How exactly does one get from Thaton to Mae Salong? I've searched the posts and there is so much conflicting information, differing opinions and so forth. If any body knows what buses, songtaews, etc., where to catch them and at what time, that would be much appreciated. Also getting to Chiang Rai from Mae Salong. Thanks for your help.

Just Google "Bus Thaton to Mae Salong" and you will find tons of information

Just Google "Bus Thaton to Mae Salong" and you will find tons of information

Thanks, I already tried that before posting here and this is what I got in google: "No results found for "Bus Thaton to Mae Salong".

OK, Googled it again (without the quotes) and found numerous sources of information. The first (http://wikitravel.org/en/Mae_Salong WikiTravel) says this:

By bus

There are two roads to Mae Salong: one from Pasang, a hamlet on the Chiang Rai-Mae Sai highway, and one from Tha Ton, on the northern border road from Chiang Mai. Both are scenic and very twisty — pop a pill beforehand if you're prone to motion sickness.

From Chiang Rai, take a bus to Mae Sai (platform 5) and ask to be dropped off at Pasang/Mae Salong. The trip costs 25B and takes approximately an hour. (Beware: there's another Pasang to the east of Chiang Rai, signposted at platform 9, but this will take you in entirely the wrong direction!) At the Pasang T-junction, there are blue songthaews that leave when they get 8 passengers at 50 baht each, or when somebody ponies up the 400 baht to charter. Try to get here as early as you can, since otherwise, especially in the off season, you'll be looking at a long wait.

From Tha Ton, there are yellow songthaews that go directly to Mae Salong. This also offers an alternative route for Chiang Rai and Mae Sai: coming back, take the yellow songthaew to the Tha Ton-Mae Chan road (30B), hop aboard a Tha Ton-Mae Chan green songthaew to Mae Chan (another 30B), and then take the Chiang Rai-Mae Sai bus. This sounds complicated, but is probably faster than waiting for the "direct" songthaew to fill up.

For the return trip, both colors of songthaew hang out at the 7-11 in the centre of town. They stop running around 5 PM, but in a pinch (or if in a hurry), the motorcycle cabbies can ferry you to Pasang for 300 baht.

Thank you very much.

The buses and songthaews that run between these smaller towns that aren't on the main highways are irregular.

About the only sure thing is eventually you'll get one. Timetables are virtually non existent in many cases.