A misty morning Ride in Samoeng Tai at the end of Northern Thailand’s Rainy Season, to catch a magical view from a temple viewpoint
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Riding the classic Samoeng Loop and veering off into lesser-known areas of Samoeng Tai.
This ride takes me up to a sea of clouds and a decade-old overgrown abandoned resort.
Table of Contents
Samoeng Loop & Samoeng Tai
Northern Thailand
GOOGLE MAP ROUTE
𝑹𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: Majority paved (𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠/𝑝𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠/𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙-𝑡𝑜 𝑃𝑂𝐼’𝑠.)
I was on my bike at 6 am, in the hope of catching the sunrise at a nice viewpoint and some low Rainy Season clouds.
Samoeng Forest Viewpoint
My first stop was at the Samoeng Forest viewpoint, to take a quick photo (avoiding disturbing the man who was filming his yoga poses at the lookout )
Opposite the viewpoint, I noticed the Mexican sunflowers were beginning to bloom, which suggests the famous Bua Tong Sunflower Fields at Khun Yuam will likely be in bloom early this year. (𝐵𝑢𝑎 𝑇𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠: Camping around Bua Tong: https://bit.ly/3mh2T0I / 𝐵𝑢𝑎 𝑇𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅4009: https://bit.ly/3jFLmhd).
Samoeng Village
Arriving early at Samoeng Village in Samoeng Thai, I stopped a little while to watch the monks go by. I am forever in awe of these monks who do the rounds early each morning, walking barefoot from place to place.
Once the monks passed I took a right turn and continued along the road to Doi Nok Pagoda, in the hope of catching a spectacular cloudly view.
Doi Nok Pagoda
In Samoeng Tai this temple is easily missed, due to the tiny entranceway.
I rode up the twisty narrow route and once at top, I was rewarded with a fabulous view and a sea of clouds.
I also met some fun ladies who were making merit at the temple.
After visiting the pagoda I headed back towards Samoeng village and out towards Ban Mae Lan. I wanted to see how the road was at this time but had no intention of riding through to Wat Mae Win /Mae Wang, as I knew it would be pretty muddy at this time. Some sections of the route were in great condition but began to deteriorate as the route continued. I turned around and headed back after reading a Covid19 sign. The village did not want outsiders to visit, which is the same for many small villages in the region at this time.
An Interesting Cave Worth Visiting in This Area
Tham Luang Mae Sap
Video from a previous ride. This impressive cave is worth a visit.
No Entry
I headed back onto the loop, stopping for an early lunch at The Doi Resort, before riding up to an old abandoned resort that I had visited about 10 years previously. I wanted to know if any more work had been done on it or if it was still left untouched. The area was very overgrown and quite difficult to get to, but once inside I noticed what looked like attempts to do more to the resorts but still pretty much left as it was when I first went to visit it.
Old Abandoned Resort
I rode around a little after visiting the abandoned resort and then took the back way home, avoiding the main highway. All in all a good misty morning ride in Samoeng Tai.
Samoeng Tai
A ride back through Samoeng Tai farming zones and then home to Chiang Mai City
I hope you enjoyed this trip report for Samoeng Tai
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