The Long and Winding Road

Today was a travel day - with our final destination being the Cave Lodge near the tiny town of Soppong towards the Thai-Burma border. Not a lot of narrative - mainly photos.

Early morning breakfast at the Funky Monkey  - thanks Nuy for getting up so early to send us on our way. Our stay at this guesthouse in Chiang Mai was great - spacious rooms and lots of good travel advice. We will definitely return in a week when we're finished with the Thai hill country.

Thai rice soup with pork...and a coffee. Fusion cuisine.

One of several vehicles today - a pickup truck taxi to get us to the minibus station.

This was followed by the 3 hour trip to Pai aboard this minibus (11 people in a Toyota Hiace Commuter) - we had heard horror stories about this particular voyage, usually involving an extended barf session through hairpin turns at breakneck speeds.

The ride takes you into the mountains northwest of Chiang Mai, and the minibus ride is famously inappropriate for those prone to motion sickness. As it turned out, this was all overblown. Our driver seemed to be in no rush to kill us, and the inside of the van remained pristine throughout the trip.

This is what you get for 150 baht ($5) per person - not bad for a three hour tour. 

When we arrived in Pai, it became apparent very quickly that we would have no regrets about our decision not to stay there - definitely not our cup of tea. Mostly 20-something gap year travellers or hippie types who would like to hang out somewhere cheap and 'authentic' but who need tattoo parlors, thumping music, banana pancakes so they don't get too bored.

So we went straight to a motorbike rental shop to try to rent some scooters. We had heard that these often sell out by midday by the aforementioned backpackers, so we were a bit worried. I checked my watch  - 12:35pm. Great.

"Sorry sir - all sold out. You wait, ok?"

"Sure, but I've got two young children with me. They get bored quickly. Is there anything around here for them to do?".

Puppy!!!!!!!!

C'mon dude. You're carrying around a baby Labrador in a freaking pouch. Don't tell me you're not begging for this attention.

30 minutes later and we got our two scooters - 125cc of pure awesomeness. And the best part was that these two machines are virtually brand new - less than 100km on the odometers. A big relief considering we'll be taking them up and down some pretty hilly routes.

A quick lunch (tasty as usual) before the road trip begins. We're finding that despite the fact that most of the Thai food is too spicy for the kids to handle, there's always one dish on the menu that will appeal to them. Today is was a Thai omelette with pork and onions.

And we're on the way - gorgeous weather, brand new bikes, and one of the best riding roads in the world (the Mae Hong Son loop - check it out if you haven't heard about it before).

We saw many of these along the way, but when you're only riding about 40km/hr, you don't feel the turns like you do in a car.

At the highest point, we actually had to pull out the sweaters and down vests - a bit chilly up there at 1,500 meters on a bike. But tremendous views.

Some fantastic rural scenery along the way.

Shirley and I have been looking forward to this ride for a long time, but it definitely exceeded our expectations.

Made it to Soppong by mid-afternoon. It's a one horse town in the remote Thai countryside. I wonder if we'll be able to find an ice cold drink...

Oh thank heaven!

These two kids definitely deserve an ice cream - 8 hours of travelling and not one complaint. Granted, things went fairly smoothly, but they were so good today.

The last eight kilometers. Soppong (also sometimes known as Pangmapha) is a small market village a couple of hours northwest of Pai and about 70km from Mae Hong Son. There's not much to see in town (so we're not staying there), but the surrounding area is defined by dense forests, rushing rivers and dramatic limestone outcrops and is the place in northern Thailand for caving.

Hence the name of our home for the next five nights.

Finally! I think I'll chill out in this hammock made out of Goodyear tires. Dad, can you make one of these when we get back home? 

You know I'm an accountant, right?

The view from the guesthouse - I think we'll enjoy it here.