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My internet has been really bad and I haven’t be able to upload photos. So I’ll try to catch up on the past 2 weeks!

I decided to leave Pai a little early and go a little farther north near Soppong. I had heard alot about a place called the Cave Lodge. I was able to book a very simplistic bamboo hut which reminded me how much I enjoy simple living. Bamboo, a matress and a mosquito net were just about all that made up my new home for 4 days. The lodge had all sorts of activities which included a lot of caving, hiking, kayaking; basically everything I love to do. Unfortunately the water was a bit to low so I decided to skip the kayaking and just go caving instead. I ended up going on a 10 hour adventure in order to get to one of the largest caves in Northern Thailand, and it was beyond worth it. It was a great experience scrambling, wading and swimming through water in order to get through the cave. After that I decided I was just going to take it easy and relax for the rest of my time in Soppong. One of the days I spent about 4 hours walking up and down the river and reading. During this time though I seemed to have been adopted by a small pack of dogs. They insisted on following me for the entire time and actually came and laid next to me while I was reading. This of course really made me miss my dog back home, but it also reminded me how great a feeling it is to be around animals. It's perfect timing to be reminded of this because tomorrow I am heading to an elephant sanctuary to care for and play with elephants for an entire week. It doesn't seem real yet that I will be going but my level of excitement has been growing for almost a month now and its getting harder and harder to contain it!

#travel #travelsoutheastasia #getoutside #soppong #thailand #caves

Our Mae Hong Son Loop (Chiang Mai-Chiang Mai)

We set off south on our Honda 125 moped, as packed as it could be for a five day trip, raincoats included! The Mea Hong Son loop has various routes, we left Chiang Mai towards the Doi Inthanon national park, here we could bike up to one of Thailand's best waterfalls, Mae Ya. A very wide waterfall and defiantly worth a look, from here we continued through the park to the highest point in Thailand. You can drive right to the top and we were greeted by rain, at 2565 meters above sea level, the temperature had plummeted to just 17 degrees! Onwards and downwards and we reached Mae Chaem, a quite district nestled in picturesque mountains, it didn't take us long to find a cute hut in the countryside with a pool for us to cool down in! Early start to progress to Khun Yuam township, an educational stop at the Thailand-Japan friendship museum with displays of wartime artefacts. That afternoon we reached Mae Hong Son and checked into a simple room by the lake. Once the rain had subsided we took a walk up to the temple on the hill for a view of the city, slightly spoilt by the airport runway! A few bars entertained us that night, but not for long as we had to press on the next morning. Heading towards the Burmese border to track down the long neck village, this Karen tribe had moved over the border from Burma to settle in Thailand. The brass coils around their necks are a symbol of cultural identity... However a lot of the women have moved to Chiang Mai for tourism, we abandoned the bike to trek about half an hour on foot to reach the original village where a long neck was selling homemade items, we stopped for a drink with the locals in this very traditional village. Back on the road and it was up north to another Burmese border to sample a taste of China in Ban Rak Thai. Mainly Chinese born live here and it surprising felt Chinese, of course we tried their tea with a view of the lake and mountains. Next stop the fish cave (Tham Pla), here a river feeds into a cave and large amounts of Phluang fish similar to carp said to be there to be guardians of the forest. Finally we arrived rather soggy to Soppong... We checked into a lovely riverside cottage at a great price with it being low season we could use our negotiation skills, time to chill out and take in the river view. Tuesday morning is market morning so we walked down the Main Street on search for breakfast... Fresh mangos, pineapples and steamed bread! A quick stop at Lod cave before we soon hit Pai, a vibrant hippy city with an art and music scene. There are actually more guest houses than residence... We found a spot out of town and stayed in a little hut with a roof top seating area! After choosing a place to eat for lunch we relaxed in the pool before taking the bike up to the huge white Buddha on the hill for sunset. Although the sunset wasn't the best, the view was pretty neat. At night the streets come alive with the night market... Vendors selling all kinds of street food and crafts and Live music in most bars. A fairly long drive back to Chiang Mai on Wednesday via the Pai canyon for yet more views of the town. Our MHS loop covered 710km and we enjoyed riding the 1864 curves!

#thailand #chiangmai #maehongson #Mae Hong son loop #Soppong #Pai

Soppong

Have you ever been caving? M and I hadn't, and so we took off in a minibus through the winding roads northwest of Chiang Mai. From the small town of Soppong we were driven by motorbike to Cave Lodge, one of the greatest places we stayed at in Thailand. Our little bungalo had a small balcony looking over the shallow creek (river in wet season) next to the establishment. In the main building one could lounge in hammocks or sit on pillows and eat delicious food from their kitchen.

We arrived in the afternoon, and M promptly went exploring the nearby trails. Remember that horrible stomach bug I caught? It had hit that morning, and I am desperately proud that I made it to our lodgings, but once there I needed to recuperate. That night I ate food and kept it down for the first time in a day (yay!) and let me tell you it was glorious to drink water after so long without.

Recovered, the next morning M and I joined four others for a day-long caving trip. Our first cave was a good introduction to the activity: helmets and headlamps on we climed down rocks into the depths of this seemingly-solid hill. Inside we found bats and spiders, mercifully none to close. That is, except for the one that flew into M's head... Both survived! The next cave was a wet one, and cramped. We had to army crawl underneath shelves of stalactites no more than ten inches high, including the space under the stream running through the cave! M claims to have swallowed some of the water, unable to fit his helmetted head through while keeping his mouth above it.

Finally, after lunch and a short lesson on making projectile grass (something M had a great aptitude for, as it happens) we went to the final cave. Beautiful, primarily white,a pleasant maze of caves we were somewhat allowed to explore on our own. Then it was back to the Cave Lodge, where the six of us went down to the creek to wash our clothes. The water ran brown as we rinsed pants and socks and shirts, and my running shoes will never be the same. It was still worth it!

We finished up with a sauna, but unfortunately right at this time the same sudden sickness I'd had hit M, and he followed in my footsteps with a rough twelve hours. We took it easy the next day, enjoying the fantastic atmosphere of the lodge, and left regrettfully the next morning. We has just one stop left in Northern Thailand...

#thailand #soppong #travel

On the way to Mae Hong Son

After breakfast we left the guest house. The Sonic needed a drink so I stopped at the gas station. Than it was off to a little village in the mountains.

The Lisu had to fill up too – now they drive back to their mountain village

Its me and my small bike

We did stop for a picture and the Greek had to smoke a pipe. Canada had to go and get water – these girls can not be without water longer than…

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#Animal #Cat #Mae Hong Son #Photo #Soppong #Thailand #Travel

Pai to Soppong (Pang Mapah)

We took the local bus from Pai to Soppong to stop off on our way to Mae Hong Son and seems some of the caves and perhaps do a couple of walks. Sopong is also called Pang Mapah like the name of the district.

The bus is scheduled at 11 AM bus from Pai bus station (on walking street) - ours arrived slightly delayed at 11.30. It is the only local bus of the day.

It is quite an old bus and doesn't go very fast but I think that for this short run (1.30 in bus versus 1h in mjni bus), it is a better idea as it doesn't go so hard around the curves and who have time to admire the beautiful mountains of the area.

The below photos do not do justice to the scenery.

Ignore the electric cables...

The bus costs 45 baht per person - versus 100 baht for the mini-bus. You can buy the tickets on the bus directly... in fact the only way to do so when we went. The office told us they cost 60 and to buy on the bus, but finaly they turn out to be 45 a head.