Day 4 we prepare to leave Pai for Mae Hong Son.
Breakfast at Lilu Hotel-eggs and sausages.
bye bye Pai!
Ont the road again.....long and windy road.....
Pass a small trading area,alot of local tourist.No foreigners except us.Handicrafts,high up on the mountain.
There is a lookout area too.Feels like on top of the world!Got really cold.
Off we went again.We are looking for Tham Lot(Lod cave,Fish Cave),
It started to drizzle a bit.
Found Tham Lot!
Hired a local guide for cave tour.Nobody allowed in without a guide.She doesnt speak English.We pack water,bananas and 1 head lamp for emergency in case we get lost in cave.So heavy the bag!
This is the rentrance to the cave where we board the rickety bamboo raft.
There were 5 caves inside one big cave.
Very slippery climb down to raft.
El Teva sandals!Helps if you want to slip and slide when wet.haha!
One wierd stalagtite.Pretty good shape for its age.
Cave people at large,Beware!
Didnt know had to do so much work!And toes gripping with El Teva was a nightmare!
These steps were almost vertical and without camera flash it was pitch black.The one karosene lamp lit the way for the tour guide only!!
'Ok,no more!!I'm too old for this!I quit!'
Guide had to push us back out up stream,manually!!She is so strong!
On the road out of cave boats,we pass some farmers selling their pumpkins.
Signboard to Mae Hon San 54 km,we are on the right road!
Small mud roads our rented Toyota Yaris took us on.Some guide books recommends only 4x4 vehicles.
As we turn off to another fish cave,you will pass this sign.One day I might just try it out.
Foreigners pay a differrent price.So i had to use my 'thai' to get in on locally price ticket.If we had waited 30mins we would have got in free.Ticket booth was closed when we left but park stays open.Next time.
'Cave Fish'
After a short walk,you come to this mosquito infested mountain rock.You follow the crowd to a mouldy hole in the ground.There is a sign that says 'Careful not to bend over because your belongings might fall in.'
This is the hole in the ground.Hundreds of blue fishes, like a living sardine can.The fishes outside the cave are green and grey.
An old English sign.Story is that the fishes swim into the hole and never comes out ever!!Because the current flows into the cave.Nobody knows where the fishes go!Twilight zone thing.
BEST Coffee in Thailand~!!
After coffee, we realised we havent had lunch so just outside Cave Fish was a small hawker center.We had lunch at 4pm-Thai fried rice and Fried pork with basil on rice.Yummy.
...and we set on the road again for the big city of Mae Hon San.Maybe can find opium dens :)
Arriving Mae Hon San main street.Got Kentucky!!
Wow!The biggest commercial(not counting temples) building in Mae Hon San,the general Post Office.
Surprisingly the town feels like the size of Lumut town.You can actually walk the whole place on foot.
PIYA Guesthouse
This is the hotel we chose for the night.So tired.Didnt mind even though the rooms smell like the sewer.
Our hotel sits right on the lake front(smallest lake in the world-like a sewage pond,no joke)we were lucky again because it was some festival(last day of the rainy season) and there was a night market just outside.
Nothing much to do but photography.Dissapointed because no opium dens exist anymore.
With nothing much to do,we went to join the other people and for the first time in my life release this fire lantern up into the sky(rm10).Good fun,really hot fire!You are to make a wish with which the lantern will bring to the gods.
People from the hilltribes venture out to the city in the weekend.
We went for dinner to the most local Mae Hon San cousine place.hmmm..
After dinner,we went up to the highest temple in Mae Hon San.It lit up the night sky.
hey!My bed for the night!Have to sleep early because we found out that there is a huge festival tmro morning at 6AM at the temple.The orange robe monks will be walking down the temple by the hundreds to collect donations from devotees.Its a very big festival!!
End of Day 4.