I took the MRT out to the Bang Sue station where I caught the night train to Chiang Mai on February 3 at 8:50 PM. Unfortunately, all the sleeper beds were taken for the next two weeks so I took the third class seat instead.
It was a painful 13 hours sitting in this crowded carriage with the windows open since there was no A/C.— at least it wasn’t really hot or rainy.
I’m not sure I got my sleep during the night, but it was a beautiful ride into Chiang Mai that morning.
My Hillda Guesthouse accommodations were comfortable inside the moat-ringed old city. I got a lot of catch-up sleep and was ready for the following morning drive, or so I thought, to Mae Hong Son from the Arcade Chiang Mai bus station. It was an exciting ฿100 tuk-tuk ride to the bus station from my guest house.
At the 1:30 PM departure, my minibus was completely full. I was in the middle seat just behind the driver so I got a good view of all the curves on the way during this six hour journey. There were so many curves, and we took a couple breaks along the way, including a stop over in Pai.
Pai is a magnet for all of the backpacker crowd searching for adventure where they served up lots of avocado toast and other avocado treats for these Gen Xs and millennials along with rafting and trekking adventures.
We climbed over a number of mountain passes going from 2000 feet up to 5000 feet on the way to Mae Hong Son. The truck on the side of the road, lost its power, heading up and rolled back into this ditch.
It was dark when I pulled up to my Chubeema Guesthouse, which was just two blocks from the bus station and my host, Lae, was waiting for me.
After I dropped off my bags, he took me by motorbike to the nearby 7-Eleven store so I could get some orange juice, banana, 3 in 1 coffee mix and a pineapple pastry treat.
I went across the street for dinner at the local restaurant and had some vegetables and chicken with rice and an egg along with hot tea and soup.
I walked into this small town the following morning found a good breakfast spot right by the lake and across the way were two beautiful temples.
He said back in 1985, he worked for Bill Gates in the Bellevue area for several years since his background was as an engineering and he helped translate Windows into French. He said he left before they started offering big stock options to employees. Said he really enjoyed living in the Seattle area with its beauty and mountains.
I hired a tuk-tuk driver at the bus station to take me up to the Wat Pra That Doi Mu monastery on top of the hill overlooking the city.
The monastery and views from the mountain top were beautiful.
At night near this monument they had strung lights dangling down from this huge tree and at night it was spectacular.
In the day, I explored the two big monastery by the lake, which had lots of Hindu influences as well as Buddha influences. The one on the left is the Wat Ching Kham. The other is Wat Chong Klang.
There is a bit of Hindu symbols included on the Wat grounds.
After three days and recovering from the trip up, I was ready for the 6 hour trip back down the windy roads to Chang Mai in another full minibus as I left the Chubeema Guesthouse and the owner, Lae.
On the way to the bus station on this foggy morning, I stopped by the 7–11 store to pick up my breakfast of a banana, toasted cheese and ham sandwich and pineapple pastry for ฿50. The staff toast the sandwiches for you.
When I got back to Chiang Mai, instead of taking a tuk-tuk, I took a moto-taxi to my hotel, which was the same ฿100 price. The guy convinced me it would be faster than in a tuk-tuk. He was right, as we wove our way past all of the traffic and down some narrow pathways. it was a good thing he had an extra helmet for me.
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