Mae Hong Son Loop - Mae Hong Son

The first "clockwise" bus out of Mae Sariang, our first stop on the Mae Hong Son Loop, is at 12:30 pm so we have a whole morning to kill. When the bus eventually arrives at 1:00 pm Sun-Ling springs into action and snags us a couple of good seats while I stow our big packs under the bus. She says she "sprang" when she saw some local ladies get a "very focused look on their faces" when the bus pulled in.

This was perhaps the hottest bus ride ever with my thermometer never going below 95 F and often at 99. Maybe I should just leave the thermometer at home. ;-) Even a blast of 100 degree air is not cooling. But after almost 5 hours on the bus Sun-Ling led us right to a hotel with a pool. Woohoo.

Enough about bus rides. We liked Mae Hong Son. Although there was no 100% vegetarian restaurant in town, we ate well at noodle stands and restos. There was a view point, two lively morning markets, a night market next to our hotel, and we had a view of the lake during breakfast (which we enjoyed so completely that I did not get a photo of SL + coffee + lake). BTW, the free coffee at Piya Guest House is the best in SE Asia so far.

There were a dozen young monks on the packed 12:30 bus.


And there were wood floorboards.


Not so typical view out the bus window; usually there was no view to speak of. It's the dry season and the hills are brown.


Night Market along the lake in Mae Hong Song with a temple at back.


From the noodle stalls: fresh wide noodles with pickled vegetables and a salted egg.


Sunrise over the lake = morning coffee view.


Morning alms giving. The man had exactly 12 packages on his tray, one for each of the 12 monks. How did he know that 12 monks would come by, not 1 or 5?




The Morning Market gets going early and there's loads of veggies and snacks.






Stopping in to one of the local Buddhist temples, we happened on a funeral. The casket is on the cart at right with the flowers and elaborate roof.


Looks like the deceased was the family matriarch.


The roof on this temple reminded us of the Orthodox Christian churches in Romania.


Done with morning markets, we headed up to Wat Phai Doi for the view, er non-view, too hazy. But you can make out the lake.


Bananas for sale near the bus station.


More veggie noodle soup for lunch.


Did I mention the hotel had a pool? ;-)


Sunset.


Most restaurants and food stalls in this part of Thailand have self-service free water - ice in the cooler and tin cups up top.




The lake at night.


Desert from a food stall.


Ford Anglia seen on the street - nice!