One of the top 10 motorbiking roads in the world, the Mae Hong Son Loop in Northern Thailand is famous for its 1,864 turns (many of them being steep hairpins) between the cities of Chiang Mai in the East and Mae Hong Son in the West. However, the whole loop has, as we came to discover, many more curves and twists along the way.
Any research you do on this phenomenal loop will essentially tell you the same thing – you’re going to want a big bike! Very steep gradients, long straight stretches, an almost F1 worthy smooth wide surface, very little traffic for the most part and exhilarating views, all add up to a recipe for huge enjoyment at the twist of the wrist.
One (or two if you count my lack of motorbike licence – unlike the local rental companies) small problem we faced though, is there are no ‘big bikes’ available for rent in Pai – you need to start/end in Chiang Mai for that. We even had to shop around multiple rental agencies in town before finding one who’d let us tackle ‘the loop’ on their scooter.
Having eventually found the choice of two scooters – an old 150cc Honda, or very uncool-looking 125cc Yamaha Tricity, we eventually settled on the trike. After some quick negotiations (four new front brake pads, 300THB/day, and storing Helga & Shirley safely in their office), it was ours to collect the next morning.
Talking with an Australian musician that night he mentioned we needed to visit Pai Canyon before leaving town. “Amazing, unbelievable, as spectacular as the Grand Canyon – and only 10 minutes out of town”. How had we not heard of this already?!
Collecting the scooter early next morning was a breeze, with the friendly rental guys already having replaced the brake pads and checked the tyre pressures etc. One was however very interested in our touring bikes (Helga & Shirley) we’d be leaving with them – concerningly, just how much they were worth in particular. It was pretty clear though, not many tourists take their scooters much further than 20km away, with our hairbrained scheme being a bit of a novelty. Nevertheless, we were given a contact number incase of any problems, two novelty helmets and sent on our way.
A crash before even leaving Pai!
With the tetris game of loading the scooters (we’ll now call Grunty, to avoid any confusion) underseat storage complete and another bag tightly packed with our camping gear, we excitedly set off for the Grand Canyon.
Arriving at Pai Canyon a few minutes later it quickly became clear the musician we’d been talking to either a). Hadn’t ever been to/or seen photos of the Grand Canyon, or b). The hallucinogenics on offer locally were first class. Either way, it wasn’t quite what we’d expected but we enjoyed the chuckle and were glad we’d seen it.
Heading back down towards Pai, eager to ‘get on the road’ out of town and find some of these fun twisting roads the region’s renowned for – it nearly all came to an abrupt crashing end (sorry, not sorry, pun intended).
Approaching a curve in the road when all of a sudden (as most crashes probably happen…) a rider travelling towards us at speed (again, a common crash factor – but hopefully not one we’d need worry about on Grunty) chose that rather innocuous bend to separate himself from his bike – sending two sliding objects directly into our path. Driving a car we wouldn’t have had much choice but use him as a squishy speedbump.
Thankfully, Grunty’s two front wheels were still narrow enough to avoid hitting anything, as we threaded a moving high-speed needle between hitting a sliding bike (taking us out) or a sliding rider (taking us all out), while thoroughly testing the new brake pads.
Coming to a stop in the middle of the road, another bike who was following him quickly explained to us that Mr Rossi had just passed them “going wayyy too fast”, before showing great compassion and leaving the scene.
Thankfully it was Valentino’s lucky day that not only didn’t we have four wheels, but he’d also chosen a building with a well-stocked first aid kit and helpful (if not slightly jaded by patching up yet another farang…) staff to crash in front of.
Slightly sshaken, but glad for the fresh reminder to keep things ‘steady’ on the twisty roads to come – we hightailed it out of there in a cloud of smoke towards the mountains we were so excited to now not be peddling over!
First hill was awesome! So many fun corners in the shade of the jungle. No regrets on swapping the bikes for the scooter now. Made it to the summit – lots of other tourists up here too.
Rach’s diary
Nam Lod Cave
About an hour out of Pai is undoubtedly one of Thailand’s most impressive caves, partly for its size, partly for its massive limestone stalactite formations, and partly for its ancient history. Splashing out 600THB for a guided tour (you can’t enter without a guide) was one of the best decisions we made on the loop. Unlike the previous canyon stop, this place was actually spectacular, with an added boat ride through complete darkness topping it off.
Entering the cave system, our guide (who’d been doing this 28 years!) helpfully explained that the lantern she was carrying operated on a tip-based system – the more we tip, the more the lantern gets used. Very helpful in the pitch darkness to come!
Just over one kilometre long and consisting of three distinct larve caverns (Column cave, Doll cave & Coffin cave), it takes approximately an hour and a half to explore all the nooks and crannies.
Column cave had the largest of the stalactites in the system, as well as an elephant, boobies & Budha shaped formations. The second cavern of Doll cave took us up steep ladders into the heat and stuffiness of the cave roof, where we got to see the remnants of a 2-3000 year old cave painting. Too many people touching it over the years have unfortunately faded it significantly – but with help from the guide we were able to just make it out.
Coffin cave is only accessible by a short boat ride from the central cavern – through pitch darkness until the third and final cavern (and large cave mouth) start shedding light on the water. Making our way up flights of stairs (through many bats and swallows darting around) into the top narrow section of tunnels – it became clear where the ‘coffin’ name came from. Hiding in one of the back corners of this area are ancient hollowed-out teak logs – log-coffins!
Emerging back into the daylight and heat, it was time to keep going to our days final destination and the city of Mae Hong Son.
Mae Hong Son
Arriving near on darkness, we quickly ditched Grunty and our gear at a cheap homestay before heading out to explore the lake and surrounding night markets for dinner.
After having a look around town the next morning, including heading up Doi Kongmu to a temple viewpoint and one of our usual latte-yen’s (iced coffee), we decided to backtrack 45km over some of yesterdays route, tackling a rather large hill and visiting the extremely unique border town of Ban Rak Thai.
Ordered our usual Khao Kai Jeow (omelette on rice) from a roadside hut, checked out a view of the town from a Wat on a hill, then boosted to Ban Rak Thai, a small, heavily Chinese influenced town on the border with Myanmar. Wow, the ride up the mountain to this place was intense! The poor motor on our wee scooter!
Rach’s diary
Chinese village & Geruilla fighters
Ban Rak Thai (Love Thai Village), a tiny village far off the regular tourist route due to its remoteness, has been described as the most beautiful village in Thailand. Extremely close to the Myanmar border, most of the villagers here escaped from southern China during the emergence of the communist regime – bringing with them their building techniques, cuisine and both spoken and written languages. It’s like nowhere else in Thailand!
Even though the Myanmar border was officially closed due to the ongoing civil war and fighting in the vicinity, being so close we thought we’d be nosy and pop up for a quick gander – ///stumpy.exceptions.adding.
Rode up dusty dirt road, suddenly dead end with razor wire everywhere. Walked around a corner and suddenly a barrier arm with two soilders holding AK47’s appear. After trying to sign language that we had no real desire to run off into the Burmese jungle, but only wanted to step in very quickly, they let us sneak under the barrier and officially enter a war zone!… for 30sec, enough time for a couple of photos.
Rach’s diary
Instagram hotspot
At the recommendation of the scooter hire company, we decided to take another short detour and camp at Pang Ung – a perennially chilly place in the hills known as the most romantic place in Thailand.
During our short afternoon here it quickly became clear that it’s also a hotspot for the young Instagram crowd too. A constant stream of young girls parading around the lakefront with camera-equipped boyfriends in tow – performing multiple outfit changes and an exquisite array of poses in each. It was quite the afternoon entertainment for us…
Highways & Hotpools
Day 3 of the loop saw us continuing on the fantastic fast wide roads south of Mae Hong Son. It was on these stretches we discovered Grunty’s top speed to be only a whisker under an Isle of Man TT average – a blistering 90kph. Even so, the limited padding remaining in the front of my helmet and the limited suspension travel under Rach’s tailbone, prevented many long stretches even close to this. Swapping helmets for a while relieved my foreheads struggles but only exacerbated the rude backseat comments about the length of my now ever-extending mullet however.
Arriving at the Nong Hang Hot Spring, it was time to call it a day. A good long soak in a private steaming hot pool is Mother Nature’s ultimate gift to a tired body, melting away aches and pains and built-up tension from now weeks of riding our bikes. The thermal pools of New Zealand, Japan, Iceland etc are world-renowned, but that such places exist in tropical Thailand is possibly less well-known. It was to us at least!
In the end we stayed until closing time, before deciding to use a little nearby park as our evenings campsite – complete with a cute K9 alarm clock sniffing around our tent at first light. We even managed to utilise an existing fire circle and roast some marshmallows we’d been carrying from the previous day. Bliss!
Longest day & a bruised tailbone
Leaving the hot pools after another lengthy dip in the morning, we were headed for Mae Chaem (204km) at the base of Doi Inthanon (Thailand’s highest peak at 2,565 meters above sea level). Not exactly on the ‘official’ Mae Hong Son Loop, but a common detour nonetheless.
By this stage, any small bump or compression in the usually perfect road had become much less funny. While the hot spring had worked wonders on aching muscles from part 1 of the Lanna Kingdom, it hadn’t helped Rach’s bruised tailbone. Nor had it stiffened Grunty’s rear shock or added any rubber to the bumpstop. Every little bump or unseen compression on the otherwise smooth road resulted in shouting from the backseat. We were both regretting the overloaded scooter choice now.
Arriving in Mae Chaem it was obvious burning season was still in full swing. The air was thick from smoke, with multiple fires visibly burning on the hills around us.
Gruntys big test
For those who don’t know, Doi Inthanon is a brute of a climb. Kilometre after winding steep kilometre, with gradients exceeding 20%. No cyclists are allowed to descend the top 9km section. Period. No negotiation (I tried for my planned ‘Everesting‘ attempt). Too many have been killed. Ride to the summit, you better have arranged transport down.
Slightly concerned about Grunty’s ability to handle nearly an hour of heavy throttle chugging us up the mountain (but having been given the go-ahead from its owners), we filled it to the brim and set off for the top.
It wasn’t long before Grunty was chugging at 20kph on steeper sections, but pushing on, the air became clearer and clearer as we climbed and a noticeable chill started surrounding us.
Finally reaching the summit carpark 30ish km later, without blowing up the struggling 125 was a notable win – so after donning puffer jackets and giving Grunty a congratulatory pat, we set off for the short 5min walk to the peak.
We visited the tippy-top of Doi Inthanon and for a moment we were the highest people in Thailand. Felt pretty special.
Rach’s diary
If going up felt steep, descending took it to another level. At least pulling the brakes had more of an effect than twisting the throttle on this thing.
Finally down from the mountain, joining the afternoon traffic around Chiang Mai saw the brakes get tested once again – as we found a barber and urgently swung in.
After receiving bad news about the upcoming everesting attempt earlier and clearly not having had enough of Grunty just yet, I dropped Rach at the hotel before heading up a mountain much closer to town for a quick look around and recce. What a surprise though. Without our luggage and an extra rider onboard, Grunty was actually a bunch of fun to ride! Actual acceleration out of corners I hadn’t experienced all week!
One last push
What should have been the most enjoyable, scenic section of the trip (Chiang Mai to Pai) with its phenomenal 762 hairpin turns through the stunning mountains – turned out to be an absolute shit show, with a grumpy bruised girlfriend on the back (for most of it – she walked a while…). Through all of the arguing, fighting and other drama – neither of us remembered to take a single photo. I couldn’t even describe the scenery for having my eyes glued to the far-from-perfect road surface the whole way.
Finally arriving back in Pai after what was far too long of a day, we both immediately cheered up to discover that Helga & Shirley were both still intact exactly where we’d left them – and hadn’t yet been sold to someone too small to ride them, or parted out for cents on the dollar. It was time for a well-earned Chang and debrief!
Final Thoughts
Would we do the loop again, yes. Would we use a scooter next time – not a hope! Were we still glad we hadn’t ridden it – totally. Riding the loop on our touring bikes we would’ve stuck to the main road more often, missing some of the more enjoyable side-quests that would’ve required hours more steep climbing in the heat. In total, we managed to turn the original 660km loop into an 814km adventure.
It’s extremely obvious why this is one of the top ten motorbiking rides in the world, but motorbiking is a world away from overloaded scootering. Phenomenally quiet roads, ridiculous scenery and amazing stop-offs all add to the thrill that would be experienced with a bit more comfort and power.
As for Mr Rossi, we hope you made it home safely – Thailand is one of the most dangerous destinations in the world to throw a leg over a bike…
