2015 Thailand Mae Hong Son Loop

Looking back at my first ever motorcycle trip it was such a foolish and dangerous feat. Experience in motorcycling was zero, total mileage being only three rounds at the parking lot on my friend's motorcycle after watching a few YouTube videos. I was very lucky to have survived.

Arriving in Chiang Mai late October 2015, I rented a Honda Phantom- a Thai made 200cc cruiser style motorcycle popular in Singapore. It is the dirt cheap rental price that made me chose that bike, in hindsight I really wonder what got into my head for me to rent a cruiser, ha ha. I rented at Mr. Mechanic, one of the 3 big bike rental shops in town. They provided me with a full face (!) helmet but the visor was all scratched up. Still, better than me as I was only wearing T shirt and jeans. Bad idea but again I was lucky I did not crash.

Tuk tuk's are such rip offs- take metered taxi or Uber for half the price.

Day 1
First day started with riding south to Thailand's highest peak, first via the busy 108 then turning right to 1009. Water probably got into my head for me to attempt such a thing on the first ride of my life. The road was probably great but I only remembered arriving on top of the 2565m high Doi Inthanon freezing cold and promptly laid my bike on its side on a gentle and slow left turn into a parking lot, in full view of a dozen or so Thai tourists. Embarrassment was an understatement. Quickly I picked it up and pretended like nothing has happened. The view was sadly obscured by thick clouds though so I did not spend much time up there.

Beautiful paddy fields in the countryside.

Turning to route 1088 to Mae Na Chon I rode past many paddy fields and Thailand being the rice producing heavyweight naturally has plenty of them. The first night I stayed at Hot Coffee Resort based on several reviews which has several small wooden huts by the river which I prefer rather than the monolithic concrete building with more expensive rooms. The sound of the river flowing was quite comfortable and in the morning I walked down to the river for some photos. It felt good to be there so close to nature and after a nice cup of cuppa I was up riding again.

Mae Chaem river.

Day 2

First part of the day took me past winding roads of average condition but the scenery was amazing. Endless wheat fields (I think) on undulating hills and small villages with kids running freely on the roads. Stopped numerous times for photos and generally taking it slow as the roads were narrow and markings washed away. When there's car oncoming the golden rule is to get out of the way since this is Thailand. Joining back 108 on the way up to Mae Hong Son which is the provincial capital the traffic increased slightly but is still pretty light and considered easy and comfortable riding.

Arriving in Mae Hong Son I started looking for accommodation but for some reason it was hard and I wonder why...

Mae Hong Son town from a nearby lookout.

Wat Chong Klang (barely visible in the photo above, just right to the lake).

Little did I know that I struck gold and arrived at the colourful and energetic Chong Phara procession which is a traditional Shan celebration. The whole town was out carrying colourful paper castles on pickups and parading and dancing through the main streets. The event was meant to invite Buddha back from paradise at the end of the Buddhist Lent and everyone's mood was happy and jovial. Even the elderly were having fun dancing on the streets. What a memorable evening.


Day 3
I had a quick swim in my hotel's pool before setting off to the frontiers of Thailand and Myanmar. There are numerous settlements along the border but the one that I'm exploring today is noted for its Chinese Kuo Ming Tang roots from the immediate post WW2 period. During the Chinese civil war KMT troops lost to the communists and had to retreat to the hilly regions in southeast Asia. Initially they fought a resistance against the Thai army who sought to reign in the border regions under central control, but after decades of fighting and with incentives from the government they finally gave up arms and settled into peaceful farming life.

Paddy fields en route to Pang Ung.

Ride north out of MHS along 1095 and there's a sharp left turn with sign towards Tambon Health Promoting Hospital. Riding along the narrow road past a few villages and beautifully layered rice fields I arrived at Pang Ung Royal Forest Park. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of a dense pine forest- in tropical Thailand! But the best is yet to come. More pine forest later I arrived at a beautiful emerald blue lake by the pine tree forest, with a wooden hut by the shore. No need to go to Switzerland guys, I found a piece of it right here a few hours away from Chiang Mai. Tents are also available for rent there if you fancy camping in the wald.

A short rest later I rode back and onwards to the supposedly 'Chinese' village of Ban Rak Thai, which obviously is catered towards local tourists with new 'Chinese style' restaurants and shops along its main street. Other than that the village itself looked just like any other Thai villages. The Chinese restaurant on the main street did offer a good view overlooking the lake however.

Post-lunch I backtracked along the same route to reach 1095. While onwards to Pang Mapha a huge thunderstorm caught me unprepared and I was drenched head to toe. Heavy rain continued for at least half an hour however did lighten after so I just rode on as I was only 15km from my destination. Checking into Soppong River Inn I stayed in a room with a balcony by the side of a small gorge. It was great sipping tea listening to the river flow and bats chirping which reminded me that there's a popular cave nearby called Tham Lod, which this exact river flows through it upstream.

Day 4
I was lucky once again as there was a weekly morning market right at the town of Soppong the next morning. This market goes around several other villages one day a week on a fixed schedule, and it so happen that I was right here when it's Soppong's turn. The locals and hill tribes from nearby villages all would gather in the market to sell their produces. Lots of them with colourful tribal clothing.

Soppong Tuesday market.

At a most simple looking roadside stall I had the most amazing bowl of noodle of this trip which until now I still have no idea what it's called and where else to find it. I shall return again in the future for more of that.


After breakfast I visited the nearby Tham Lod cave however me being not a fan of caves did not enjoy much. After the cave was a short easy ride along route 1095 to reach Pai, a popular backpacker's spot with all things backpackers & hipsters like vegetarian health foods, meditation classes and mushroom shakes. The road has lots of bends and was in good condition which makes riding easy and smooth. Traffic was light as not many tourists venture further than Pai. Did see the occasional backpackers riding scooters towards Soppong likely heading towards Tham Lod.

Upon reaching Pai I did the usual sightseeing stuff:

Wat Luang before being repainted in 2016.

Pai canyon.

And after that I just chilled by the river and in my resort. Didn't feel like mingling with other people and not interested in the activities so did nothing much for the day.


Day 5
Final day and I'm heading back to Chiang Mai. The descent down to route 107 (main road back to the city) was quite busy and many sections in repair/upgrade, so it was quite uncomfortable and dusty. After reaching route 107 it was just one straight road however was already quite hot and humid in the afternoon so it was rather uncomfortable. In the end managed to reach Chiang Mai in one piece and first thing I did after returning the bike was to visit several nearby temples to thank the gods even though I'm not a religious person I am superstitious, ha ha.

All in all it was a memorable trip, being my first ever riding trip and also first riding experience. I did not however enjoy as much as I though I would, mainly because of my lack of experience and thus needing more concentration and feeling stressed when I was riding. In retrospect I strongly discourage anyone to do crazy thing like this because risk of death seems pretty darn high. I've omitted quite a few stupid details due to the immeasurable embarrassment that they would bring... I was a total newbie afterall and brushed shoulder with death more than once. Now that I have obtained my license and learned the basics of riding I do enjoy my trips more and wished that I could have done the same. But no worries as I am about to head there again, this time for a proper tour... LY



*Shooting notes: I brought along my newly bought Leica M6 to the trip, along with the Zeiss 35/2 and a couple of Russian lenses. Another of my stupidity for sure, as Leicas are probably not as durable as my Nikon SLRs due to the delicate rangefinder assembly, and the Jupiter-9 (85mm f/2 M39) lens I discovered is out of focus and terribly soft. This is not helped by the fact that Russian M39 lenses were designed around the Contax rangefinder standard instead of Leica's, so even though they share the same 39mm screw mount they will not focus correctly at any distance closer than infinity on a Leica camera. Although one can get around this by shimming the rear of the lens focus cam (the part that contacts to the rangefinder cam on the camera body) on certain lenses, the results is not perfect. Some lenses work better than others though, see info here (second post).

The above photos were shot on a combination of Fuji Superia 200/400 and Kodak Ultramax 400 films.