Thailand: Mae Hong Son Loop Day 2- Temples, caves and random Aussies on tour

Making Friends at Wat phratJom Mon, near Mae Sariang in Northern Thailand

After waking up early for a tour of the morning markets in Me Sariang, we went in search of coffee and of course the odd Temple. Little did I know our chief navigator was on duty bright and early and before we knew it, we were on the road to the first temple of four for the day. Now I don’t mind a good temple or two. I’ve always found them to be humbling places and the architecture is always bold and colourful. I mean who doesn’t love the Guardians of the Temples. These mystical creatures had to be conjured up by someone with a very vivid imagination, and elements of twisted mind and a sprinkling of dislike towards children because some of them are positively nightmare stuff.

Wat Kittiwong Temple, Mae Sariang. Complete with dog that doesn’t like Farang or at least ones on a noisy Farang motorcycle.

Phrat Jom Mon Temple, has a distinctly Chinese flavour to the traditional Thai Temples.

Our first temple was a fizzer, non-descript in nature and it looked more like a school to me. Our next temple was guarded by dogs that clearly didn’t like visitors or a farang on a motorcycle. I managed to snap a quick photo before the dogs decided I was a tasty morsel from Australia.   Temples in Thailand tend to be prominently placed in a city for ease of worship and then there are the ones on the side of a mountain that offer a view as well as attend to your soul’s spiritual needs. They’re my favourite kind because they can be harder to get to and subsequently are less touristy in nature. Moreover, the view to me is all the soul food I need.  The third one we visited that day ticked all the boxes. Do yourself a favour if you are ever in Mae Sariang and want to see a temple, do this one. It’s called Phrathat Chom Kitti  and is on a mountain overlooking the surrounding district and town of Mae Sariang. The temple itself is rather simple by Thailand status but the views are second to none. Now if you want a different temple with a trippy Chinese flare (complete with sleepy camp dogs) then go see Prathat Jon Mon and the bonus of this place is a cool little coffee shop called Phamolor coffee nearby. Just be sure to go for a quick walk out the back and look out over the rice and corn fields for a chilled vista.

A road trip must include coffee, we found this funky one on the road to Phrat Jom Mon Temple.

Now there are only so many temples a non-practising catholic man can do and so after coffee it was time to hit the road on route to Mae Hong Son and a lazy 100km run for the day.  My only request for this leg of the journey, please no more temples, after a quick chat we opted for the cave system in the Keo Komon forest park near the sleepy village of Mae la Noi. Instantly when we turned off the main road I knew we were in Meanderthal country. This side road took us 10km or so through beautiful little villages complete with sleeping camp dogs lying in the middle of the road that refused to yield to traffic. They ooze the attitude –‘bitch this is my turf go around me’, then past the working green crop fields that were so vividly green on the contrasting overcast day. 

Kaeo Komon well worth the detour, just watch out for slippery moss on the narrow road to it.

The road got narrower and steeper. At some points the shade from the forest was so deep that the road was covered in moss and if you went out of the twin wheel tracks then the mould would have greeted you with welcoming arms and enveloped you in its slipperiness, causing one to bitumen nap at best or fall off the mountain at worst. Either way I wasn’t having a bar of it so I crawled up this mountain in first gear all the way. At the top of the road you come to the caves opening. Of course there’s a fee to go down into it. But it’s pretty nominal. You need to be patient here because they won’t let you go down without a guide and there is only so many people allowed in the cave at one time. Fortunately for us we jagged it and tacked onto a small tour so didn’t have to wait. The caves themselves are pretty cool limestone based and simply disappear straight down into the mountain on 5 levels. By the time you get to the 5th level you’re well and truly hot and dripping in sweat. The air isn’t the freshest so you’re keen to get out of there but it’s a pleasant enough experience and makes for a non-temple change. 

Kaeo Komon Cave

Kaeo Komon Cave, hot and stifling but fun none the less.

Our next stop for the day was an awesome impromptu feed at a nameless restaurant in the main street of Kun Yuam. This blew me away, we were literally riding into this town, it was about 2pm and we hadn’t eaten all day. I smelled this BBQ before I saw it and quickly slammed on the brakes and pulled over for a must have feed. We were famished, a hard days riding and exploring will do that. I think we must have ordered food for an army, because we stuffed ourselves silly on local pork, chicken dishes and sticky rice. The best part about this feed, complete with Beers it cost about $10 AUD for the three of us. Now it doesn’t get any better than that.
 Hitting the road with full bellies we hit the twisty roads and promptly ran into a couple of bikes stuck behind a truck. There the five of us sat patiently waiting for the opportunity to overtake and when it finally  came we did it in style like a synchronised team of riders all swerving around this truck and piling on the power. We travelled in unison, all throwing our bikes  around into curves for the next 20km or so, a mini convoy of riders with the same idea to get the most out of all the twists and turns the road had to offer.  Pulling over at a view point for a quick break and a look see our new found friends decided to join us and we had a great chat whilst soaking up the scenery. Mark and Anne were on holidays for 6 weeks from Sydney, Australia. They are experienced Bikers that have done many off road adventures in Australia and like us decided to tackle the loop for an adventure. We chatted a while before the rain for the day finally came so we all beat a hasty retreat to Mae Hong Son. They went their own way and we did our own thing. Little did we know that the loop would throw us together for more adventures later on down the track and that’s the beauty of road trips.

This local restaurant in the main street of Kun Yuam smelled so amazing I nearly crashed after locking up the brakes for a feed, I was that hungry.

Arriving in a soggy Mae Hong Son we booked into a nice little hotel in the centre of town and went out for more food and beers with friends of Kung Fu’s. These guys welcomed us like long lost souls returning from some sort of pilgrimage and it was a great end to the day, new friends, good food and of course ice cold beer. Fortunately for my liver the plan in the morning was to get up at 6am and do a sunrise hike. So it was an early night for all but you know what - that’s perfect too.

It’s simple moments like green fields, viewpoints or pending rain clouds that make road trips like this all the more interesting.