Day four was a rest day. And what better way to rest up than by climbing a really big hill? As luck would have it there is a hilltop temple overlooking Mae Hong Son! First, we began the day by chasing up a couple of american breakfasts and banana pancakes. Powered by bacon and pancakes we started up towards the temple.
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The hill turned out to be taller than it looked. It was good exercise though. We certainly appreciated the opportunity to give our leg muscles a bit of a work out. Despite the smoke the view got better the higher we went.
After eventually reaching the top and having a little bit of a look around the hilltop temple there wasn't anything to do apart from walk back down. The walk was great and got the blood pumping but it was a little anticlimactic really. Perhaps on a clear day it would have been a little more dramatic. By the time we returned to the streets below the day had really heated up and we were good and sweaty so we headed back to our guest house for a shower and lie down.
When the day cooled down (and our legs had recovered) we were able to have a better look around town. There is a main street with plenty of shops and restaurants and a vibrant outdoor night market selling the usual assortment of bags, shoes, t-shirts and other odds and ends. The whole place is pretty relaxed. We were not terribly surprised to see signs like this.
In the evening we discovered a real treat. We're both very fond of Japanese food. Who would have thought that, here in the town of Mae Hong Son, Thailand, we would discover some really superb Japanese? Certainly not us. We saw a Japanese restaurant that looked ok, the prices were pretty good so we took a seat and ordered some old favourites. By any standard the miso soup and sushi we received were really good. The sushi was made right in front of us by a young man who clearly took enormous pride in his work.
After a delicious dinner we wandered along to a bar on a corner of the town's main street. From our table looking out onto the street we had an excellent position to watch Mae Hong Son life go by. We were not the only ones watching the intersection. This old dog would wander out into the street every five minutes so, have a good look around, then return to sitting on the footpath.
Mae Hong Son was a great spot for a rest day. There was stuff to do but not so much that we were more tired than when we started. Also, because the centre of town is easily small enough to walk around we were able to go the whole day without getting on the motorcycle. Our bottoms were thankful.
Mae Hong Son Loop Day 4 Costs
At the time 30 Baht was about $1.
Breakfast. 2 x american breakfast + banana pancake = 200B
1 expensive new glasses cleaning cloth = 120B
They threw in another cheap one for free which would have been fine on its own :\
Lunch. Drunken chicken noodle, fish with kaffir lime, 2x soda, banana shake, watermelon shake = 200B
1 oil massage + 1 thai massage = 350B
14 banana muffins = 10B
2 tomago nigiri + 2 miso ramen = 130B
1 large Leo beer and 1 sprite = 105B
Accommodation = 400B
- Mae Hong Son Loop Preparations
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 1 – Chiang Mai To Mae Chaem
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 2 – Mae Chaem To Khun Yuam
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 3 – Khun Yuam To Mae Hong Son
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 4 – Hanging Out In Mae Hong Son
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 5 – Mae Hong Son To Pai
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 6 – Exploring Pai
- Mae Hong Son Loop Day 7 – Pai To Chiang Mai
- Advice For Doing The Mae Hong Son Loop
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