rounded the last turn, we took a deep breath and put on our biggest smiles to try to give the impression that this hike was no problem at all for us, but we were very happy to get back into the car to sit down. Thankfully, we did manage to get to a gas station in time but we were running on fumes.
We arrived in Pai, one of the most popular towns in northern Thailand, especially with hippies and “trustafarians.” There are a number of reggae bars (though these are common all over SE Asia) and a ton of drunk Aussie kids (which are also sadly common all over SE Asia). We found a beautiful place just outside of town with private cabins and a small pond where we met up with our friends Mer and Dave who had traveled by riverboat from Luang Prabang into Thailand.
We did a quick tour of town and grabbed some street food before heading back to the cabins to play Bananagrams in the garden until all hours of the night. We had tried to pick up a few beers for the night, but found that since an election was coming up you couldn’t buy alcohol for 3 days. We got a bit of a chuckle imagining the faces of all the Aussie kids when they found that out. We’d also found an article that explained that due to the political unrest in Thailand this year, this was their third attempt at holding elections and one of those dates coincided with Australia Day. No doubt there were a lot of disappointed Aussies that day too!
The next day the 4 of us hopped in the car to drive to Tham Lod Cave, a huge cave with a river running through it where guides will take you through on a bamboo raft. The guides used long poles to push us along stopping from time to time for us to hop out to explore sections of the cave by oil lamp. We again bought some fish food on our way in. The fish here were just as well fed as the last ones and just as excited when we tossed them food – splashing us in the boat with their frantic thrashing. Also, while there weren’t any bats in Crystal Cave, this one more than made up for it with huge clouds of them at the entrance!
After a long trip through the cave and a hike around the park we drove to a nearby town and had a late lunch by the riverside before heading back to Pai. On the way back we saw a sign pointing out the highest point in the province so we decided to drive up for sunset. Colin quickly regretted this decision because the drive was treacherous, but he played it cool to avoid spreading panic. Our little car was doing everything it could to maintain forward momentum up the steep winding road. Colin was concerned that if he stopped he wouldn’t be able to get moving again. The road was frighteningly narrow and covered in leaves. We made it to the top alive where there was an amazing view and a fenced in broadcast tower with 3 guard dogs inside. We didn’t see a bowl down for them so we pulled out a yogurt container, filled it with water and slipped it under the fence. They were clearly thirsty and grateful. They were also happy to get a little lovin’ through the fence. We found ways of amusing ourselves while we watched the sun set and made our way back to the cabins for our last night on the loop. The drive home to Chiang Mai was peaceful, and along the way we stopped at Coffee in Love (Thanks Sara & Rochelle) for a drink with a beautiful view.
