China Border Ride, Day 4 : Mae Sot – Mae Hong Son

Ride Itinerary:

Day 1 : KL - Surat Thani

Day 2 : Surat Thani – River Kwai, Kanchanaburi
Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot
Day 4 : Mae Sot – Mae Hong Son
Day 5 : Mae Hong Son - Pai
Day 6 : Pai
Day 7 : Pai – Chiang Rai
Day 8 : Chiang Rai – Huay Xai, Laos
Day 9 : Huay Xai – China Border, Boten
Day 10 : Huay Xai – Chai Nat
Day 11 : Chai Nat – Hua Hin
Day 12 : Hua Hin – Hatyai
Day 13 : Hatyai – KL

Day 4 : Mae Sot – Mae Hong Son

We left Mae Sod at 6.00 o'clock in the morning for Mae Hong Son's 1864 Corners, the day was still dark as we left the town.. As we were entering Route 105, that leads to Mae Sariang, the road was slippery and the condition was foggy..

The Mae Sod - Mae Sariang route is also known for Border Route as you'll be riding along the river which separates Myanmar and Thailand... Myanmar will always be in your sight when you ride along this route...




The distance between Mae Sod and Mae Sariang is only 230 km on Route 105.. it is just a short ride but it was an easy ride as it was hardly to meet any incoming vehicles... the road was empty for most of the time...

Upon reaching Mae Sariang, we stopped for breakfast at restaurant which sells great Khao Mun Gai and Iced Cafe Latte... Mae Sariang is a small town that located in between Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai.. hence the road condition on Route 108 to Mae Hong Son from Mae Sariang is better and wider than the previous road (Mae Sod to Mae Sariang route)..

Starting from Mae Sariang to Mae Hong Son, the road corners were medium and long corners... we encountered lots of chicanes.. beautiful chicanes especially when riding the heavy tourer; Road Glide and Road King..

Finally, we reached Mae Hong Son.. we really enjoyed riding on Route 108 to Mae Hong Son and because the ride was so amazing, we even thought of making another run to Mae Sariang and back to Mae Hong Son again...

Grabbed lunch and not to forget, the Mae Hong Son's 1864 Corners Certificate at the Mae Hong Son Council Municipal which is located few meters of Baiyoke Chalet... I was so proud to receive my Fourth certificate.. What a great self-achievement!!!

We checked in at The Imperial Mae Hong Son Resort and we received a warm welcome by the hotel staff.. They insisted us to park our Harley Davidson bikes in front of the entrance stairways.. where we saw other bikes, such as BMW and Ducati, were parked at the motorcycle parking bay.. That’s the privilege of riding Harley Davidson in Thailand..

Our Harley Davidson bikes parked in front of the hotel entrance

Then i brought Otai to a Wat Phrathat Doi Kongmu temple at the peak of Mae Hong Son Doi Kongmu mountain. From this temple, you could see the view of Mae Hong Son town. Not many people know that this is the best view point of Mae Hong Son town from this temple. You could see the airport, lake and another temple next to the lake.

For Dinner, we had grilled Tilapia fish with sticky rice and thai salad, khao pad thalay (fried rice with seafood) and Kluai Buad Chi (Thai sweet banana in coconut milk dessert) at the night market next to the Lake Jong Kham and Wat Jong Kham Temple.

Before we went back to Imperial Hotel, we went to a bar to check out live music and had couple of drinks although the night was still early..

Total distance from Mae Sod to Mae Hong Son is almost 400 km and took us nearly 7 hours which includes coffee breaks, lunch and photo shoot stops.. That is one of the reasons why I always prefer to leave Mae Sot early in the morning..




HooRahh!!

China Border Ride, Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot

Ride Itinerary:

Day 1 : KL - Surat Thani

Day 2 : Surat Thani – River Kwai, Kanchanaburi
Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot
Day 4 : Mae Sot – Mae Hong Son
Day 5 : Mae Hong Son - Pai
Day 6 : Pai
Day 7 : Pai – Chiang Rai
Day 8 : Chiang Rai – Huay Xai, Laos
Day 9 : Huay Xai – China Border, Boten
Day 10 : Huay Xai – Chai Nat
Day 11 : Chai Nat – Hua Hin
Day 12 : Hua Hin – Hatyai
Day 13 : Hatyai – KL

Day 3 : Kanchanaburi – Mae Sot

We have expected the ride was gonna be far to Mae Sot towards the Northern Thailand... We left Ploy Guesthouse in Kanchanaburi at 6.00 o’clock in the morning.. We planned to have breakfast along the ride to Nakhon Sawan..

First, we decided to ride along Route 324 and Route 321 which passes few towns such as Uthong Nakhon, Suphanburi (via By-Pass Route 357), Chai Nat and exits at Uthai Thani.

I have taught Otai how to use the road map so he would have ideas on our current location and where we were heading to. To know our next destination (through towns) is important when riding using map and we can estimate the distance and time to reach our destinations. Sometimes if we could have missed the Route number, we could use the town name as our reference.

It was a fine and hot day leaving Kanchanaburi to Mae Sot.. Mae Sot is located at the border of Thailand and Myanmar. The Burmese border town is called Myawaddy.

There are only 2 routes to reach Mae Sot from Kanchanaburi, which are Route 333 and Route 324, but the easiest and shortest route is riding through towns so we did not need to worry with fuel stops.. After passing Uthai Thani, we used Route 1 towards the North passing through Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet..

We stopped couple of times for refuelling and coffee break at Kamphaeng Phet.. Met new people who were excited to snap photos with our Harley Davidson bikes.. 

At Tak, we took Route 105 which leads us to Mae Sot.. The 80 km of riding is the ‘warm-up’ ride of Mae Hong Son’s 1864 Corners where the Route 105 starts to be hilly and full of corners in the mountain..

It was such a relief we reached Tak as we were starting to feel sleepy and tired riding along the boring straight road on Route 1 highway.. 

We reached Mae Sot town and started to look for Picturebook Guesthouse.. I found the boutique hotel via its website (www.picturebookthailand.org) .. The number of accommodations in Mae Sot have increased for the past 5 years… I remember 5 years ago, it was very difficult to find a decent accommodation in Mae Sot.. 

The Picturebook Guesthouse is situated in the middle of Mae Sot town and located in housing area.. It was easy to find and there are ample of parking spots for big motorcycles. 

Each of the room is beautifully decorated and has different theme such as The Zen Room, The Write’s Room, The Room By The Sea, The Naturalist Room, etc.. We booked two rooms with breakfast for RM60.00 each including breakfast..

I booked The Map Room for myself and Otai took The Drawing Room.. 

In the evening, we headed to Thailand – Myanmar border and we decided to enter Myawaddy in Myanmar to see how the border town is like..

To enter Myanmar for a day, we had to pay USD 10.00 per person and got our passports stamped.

Myawaddy, Myanmar

The day was turning dark.. At first, we thought of having dinner in Myawaddy but we were very concerned with our safety for staying late in Myanmar..

Therefore, we went back to Mae Sot and went to Tesco Lotus as we can have dinner at MK Restaurant.. At MK, we had steamboat and roast duck..

Today, we rode almost 6 hours covering 500 km from Kanchanaburi to Mae Sot.. It was a long ride and we really deserved to get a traditional Thai massage after the dinner.. We needed a good long rest before our Mae Hong Son’s 1864 Corners ride on the next day..

Ride in Style... HooRahh!!