Off road through the mountains and Burmese refugees hitching a ride!
The north west corner of Thailand is famous for its endless mountains and winding roads. The Mae Hong Son Loop stretches from Mae Hong Son to Pai along highway 1095. The 107 kilometers of paved road boasts 1,864 corners and spectacular views along the way.
There are plenty of off-road tracks and mountains to explore. With only small villages and farmland around, there are no hotels or major services- coming prepared is essential.
Anyone who has a 4x4 and mud tyres will understand the irresistible desire to leave the hard top and find the dirt. In this part of Thailand, every track leads somewhere amazing.
The plan was to venture away from the Mae Hong Son Loop and find bigger mountains with better views. Once again Google Maps was used and confirmed tracks or trails up and over the mountains.
Dropping pins helped get us there but offered no real information on what we could expect. Tagged Map images from the internet were minimal so we were left with a bunch of surprises.
https://steemitimages.com/1280x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmTUNuXoYPbZFNoRrkDcJnK168m7tDojMjupRHCs4VWZBw/Screenshot%20(539).png
Image: Google Maps screenshot
As we continued driving higher, we had fantastic views looking down on to low lying cloud/fog. Rain and cooler temperatures created this and could be seen throughout the day, even when the sun was at its highest.
Fog and cloud obscured the view out across the valleys so there wasn't much to see. However, watching fog roll over the mountains was very cool- something that doesn't happen often, or is hard to find in Thailand.
The track I was following was exactly what I was hoping for, wet, muddy and higher than the surrounding land. What I wasn't expecting was to find an amazing cave a few kilometers on.
To drive from one mountain ridge to the next, we of course had to take a few ups and downs. The valley floor was much hotter and wetter. A small steam/river crossing seemed like a great place to cool off and take a dip before continuing on.
Further down the mountain, the stream/river had grown in size and had cut its way through the rock. A large cave had formed. On the river bank, footprints indicated a way in. About 200 meters in and around a long sweeping bend, the water seemed to flow through an underground tunnel.
There was no way I was going to put my head under the water, hold my breath and hope I'd come out the other side. A ray of light off in another direction was a much safer choice! It didn't meet up with the river and I couldn't hear any water but it did come out the other side. All I could see was thick jungle with lots of fallen rock with one small cavern half open to the elements.
Stalactites and stalagmites filled this part of the cave.
We had one more mountain to cross and one more view point to visit before connecting back to the Mae Hong Son Loop.
With the afternoon sun breaking through, we saw blue sky and fluffy white clouds- perfect timing to visit the view point. A small grassy meadow and wooden bench was our destination, trying to find it was harder than we thought. Bushes and pockets of forest hid the view point our of sight. We drove back and forth, in and out of the trees and skirted around the mountain edge- eventually we found it.
We spotted a track in the distance which seemed to match up with Google Maps. If we could get there, it would lead us 16 km out to the main road. A little cross country and we made it.
What happened next took us by surprise!
On the bumpy drive out we caught up with a family walking- a mum, a dad and 2 daughters. They heard the vehicle approaching from behind and flagged me down hoping for a ride.
Their story was, they were living as 'gatherers' in a small mountain village and were walking out to the main road to send their daughters off to school for the new term. They explained they were not allowed to farm the land but could collect mushrooms, nuts and berries they found growing wild to sell in the local market.
They continued to explain they were part of a local refugee camp but would take weeks out at a time to source and gather these items to bring back to market.
The black line on the youngest daughters nose was some kind of herbal medicine they had made to help with a nose infection! I have no idea what is was but it looked quite sticky- definitely wasn't charcoal as I first thought.
I had no problem giving them a lift but it was their choice to sit in the back of the truck. I guess this was safer for them and us since we were strangers, or maybe they just liked the fresh mountain air!
We had to make one stop along the main road for the father to drop off his basket of mushrooms and nuts and make a quick sale. I saw him share his earnings with his daughters and assumed it was spending money for school.
As we passed the first bus stop, the parents banged on the rear window as said we could drop them off and they would catch the bus. We decided to help a little more as we realised the school was in the same direction as we were headed.
They told us they did this journey at the start and end of every school term and that the walk from their home to the bus stop was a full 2 days- they made no mention about where they stayed the previous night as this was their second day of walking.
During term time the girls would stay with a school teacher in a dorm style block behind their school. Pretty tough going for the young kids, especially since they had no way to phone or communicate with the parents who lived in the mountains and not seeing them for months on end.
Half way up and around the Mae Hong Son Loop, we reached the school and said our goodbyes. A little further on and we passed the refugee camp wondering to ourselves if this was where they were from.
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