Day 12 - Back towards Chiang Mai

Today was our longest day - 180kms, 4.5 hrs riding (which shows how twisty the roads are), and 5000m of ascent and descent along the route.
Our plan had been to arrive at our destination early to enjoy the nice hotel we'd booked, but we got distracted by detours along tbe route - both down narrow, tricky roads.
The first was to the bamboo walkway through the rice fields, which was quite touristy but very nice.
The second involved a random decision to follow a signpost to a hot springs. This was very much off the beaten track and we were very surprised to find a big large area of hot springs (with minimal health and safety measures) where you could pay 30 baht (75p) to walk across the rocks boil a basket of eggs in 100 degrees water - a very novel experience.
The rest of the route was much quieter than the previous few days except for a very speedy girl on scooter (wearing flip flops) who was right on our tail for about 40mins. It's amazing what the little scooters can do!
Saw lots of strawberry plant terraces along the way which was surprising.
Had to fix Mark's motorcycle boots on tbe way as he was in danger of losing the sole - see pictures.
Our hotel tonight is a big complex on the side of the mountain. It must be about 200m from top to bottom. We were meeting at the gate by a golf cart that zoomed us up to our room.Read more