My Mae Chaem GT Rider Upcountry Dinner.

A sublime attempt to inaugurate regular up country GT Rider dinners..
As originated here monthly-gt-rider-dinners-t8634.html

But did it work.......... :?:

The Way for me: Chiang Mai - Hot - Mae Chaem & return.

Dates: Saturday 23rd - Sunday 24th October 2010.

And part of my plan was to pick up on some temple festivities for Ok Phansa; Mae Chaem was my original temple goal, but I received a tip-off to try Wat Phra That Sri Chomthong.



Lucky I was






Next stop "Into A Garden Temple" west of Chomthong. It's been a while since I've been in here & I thought it might be worth an update.

Guarded by tigers...


This way please




Situated on a hill


Up the steps you go


for a fabulous view towards Chomthong & the Ping River








Temple murals of village life






"Wat Into A Garden" is on in Grid 8F on the GT Rider Mae Hong Son Loop map.
Check it out sometime if you're cruising by & got time.

It had been a very wet few days earlier & the Mae Chaem river had been flooding

crossing the Mae Chaem river bridge at Hot. You can see the water's been up & flooding.

Hot city


only ever a whistle stop

for a bowl of noodles?

Of note too in Hot, is that the old petrol station west of town is now a brand spanking new PTT with a 7-11.

7-11s are important for Captain Slash's survival, plus cooling off in the aircon when the weather's hot & you need a cold drink or two to cool down. :thumbup:

R108 in the twisties west of Hot

and the river has been up over the road


Onto R1088 the Ob Luang - Mae Chaem road & its been flooded in here too


making a mess of the road in places



and the river's still up.

Watching the river flow

and this little guy has the coolest smile of the year! Is that a George Clooney?

On on, & up onto the "vege plateau"




A break at "Cabbage Central."




Down the hill again to start the descent to Mae Chaem

& it's wet & greasy

How the cabbage drivers do it

swing out wide & nail it to "smoke 'em."

Wet 'n green & greasy


Mae Chaem city

rain hail or shine. I was there....

but was there anyone else? :?

 

My place of accommodation in Mae Chaem was an experiment - a new homestay /guesthouse. The Chaem Cha, opposite the Mae Chaem city post office.











My cute room for the night..


The external bathroom

open air & won't it be great soaping up in here, steaming, in the early morning cold season fog. :thumbup:

The adjoining bathroom


I'm always amazed at Thai ingenuity & Chaem Cha is no exception. How the owner can turn a humble little wooden house into a lovely little cosy guesthouse impresses the hell out of me. The place has charm & style, so f you're looking to experience some delightful northern Thai charm, check out the Chaem Cha in Mae Chaem.

The young owner is the daughter of Mae Chaem school teachers & they value the culture & charm of Mae Chaem. The Chaem Cha is part of their contribution to maintaining Mae Chaem's charm (& not becoming another Pai?)
Chaem Cha is not on the www yet, but the owner Pirada Pokpol has a facebook site. Search for Pirada Pokpol & you will find them. :thumbup:

now for some food & a drink...

 

The original proposed masterplan

and who was waiting at the Sawasdee Mae Chaem - Marco!

a well ridden GT Rider, over from Ubon Ratchathani. :thumbup:

Needless to say all of us had a good night.
The Sawadee Mae Chaem was full, most of the night.
Miss Noi Na is a brilliant host.

Amusingly a 5-member group of hot young gals from Bangkok dropped in looking for the new Pai.
They were enlightened & inebriated after a few ales. And more than likely they will be back to Mae Chaem!

At another table a boss lady was treating her corn workers to a night out. Luk-sao was also in town for the weekend & Ok Phansa.


as were numerous other locals

the Drink For Health T-shirt was a winner!

Marco & I still hit the Nam Neung later on to cap off the night.
Thanks a million kms for coming Marco.
I had a good time riding there & with you in Mae Chaem.

 

My return ride got off to a false start.

During the previous night's entertainment we were asked by a Gender Bender if we'd been to see the twin baby elephants.
Was this a trap we thought?
But nope it is real.
Only the 3rd pair of twin elephants ever born in the world is real & "in the Mae Chaem area."

A new master plan was devised over a few quiet Beer Changs mixed with rice whisky (another story to be told)…The elephants were right beside the asphalt road & less than 2 hrs away.....too good to be true, & for Marco it would mean backtracking to Khun Yuam & returning to Cnx that way.
It could be worth it.
But where exactly were the elephants? Just hanging out like a 7-11 roadside, with drive in parking & aircon comfort for the punters?

We were up nice & early the next morning, ready for our little elephant hunting expedition.
Brekky was to be at the Navasoung, but it was a bit slow coming. A 35 member Thai granny Wat tour group was indulging in ABFs at the Navasoung too that morning, plus there was no power (in all of Mae Chaem CITY since 4AM) plus they ran out gas & the kitchen was in darkness. It was not the absolute optimal start to the day you could say.

In our quest for elephant info Navasoung were able to provide a elephant trek brochure
http://www.khattiyasurin.com/chaemmuang ... outus.html
All this sounded good. We could be on the right trail, but neither Marco nor I were interested in a steep slippery hike or a greasy dirt ride on our bikes just to see a couple of dumpy twins.

We got away from the Navasoung somewhat behind for schedule & headed for the local police station. Good thought.
It was Sunday morning & almost no one was around. A solitary police officer peered up at the two jumbo farang, a worried look on his face. Trouble?
Fortunately our Thai language skills were sufficient to ascertain that indeed us two jumbos were looking for another two smaller jumbos. And they were where
• Pang Ung?
• Huay Pak Kut?
• Mae Satop?
all north-west of Mae Chaem on the road to Khun Yuam.
Well it seems like Mae Satop, but down a dirt road for a few kms & then a bit of a hike??
The two farang jumbos decided to pass. So much for the 7-11 beside the road = you can’t always rely on a Gender Bender drinking Chang & rice whisky.

Meanwhile..
Back in Chiang Mai a little more research turns up this
http://www.bring-the-elephant-home.org/en/

http://www.khattiyasurin.com/chaemmuang ... outus.html
plus these are also interesting
http://gvithailandenvironmental.blogspot.com/
http://www.gviusa.com/projects/Asia/Tha ... iland/home

but I still wonder exactly where & who has the young jumbo twins.
The Elephant Nature Park?

The return ride then. Back the same way.

Mae Chaem - Ob Luang - Hot - Chiang Mai.

Ob Luang Canyon was on my hit list for the return ride.


And it had been flooding going into the gorge





Marco riding buddy for the trip "home" to Cnx.


Marco thanks for coming to Mae Chaem for dinner. We were quite the group on the night (& a right pair of jumbos). :thumbup:
I enjoyed myself immensely.
:lol-sign:

 

"Wat Into A Garden" is worth checking out. :thumbup:

 

I paid the asking price 400 baht & very first customer.
I suspect it may well be "negotiably" less.
Up to you. I was happy with the experience.