I thought I would write a little something about this amazing motorbike trip we just finished. I will probably have to translate it in French at some point so my family can read it without using Google Translate, but for now here it is. 😉

First, let’s put us in context. We have been staying in Chiang Mai for about two weeks now. We explored every mall and markets available in the city and some more. (e.g. Lamphung Saturday Night Market) We found the best pad thai places, the best Burmese restaurant and we now know where to shop for what and how to get the best prices. Even in the name of economics, there’s only so much shopping I can handle. It was time to move on. I didn’t see any export opportunities worth exploring and the prices of things seemed to have almost doubled from the blog posts I had read online.

How to plan for such a trip

We had initially found a few motorbike routes online. The most popular one was the Mae Hong Son Loop. The 1864 curves route could be done in 3 days, but it’s preferable to do it in a minimum of 4 and enjoy Pai and it’s surroundings for at least a day.

Clockwise or counter clockwise ?

Different blogs will tell you to do it clockwise or counter clockwise depending on your level of experience. They don’t agree with each others so I decided to follow the advice of an experienced motorbike rider who blogged about his motorbike trip instead of a random guest post on Trip Advisor or Travelfish. Although, this is a tricky one, just because I think it depends on your priorities, likes and dislikes. If you do it clockwise, then you stop in Khun Yuam(or Mae Sariang), Mae Hong Son and then Pai like we did. You will have many tight curves to get used to on your newly rented bike. The blogger’s route we took had recorded his trip and shared his itinerary in OpenStreet Map format. I was able to input it in Google Maps and we just followed it because it was very well documented. Spoiler Alert: There’s nothing in Khun Yuam, there was only one restaurant open in the entire city open at 7 pm and the food was nothing to rave about.

We found that the scenery is nicer before Pai than after. The ride from Pai to Chiang Mai was a brisk 3 hours. Difficulty wise, the curves are smoother between Pai to Chiang Mai than the rest of the loop, but there’s a lot of inexperienced day trippers on the road and there’s a lot of leaves and crap on the road (at least during rainy season). It takes away a little from the fun as you can’t really maximize on the speed, but it’s still enjoyable. We even drove through a thunderstorm and lightning that hit less than a 1km away from us.

Blind curves but less traffic against nice long curves but crazy drivers and lots of crap on the road is what it comes down to really. I preferred getting out of my comfort zone on quieter but sharper roads than on an easy one with crazy drivers on it.

The Stops

Mae Hong Son is a nice little city that still has a lot of it’s local charm as tourism hasn’t fully caught on here. A lot of people in military uniforms and police officers in the city might be one of the reasons tourists haven’t invaded the area yet. We didn’t spent long enough to judge though. It was charming, it has temples like every Thai cities, but I was happy to move on.

Dabbing at the Pai Canyon

Pai

Ohhh Pai oh Pai! As we kept reminiscing about Ubud, Pai was the perfect place to end up this motorbike trip. It’s a nice little village full of hippies where raw food and bakeries can be found. Western food is served almost everywhere and very decent. Accommodation prices are still affordable, food prices are getting a bit more expensive. (I know compared to the dates of Trip Advisor reviews and blog posts) There’s waterfalls around, a canyon and I’m sure bunch of other stuff we didn’t have time to explore.

Choosing the bike

Choose your bike carefully. We chose a Honda GTR500.  The place we rented the bike from was between 2 other rental agencies. We chose this one for the price and because of the friendliness of the the owner. We kind of wished his wife would have been as nice when we went the next day to finalize the transaction, but she wasn’t and we almost had ‘buyers regret’. Things to check are the tires, the brakes and if the bike fits you. I was glad my toes were touching the ground but more so with Nisreen on the back, as I was able to have my heels flat on the asphalt. You don’t want to be on a bike where you don’t have a strong footing when you have to be immobile in a middle of a very steep hill. If you are doing the three or four day trip, you will have to carry clothes and other things with you. Make sure your bike comes with a box or that you can rent one. You don’t want to carry a backpack while doing this unless you plan on getting a massage everyday. Also, keep in mind that a box on top of the bike will affect the balance of the bike during the curves and that side boxes will restrain how low you can lean the bike during a curve. We took the high one since it came with the bike and we didn’t really know what to expect from the roads. Our bike only had 10 000 km on it but the tires seemed to be a bit worn. Also the pattern in them didn’t seem to really fit with the weather we were going through. I felt the road was slippery from beginning to end, even when there was no rain. I must say there’s a lot of red volcanic sand and gravels on those roads so drive carefully. Nothing happened to us, but you should ask the company you rent it with to have phone numbers of local mechanics in case something happens. Also, inquire about the insurance as most places only covers the engine and not theft or any superficial damage to the bike. Also, they don’t cover your medical expenses, but if you are out there you should already have one. Last advice, if a cop stops you for no apparent reason, call the bike rental agency and hand the phone to the cop. Not everybody speaks English in the countryside and cops closer to the border are known to make less cash than the ones in big cities.(Actually, I even heard that cops are paying from their own pocket to be working in Bangkok so they can make money off tourists). Don’t bribe them. You would just encourage them to continue.

Overall experience

We had an amazing time! We kinda  wish we would have spent more time in Pai though. The reggae vibe was pleasant and the landscapes around were stunning.

I am happy that Chiang Mai and it’s surrounding gave us a feel of how urban Thai’s live because if we would have spent all our time in Pai we would have mostly only encountered Caucasian tourists. The only Thai’s we saw, were the shop owners who seemed to live in this village, but again 2 days isn’t nearly enough to make that assumption. 😉

Thanks for reading. Now what would you like to know about Vietnam ?