Ride Report

[JeffreyMcCollum]

Some how after 10 years of riding in Thailand it was time to ride the Mae Hong Son loop. I even live on one part of it but never seemed to do that ride I had heard so much about over the years

I bypassed my Ninja, CBR, and other bikes and chose my little Honda Wave 125 and was glad I did. For 2 reasons, first, to help prepare for my upcoming 6000 km loop of Thailand ride on that same wave, and second, with all the twist and turns, the light bike was easy to handle. On the road to Mae Hong Son, 90% of the vehicles were Honda Waves. 4% other bikes 1% big bikes, 1% delivery trucks, and the rest just regular cars and trucks along the way.

Starting near the Chiang Mai Airport where I live, I choose to ride clock wise around the loop. There were a few bottle necks of traffic in Hang Dong as well as other small towns along route 108 to Hot. The last 15 km had lots of road construction with widening the road and NO shoulders. Hot was a nice butt break stop to use the toilet at The Shell station (before the circle) or PTT once you turned the circle toward MHS. A few 7-11 stores and a market are there for a cold soda or snack. Still on route 108 now heading west to Mae Sariand the road gets more interesting with elevation climbs and twist and turns. It is also cooler at several of the passes that were refreshing. We stopped road side for some lunch at a local road side stand. Just after lunch we noticed a 5 foot brown and orange snake crossing the road, We gave it the right of way and stayed clear on the other side of the road in the on coming traffic lane. He seemed to be in a hurry to cross anyways.

In Mae Sariand, still on Route 108 now turning north, we stopped at a PTT to top of the tank. If I was heading up from Bangkok I would suggest turning at Tak and heading up from Mae Sot. Also a nice ride and joining in at Mae Sariang and missing the Hang Dong to Hot stretch. There are also other ways to make the loop but this time, for the first ride, I chose this way to go. By this point traffic had thinned considerable. With the occasional Honda Wave coming at you but hardly any cars, trucks or vans.

Heading north again was mostly flat with some twist and turns. The pavement quality I would call fair. Some good areas, some bad, some construction, The last 20 km into Mae Hong Son I was behind a girl on a New Honda Click. (no plates) Clearly she new the road and was flying off to work was my guess. No helmet but just flying. I just stayed with her for that last 20 km into Mae Hong Son. That road quality was very good for those last 20 km coming into MHS.

Instantly coming into MHS I liked it. A nice feeling from a small town. Drove around a little while and stopped at Ngamta Hotel right next to the MHS Post office. My room was 600 baht. Very clean, comfortable, a view of the lake, A/C, hot water, flushing toilet and TV with many English stations. Some rooms had parking right out side while I parked right out side the office. Near by was a salon for my wife to have her hair washed after being tucked inside her helmet all day. Next to that was a Massage shop were we both had a massage before dinner. Dinner at the Chalet across the road had a few surprises when the bill came. “Oh your fish was larger so we charges you more” Wife accepted it. I wasn’t so happy. There are also several other places to eat near by with Thai as well as farang food. A night market was around the lake. And a 7-11 near for a few snackes for the room. We chose to pay extra 100 per person for the morning buffet at the hotel. It was OK but next time I may find my own. In MHS I was surprised by how many Expats were there. More than in Chiang Mai it looked like. This was the first spot along the way I notice any thing bigger than a CBR 150 when 3 KLX 250 pulled into town.

In the morning we heading out about 9, fueled up (Busy PTT in town or a PT fueling station about 4 km on the way to Pie) I strongly suggest topping off the tank. The road quickly gets interesting. Twist and turns, on hill climb after another. Still really no traffic But you just could not go that fast. Sand, dirt or rocks at many points, usually in the turns, or at the apex of the turns would be very uneven or broken pavment. Where we average 80 (true) KPH into MHS, this was more like 60 kph and sometimes less. Again I thought it would be greener. Trees with no leaves and field with no rice in them. Maybe there is a better time of year I was thinking?

Once we got into Pai about 11:30 traffic was just like down town rush hour in BKK (Wednesday remember) both my wife and I were very turned off by the over development and commercialism. One empty “resort” over looking another. A zillion coffee shops and T shirt shop. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Forgetting to top of the either tanks, The bike or ours.

The section of road Pai to Chiang Mai (Mae Rim) has more traffic, tighter turns, and more steep hills to climb. This point we notice a few big bikes, two 650 Kawi rentals and two 250 Ninjas. But mostly smaller bikes. Many tourist (I would assume) with no helmets, no T-shirts, only shorts and flip flops on driving rented Automatic bikes.

I never had any problems with cars, trucks, or even the Mini busses. Just tourist going way too slow on their rented bikes not letting anyone pass.

My thought was to get gas in the next small town. So far they had been every 20 – 40 km along the way. About 50 km out I asked my wife to ask the man with the machine gun “where the next gas was ?” He politely said about 80 km (Mae Rim) and I knew I could not make it nor wanted to go back to Pai. He then said the Police mans son runs a small shop that has some. We both got a drink and one whiskey bottle of Gas for 50 Baht At that point I would have been happy to pay about anything. Turns out there was some gas another 40 km with the old hand crank pump. Could have make it but didn’t have to worry for the next 40 km if I would make it ?

A few thoughts. . .

The Honda wave, packing my wife, me, and our gear for a total of 200 kilos of weight did well. .We averaged just over 52 km/l for the trip. At one point we went 130 kph (Actual) down hill on a straightaway. Most of the way it was 80 kph by my choice and I don’t think I could have gone much faster on my ninja except on a few hills. We never had any problems with the bike except a basket screw became loose and we fixed it road side with the tool kit. That said, I might add some additional padding to the seat before my 6000 km trip.

I expected things to look better, Yet many bare trees and fields. Also hundreds of km of burned areas along the way, no wonder there is a smoke problem in Chiang Mai. Even fires next to police check points that no one seemed to care about. As a note, of the dozen or so police check points, none of them really seemed to do much of anything, only one they were standing and really looking between Pai and Mae Rim.

For the road everyone was talking about, I expected it to be in better condition. More than 60% of it was in fair condition. Hard to make good time or go fast with sand, dirt, rocks, or bumps and pot holes in the corners.

Trip cost for the two of us on 1 bike. Total for the 2 days . . .

588 Bt. Fuel 10.9 lt

939 Bt. for food and snacks along the way

600 Bt. for hotel stay in MHS for the night

530 Bt for misc.

If I was alone, I am sure fuel cost would have been slightly less.

Food cost could be much less or more depending on your tastes. I am a non drinker

I noticed Hotels from as low as 150 Baht and way higher too. Again, on your wants

The misc. included 2 massages and tip as well as 80 baht to have my wifes hair done. A low price to pay to keep sanity in check.

I would go again in a heart beat if asked. Wave or any other bike. We really gave the Wave a work out and used 100% of it at times. There is a ton of shifting again and again that’s not so easy on a wave. I would suggest going on a CBR 150 with a little more range and power if you like to shift, or a Honda PCX150 which might be just as fast because you don’t have to think about shifting. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[moe666]

if you didn't tank up in Suppong and then rode thru Pie nothing but trouble. There just isn't a lot out there. Yes this time of year the leav fall off the trees, no rain.

Edited April 12, 2012 by moe666

[macknife]

Sounds fun.

I have to make do with the Rama 3 loop.

Edited April 12, 2012 by macknife