So we rent this brand-spanking new pink scooter for our trip from Pai to Mae Hong San. We think it is good that it is brand new but forget to notice how small it is. Taking the bare minimum (meaning my 47 litre backpack full) we both climb on this trike of a bike we nick-name
Ladyboy and head off to Suppong with a deviation to the Lod cave. The ride was VERY bumpy, (and it had been extremely hilly from the start) and we arrived to the cave with bruised buttocks and rattled tailbones (with some periods of me walking up hills as the motor sounded like it was going to give up on occasion. ) The cave was awesome- huge- (looked like Yoda's lair) Our lovely guide took us around led by a big lantern and we walked around and saw many different shapes in the stalactites and stalagmites. She showed us some coffins that looked like canoes that were 1,000 years old. There was also a river going through the cave that we floated through on a bamboo raft. Mom would love the geology and geography here, it is so beautiful. We stayed at the Lemon guest house where the hostess reminded me of my Grandmother Sadie, but Thai. She insisted we call her Mama, and our little bamboo room looked over a rushing river. The next morning we hopped back on the bike and headed for Mae Hong San. When we stopped for gas Christian checked the oil and we asked the kid who worked at the gas station what type of oil to use and she gave us a small bottle of oil with 2 on the label, the rest was in Thai. Filled her up. (the gas is often puped into these glass jars and then poured through a hoe, measured manually-wild gas stations here) Started going up the hill when C thought the bike sounded funny, so we went to the nearest mechanic (which was closed, but people were helpful even though our Thai is quite limited) We ended up getting another bottle, this time white with 4 written on it and C did an oilchange much to the amusement on the onlookers. Moral of this story- don't trust a kid's mechanical advice-( duh!) Then we sped off to Mae Hong San with a little more worry wrinkle on our brow- would this bike make it all the way?? We arrived at the market along the fishlake in MHS and were delighted by the street food we encountered. The next morning we rented another bike from a wonderful tattoo artist named Tit- look him up if you are ever in Mae Hong San- him and his friends run a bar and are SO nice. THe one guy even lent me his full face helmut and gave me a little lesson on scooter riding. Thus began my first day riding my own motorbike. Scary. Exhilarating. Fast. Learning curve. We first took the bikes to a beautiful waterfall and then over to the fish cave where the fish are supposedly vegetarian- but it appears they might eat flies and eggs as well. They really like the lettuce we fed them. There was a cool bamboo structure which funnelled the river water to bamboo tubes and they made these knocking notes when they were full, then the water poured back into the river, they were filled up again, and the sound was repeated. Nice garden music. After that, we decided to go to see the longneck Karens at a bizarre refugee camp that is open to tourists. This sounds bad, I know, but perhaps before I go into this- what is a longneck? Google it to be more precise, but from what I gather these people come mainly from Burma, and due to ethnic wars, they had to leave and now live in this 'temporary' camp (for the past 16 years.) The ride was treacherous- my first day on a motorbike and we decided to go motor-cross country- it went on and on, but we finally arrived after sunset and there they were- beautiful women and girls with brass rings elongating their necks and occasionally limbs. They were cool, but it definately weird to be in an
Anthropological Disney world-type refugee camp- their handicrafts they were selling were beautiful- C bought me a lovely silver bracelet made by one of them. Today I will take a big Thai bus to return to Pai- and yes you need travel pills here- these roads twist!
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