Fun with scooters

(don't I look like a pilot! well, good cause I am-- a scooter pilot! (yes, I am a loser))

I have taken a liking to renting scooters and cruising around on them. At first I was nervous about the whole driving on the other side of the road thing, and I did find myself heading into oncoming traffic more than once, but I'm not dead yet and you can't beat the freedom of going wherever you please.

In the North of Thailand it is quite hilly and the roads are accordingly curvy. It is said that the road from Chiang Mai to Pai is the most beautiful in Thailand and also the most likely to make you sick. Somehow you are less likely to be sick driving a moto, and more likely to have fun! My first moto rental was in Chiang Mai though, and I spent the day cruising around with this English fellow I met named Dave. We spent the morning cruising around the old ruins of Chiang Mai. They really like to build wats in this area. It is like they built a hundred wats, let them all go to ruin and then built a hundred more.

After the ruins we did a big loop up into the hills around Chiang Mai, the highlight of which was stopping at this waterfall. we had to drive up a gnarly dirt road and were then led down to the waterfall by some local kids. The kids prompted me to jump in with them which I naturally did without hesitation. I figure if it's safe enough for young Thai boys it's safe enough for me!

Dave and I took the bus to the nearby city of Pai. I was nearly sick by the end of it but others in the bus were much worse off than I was. There is something like 700 hairpin turns along that route. The whole time I was wishing I was on a scooter. The town of Pai itself is known as a sort of hippy retreat, but I just found it a boring touristy small town. However, scooters are cheap for the renting and the roads are great fun. We headed off in search of caves, which the limestone hills around Pai are known for. We headed for the most popular one, which apparently you can kayak through, but at the rental place all their small kayaks were taken out and we would have had to wait. The old English guy who worked there suggested we take this back road to visit a hill tribe and maybe see a cave there. With the power of the scooter it was easily done, though the road was a one lane dirt strip going steeply up and down the whole way.The hill tribe (Khmer people) were very nice and we had no trouble finding a guide. Before we left he brought us to his house to meet his family. We drank rice whiskey with him and some really salty tea, it just tasted like salt water. I said, "oh, very salty." His eyes lit up and he said, "You want more salt?" The man's name was Catty and he was very friendly. He is the fellow in red sitting beside me, below. His wife and friend seemed less enthused with our presence. He took us to see a really cool little cave with a Buddhist shrine in it.

After visiting the hill tribe we set out to look for this cave called the Coffin cave. It was hard to find and I passed the tiny sign for it twice, but luckily Dave saw it and got my attention. It is just a tiny path off the main road that leads up to this series of limestone caves which are all interconnected via neat little passages. It felt very Indiana Jonesy, minus the Nazis. All throughout were remnants of two thousand year old wooden coffins that were hauled up to the caves. In my picture they just look like shards of wood, but it was very cool.I really felt like all these things would not have been easily accessible without the scooter. And in an area of Thailand that is absolutely crowded with backpackers it was a good way to get off and feel on your own. Hurrah to the men who invented the scooter! Hurrah, Hildebrand & Wolfmueller, hurrah!!