Riding up to Mae Hong Son – Day 1 to 4

We’ve been planning and talking about this trip for almost a year! Mae Hong Son – somewhere in the northern region of Thailand – always has a special place in every motorcycle rider’s heart. With beautiful roads, amazing scenery and 1864 of fun-packed twisty bends to negotiate, it’s motorcycling Nirvana.

Riding up to Mae Hong Son – that’s 2,709km away from home!

The Mae Hong Son loop typically starts from Chiang Mai, and most people work the loop clockwise as the roads starts of relatively easy, and gets progressively more challenging. It connects Chiang Mai to Doi Inthanon, to Mae Cheam, Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son, and Pai, before ending up in Chiang Mai. And while I’ve done it in back in 2016 on my Pulsar 200NS, this time, I’m doing the loop with company. 7 friends rode up from Singapore to northern Thailand over 12 days and had a blast of a time!


DAY 1, 13 DEC (THU) – SINGAPORE to KL’ish

While Team 1 was up in Thailand 2 days back, Team 2 didn’t take as many days of leave, and thus was only able to move off after office hours on Thursday night. We decide not to push ourselves too hard and headed up to KL for the night.

Moving off in the evening.
We arrived at Eco Garden just before midnight.
The allowed us to park our bikes on the walkway just outside the property as it had CCTV coverage. How thoughtful!
Not bad at all for S$22 a night!

DAY 2, 14 DEC (FRI) – KL to HAT YAI TRAIN STATION

Travelling into Hat Yai, Thailand.
Several bus-loads of tourists arrived just as we reached Sadao border. Yikes!
Sadao border – we spent almost an hour here processing our paperwork.

First order for the day was to head to the Hat Yai train station. We needed to get tickets for both ourselves and for our bikes. To save some time (and energy), we planned to train up to Nakhon Pathom – 1 stop before Bangkok, and then ride the remaining way up north.

Hat Yai train station!
Phew! Heaving a sigh of relief when we learnt that there was enough cargo space for our bikes up to Nakhon Pathom.
Our bikes parked at Hat Yai Junction train station.
Really late lunch for 2 really hungry diners!
Monkey’ing around on a Monkey.

While waiting for time to pass, we went for a 1.5hr foot, neck and shoulder massage after lunch – for only 400THB!

About an hour before the train was scheduled to depart, we headed back to the station to tend to our bikes.

Found our bikes at the platform. The station handlers have pushed it over in prep for loading up the train.
Removing the motorcycle luggage as these won’t go up as cargo with the bikes.
Hey! Wait for me!
Tying down and securing the bikes in the cargo carriage.
Bike secured!
Now we’re ready to roll!
Our bunk for tonight.
Goodnight everyone!

DAY 3, 15 DEC (SAT) – HAT YAI TO NAKHON PATHOM & KANCHANABURI

We arrived Nakhon Pathom in the morning. The train timetable here cannot be relied upon. While we rolled off pretty much on time from Hat Yai station, we arrive more than 2 hrs later than scheduled. But hey! We’re on a holiday!

We’ve arrived!
GSA unloading.

Since Team 1 arrived 2 days back, they’ve gotten tired of Nakhom Pathom, and have moved up to Kanchanaburi. So shortly after we got our bikes unloaded, Ian and I rode up to Kanchanaburi to meet up with Team 1.

Coke Plus Coffee – what a clever combination of a caffeine beverage!
Parked our bikes at P&P Place, Kanchanaburi.
Meeting up with Team 1! Ian was feeling under the weather and decided to rest in his room.
Walking along Thamrakse Bridge.
Whoops!
Headed to a nearby (now closed) tiger conservatory.
We couldn’t resist the photo opportunity.
Dinner at the nearby night market.

DAY 4, 16 DEC (SUN) – KANCHANABURI to MAE SOT

The breakfast gang.
30 THB for a bowl of porridge and egg!
The bridge over Rive Kwai
With the train approaching, this guy looked dead serious in keeping tourists off the rail track.
Choo choo moving along.
And once the train passed, the tourists are out on the tracks again.
Huat ah!
Visiting the nearby temple.

And when we returned to our hotel and before we moved off, the owner of the place invited us to some food. Of course! How could we say no to free food?

I love the skewered BBQ pork of Thailand!
Aroy mak mak!
That’s the hotel owner in the middle!

We left Kanchanaburi late morning and headed to Nakhon Sawan to meet up with Team 3 who have arrived earlier this morning!

Lunch at Coffeeholic in Nakhon Sawan – finally the MHS teams are united!
Khao Pad Mu for lunch.
Met this dude with a funny looking helmet and his Royal Enfield. He didn’t say much.
We rode into the dark up to Mae Sot.
Dinner in Mae Sot.

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