A fun Big Bike Tours Recce ride around the Mae Hong Son Loop, sponsored by Bike Bike Tours Thailand (the first of two recce rides.)
The main purpose of this ride was to aid Big Bike Tours refine an itinerary ride plan for their all-ladies motorbike tour. I was joined by Jeap (licensed guide and wife of Big Bike Tours owner Kay), and my friend Sam.
Big Bike Tours Recce Ride
Three Day Ride
Day 1: Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son
At around 8:00 am we met up at a local PTT garage. We had coffee/breakfast and went through the plan for day one together. A day or so beforehand I created a My Maps guide for the stop-offs, to ensure we all knew where we were headed on this Big Bike Tours Recce ride.
Wachirathan Falls
Our first destination point was Wachirathan Falls, a stunning waterfall within Doi Inthanon National Park. The waterfall is spectacular and one of several within the national park.
It is free to enter the falls but as we planned to ride to the Highest Point in the national park, we paid the 300 Baht ticket entry fee for the attractions.
There are eateries within the grounds of the falls and also, a cafe.
Once we had finished enjoying the Falls we headed to the Highest Viewpoint in Thailand, which stands at 2,565 meters above sea level.
On this day, the ride to and from the viewpoint was very misty.
The Highest Viewpoint
At the Highest Viewpoint, the temperature gauge stated it was 11 degrees, which is pretty chilly in Thailand and even more chilly when you are wearing mesh Motorcycle gear.
The Royal Pagodas
After the viewpoint, we headed down to the Royal Pagodas. The pagodas were created by the Thai Army, to honour the previous King and Queen of Thailand.
You will need to pay an additional 40 Baht to enter the gardens due to it being managed by the Thai Army (and separate from the National Park). It is worth the additional fee because the gardens and Pagodas are stunning.
Mae Chaem
Our next stop after the national park was Mae Chaem, where we would also stop for food. The route to Mae Chaem is always a pleasure to ride.
Unfortunately, when we reached the restaurant in Mae Chaem, it turned to be closed. So, we decided to ride on to Khun Yuam where we would stop and eat, instead.
We took the R1263 from Mae Cheam to Khun Yuam route, which is a choppy pot-hole ride for a fair bit of the route.
It is also always a mentally challenging ride for me, as this is the zone of my bad accident some years back. However, always good for me to ride through and lessen the feelings associated with it. Still, I did feel a few weird emotions when passing through.
We stopped for some photos and videos, as we were waiting for Jeab to catch up, who was going by car.
When we arrived in Khun Yuam we found a small eatery and finally ordered food. We ate fast then headed off on the wonderful smooth R108 to Mae Hong Son.
A Strange Coincidence…
As an aside, I had a strange coincidence happen at one point before arriving in Khun Yuam.
Mae Hong Son
By the time we arrived in Mae Hong Son it was already dark. I think we arrived just before 7 pm in the end (and just as the night market was in full swing. Which we had to navigate through to get to our accommodation). We stayed at Piya Guesthouse, which was kindly arranged and paid for by Big Bike Tours.
Chong Klang Temple
Chong Klang temple is one of the highlights of Mae Hong Son. Easy to see why.
As Sam and I were checking in I had a “small world moment” when I heard my name being spoken. I turned around to find my friend (and motorbike rider) John there. He said he had only just been talking about me to the new owner of the Sunflower Restaurant, and how bizarre it was to be walking past Piya only to then see me. Funny how things like that in life can happen!
Once we were all cleaned up we headed to the Sunflower Restaurant for dinner where we reviewed day one of the Big Bike Tours Recce Ride and discussed the itinerary for the next day.
At around 8 am we had breakfast at the Salween River Restaurant, having already packed up our bikes ready to go. Our first stop was to fill up at the local garage and then head up to Wat Phrathat Doi Kongmu temple to check out the view and visit the GT.Rider Memorial Chedi. The Chedi was set up by David Unkovich to honour fallen GT.Rider members.
GT.Rider Memorial Chedi
A chedi which lies within the grounds of Wat Prathat Doi Kongmu, created by GT.Rider David Unkovich, to commemorate fallen riders.
Wat Prathat Doi Kongmu
After the temple, we headed from Mae Hong Son straight for beautiful Ban Rak Thai, a picturesque Yunnanese Thai-Chinese village, steeped in history.
Ban Rak Thai
Such a beautiful scenic little village!
We took a walk around and bought a few goodies.
Sam, who used to live in China, took the opportunity to practice her Chinese.
We ate lunch at ต้าเหล่าซือ บ้านรักไท and taught that Chinese tea is good for the eyes.
After lunch, we rode to Mae Aw, the Thai/Burmese outpost village.
Mae Aw Border Village
Mae Aw, located on the Southern most cusp of Myanmar’s Kayin State, was established in 1949 by Yunnanese KMT fighters who fled from communist rule. Now, decades later, the village’s population and architecture still remain rural Chinese, with most residents speaking Mandarin or Yunnanese. The village’s main industries are tea and tourism, and there are numerous places to taste the local brew, as well as several restaurants serving Yunnanese cuisine.
As we were walking around Sam spotted a bike outside a shop selling Duty-Free items and a bike for sale outside. After gaining permission from the shop owner, we had a bit of fun with the bike.
Duty free shop.
The shop has Duty Free items on offer at great discount prices and a few other unusual items, such as miscellaneous meat…
After visiting the village we headed back on ourselves to get back onto the R1095.
The next stop for us was to be at Tham Lod Cave. (with a quick refreshment stop at Pang Mapha Viewpoint).
A Comedy of Errors…
We had a mix up at the entrance of Tham Lod Cave and we ended up separating due to there being two routes to the caves. In the end, Sam rode to the caves and I rode on to Pang Mapha Viewpoint and then onto Pai. In this zone there is no phone reception, so all I could do is send a message and wait for it to send automatically once I rode through a reception zone. (I have a vide of Tham Lod from a different ride, here)
As for the accommodation in Pai, it was at the really lovely Medio De Pai Hotel, which was courtesy of Bike Bike Tours again.
Initially, when I arrived at the hotel, the receptionist was a bit grumpy with me and said I had to wait for the guide (aka Jeap) to arrive before she would give me a key. After some explaining, she reluctantly gave me a room key. I suppose they might be used to some silly drama in Pai with it being such a high tourist place now but surprised me a bit.
When we were all tidied up we headed into Pai town.
Pai Town
Pai attracts a lot of backpackers and has an island vibe.
We scouted for some good restaurant stops for the tour then got ourselves some food and drinks. It was time to wind down now, discuss the Big Bike Tours Recce ride, and giggle at some of the errors of the day, whilst listening to some good live music.
Having had a good evening we headed to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a simple and easy ride back on the r1095 to chiang mai.
Spotted this Honda FTR223 parked up at the hotel.
We met up for breakfast (packed and ready) at just before 8 am. Jeap wanted to get home quick, so although it was a short ride, we still planned to head off fairly early.
At breakfast, Sam brought out her Marmite and got Jeap to try it…
Our first stop was at the Pai Memorial Bridge.
Pai Memorial Bridge
On a more serious note, the original bridge over the Pai River was built during World War II. The Japanese army needed to create a route from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son in order to attack Burma (which was a colony of the United Kingdom at that time). At that time the Pai River was fast and deep, so in 1941 the Japanese forced villagers to build the bridge, using elephants to drag trees from the jungle. After the war, the Japanese soldiers left and burnt down the bridge. However, the villagers had come to rely upon the bridge, so they rebuilt the wooden bridge that we can see today.
After visiting the Memorial Bridge we carried on along the famously twisty R1095, which was surprisingly quiet. We decided to all meet up at Coffee We, roughly halfway on the route, to have some refreshments and say our goodbyes.
Coffee We Witches Hut
Coffee We is a cool little cafe on the R1095 road between Pai and Chiang Mai. The Halloween/Witch theme makes for some fun photo and video ops.
Jeap said goodbye first, as she had much to do that day, whilst Sam and I spent some time at the café, chatting about the Big Bike Tours Recce ride experience and working out where our skills and weaknesses are. It’s very much a different kettle of fish riding as a group and with a tour in mind than riding solo, and not something that I am used to.
At the cafe we ended up meeting other riders. The group on the left are the father, mother & son (and his girlfriend). They were riding the Golden Triangle together. I can only imagine how wonderful it must be for a whole family to enjoy a moment like that together. The man on the top right was from S.Africa and the couple below go everywhere on this 150cc bike (previously he was riding big bikes for many years). I agreed with him that you do not need a big bike to enjoy N.Thailand roads, and in fact, in the hands of the right rider, small bikes very often leave Big Bikes for dust on twisties!
If you visit this cafe, keep an eye out for my Motogirlthailand sticker!
Then, after an hour or so at the café, Sam and I parted ways.I decided to take a meandering way home.
I stopped in at Pankled coffee and then took some small back roads to avoid the main route back to Chiang Mai City
I arrived home at around 2:30 pm, feeling reflective.
As an introvert and normally solo rider, it can be challenging for me at times to spend long hours in the company of others, but this was very much a fun and memorable trip on the famous Mae Hong Son Loop. I hope you enjoyed this Big Bike Tours Recce trip report.
Again, many thanks to Big Bike Tours for the suggestion and for arranging our accommodation for us. Big Bike Tours offer some fantastic tours in S.E.Asia, which you can look up on their website.
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