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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Thailand Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop 2024 Day 6 Pang Oung To Mae Hong San: Ban Rak Thai
Chiang Mai, Thailand Day 06: 14th January 2024 (Sunday)
This is part of a non-cycling road trip tour of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop, Thailand. Day 6 From Pang Oung to Mae Hong Son:
This is page 5 of a 10-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
1. Traffic Directions!
Traffic in Thailand, is right-hand drive, so drive/cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!
2. Getting around the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop.
Our tour package was for ground arrangements and included a 10-passenger van to take us around the Mae Hong Son Loop, starting from & returning to Chiang Mai. It also included relatively good hotels/homestays. Charge per pax was at a very reasonable discounted rate. This excluded meals (other than hotel breakfasts), airport transfers, entry tickets, and tips. This allows for individuals to have meals according to their own liking & budget. Allow THB100-150 per pax per meal should be adequate.
Note: Malaysian Touch n Go debit cards can be used where Alipay is accepted, such as at 7-Eleven outlets. Just ensure that the cashier sets the exchange to Thai Bahts.
Those interested in joining this guided tour can contact Eddie at +60-612-2600, whom we find a very good & flexible guide and very attentive to our needs
3. Route & Traffic Conditions
Most of Thailand's main roads are paved well well-maintained and almost without portholes. In outlying rural areas, roads could be gravel & un-tarred. No toll is charged for most roads (including highways)! Traffic at the rural areas is fairly light, but there are traffic jams in Chiang Mai try to avoid peak hours.
The Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop roads are renowned for their scenic beauty AND also the many turns and bends. It is known as the Snake Route with 2,000 bends, some of them very sharp hair-pins, so do get motion-sickness medication in case you need them.
The Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop roads are renowned for their scenic beauty AND also the many turns and bends. It is known as the Snake Route with 2,000 bends, some of them very sharp hair-pins, so do get motion-sickness medication in case you need them.
4. Weather
Weather at the Chiang Mai & Mae Hong Son provinces differs a lot between day & night time and between the lowlands and highlands. November to January temperature ranges from a daytime high of 33°C to a night-time low of 14°C. At highland areas like Pai, Doi Inthanon & Pang Oung, night-time temperatures can go as low as 10°C. So bring warm clothing and practice layered clothing to keep warm and still allow for stripping during the hotter time of the day.
5. Communicating with Each Other
When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest. Many Thai pre-paid phone sim cards can now be purchased online before the trip and delivered within a few days.
We separately opted for DTAC & SCT-AIS sim cards.
DTAC Happy Tourist SIM for calls & data covers a period from 8 to 30 days with unlimited data and costs about 40-50THB per day. For just data only it covers a period from 8 to 15 days and costs about 35-40THB per day. These DTAC Tourist SIM cards can be purchased via Lazada.
AIS (Advance Info Service) is the largest mobile service provider in Thailand, offering excellent network quality throughout the country, including rural areas. AIS Tourist SIM packages range from 8-day/15GB (at 299THB) to 15-day/30GB (at 599THB) to 30-day/50GB (at 899THB). We purchase SCT sim cards that connect to the AIS network; the 15-day/7.5GB was bought via Lazada.
6. Communicating with Locals
Except for those involved in the tourist industry, most Thai don't speak English, especially in the rural areas. It will be helpful to have a driver who speaks English.
In case of emergencies call the Thai Tourist Tourist Police at 1155 or (+66) 2308-0333 This hotline is available 24 hours a day and responders speak English. OR go to a clinic or pharmacy as most doctors and pharmacists can speak English.
7. Places & Things of Interest
There were many scenic and beautiful places of interest, but one should not miss the following (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for a directional map to the respective places):
a. Ban Rak Thai (ล่องเรือบ้านรักไทย) (GPS: 19.58697, 97.94257).
b. Pha Sua Waterfall (น้ำตกผาเสื่อ, Namtok Pha Suea) (GPS: 19.49083, 97.95788).
b. Pha Sua Waterfall (น้ำตกผาเสื่อ, Namtok Pha Suea) (GPS: 19.49083, 97.95788).
8. Food
a. Breakfast: Thai & Western food set at Loong Soyearn Homestay in Pang Oung (GPS: 19.4994, 97.91223).
b. Lunch: Thai Food and Western Coffee (very nice one from stall at side) at Je Urai Restaurant (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวห้อยขาบ้านจ่าโบ่) (GPS: 19.42297, 97.99876).
b. Lunch: Thai Food and Western Coffee (very nice one from stall at side) at Je Urai Restaurant (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวห้อยขาบ้านจ่าโบ่) (GPS: 19.42297, 97.99876).
c. Dinner: Thai Street Food at Mae Hong Son Walking Street & Night Market (GPS: 19.30018, 97.96719).
Note: For most lunches & dinners we ate together at the same restaurant, although we split into two or 3 groups and ordered by our group. This way each group can order food to their liking and budget.
9. Stay
10. Navigation
I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was done via FaceBook and Google Maps.
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PRELUDE
Yesterday was a very fruitful day with Spelunking in Nam Lod Cave, Bamboo Rafting there, followed with a swinging lunch at Ban Ban Jabo, and ending at Thailand's most romantic spot, Pang Oung.
Today we will reach the mid-point of our tour - Mae Hong Son, with several interesting places along the way, including a scenic Chinese village and a fish cave.
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THE TRIP DAY 6: PANG OUNG-MAE HONG SON
Small group tour of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop, Thailand. Day 6 From Pang Oung to Mae Hong Son :
Pang Oung (Loong Soyearn Homestay)>Baan Rak Thai>Pha Sua Waterfall>Fish Cave (Tham Pla)>Phrathat Doi Kong Mu Temple>Mae Hong Son (B2 Mae Hong Son Premier Resort).
Leaving the romantic village of Pang Oung, we head for Mae Hong Son, the mid-point of our tour loop of Northern Thailand (Lanna Thailand). En routwe visited the Chinese Village of Baan Rak Thai, a waterfall, a fishy cave & a hillside temple.
Instead of writing afresh, I am linking to my day-to-day Facebook postings during the trip and embedding them here with some brief comments where necessary. Some additional photos are added for emphasis. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post to read in more detail. If you can't see the posts, please log out from your Facebook first)
A nice start to the day: breakfast on a cool morning at Loong Soyearn Homestay. During this cool, crisp morning of 15°C, the warm porridge together with a sunny-side egg set was just right to kick off the day.
Within 45 minutes we were at Baan Rak Thai, a Thai-Chinese village founded by former Kuo Min Tang soldiers (The Nationalists) who migrated from Yunnan Province, after the Communist takeover of China. Today the place is still heavily influenced by the old Chinese. There are many signs in Chinese, buildings are Chinese-style and much of the population speaks a heavily accented version of Mandarin Chinese.
The showpiece of Ban Rak Thai is the Mae Sa-Nga Lake, (formed by the damming of the Khuean Nai Mok Reservoir) a scenic lake surrounded by mountains and ringed by Chinese-style houses. Here tourists can go for a ride around the lake on flat-bottomed riverboats (at THB500 per hour).
Those not keen on water activities can for lunch or drinks at the restaurants & cafes ringing the lake. There are touristy things to buy too.
OR even go for a walk in the tea plantations nearby. Those interested in scenic plantations could consider those at Cameron Highlands, Malaysia OR those at Munnar, Kerala.
Next destination - Pha Sua Waterfall, in the rainy season, there will be a lot of water falling down from the cliff, making it resemble a mat. Hence, the name 'Pha Suea', ie ('pha' means a cliff, and 'suea' means a mat.) Eight kilometres and twenty minutes down the road, we saw these bamboo bridges near the Wat Mok Cham Pae and made a quick stop for photos. It was a worthwhile stop as just further down the road was lined with beautiful frangipani trees.
We skipped a fish cave yesterday. So, today to make up for it we visited the Fish Cave (ถ้ำปลา, Tham Pla) at Mok Cham Pae. It's part of the larger Nam Tok Pha Suea National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติถ้ำปลา-น้ำตกผาเสื่อ).
Out from the park, we made a short detour for a simple yet nice Thai Lunch at Je Urai Restaurant (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวห้อยขาบ้านจ่าโบ่) at the outskirts of Mae Hong Son. They have a stall at one front corner selling excellent Western coffee.
1:30pm - We arrived at Mae Hong Son early and decided to visit the Wat Phrathat Doi Kong Mu temple before checking into our hotel, the B2 Mae Hong Son Premier Resort.
This striking Wat with two large whitewashed stūpas (built in 1869 & 1872 respectively) was formerly known as Wat Plai Doi (วัดปลายดอย, "temple on the mountaintop") because it is located on Doi Kong Mu hill 1,300 m (4,265 ft) above sea level. While the hill's name Kong Mu is Shan language means "the stūpa", the monastery was built with Tai Yai architecture style mixed with Burmese style.
From the temple, there is a good panoramic view of the airport & Mae Hong Son.
1:30pm - We arrived at Mae Hong Son early and decided to visit the Wat Phrathat Doi Kong Mu temple before checking into our hotel, the B2 Mae Hong Son Premier Resort.
This striking Wat with two large whitewashed stūpas (built in 1869 & 1872 respectively) was formerly known as Wat Plai Doi (วัดปลายดอย, "temple on the mountaintop") because it is located on Doi Kong Mu hill 1,300 m (4,265 ft) above sea level. While the hill's name Kong Mu is Shan language means "the stūpa", the monastery was built with Tai Yai architecture style mixed with Burmese style.
From the temple, there is a good panoramic view of the airport & Mae Hong Son.
After checking into the hotel, and a short rest, we headed for Wat Chong Kham And Wat Chong Klang. Sharing the same compound, it seems that they are one temple, and although both temples were built in the mid-19th Century, they have distinct differences in architecture. Visit both during dusk, as at night the temples are lit up gloriously. After that .....
..... one can take a walk around the Mae Hong Son Walking Street & Night Market to hunt for good bargains, and have a street-side dinner with a night view of the fountains within Nong Chong Kham (Chong Kham Lake), which change colour dynamically.
"Fun Dee Na!"
(ฝันดีนะ; that's good night in Thai)
(ฝันดีนะ; that's good night in Thai)
(For more photos of the Day 6, Click Here)
This is page 5 of a 10-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
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