9 Riders | 9 Days | 625+kms | 13,300+mtr Elevation | 1,864 Curves
Mae Hong Son district is tucked away in the remote north west corner, in a scenic mountainous region of Thailand, known for its spectacular views. A popular motor cyclists loop but otherwise not much swamped by regular tourists as Southern Thailand has already been.
People travel to #Thailand for pleasure, we few of the bicyclists came here for 9 days of suffering on mountains as we signed up for "Mae Hong Son Loop" Bike Tour.
This is second year of #tbaInternationalBikeTours and also my second International bicycle tour with The Bike Affair (TBA) this year. The 1st #tbaInternationalBikeTour executed independently by TBA in terms of route recce / route finalization, accommodation booking, sag / support logistics as well as planning the rider experiences.
Riders: Durgesh Kumar, Gokul Krishna, Hemanth Chandan, Krish Agrawal, Pavan Kumar Reddy, Paul Nicholas Woollams, Praveen Khajuria, Vamseedhar Bezawada and Vinay Kiran Guntur
Bikes: I rode Polygon rigid fork hybrid whereas there were all kinds of road bikes (Specialized, Merida, Felt, Trek, Orbea..) and a Merida 29er ridden by different riders.
Day0 (Saturday, Dec 15th 2018): All the riders arrived at #ChiangMai a day in advance and after meeting and greeting we went out for local sight seeing.
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| Golden Pagoda, ChiangMai, Thailand |
In the evening we all assembled at pool side for tour briefing and share our individual riding experiences with each other.
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| Listening to Paul's bicycling expedition before we start the tour next morning. |
*Day Break* - Tour Begins
RideDay1 (Sunday, Dec 16th 2018): After sumptuous breakfast, tour started from #ChiangMai to #MaeChaem (125kms). First 70kms of flat road for riders to warm-up their legs and then there was a wall like mountain Doi Inthanon (highest peak of Thailand) waiting for us to climb. There are number of beautiful waterfalls on the way to hilltop.
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| "Mae Klang" Waterfall |
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| "Wachirathan" Waterfall |
Few of the riders got into support vehicle after giving their best, few walked and only few could ride it all.
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| Group Pic @ Doi Inthonon |
It was a LONG tough climb overall.
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| Climbs of Doi Inthanon |
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day1 #ChiangMai to #MaeChaem |
RideDay2 (Monday, Dec 17th 2018): from #MaeChaem to #MaeSariang (129kms).
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| #MaeChaem |
Another day of climbing mountains, this was supposed to be the highest elevation gain day of tour.
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| Winding Climbs |
Picnic lunch was arranged at pine forest on top of the hill.
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| Picnic Lunch spot, Pine Forest |
Despite higher elevation, it wasn't as painful as it was yesterday or the legs were better prepared after 1st day's ride. At the end there was a 20km DOWNHILL to feel the thrill after all the climbs :)
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day2 #MaeChaem to #MaeSariang |
Rest Day1 (Tuesday, Dec 18th 2018): After continuous two days of climbing a well planned rest day to relax the stretched muscles. We went to Ban "Mae Sam Laep" near the Burmese border on the #Salween River.
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| Bunch of Riders |
Salween River flows between #Berma (Myanmar) and Thailand. We went for an enjoyable two hours boat ride.
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| Berma is on my Right AND on my Left is Thailand |
Evening was well spent at Ching-ching cafe. A very retro / rustic theme bar.
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| Ching Ching Cafe, Mae Sariang |
RideDay3 (Wednesday, Dec 19th 2018): from #MaeSariang to #KhunYuam (97.4kms).
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| Group with owner of the riverhouse, "Tip" |
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day3 #MaeSariang to #KhunYuam |
RideDay4 (Thursday, Dec 20th 2018): #KhunYuam to #MaeHongSon (67kms). A leisure ride as compared to previous 3 ride days.
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| Climbs ahead |
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day4 #KhunYuam to #MaeHongSon |
We went for walk around the lake and then evening shopping at local street market around the lake.
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| Mae Hong Son Lake |
RideDay5 (Friday, Dec 21st 2018): #MaeHongSon to #PangMaPha (74kms).
A quick stop at Bamboo bridge on our way..
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| Bamboo Bridge |
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day5 #MaeHongSon to #PangMaPha |
Rest Day2 (Saturday, Dec 22nd 2018): A chilly, lazy morning in the #CaveLodge. This wooden lodge was built by John Spice in 1984; lots of handwritten scribbles on the wall about his adventures in Thailand. Picked up copy of his book to know some of his exciting encounters.
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| Cave Lodge @ PangMaPha |
Post lunch we went to "Nam Tham Lod" cave. This 900meter deep cave like many other caves can only be visited with the help of a local guide; This humungous natural cave is pitch dark and we came to know why it must NOT be visited without local guide; One can just get slip and die at any point in time. Guides carry "petromax lantern", flash lights and other safety equipments. Nam Lang river flows thru it and visitors can take a bamboo raft ride through the water stream that has thousands of large fish swimming frantically next to rafts in absolute darkness. Cave has 3 major sections "Big Column, Doll Cave and Coffine Cave". There are 2,000yr old teak wood coffins inside a ledge groove.
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| Nam Tham Lod Cave |
After coming out of the cave, we all waited outside the cave to witness a natural phenomenon where hundreds of swifts come and keep encircling at the entrance of the cave and as night descends, they go inside and the bats come out in thousands #CheckIn #CheckOut. (around 1800hrs local time)
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| Outside Nam Tham Lod, watching swifts encircling in hundreds to get inside the cave. |
RideDay6 (Sunday, Dec 23rd 2018): from #PangMaPha to #Pai (50kms). Misty, Chilly morning start and a big mountain awaited right at the beginning. Lots of motor bikers on top of mountain.
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| Misty Mountain ahead |
In the evening riders spent time in the #Pai street market doing shopping and tasting local food.
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| Octopus Tasting by Dr Pavan |
Not all the scary looking climbs are challenging... this one looked like spear but was easy enough to ride-up.
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day6 #PangMaPha to #Pai |
RideDay7 (Monday, Dec 24th 2018): #Pai to #ChiangMai (80kms). Though it was very cold for an early morning start it helped us push harder on climbs as riding in cold weather results better than struggle in the hot sun.
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| I am PAI |
More than 20kms of gradual climb to push thru and then two more kickers on the way.
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| MHS Loop - Ride Day7 #Pai to #ChiangMai |
My Overall experience of tour - A well organized tour to give riders all the freedom to just ride and feel accomplished without worrying about where to stay, what meals to order and what all to see enroute. Routes maps were recorded without any error to ensure riders can reach PointA to PointB without getting lost. Kudos and Three Cheers to TBA.
About -
Thailand: Beautiful country, Lush green mountains, Lovely roads.
Thai Villages: clean, calm and sleepy. Plays folk music on Radio using loudspeaker for all.
Thai Markets: Traditional, Nicely decorated, colorful; mostly run by women of all ages.
Thai Locals: cheerful, courteous, hard working and cooperative.
Wat (Temples) and Gods: Thais haven't caged Buddha, No need to pay any fee to see him in any temple. No priority queue or special token. No money is asked by priests, No loud music chanting for him relentlessly, nothing on hard sell in the name of him. He is available for everyone EQUALLY. One bows, sits, prays and experiences peace.
What to expect ? Heck of climbs, Beautiful countryside, Smooth Termac Roads, Freshly grinded Coffee, Free WiFi at even small coffee shops, Women drivers and riders, Hell of polythene bags (Thai love poly bags) and BEER everywhere.
What is Needed ? Good enough base miles before the tour and a strong core. To avoid sufferings and enjoy the tour you should have clocked 750 - 1,500kms (with climbs) in last 2-3 months.
What did I gain ? Proud feeling of climbing gruelling 13,300+mtrs of hills (1.5 times of 8,848mtrs Mount Everest) without putting my foot down.
What did I loose ? kgs of body weight and inches of my waist line :-)
Non-Vegetarian food warning - Vegetarian food is not a big challenge in most of the towns of Thailand but in villages where no menu is availalbe (if so written in Thai), it can be tricky due to the language barrier. One comes to know how difficult it can be to get a plate of vegetable fried rice sometimes :D
~~ I'd encourage and recommend such bicycle tours to all the riders for not just climbing challenges but for overall experience of riding in different part of world, meeting new people and for understanding different religion & culture. Not to mention it specifically, for greater health benefits too.
~~ I'd encourage and recommend such bicycle tours to all the riders for not just climbing challenges but for overall experience of riding in different part of world, meeting new people and for understanding different religion & culture. Not to mention it specifically, for greater health benefits too.
#SigningOut #HaveFun #tbaRides #tbaMaeHongSonLoop #tbaThailandRide
