Days 33-39: Motorbike trip into the mountains of NW Thailand

Mar 2-8

I set off into the mountains of northwest Thailand with a rough plan to do the Mae Hong Son loop, fabled to be full of incredible scenery and indigenous hill tribe villages. Though there were tons of switchbacks and very steep sections, the roads were in super condition and the traffic was light and considerate. I wasn't sure what I was going to find, but I was looking for an adventure.

(One of the first things I did was buy a more substantial helmet with a visor.)

The first leg of this journey is to Pai, and I enjoyed a beautiful sunset at a roadside "coffee house". This was my first example of a location catering to the higher-end tourists, which Pai is seeing more of these days. I heard that the tourists are not only foreign but increasingly rich Thai people.


Pai itself was a nice but somewhat strange town. Even though it's quite remote, there has been a substantial population of hippy expats living there for decades. Today, it is heavily trafficked by young backpackers. The experience was well summarized as I ate pad thai from a corner restaurant overlooking a 3-piece rock band on the street corner composed of Thai people who were playing 1960s-era covers including a few Eric Clapton ones (from his drug years), tons of tourists wandering around or sitting on the ground watching, and occasionally a crunchy white man or woman would step in and play the bass or sing for a song.


This was not what I came searching for on my motorbike adventure. After one night in Pai, I got a super traditional Thai massage, which included a lot of being stretched in various ways, and then I was back on the road. I wasn't sure where I would end up, but I had a good map with lots of guest houses marked on it. After a few hours of challenging but fun driving through mountainous switchbacks, I followed my nose to the Lisu Guest House on the edge of a hill tribe village off the main road. Within a few minutes of being there, I knew I had found what I was looking for.


The Lisu Guest House is so called because it is on the edge of a Lisu village and run by a Lisu woman and her German husband. Ami and Rudi were welcoming, and even spoke decent English, Rudi more so than Ami. The Lisu people are one of about five indigenous hill tribe ethnic groups that can be found in northwest Thailand. Each group has its own customs, religion, language, and distinctive (and often colorful) clothing. Here are the different groups, and a few photos of Ami in Lisu clothing (which she only wore one of the days I was there).


Not only were Ami and Rudi friendly and inclusive, I enjoyed the company of Michael, a 50-year-old guy from New Jersey who was selling the bookstore he started in Pai and was still trying to find his way, and Linda, a retired German woman.

I stayed in a bamboo bungalow, which was small but clean and very comfortable. It included an excellent mosquito net which kept my bed bug-free. I had a beautiful view from my door, and it only cost 80 bat (less than $3) per night! Ami and Rudi traded off cooking meals for their guests whenever they wanted them, and they had two locals who helped with cleaning and chores. There were two beautiful dogs, Mimi the kitten, and two monkeys that Rudi had been given by local children and which he had raised. There was a shared bath house for the bungalows which included a simple shower and my first squat toilet where you flush by pouring water after you go, and you put your used toilet paper in the trash can. It worked fine.


Every evening there was "Lisu dinner" at the guest house, a mixture of Thai foods eaten family-style around a single table. Rudy grew mulberries and made mulberry jam that went on bread or his thin German pancakes, and mulberry liquor which I had many evenings.

Before bed my first evening, I went to use the bathroom and was met by Mimi, mewing quite loudly. She was proudly displaying the rather large mouse she had caught, and then proceeded to eat him, bones and all, leaving only a bloody stain on the concrete floor.


Another day, early in the morning, the male monkey started screaming, there was a rustle of dog scramble, and it slowly became apparent that a dog from the neighboring Lisu village had snuck onto the property to eat some chickens. This turned out to be a bad move for the dog, as the two strong Lisu Guest House dogs cornered him, biting his neck and legs, and would have killed and eaten him had Rudi not shooed them away. He explained that if a dog ever tries to eat a chicken, the villagers will immediately kill him. But Rudi did not want to kill someone else's dog, so he led him into the village and tried unsuccessfully to find the owner.


My first morning, Ami drove Linda, Michael, and me in her pickup truck to town where the Tuesday market was going on. I enjoyed riding in the open-air back of the truck, taking in the scenery and not having to worry about driving. People from all the hill tribe villages, as well as from nearby Burma, come to the weekly market to buy and sell. Linda brought me to the place she always goes for breakfast (Linda is a regular visitor to the guest house, as well as Michael).


Later that day, I rode my motorbike farther along the main road towards Mae Hong Son, encountering more switchbacks and stunning mountain scenery. Cruising up a hill, I came across my first cyclist, slowly climbing, and loaded with panniers. I couldn't believe that someone would attempt to ride a loaded bicycle through these impossibly steep hills. I slowed to his pace and we talked for a while until we reached the top of the hill, and then he blazed down the other side. I later caught up with him and joined him for a meal. His name was Henrique Reñe from Barcelona, and ate ferociously as only a touring cyclist could.


In the evening, on recommendation from people at my guest house, I rode my motorbike and then hiked to Thom Lod, a cave with a river running through it. At sunset, thousands of bats fly out and hundreds of thousands of birds fly in, like a time share condo. The next day, I went on a strenuous hike with people from my guest house; much of it was bushwhacking through a bamboo forest. A few people had an idea of where we were going, but we never made our way to the destination, which was to be a large well-like cavern. But we did succeed in having a delicious lunch on the forest floor.


Another evening, Ami and others from my guest house brought me to a nearby Lahu village to witness (and take part in) their new year celebrations, which included sitting around in a bamboo house eating and drinking, and the traditional Lahu new year dance which is a slow procession of two concentric circles, women on the inside and men on the outside, holding hands and doing a sequence of sedate steps to a simple, repetitive melody played by one person processing around in the middle. Being a single young man, I drew the attention of the Lahu girls who brought me into the circle to dance with them. I was able to pick up most of the dance steps, which I think they appreciated.


On my last day at the Lisu Guest House, I went on a hike to the Mae U Mong waterfall. The first step was to ride my motorbike along some bumpy dirt roads to the Mae U Mong village, a village of the Karen people (known for wearing many rings around their necks to make their necks look longer). Ami had written me a note in Thai, explaining that I wanted to go on a hike to the waterfall. It took me a few tries to find someone who could read, but I eventually was paired with an experienced guide. His four dogs walked with us the entire way, flanking us in front and behind and periodically running off to explore some interesting movement or scent. At the waterfall, my guide used the trunk of a bamboo tree to make tubes for boiling water, and then we enjoyed noodles and sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf.


My last day was a long one, leaving the Lisu Guest House at 7:30am for the long ride back to Chiang Mai -- I had a 4:15pm flight to catch. When returning my motorbike, I was able to get a discount for giving them the helmet I had bought.