Of
the many activities available around Mae Hong Son, the trip to Ban Rak Thai, a
former Komingtang village in the mountains near the Myanmar border, was highly touted so we
decided to rent motorcycles the next day and go there. Though these
were pretty easy to drive little Honda 125s,
it had been well over 50 yrs since I'd been on one and as I was struggling to get the hang of it, off I went down the wrong side of the road, reverting to habit. Wondered why the rental woman was running after me shouting. It didn't take too long to get the hang of it though and off we went.
Ban Rak Thai (literally "the Thai-loving village"), is also known as Mae Aw in many guide books and some maps. It was settled by former Kuo Min Tang (Nationalist) fighters from Yunnan Province, China, after the Communist takeover of China. The population is about 800, mainly Chinese-born or Thai-born Chinese. Many signs are in Chinese, and much of the population speaks a heavily accented version of Mandarin Chinese.
On the way there we stopped at Su Tong Pae Bamboo Bridge that led across rice fields to a wat on a hillside on the other side of the valley.
Spence
The 35km trip passed through some of the prettiest scenery I'd seen so far though it was a wild, hair raising trip winding steeply up, up, up, then steeply down, down, down with crazy hairpin turns. Fortunately, there was little traffic.
Nearing our destination we began to see tea plantations as the cool, moist climate up there is conducive to tea cultivation.
Here again, the town is nestled around a little man made lake and the strong Chinese influence is reflected in the food and signage.
Tea drying
As well as tea, they're
known for wine production and sell plum, peach and pineapple wines. I
tried a plum wine smoothie. It was OK but maybe not a good choice for that time of day. We toured around the town, it
was nothing special and I bought some wine and tea and we headed back down
the mountain. The trip there and back definitely outshone the town.
it had been well over 50 yrs since I'd been on one and as I was struggling to get the hang of it, off I went down the wrong side of the road, reverting to habit. Wondered why the rental woman was running after me shouting. It didn't take too long to get the hang of it though and off we went.
Ban Rak Thai (literally "the Thai-loving village"), is also known as Mae Aw in many guide books and some maps. It was settled by former Kuo Min Tang (Nationalist) fighters from Yunnan Province, China, after the Communist takeover of China. The population is about 800, mainly Chinese-born or Thai-born Chinese. Many signs are in Chinese, and much of the population speaks a heavily accented version of Mandarin Chinese.
On the way there we stopped at Su Tong Pae Bamboo Bridge that led across rice fields to a wat on a hillside on the other side of the valley.
 | |
| Spence |
Spence
The 35km trip passed through some of the prettiest scenery I'd seen so far though it was a wild, hair raising trip winding steeply up, up, up, then steeply down, down, down with crazy hairpin turns. Fortunately, there was little traffic.
 |
| bamboo park |
Pha Sua Waterfall
Nearing our destination we began to see tea plantations as the cool, moist climate up there is conducive to tea cultivation.
Here again, the town is nestled around a little man made lake and the strong Chinese influence is reflected in the food and signage.
Tea drying
Rice threshing I assume
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