Day 14

Ban Rak Thai

We woke up early at 6am to get ready to catch the sunrise, where I accidently threw water all over the floor in the hostel. Luckily, our host was up too and was happy to clean it up, not letting me help. Alfie, Hong Yao and I took a 5 minute ride up to Wat Phra That Doi Kongmu where we were a tad early for the sunrise, so we chilled for a while taking in the view of Mae Hong Son & the surrounding mountains before the sun peaked over.

With a quick checkout and a famous 7-11 ham and cheese toastie for breakfast, we headed towards Pang Oung, also known as Little Switzerland. It was this small lake nestled among some trees, with a small campsite on the water front. It was a nice place but we didn't stay too long before heading up to Ban Rak Thai. On the way I used a self service fuel machine that felt super futuristic considering we were in the middle of the countryside.

As we are about 1km out of Ban Rak Thai, someone flags down Alfie then all of a sudden jumps on the back of his scooter, obviously wanting a lift into town. Meanwhile, I was just behind them pissing myself imagining what was going through Alfie's head. Dropping off our possibly homeless friend off into town we park our bikes up and do the small loop around the man made lake where our friend gave Alfie a big hug. Ban Rak Thai is a small town right on the Myanmar border which strangely has alot of Chinese culture rather than Burmese.

It's known for its tea, so we find a small café and sit by the lake. I went for an iced peach tea where as Alfie went for a hot apple tea, served with complimentary chai. I'm not sure how authentic iced peach tea but it was definitely nice. We then grabbed some lunch, which was definitely a cross between Chinese and Thai cuisine, looking over the lake once again. After a small ride up to the Myanmar border, technically crossing into a new country, we head back for Pai.

The highlight of the journey back was when we stopped in a small village where a local farmer let us relax on his land overlooking the fields and mountains before bringing us water and snacks. After a 30 minute or so rest, we leisurely and carefully rode back to Pai, dropping our bikes off before hopping on our bus back to Chiang Mai. I opted for another set of motion sickness pills just in case and I can confirm they definitely knocked me out last time because I slept most the way back this time. The main stop was when we pulled over on the side of the road where our driver hopped out, checked the bus then ran down the road for seemingly no reason.

Back in Chiang Mai, we check in, grab some food, and I pass out almost immediately. Czytaj więcej