I personally picked up and welcomed BMW Motorrad Owners Club of Taiwan and riders from Taiwan at Chiang Mai International Airport. Thanks to our friend and partner, Mr. Johnny Chen, who kept bringing us a big group of riders and pillions from Taiwan. After I met up with all of the guests, we went off to the hotel and picked up the motorcycle from our service center and I led them on a ride back to the hotel.

I usually welcome everyone and introduce the first genuine Thai food dinner to our riders. This time I took them to the Riverside Bar & Restaurant by the Ping River. It’s a very nice restaurant with good tasty Thai food and a grand view of the Ping River. We were all transported by the symbolic red taxi of Chiang Mai or “Song Taw” for a good 10 minute ride from the hotel. 

We started out on our 5 day Chiang Rai and the famous Mae Hong Son Loop tour in the early morning, starting from the middle of Chiang Mai downtown. The first ride of the day is always a bit of a challenge to some of the guests, especially if they have never ridden in Asia before. Chiang Rai is ahead of us tonight and everybody expects to see the famous and remarkable White Temple before getting to the hotel. We rode through the mountainous and curvy back roads to Phrao and further up to Doi Chang with its coffee plantation and stunningly beautiful view. After lunch at Doi Chang, we surprised our guests with a little water crossing at the Huay San Plubpla Water Reservoir. Our guests got a chance to prove their riding boots are not so waterproof this time. 

We stayed at Le Patta, a nice clean hotel in the center of the city where our guests can take a stroll to the night market for massage and souvenir shopping. The first day went well and the guests were quite happy with an easy ride up to the mountain and ended up with great food and good massage.

The second day of the ride was to Thaton. Along the way we took a short boat ride across the Mekong River from the Golden Triangle to visit Laos. After re-entry back to Thai side again, we rode to Choui Fong Tea Plantation and made a special stop at a small village where General Tuan School was in Doi Mae Salong before we arrived at Mae Kok River Village. Another great riding day with a local lunch in the hotel. 

We woke up the next day and were looking forward to starting our first part of 1,864 curves to Pai – which we call the “party town” that is full of street bars and a night market. We took a short ride up to Wat Thaton to look over the stunning view of this town. It was a beautiful road ahead of us from Thaton to Chiang Dao, where we had a local lunch in the garden before continuing on to Pai. We stayed a night at the Quarter where we put on our shorts and flip flops and walked to the night market to blend in with the locals and tourists. 

The next morning, the ride was a little different than the rest because it involved a couple of elephants. Our destination that night was Fern Resort, Mae Hong Son. The beautiful resort is in the middle of rice fields where one can enjoy and relax with an ice cold beer by the pool overlooking the fields natural water streaming down from the mountain. Our lunch was quite special at the Chinese Community Village in Ban Rak Thai and we had a chance to walk across the border to Myanmar to visit the one and only school in the village. We also brought some school supplies to donate to those little kids in Myanmar. After lunch, another boat ride to the Karen Long Neck Village was ahead of us. The village where women wear heavy brass rings around their neck, forearms, and shins. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested. Some have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less attractive to other tribes. Another theory is that the coils originate from the desire to look more attractive. We ended up at the resort with a special hot pot dinner which our guests cook themselves, and later everyone joined around the bonfire before calling it a night. 

On the last day, our guests woke up a little tired but still eager to see the Mexican Sunflower Field in Khun Yuam which blooms once a year. We left the resort and took a back road up the curvy mountain. We stopped at the beautiful water reservoir to take pictures before lunch in Mae Cham. After lunch we made one last stop at Wachirathan waterfall and continued back safely to our Service Center. We had our last farewell dinner together and I passed them the 1,864 curves certificate. Everybody was surprised and grateful for the trip.