Laksala Royal Tea

i'm not english but sometimes it's nice to have a cup of tea in the afternoon in the office. a serumpun friend brought me this from ceylon the Laksala royal tea.

it's nice.

The ride to 1864 - Day 1 - bike rental at Mr Mechanic

It was the 2nd day of the Thai new year a.k.a. Songkran festival and I was excited to get my bike from the shop. Songkran is the day when Thai celebrate the days with splashing water as a sign of washing off the sins and bad luck in the previous year and start off the new year clean and... er... wet? 

Well if you are coming in for Songkran and would like to consider doing the loop you may want to know this, temperature could be as high as 40 degrees and the mountains are literally on fire. When I said literally is because there were many spots on the road which has forest fire. 

Source: wikipedia

Mr Mechanic bike rental

Location of the shop is at Mun Mueang Road, just 270 meters north of the Tha Phae gate, or crossed with the Mun Mueang Lane 5.   

The morning I arrived at Mr Mechanic's shop. It was a quiet morning, considering.  

Looks like someone had some hard night partying last night.

I waited until about 8.05 am, still no sign of any activity for the shop. I continued to wait until finally someone came in Mr Mechanic's uniform. I made some eye contact with a smile, and he told me to wait for him to open his shop.  

One of the Mr Mechanic staffs rode in this beautiful Honda CRF and then after I told him, I want this one.

Later on, I tested the bike and everything seems OK. Remember always to check for brakes, tire threads, and tire pressure before the journey. It is also better to take some pictures of the bike, especially any damages and scratches on the bike to avoid any dispute later on. The shop does let you take the bike together with a helmet but I brought mine so I didn't bother to check them out. Note that it is common practise for them to keep your passport when you rent the bike since they will not charge you for any deposit. Remember to make copies of your passport so that you would have some identification with you when you travel.

You would also need to fill up a very simple form which states your personal details and the time when you pick up the bike. Hence this is where the 24 hours rule comes in, as you must return the bike as and when you collect it (after x days of using it), if not then you would need to pay for penalty of 100 baht per hour (30 baht per hour for scooters). Note that delay return of more than 4 hours will be charged whole day rental.

I got the bike at 800 baht per day, without insurance. You would need to pay another 100 baht per day for insurance.
    

Minutes after, I was happy with the bike and off I went. Another thing to remember is always to fuel up as we should presume that the previous renter would not be leaving lots of gas for you. The nearest gas station is few minutes away, just make a U turn in front of the shop to the other side of the canal, follow the road, after passing Pop Rider (big bike rental shop) on your left, few more blocks down the road then you're there. 

That's me after collected my bike, without my gear on.

Looping the loop - Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai

Intro

Hearing my friends telling me how accomplished it was to complete the loop in Mae Hong Son always made me wonder how fine it would be for me to be able to do that. At a recent meet up with another friend who resides in Singapore, Yam who doesn't ride a bike, told me that he would really want to try it out one day, gave me the head start of ideas about this trip.

So naturally, I did some research on bike rentals in Chiang Mai, planned on my flight schedule, and of course, got the approval from the lady of the house, and then.... hotel booked and bags are packed and off I went!!!

Need to say here that Yam, the friend who gave me the idea to go for this trip, decided not to go for the trip at the end. So, this trip would be solo with a capital S and I am all for it!!!

Preparation

Packing for this trip is slightly different from my previous trip as I am taking a flight from KUL to CNX, I would not able to bring my own tools. I feel a little uneasy as I would not even allowed to pack my pocket knife as I can't go pass air port security. Be prepared to loose your tools, even Allen keys if you packed these tools as hand carry luggages. However, for the trip, I packed my own helmet, jacket, pants and boots for this trip.

As at Apr 15, there are 2 daily flights going to CNX from KUL, one departs at 6.55 am morning flight and the other departs 10 mins to 3 in the afternoon. I chose to fly in the afternoon, and start my trip on the next day. The afternoon flight arrives about 4.30 pm in the afternoon, and even if you choose to get the bike on the same day, you might be able to make it as the shop closes at 6 pm local time.

Bike Rentals

There were many bike rental companies in Chiang Mai. I have narrowed them down to
1. Pop Rider - https://www.facebook.com/sompong.chiangmai.5/about
2. Mr Mechanic - http://www.mr-mechanic1994.com/

The biggest bike rental company would be Pop Rider with hundreds of bikes available, big or small. However, I opt for the smaller neighbourhood Mr Mechanic, because they have replied all my email enquiries. If you have a big group coming in i.e. more than 10 of you, you should probably contact them in advance to book the bike. The price ranges from 800 baht a day for a 250 CRF to 1500 baht a day for a Versys 650. If you would like something more exotic like the Yamaha FZ09 (or MT09 in Malaysia) it would cost you up to 2,500 baht a day. The per day calculation if based on 24 hours at Mr Mechanic, between 8.00 am to 6.00 pm daily including Sundays.

More on bike rentals on my next post.

Communication & Navigation

One of the very first thing I spent on in Chiang Mai was the traveller's sim pack. Drop in to any 7 Eleven and ask for an AIS simcard, slip it into your phone and you would get data.

http://www.ais.co.th/roaming/visiting/sim-for-traveller-en.aspx

After some configuration on your phone (follow the user manual which came together with the SIM pack) then it would be a breeze for you to roam the city with Google maps on your phone. More on navigation on my next post.

Something like this.

Accommodation

Chiang Mai is the 2nd biggest city in Thailand, hence it is fairly easy to find hotels or guest houses to stay. Do some research, then you'll know that the airport is about 3 kms from old town city. I stayed in B2 Thipanate hotel, which was about 3 KM from Mr Mechanic. Room rate defers from day to day, book in advance to avoid disappointments.

The room is quite decent for me, with 2 single beds, clean and and my own bathroom with my very own minibar.

Basically, city centre is where the rustic old town with many old temples are, and you will find modern shopping malls outside old town such as Central Festival at the east, Maya Lifestyle shipping centre at the north west and Chiang Mai Airport Plaza situated just next to the airport at the west of old town Chiang Mai.

Staying near to old town would be the easiest for you to get a tuk-tuk or red taxi (Songteaw) to get around. Staying off the grid may be a longer for you to flag down a ride. If you look and act like a tourist the tuk-tuk may charge you around 100 baht to get to any nearby destination. Otherwise, you can pay around 60-80 baht to get around old town.

I would also recommend to stay at guesthouse the gallery 24, the place has plenty of parking, clean room and air conditioning. A friend of mine whom I met on the plane, stayed here 3 nights for 900 baht with breakfast, that's less than $9US per night. But hey, it is a guest house so do not expect a suite with a butler.

After checking in to your hotel, just kick back, relax, and explore the city. My first dinner at the city was at Khai Tim 1 Baht just right in the middle of old town Chiang Mai. Food was decent but no air conditioning.

Singha beer, or locally known as beer sing greeted me at Chiang Mai.

Ride the Mae Hong Son loop by Renting a Bike from Chiang Mai

Mention Mae Hong Son to most of your friends, you would most probably get a puzzled reaction which signals that they have no idea what is it. No it is not anyone's son, and it is not a type of chinese wine with snakes infused in the bottle.

However, mention Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang and Pai to an avid seasoned rider, you can bet your money that he would answer you about the most famous motorcycle touring destination in the region, the 1,864 corners to Mae Hong Son at north Thailand.

Riders from local Thailand, Malaysia and even Singapore would even take this iron butt 5,000 km ride thru and flo from down south to make this trip. Of course, there are options of flying in to Chiang Mai, rent yourself a bike, big or small, and make this unforgettable journey your own.

There are many routes available, below is the recommended loop which I planned and I completed the route in 2 days, which I did.

Stay tuned for further info.