*MOTO TRIP* *DAY RIDE* - Pai Sandwich : Chiang Mai > Pai < Chiang Mai

 Pai sandwich.
Riding 150km for a sandwich, eating it, then riding 150km back again. ^^^

*MOTO TRIP* *DAY RIDE* (scooter): Mae Ngat Dam area (not the dam itself)

Took a quick daytrip to the Mae Ngat Dam area via a back road. Unfortunately this trip was taken well before i had any notion about blogging about my trip, so the exact details are ..well...lost really. If I retrace my trip at some point, i will post an update.

Anyway, when people think of the dam, they usually think of the famous house boats. These are houseboats on the dam that you can rent for x period of time and stay on. Citylife Magazine (Chiang Mai's staple English language magazine), has a good article on the houseboats here.

Instead of heading to the most well-known zones I took a look at an off-the-beaten-track route that went through a zone that was overgrown and had pretty much zero vehicles. On this route there was even a rural hilltribe local lady who was gathering something from the ground excitedly. Stopped to chat to her, but her Thai was quite broken (obviously not her native tongue). Turned out she was gathering some ant eggs. She had laid down bate and had been waiting for the larvae. She was looking 

forward to cooking them up that evening. She told me they are very delicious and even invited me to join her! This is something i love about people here; the generosity and kindness of spirit. This lady looked like she had so very little in the way of material anything, yet was willing to share her prize with me. I was so humbled...even though i declined politely saying i had no time.  

This route was very enjoyable and eventually came out at a more established road and I progressed  towards Mae Ngat Dam. A little before the dam there was a wonderful scene of people getting wet and playing in canal-ways. Obviously connected to the dam. There were food vendors and the water was nice and flowing. Decided to stop there to eat and enjoy the water, rather than head on to the dam area. Lots of bbq dishes around including some kind of larvae/pupae. Not really my style if im honest, haha.

Ordered some typical bbq food and a cool drink at sat by the water. Ended up being entertained by some (slightly inebriated) local Thai guys. Chilled for a while and then headed back home.
Excellent day!

I did actually visit the dam again some time later and it was completely bone dry!
No people around and no bbq.
That was around late November.

If i visit again, i will document the location as well as my findings.

*MOTO TRIP* *DAY RIDE* (scooter): Mon Chaem, Mae Rim.

Mon Cham (often spelled as Jam) is a scenic day trip from Chiang Mai city center. You can always stay there if you prefer, but i usually just make it a day trip. 


Located on Mong Nong Hoi village, Mon Cham is part of the Royal Project, growing herbs, fruits and vegetables. Due to it's cooler temperatures, a great deal of products are grown which are not often available elsewhere. Strawberries are particularly sought after from this area (you can also do your own strawberry picking). The flowers are really quite stunning and attract a great deal of butterflies, some of which are very unusual looking.

Viewpoint, Restaurant & Camping

The main destination at Mon Cham is the mountain viewpoint which has a Royal Project restaurant, serving fresh dishes made from local ingredients.  You can also camp just down from the restaurant area, which I'm sure must be quite beautiful, especially early mornings and sunset/dusk periods, but i haven't experienced that, so cannot comment (if i recall the prices are between the 700 - 2000 baht range)

Restaurant Opening Hours:

9:00 - 19:00 (August - September)

9:00 - 21:00 (October - February)

The photos are from March period (when it is less scenic than other periods, yet still a lovely trip). March in Chiang Mai region has burning/pollution issues, which often restrict views. It is also the hot season, so quite parched. The good thing about this period though is that there are less tourists around. Peak periods during the cool season (Nov - Feb) attracts visitors to the viewpoint, sometimes excessively. If you visit during the peak cool season period, i recommend you go on a weekday rather than at the weekend.

 

*MOTO EVENT* - REAL CUSTOM BIKER SHOW 2013

Hosted at the 700 Year Stadium the event, the Real Custom Biker Show was a really enjoyable event.
Don't have much to say about this really, so I will leave you with photos instead! (Sorry, there are quite a few photos of me with the bikes, rather than the bikes. At the time I didn't even consider blogging, so they were just meant for personal use. In future I will attend events with writing about them in mind!)

 

 

*MOTO TALE* Hilltribe School - Mae Na Chon

 









Here is a tale to pull the heart strings and give you a little faith in humanity.

My friend (an off-road tour company owner and animalistic drummer!) Alan, came across a hill tribe school when searching for new tour trails. This school was in dire need of some assistance as it was poorly funded. The main care for the upkeep was coming from the Royal Thai Border Patrol Police and the Army, with teaching carried out by volunteers. The children and their families were quite poor in the region, and there was very little in the way of facilities, including running water. 
 
So Alan, being the soft-hearted gentle giant that he is, after speaking with the staff and border police, decided that he would make an appeal to help the school out. Over the course of a few years, with the help of the local community and volunteers at the school, lots of fantastic improvements took place.

By the time I went along for the first time, some of these changes had already taken place and work was ongoing. On this particular day (14th August 2013) it was more about a celebration day for the children. Essential items were taken up in 4x4 trucks and a few riders who had donated came along for the ride. A bit of fun was organised for the children, which included a giant bag of toys for them to enjoy (which was part of the Chiang Mai ToyRide, an annual fundraiser for children in need.)

Me, not knowing what services to offer for that day, fell back upon face-painting, which I had done on a few occasions in the past with a bit of success. So, armed and ready, I waited for the children to come over and have their faces painted upon.

None came.
They were super shy! 

One of the volunteer teachers rounded up a couple of the children (haha, poor things!) and veered them in my direction. I had already printed out a collection of face paint designs I had gathered from the net (spiderman, butterfly face, etc), so i showed the paper to the first wary victim sitting in front of me. His eyes lit up as he pointed to Spiderman. So..Spiderman he became. This got the other boys a little excited and a low hum of whispers started circulating among them. The next brave victim took the seat and became Batman. The hum of whispers then started getting louder and the buzz of energy was starting to draw in curious faces. By the time I had finished the third face and looked up, i could no longer see the same surroundings I had before. I was now right in the center of a mob of children all battling to get a view of the facepainting going on. Haha! Great!

HOWEVER, I then realised that I had a sea of eager faces all wanted to be painted on, but only one of me. I needed to step up the pace, drastically!

I really don't think i have ever painted that many faces in such a short duration in my entire life. I just didn't want to let any of the children down. By the end of it I was hot and sweaty but I felt absolutely wonderful. I looked around and saw children playing the roles of their painted faces, whereas before they were being shy and reserved. Success!

But getting back to the important stuff. Over the course of a couple of years hundreds of thousands of baht was raised. This money transformed not only the school, but paid for necessary items such as warm winter blankets and health care, such as eye testing and spectacles.

I had the joy of returning again a year later to help paint the outside of the school building. Was a fun day even though I was initially teased by friends for wearing a disposable pink rain jacket (joke was on them when I had no paint splashes to worry about though!). It seemed that some of the children remembered me from before, but most were too shy to speak. They just would stand and watch a little then run away with nervous giggles when spoken to. One boy in particular though was very brave and practiced his English on me. I was very impressed!  








It was a very heartwarming experience and wonderful to have had the chance to go along.
Hope it gave you a nice warm feeling too :D

 

To end, I should give a quick plug for Alan's tour company which offers amazing tour packages. If you check his website you will see what I mean. He offers fully supported and fully inclusive, motorbike tours for off-road, on-road & enduro: Thai Bike Tours

*NOTE* A couple of these photos are from others who attended the event and not my property