Mae Sa Valley Loop

This morning we rented another motorcycle for a little ride out of town. After dropping off my passport at the Chinese consulate (to get a new visa), we went north as far as Mae Rim, then followed a lovely two-lane road that went up the Mae Sa Valley towards Samoeng. Not far up the road was the Mae Sa Elephant Nursery. Originally, we had planned to visit and even go on an elephant ride, but dropped the idea rapidly when we were informed of the price at the gate. Instead, we ate our fried chicken with sticky rice (that we had brought with us from town) on a picnic table across from the elephant farm. We did get to see some elephants from across the river:



The drive from there to Samoeng was really beautiful, through the northern Thai jungle, with a mist and sometimes a slight drizzle. No photographs could capture the impression, so I didn't bother trying. As we approached Samoeng, we were a little nervous because we were nearly out of fuel, but we did get to a gas station in time. Check out the gas pump we used:



We had lunch in Samoeng. Even in this very remote place there were two other white people who showed up. Both appeared to have "gone native" and married a local. One Englishman came up to me to introduce himself. I knew right away he wasn't an ordinary Englishman when he said "Me England" and proceeded to speak without the use of any articles. Seems he's been in Thailand for a few too many decades.

From Samoeng, we followed highway 1269 towards Hang Dong. Gina suddenly yelled that she had seen a deer and so we stopped to take a look. After much confusion, I figured out that she had actually seen a road (same pronunciation in Chinese). I'm still not sure why THAT was so exciting, but we did walk down the road a little bit to look at a minority village. There was nobody in sight and we had no idea who the villagers were. Here's me by a papaya tree we encountered there:



Here's a couple more views from the highway (the first one with a cow and a wat in the background):





Finally, how can I not mention the "Beer Hut". Nearly every sign along the entire route was in Thai. Lots of roads and driveways headed off to the sides, but since we didn't know if the signs were welcoming us in or threatening us with death if we trespassed, we thought it best not to intrude. The Beer Hut, on the other hand, had an English sign and we figured they can't possibly not want us to stop by for a drink.



I think you can actually spend the night in those houses back behind. If anybody is interested, the Beer Hut is on highway 1269, on the Samoeng side of the Belle Ville Resort. They have a phone number too: 01-7966037. If you want to look for our graffiti on the wall, here are our signatures (just under the elephant):



Back in Chiang Mai, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts since I was having a donut craving (actually I've had this unfulfilled donut craving since September). I ate four and am saving two for later...