A Frontier Border Town

Today we readied ourselves for a long road trip - this meant bundling up. The nights are cool, well....downright cold, in Northern Thailand, so we needed to be prepared. Armed with gloves purchased at the Tuesday Soppong market, we headed out on an all day adventure -a 200km round trip adventure close to the Burmese border.

The Mae Hong Son loop is one of the finest motorcycling routes in the world (check it out on Google if you're into riding). And it doesn't disappoint. The road rises and descends through limestone karst countryside, and snakes through hundreds of hairpin turns.

There is no industry nor large settlements to speak of, so when you are not riding through forests, you will be passing through bucolic farming countryside like this.

I think our only misstep of the day was paying admission to go into the "Famous Fish Cave" - the descriptions suggested a large cavernous chamber with thousands of huge carp who had adapted to cave life over thousands of years

It turned out to be somewhat less impressive - there was a cave, to be sure. But it was merely a rock face with a slight inward curvature, from which emerged a small stream. The stream was home to a few hundred carp which probably only hang around for the tourist suckers (Boltwoods) to feed scraps of food (extra cost over and above park admission). 

Since my travelling currency is beer, I calculated that my poor judgement today cost me 4 large bottles of Chang.

Nevertheless, we soldiered on. The scooters are proving to be able work horses, handling the hills with ease and giving us amazing freedom to go wherever we want - side trips and detours (and many ice cream breaks) - we could never do this on a scheduled bus route.

We finally arrived at our destination, Mae Aw. Now please bear with me while I impart a little bit of history on our readers.

Tucked away in the furthest corner of Thailand, and just a mountain pass away from Burma, Mae Aw is 30 kilometres away from the provincial capital of Mae Hong Son. It is fairly simple in its layout – really just a bunch of small bungalows and wooden cottages collected around a large artificial reservoir.

The town has a fascinating history, at least to me. It is one of a handful of Thai villages inhabited primarily by Chinese refugees who have settled in the region. This is interesting because, for those who know their geography, Thailand does not share a border with China.

Chinese expatriates in northern Thailand can be traced back to the 1949 Communist takeover in China, when a considerable number of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, or 'KMT') adherents fled the mainland. The majority settled in Taiwan. However, for those who had been battling in the southeast of China (Yunnan Province), they first landed in Burma and finally moved to Thailand. The Thai government offered a piece of barren land to these Chinese refugees for residence.

I expected a Thai Bilbo Baggins to emerge

During the tumultuous years after the war, a handful of these ex-KMT soldiers were, to some degree, involved in some of the shady aspects of this famous border region of Thailand and Burma - drug smuggling and gun running. However, the majority of these families, and their descendants, have chosen to pursue a quieter and more honest way of life - primarily tea farming. We were fortunate to sample many different types of tea grown in the region.

The villagers can’t buy or sell their land. It was given to them by the government, and thus is not theirs to own. But they are free to live here. Their life is in many ways similar to the myriad refugee populations and hilltribes who dot this province and most of them are restricted to the area where they live. They don’t have enough money to travel around. But some of the villagers have also pursued, and achieved, citizenship.

Today the town majors in tea growing and minors in tourism, with many small restaurants dotted around the reservoir. Since it's not on the main traveler's route, it is refreshingly quiet, and on this day it served as a fantastic place to have lunch.

But when it's spicy papaya salad with fresh lake crab, some of us aren't so happy.

Now that's better - a huge papaya chopped up into bite-size pieces for the grand total of 15 baht (50 cents)

Mae Aw is not the biggest Chinese village in Thailand, but it is surely one of the most beautiful - a lost mountain town in the mostly forested, and spectacularly beautiful province of Mae Hong Son.

With our bellies full and our travel mission accomplished, it was time to head back to the Cave Lodge - a long 100 km ride back.

But not before Owen orchestrated a romantic photo - he spotted this on the way in.

"Pretend your married, and smile"

That's funny.

But evidently not funny enough. A Gong Show moment - a Thai Chuck Barris is just off screen with a wooden hook.

More amazing scenery along the river - huge forests of bamboo.

"Quick Shirley!! Let's get on the bikes and go!!"

"That's it buddy....lean into the turn" A future supercross rider in the making.

A very local moment

Sitting on a bike for hours can build up your appetite - and you can never go wrong with meat on a stick, no matter what part of the world you are in.

Or with these two, it's frozen flavoured cream on a stick (or in a cone) - again a universal winner.

So to all riders back home - if you're looking for the ride of a lifetime - get over here. It's amazing.

But long bike rides can be somewhat tranquilizing for the kids - and I'm a bit paranoid of one of them falling asleep and tipping off the back of the bike. So as soon as I sensed Owen starting to fade, it was time for a caffeine break.

That woke him up

One more scenery shot

A one-handed selfie while driving on the "wrong" side of the road - good thing mama was ahead of us and didn't see. Bad daddy!!

Finally back to Soppong and our oasis - 7/11. But alas, they don't serve beer in the morning (not a problem for me) or between 2pm and 5pm (?!?!?). We checked our watch and it was 4:58 - phew!! But it must have been funny for the local Thais watching a couple of farangs loitering at the back of the store waiting for their beer fix. But after 8 hours on the road, nothing gets between me and my Chang.