Don’t know where don’t know when!
Happy New Year and hope your 2024 has got off to a great start.
** a slightly longer than usual article today - capturing my northern Thailand adventure!
Well, I certainly ended my 2023 with a bang (adventure) and started 2024 on a high (literally – on a mountain ridge). And that’s how I shall start this year’s scribing with documentation of my adventure. On that note though, I have been thinking (still am) about what I want to do with my blog this year.
I have been writing weekly for over 3.5 years! It has become a core part of me. I have trained my brain to write (a huge obstacle for me initially) and to focus on demand via this Saturday morning ritual but I feel the need for change. I am not sure what it is yet.
All I know is that I want whatever the new form to be inspirational yet useful and usable for you, my reader. Some of you have been reading me for as long as I have been writing and if you have any thoughts on what you would like to read, see, or listen to – please let me know. Also, if it should be weekly, fortnightly, or monthly? Thank you.
Now, let’s get back to my 2023 year-end adventure.
For someone who is extremely structured and uber organised at work, I love my life to be just the opposite. I love to go with the flow and not have too much planned. The duality that is me!
Last year was a busy year and only in early December did I tell Markus, my husband, that I needed an adventure. We brainstormed quickly and I found some last-minute tickets to Chiangmai, the base for our adventure. It was a destination where ticket prices were still reasonable for my schedule. I also wanted to be in nature, with nature which meant a motorbike would be the best option.
Long story short, Markus booked a bike online, we got organised with our gear, and headed off to Chiangmai after Christmas. We had no accommodation booked besides our first night in Chiangmai. Just a rough route plan.
Here’s our adventure:
Our route - shows places we stayed at. Total distance approxiamtely 1550 km+. Roads are in good condition. Roads we took are shown on the map. Larger digit roads (4 digits) are smaller roads, single digit roads are motorways. Average speed 50km/hr.
We arrived in Chiangmai, checked in to our hotel, and went for a walkabout. Had an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Amigos. It was outstanding food. We picked up the bike the next morning, geared up, and headed for Phayao.
Day 1 – Chiangmai – Phayao – Nan
I remember when I first looked at the rough route plan, Phayao ‘looked’ inviting. It was just the opposite in reality. It is a busy mid-sized town perched on a lake and it didn’t appeal to me. Which is why we don’t pre-book. We had a light meal (Thai noodle soup), checked out the town that was celebrating a government holiday, and headed to the next town on our route, Nan.
Top - the lake at Phayao; bottom - the noodle stall opposite the lake
We stopped for a break at a coffee place (there are plenty of cute coffee places in ALL Thai towns and they are so well done). I knew that I did not want to stay in town. Luckily, we found a place in the outskirts of Nan that was amazing. A large property near a lake (a smaller one than Phayao). Our initial choice of hotel was full.
Green Lake view hotel, Nan
We always tried to eat local (to the area) cuisine at our destination and found a restaurant not too far from our hotel run by a local English teacher cum restauranteur. What an experience it was. Amazing food and a wonderful location. It was the teacher’s family home turned restaurant!
Restaurant Ban Prae - the home turned restaurant where her parents still live!
Day 2 – Nan – Sapan
Now, let me tell you this was a memorable day! I have not ridden such twisty roads ever! Not even the alpine roads in Europe compare. These corners were tight and of different gradients! It was the holiday season and there was quite a bit of traffic. But most cars were so slow. Traversing the roads seemed challenging for the drivers.
Sapan was a total delight! I fell in love with it instantly! The pictures below say it all. We got there in good time but because it was the day before New Year’s Eve, there was NO accommodation. One of the risks of not pre-booking. But in the past, something always worked out and it did this time too. One of the hotel owners called around and got us the last room, a simple hut, in a homestay. What a pleasant surprise it was. I called it the ‘alpine’ hut! Temperatures were equally cool. Day temperatures reached 31 C and night dropped to 12 C! Quite a contrast.
note - Sapan doesn’t even show up on google. Google takes you to Japan!
it’s more rural too. English is hardly spoken and it is a very cash based area (now accepting QR code payments). Sapan does not have an ATM neither do other small rural towns. We got a little caught out without enough cash!
Our ‘alpine’ hut!
The valley of Sapan
Nan is a bigger town, Sapan is a little village welcoming many local tourists. We were the only foreigners there. But everything was SO WELL done. I was impressed with some of the accommodation. Very world-class and asking world-class prices too.
Dinner at Kiri Vari Restaurant and Hotel, Sapan. Only place accepting credit cards. Dinner was local cuisine and not cheap.
View from our dinner table over looking the Kiri Vari coffee shop in the foreground
Day 3 – Sapan – Phatang Camp
Another day of ‘twisties’! We were getting higher into the mountains and what a ride it was. Though I am riding pillion, I ‘ride’ too. I watch the road just as much as Markus so I can get into the rhythm of the moment. Falling into the natural forces of the ride.
This ride had me needing a break and lucky I spotted a place as we approached it. It turned out to be a stunning spot. It was a homestay with a modern coffee shop. Incredible views, great cafe, and a few ‘tent’ rooms. When I sent photos to family and friends from here, they all thought we were in Alpine Europe. I would go back! The photos below speak for themselves.
Stunning views from the coffee shop terrace
The homestay with a coffee shop! - Incredibly well done
But nothing beats the final location for the day – Phatang Camp. It was heavenly! This was the only spot we pre-booked. With only 4 tents, I didn’t want to risk sleeping on the roadside on New Year’s Eve! We usually carry our tent for this exact reason, but due to weight restrictions with flying to Chiangmai, we went sans tent.
Phatang Camp - the spacious tent with attached bathroom (the checkered building on the left)
Top - the spacious interior of our tent with heated mattress!, bottom left - our host at Phatang, bottom right - yours truly geared up and ready to go!
Thailand has done a great job of promoting camping. There are campsites on most mountain roads. So well designed too and with low-cost options to glamping. Phatang was a mid-level glam tent. So well thought through. Dinner that night was fabulous! Local cuisine again – with our vegetables plucked fresh from the terrace in front of the restaurant! I was in awe!
Day 4 – Phatang Camp – Mae Salong
Phatang Camp is on the border with Laos. On the other side of the mountain was Laos separated from Thailand by the Mekong River. We stopped at yet another gorgeous coffee place on the river overlooking Laos about an hour from Phatang Camp.
Green tea with a view at Panorama Coffee - Laos and the Mekong in the foreground
We were leaving the Laotian border and heading towards the centre north, towards Chiang Rai. Mae Salong is the tea-growing part of Thailand, the old opium fields. In Mae Salong I was transported back to China. It is a little Yunnanese haven. When I looked at the location of Mae Salong, I understood the people and the food immediately. Yunnan is a little further north beyond the Myanmar border with Thailand. We had a Yunnanese meal for dinner and stayed in a local hotel with a tea plantation.
Zooming out - the blue dot is Mae Salong
View from our hotel room balcony!
Day 5 – Mae Salong – Pai
This stretch involved some boring riding. We came down one mountain range to the valley, and rode on a bigger road to get to another mountain range that hosts Pai! This is another road with many twists. Both Markus and I needed a break ¾ way through the ‘twisties’.
Pai is a hippie town, attracting many foreign tourists wanting to chill. Now that marijuana is legalised in Thailand, you smell it in the air in Pai! Until Pai, I hadn’t seen many foreign tourists. Pai was the opposite, more foreigners than locals. But the place had its charm. If we were on a longer holiday, this is the place I would spend a second night. There was something about it and things to explore too – hiking, caves, yoga, meditation. You get the picture.
Again, we found a cute place to stay in Pai close to the river and ‘walking street’ of Pai. The food here was more mainstream Thai cuisine.
Walking street, Pai
Day 6 – Pai – Mae Hong Son – Mae Sariang
This was a long day. This section is documented as THE riding route for bikers. Mountainous roads, twists, ridges – every biker’s dream. Mae Hong Son is close to the border with Myanmar and home to the long-neck Karen tribe. We didn’t stop here, just a break for coffee at the infamous Amazon coffee which partners with PTT petrol station. Again, so well done. I don’t drink coffee but love these cafes!
The ride to Mae Sariang was different. The teak-lined mountain roads of Pai and Mae Hong Son turned to undulating hills and valleys filled with rice fields. Quite a difference. I could tell that altitude was decreasing too. Day temperatures were higher and night temperatures though low were more tolerable.
Enroute to Mae Sariang - change in landscape and vegetation
Mae Sariang is a little town built along a river. Again, accommodation was full in town but we found a place outside of town surrounded by rice fields that was just the CUTEST. I fell in love with it instantly and sent photos to my family. Again, so well designed and maintained by our hosts. The front and back of our room overlooked rice fields.
Chill House - our room above their coffee shop
But with the cuteness comes farming reality. The roosters started their calls at 4 am!! From then till about 8 am they did not stop! So, if you are a light sleeper or need your sleep, I would not recommend Chill House!
Dinner that night was at a restaurant on the river. It has a hotel attached to it that we wanted to stay at, but they were full. Dinner was delicious and again we noticed the difference in cuisine.
Top - breakfast table laid - a typical rural Thai breakfast spread - a fruit, rice soup with sauces (and chilli flakes), a sweet (sticky rice in banana leaf), half boiled eggs with instant coffee or chocolate, bottom - my bowl of rice soup with half boiled egg!
The FOOD!! - top left - green tea leaf salad (just awesome and first time for me), top right - cashew nut salad (another first) popular in northern Thailand, bottom left - Tom yum from western Thailand (Mae Sariang), bottom right - tom yum from eastern Thailand (Phatang camp). ALL so good yet so different.
Day 7 – Mae Sarian – Chiangmai
The home run. You know when you are getting closer to ‘civilisation’. The roads are busier and bumpier because of heavy traffic. But it was a picturesque ride nonetheless. We followed a river for the longest time. It was quite dramatic with rock formations on the riverbed.
We were glad to be back in Chiangmai with a flight to catch the next day. Riding/adventures come with their risks and we felt much gratitude in completing the route as planned. We celebrated with a Mexican meal, again, at Amigos. (I love Mexican food 😉).
Site seeing in Chiangmai - ruins of an old Wat
It was an amazing awe-inspiring journey! I give you the highlights here. If I were to capture some of the finer details – feelings, energy, scenes and life along the way this article would get too long. Travelling to new destinations is a great way to know yourself. We met so many wonderful people, ate amazing food, and experienced stunning nature. I was afraid my work brain wouldn’t switch off. I needn’t have worried. Nature took over and my work brain let go and I had the break I needed.
Apologies for the atypical length of this article. This may be a good reason for me to use the rest of January to ponder my blog strategy.
So, until next time, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com
Ps If you choose to do this route by car, I recommend taking motion sickness tablets along!