3-Day Trip out to Pang Mahpa and Back

[mikehohman]

Last weekend, i and 3 Canadians (my colleague from work and his brother and friend, visting from Winnipeg or whatever) rode out to Pang Mahpa and the Cave Lodge for a quick getaway. We had a a real nice time, wanted to share a couple notes from the trip and some photos. Hope you enjoy.

We rented 4 CRF205L's from Lan at C&P and rode off early Friday morning, taking the main sealed rode to Pai. From there we cut north and round about through the forest/jungle on the dirt and into Baan Thom Lod and the Cave Lodge. We took a leisurely pace and arrived about 4:00 PM. A beautiful ride, both the asphalt and the dirt. We had about 20 minutes of heavy rain, in the mountains north of Pai, but otherwise, was clear and sunny. A few pix:

Fueling up

Bridge Crossing

Beautiful trail covered in pine needles, near the Burma Border...

Hunters we met on the trail

A fairly good size rut...

Contemplating a river crossing

Huey we came across along the trail.

Now a few shots of the fabulous Cave Lodge - they had just removed he roof the day before we arrived. They are putting in a new one now...

Sunrise

Workmen

Refreshments

Woodwork

The Kitchen, with friendly staff...

Bamboo fire for the sauna...

Wood fire for the hot water heater...

Late Friday evening went spent exploring the Thom Lod (The Cave that the River runs through...)

We spent all day Saturday kayaking on the Kong and Pai rivers, but i don't have any pix. It was really a lot of fun, highly recommended.

Sunday, we came back by the road south of Pai through Someong and into Chiang Mai.

Sunset at Pang Mapha lookout, Saturday evening on the way back from Mae Hong Son...

Leaves

Karen taking a break on the high ridge road back to Chiang Mai

Monk contemplates eternity

We ran into a funeral march for a Burmese Monk when we rolled back into Chiang Mai about 3:30 PM

And the sunset home Sunday evening flight back to Bangkok

A really great weekend. Everything was so much fun, the ride out, the Caving, the Kayaking, the ride back, the Huey, the Parade, what a great weekend. Thanks North Thailand!!

Mike

 

[Ally]

Fabulous Mike, looks like your friends had a good ride. That is a lovely area around there.

Ally

 

[Captain_Slash]

A good report there Mike

 

[bsacbob]

Thanks for sharing great pictures by the way.

 

[Lone Rider]

Thanks Mike for the write up and the pictures and yes, the north of Thailand is a great place to ride. Sometimes I scold myself for my frequent trips to Laos (takes me close to 2 days to get to the south of Laos) while the equally beautiful north of Thailand is only 2-3 hours from my place.

 

[Just Bob]

Stunning photography! Thanks.

 

[KTMphil]

You take beautiful photo's Mike, did you have any clutch problems with the CRF's??

 

[mikehohman]

No, no problems with the bikes, they all ran smooth. And mine even came with a full tank of gas... Lan and C&P is all right.

 

[bigntall]

Mike I always enjoy thumbing through your reports and soaking in your photogrpahy.

Your picture of the workers at the viewpoint surprised me by showing a (for this time of year) clear skyline. Was it indeed that much clearer north of Pai or is it post processing assisting?

 

[mikehohman]

Mike I always enjoy thumbing through your reports and soaking in your photogrpahy.

Your picture of the workers at the viewpoint surprised me by showing a (for this time of year) clear skyline. Was it indeed that much clearer north of Pai or is it post processing assisting?

Thanks Justin, glad you like the pix.

No post processing on the skies, they really were that clear and blue. Although this is not north of Pai, it's on the road south of Pai back into Chiang Mai, somewhere between Wat Chan and Samoeng. Right where the pavement ends and dirt begins. In general, we had some pretty hazing skies all over, but the ride back really great.

 

[bigntall]

Thanks Mike. Seems you boys had some lovely luck with the skies. Hope to catch up with again.