Doin’ The Loop

So after exploring the town of Pai – I needed to continue on my way around the Mae Hong Son loop in northwestern Thailand. My preferred means of transportation was to go via a local mini-van service, but oddly the seats were all sold out (for a week) for the next leg of the trip to Mae Hong Son. That meant I need to travel on the local bus – otherwise known as the yellow bus – simply a yellow coloured songtaew (a covered pick-up truck with two benches inside). So as it turns out, I bought my ticket early enough that it got me the seat of honour – sitting inside the cab with the driver. My seat ended up being highly coveted – because by the time we had finished our 4 hour trip through the steep and winding mountain roads – there were 16 people on this yellow bus (plus luggage heaped on top). There were 2 of us in the front cab – 6 per row squished onto the 2 benches in the back and 2 people standing up on the rear bumper. OMG – it was bananas! We were like a circus act with the endless number of clowns piled in a car 😂 I did feel bad for those squished in the back – because the view of the mountains were stunning – views that they didn’t get to see.

Around Mae Hong Son

For a small little town, there were some really interesting areas to explore around Mae Hong Son – a Chinese village nestled up along the Myanmar border, waterfalls, and sweeping views of the jungle covered mountains.

Mae Sariang

This sleepy little mountain town was the place were I felt the least like a tourist. Hardly a word of English spoken in the town and I happened to arrive to celebrate a very big holiday in Thailand – the end of Buddhist lent and the unofficial end of the rainy season. The festivities included live local performances, streets filled with coloured lanterns, great local food and of course fireworks.

This trip around the loop also bought to a close my time in Thailand (at least until spring when I’ll likely visit the southern beaches). Time to move onto another country…Vietnam!