3 Amazing places to visit in Mae Wang & around Doi Inthanon.
A great day out in and around Mae Wang.
Table of Contents
3 Amazing Places to Visit
The Route
This route goes through the R121 and links up with the rural R3035, taking you through interesting small village areas.
At (วัดท่าช้าง / Wat Thung Chang) you will spy this wonderful Elephant statue and a large pink Ganesha Elephant God inside the temple grounds.
This quiet zone has some interesting elements, including this warning sign. (“ระวังทางโค้ง” – “be careful, sharp curve”.)
1: Ganesha Himal Museum
The Ganesha Himal Museum is a wonderfully unique and interesting collection of Ganesha elephant statues, set within a beautiful garden and house.
Entry is free but you can opt to have a donation-based blessing by a monk.
Within the museum building there are detailed wax figures, depicting religious aspects.
2: Pha Chor
Within Mae Wang National Park lies the incredible Pha Chor, a large area of naturally eroded soil columns.
The trail to the soil colums is a fair walk, so prepare yourself for a bit of a mini hike. There is a shop at the start of the trail where you can buy water. I suggest ensuring you have water, and wear a hat or take an umbrella, as there is very little shade along the route.
Signs in Thai and English are dotted along the route, providing information on how the soil columns were formed.
Intermittent shaded rest spots are provided.
The lengthy trail is worth it once you reach the soil formation. It is quite spectacular.
Thankfully the hike back is mostly downhill, making it a lot easier to exit. One thing to note is how narrow the intitial exit point is from the soil columns, with signs stating not to touch the rock.
A comical detour…
Once I was back on my bike I decided to explore a little within the National Park zone, which is when I noticed a possible interesting short cut through to a waterfall I planned to visit.
I made a U-turn, but figured that since I was already in this area I may as well see if there were other routes worth looking at. I rode to a bridge and realized it was the bridge over the area I just tried to cross. It dawned on me that this was supposed to be a river area. Doesn’t seem so good for the start of Cool Season. Surely this river should be flowing after Rainy Season? I also noticed that many areas were brown instead of green. The Rainy Season had recorded very little rainfall, and it showed.
I kept riding along but the route I took led to dead end, so I turned back.
Pong Cho Reservoir
Location. I have not added this to the key places to visit as there is not much there except for the reservoir, but seeing as it in within the Mae Wang National Park area it is worth a quick visit.
There are also some great little farming back roads around this area, so it is worth exploring if you have time.
Spotted this interesting small remote temple, also: สำนักสงฆ์ป่าบวกบง.
Eventually I was on the main R108 where I topped up fuel just before the 1009 junction, which would take me up to Wacharathan Falls. There is a National Park checkpoint in this area (before the waterfall), but if you tell them you are riding through and not going to the main Doi Inthanon viewpoint, you are permitted to ride though without needing to pay the (steep) National Park entry fee.
At the waterfall the water was raging! (video clip of the waterfall and highlights of the trip at the end of this report)
After a quick refreshing drink and a snack I got back on my bike ready to visit the next place; Wachirathan Waterfall, in the Doi Inthanon National Park area. I also noticed a possible interesting “short cut” through to the falls, however, this was the result.. haha..
It was really packed though, as is to be expected really..but still was a shock after so many quiet roads.
I bought myself several drinks at the little café within the waterfall grounds and had a quick bite to eat. The girl in the coffee shop remembered me from previous visits and had a chat to me about mutual friends (a lot of the tour companies I know ride into this waterfall whilst on the Mae Hong Son loop).
Feeling refreshed I got on my bike again. My next ride was going to be pretty much non-stop. It was already getting late and I needed to cover over 100 kms to get home (via the long way). I was looking forward to riding on the scenic Mae Wang route and there was also something I wanted to make a mental note of, for another ride trip.
I had just a couple of pauses enroute to enjoy a few stunning views. My GoPro batteries at this point were now dead and my phone battery was dying, so I decided to just turn off the tech and enjoy the ride home. (I do have a USB port on my bike, but it seems my phone cable wasn’t playing ball that day!) I did get a little juice in my phone battery for a couple of quick photos and video shots though, but nothing touches upon how wonderful this route really is!
Love this route!
Epic!
I also did get to find that “thing” I wanted to make a mental note of for another ride..so all I can say for now is WATCH THIS SPACE, as it looks quite interesting.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Additionally, I tested out my INUTEQ Dry Cooling Vest again during this ride, also with a temperature reading gun. I loved it. Will update later with more info on this, but here is a link to read more: INUTEQ Thailand.
In the meantime, here is a highlight video of my daytrip 🙂
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*CONTINUED*! UPDATE! (Google Map Link)
So, a few days later I returned to Mae Wang in order to find the “thing” I was looking for. I was on a quest to find a GIANT mountain Buddha that I spotted on my previous ride. Found it I did, and it was AMAZING. Just check out the size of this Buddha!
I spotted this stunning Buddha on a couple of rides, glinting white against the green mountain forestry. So I set off this morning determined to find it, and also to enjoy a scenic loop ride.
The Buddha was truly magnificent (can you see how small I am whilst standing on the Buddha’s hand?!), and the route I chose was spectacular.
The rural 4053 road cut through the mountain with scenic views of agricultural land on either side. Lots of vegetation and flowers. Super quiet road with just a few random passing farmers.
The route linked up to Samoeng and with it a lot more populated. I really much more enjoy these lesser known rural roads. No tourist attractions and just Chiang Mai northern beauty.
I did a little research on the Buddha statue and temple when I got home and it seems this whole temple zone has been under construction since 2012! There is even a Facebook page on it showing the amazing transformation. It is such a strange and magnificent Buddha image. In the construction days it looks rather surreal, almost like a “Hellraiser” image (hope that isn’t offensive!)
Here is the FACEBOOK PAGE for this amazing temple and work that has been ongoing to produce this incredible statue.
A really fab ride that passed by elephants in Mae Wang and cut through to Samoeng via a rural agricultural mountain road. Highlight video is here:
Hope you enjoyed this trip report.
As today was a significant day for me, the blessing felt perfect. The monk actually sang the blessing over me, in a wonderful sing-song voice! I gather this is pretty much standard for everyone visiting, but because I didn’t expect it and because it was a significant day, it just felt really quite wonderful. This day (18th November) is the anniversary of a bad motorcycle accident, so I always aim to enjoy an interesting and reflective motorcycle ride on this date. Having checked out some possible routes via Google Maps, it was also a good time to try some minor trails and off-road tracks. (I am very bad at off-road riding. Nerves always get the better of me. So intermittently I keep trying to do a bit more in order to get over that mental block).
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