The second part of my vacation was in Mae Hong Son, a town in the hills north of Chiang Mai near the Burmese border. Driving to the town from Chiang Mai takes 8 hours on very windy roads, so I opted for flying--a 30 minute flight. This was definitely a good decision--the winding bus rides can be pretty rough on the stomach.
Just 8 of us on the flight
Arriving in Mae Hong Son was breathtaking--the town really is nestled in the mountains and shrouded in mist. Even though it is rainy season, in an environment like this I really don't even mind. In fact, in some ways it seems even more magical with the rain.
When I got there I was asked by a girl on my plane if I was a tourist and if I was travelling alone. When I answered in the affirmative, she seemed terribly shocked. This seems to be a common occurrence here--Thai people are always surprised to find that I travel alone. They see this as a very brave/adventurous thing to do and wouldn't think of doing it themselves. Another component of her surprise was also that I was visiting that town--if anyone thought that Nan was small, they haven't been to Mae Hong Son. That being said, there seemed to be more tourists in Mae Hong Son than in Nan. It may just be that I saw more because I was at the tourist sites there, but I seemed to see more white people on the streets than in Nan.
One of my favorite things in Mae Hong Son was the market. Unlike our market, theirs is organized along one street. People drive along the street and then pull to the side when they want something. Interesting system, but can be perilous for pedestrians. It was very fun to experience a different market and see what types of foods they had--much was the same, but also different. One thing they had at many stalls was a flattened brown disc. No clue what they were--maybe a mushroom disc of some sort?
For dinner I finally settled on some jackfruit, rice, and deep fried chicken feet. I also got chicken curry. The jackfruit was delicious, but it is very sticky--almost gluelike--on your fingers. The chicken feet were a bit odd. They certainly weren't bad, there just wasn't much there to eat. I struggled with what to do with them. It was worth the experience, but I can't say I will be having them again any time soon.
There they are in all their clawed glory
A bit intimidating
Aroi? Delicious? ...well...not really
Walking around the town was lovely. It is not very big and there isn't too much to see in the town itself--most of the attractions are in the surrounding area. However, one area that is particularly lovely is the "lake"...more like a man-made pond, but nice nevertheless. It is near the center of town and there are two temples nearby. People often come down to the lake to sit, relax, and feed bread to the giant fish that reside there. It made for a nice evening stroll.
Wat Jong Kham and Wat Jong Klang
Nong Jong Kham (the lake)
I did spend time wandering around here, but it started to rain so everyone needed to run to find shelter. I went back each night hoping to see the temples lit up--supposedly they have strings of lights and at night they are illuminated like Christmas trees, creating a beautiful reflection in the water. Unfortunately I never saw it, likely because it is low season right now.
So the big thing I did in Mae Hong Son was my tour on Tuesday. As I mentioned, most of the things to do are in the surrounding area. Many people tour by motor bike, but it is a very mountainous region and as such they only rent out manual transmission bikes. Having only just learned to ride an automatic bike, I knew I was not up to the challenge. So I arranged for a tour of the area by minibus. The downside of this is that people often get sick in the minibus because of the winding roads, but I ended up just sleeping during a lot of the driving.
Our first stop of the day was to a Kayan (Karen) village near Mae Hong Son. You may have seen members of this tribe on tv or in Nat Geo--they wear large brass coils on their necks and stretch their earlobes. Although they are originally Burmese, in the least 3 decades many fled oppression in Burma and had settled in Northern Thailand. I was interested to meet them and see their village life, but the reality of my experience was decidedly different from what I had hoped. The village I went to, Huai Seau Tao, is actually an artificially created tourist village. Basically the "villagers" just line up, allow pictures, and then you buy something in return for the pictures. Once again, interesting to meet them in person, but disappointing when what I really wanted to see was more authentic village life.
The "village"
The brass neck coils
They actually push down the collarbone over time
A small glimpse of true village life: laundry!
More daily life
Some of the women also wear leg coils
And stretched earlobes!
With the gauges back in the ears
Not many women still wear the coils
Although the coils used to be more common, many younger women don't wear them now. Often they are worn in order to sell to tourists, like me. So it was a bit strange. Some of these villages have been been called human zoos since you pay a fee to visit(ostensibly to buy food, medicine, and other supplies for the village). I will say that the experience was odd for me, since I didn't really feel like I was learning about their culture or history at all--I was just seeing them. So in a way it did feel a bit zoo like. I would not do it again.
My next stop was at Poo Klon Country Club for a mud facial. Very much like the mud spas in Calistoga (Napa) or Europe. It seems the place was discovered by French geologists who were exploring the area in the mid '90s, and since then it has been developed into a spa where you can have mud baths, mud facials, and hot spring soaks. I was the only one there, but my mud facial was quite fun.
Quite glamorous
From here we traveled on to a royal palace. I would tell you the name if I knew it (best guess from the internet is the Pang Tong Summer Palace), but it turns out my "guide" for the day didn't really speak English. I did find out that it was a royal palace and there is coffee growing on the grounds, plus there is a heliport. However, the royals clearly haven't been there in years (probably decades) due to failing health. Nobody seemed to be there, so I just wandered for a bit and took in the view.
We made a few more stops to places I can't really identify. One was a small village that grows coffee. I believe this was part of a royal project (Mae Sariang?) to encourage coffee as a crop in the region, and it was actually a very pretty little town. It was also surprisingly cool standing under the giant bamboo! We also stopped at a random lake type thing. In wet season it would be quite lovely, but I went right at the beginning of rainy season, and, as my guide said, "no water." So it was a bit dull.
The countryside
Giant bamboo in the coffee town
Kittens!
Our next stop was a highlight for me: a visit to Mae Aw, a Chinese (KMT) village on the Thai border with Burma. And by on the border, I mean my guide pointed down the road, and said that was Burma. There is no official crossing there, however, and it is a big drug/smuggling route, so trying to get into Burma from Mae Aw would be a bad plan. Anyway, Mae Aw is one of several Chinese villages that popped up in northern Thailand after the communists came to power. And they are very Chinese...signs, language, people, everything. What this meant for me was finally being able to get some decent tea. As much as I love Thai tea (super sweetened with condensed milk), buying bags of tea is pretty much impossible in Thailand. The only types you can get are green, Chrysanthemum, and if you are "lucky", Lipton. So I have been in serious tea withdrawal and regretting my decision not to bring any of my giant tea stash with me.
Well fret not! When I got to Mae Aw I found it filled with tea shops! The best thing was that you could go and sit down and sample the teas. I also got to try some of the dried fruits and candies with it. But at the end of the day I just needed to buy a ton of jasmine tea, which is what I did. It was heavenly! So relaxing to sit and sip my tea, especially since I was the only tourist around. But who knew I would have to huff it to within 400 meters of the Burma border to get some decent tea? So silly.
Reservoir around Mae Aw
The village
Only a fraction of the tea
My lunch spot by the lake
Sun drying the chilis
Our next visit was to a small waterfall. At the end of rainy season it would be much bigger, but at this time of year there wasn't much there. So we moved on to the Fish Cave. Gotta admit that this one was a bit strange. Basically a bunch of carp swim up the stream and into this cave, for no apparent reason. You can get bags of food to feed them, which is fun, but it is all quite random. The fish themselves are quite impressive--they are packed in there so tightly, it is unbelievable. The scenery was lovely too.
In the "cave"
Next to the cave, a Hindu shrine to protect the fish
Finally we headed back to town. The last stop of the day was at the two temples by the lake, Wat Jong Klang and Wat Jong Kham. It was nice to see them, plus there was the ordination of some new monks taking place while I was there, so I peeked in on that too. I also got to see the other major temple in town, Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu. My favorite part here was just getting the nice views of the valley. To be honest, by this point I was a bit tired and ready to be done with the day, so I was less interested in the wat itself and more interested in just taking in the scenery. But it was lovely and I am very glad I got to see it.
The main chedi
Bright + no sunglasses = squinty Allison
Looking over the city and the valley
So it was a super busy day, but I am really glad I got to see so much. I really adored Mae Hong Son and am glad that I made the effort to get there. It is a lovely town and the surroundings are stunning. It is much more mountainous than the area around Nan--even right outside of town you start climbing into the hills. Definitely my favorite destination on my trip.
So the next morning I got up, relaxed for a bit, and then set off on the bus for Pai. It was a several hour ride on very mountainous roads, but the bit I was awake for was quite nice. As usual, I was the only foreigner around. Let me say this: that changed when I got to Pai. But that will have to wait for next post. See you later
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