Doi Suthep self-guided expedition on motorscooter.

3/18

I decided to rent a motorscooter (on Ben's advice) to explore some of the area around Chiang Mai. I bought a map made by an American biker group, and planned out a big route (about 6 hours, including stops). Unfortunately I ended up getting a later start than planned. I headed up towards the summit of Doi Suthep, passing by Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, a few waterfalls, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, Puphing palace, and then finally another national park with a trail up to the summit.

It was a windy, cloudy, wet morning as I rode up the mostly empty, winding, mountain road past the Chiang Mai Zoo into the lush jungle of the foothills. I turned off into a park (paid the entrance fee) and rode along a one lane road to the end, where I parked and walked to a waterfall. As it was wet and the middle of the week, I was the only tourist there. The narrow roads were as enjoyable as the waterfall itself.

I reached the wat, parked and headed up the 300+ stairs into the center of the temple. It had an amazing courtyard with views off all four sides that would have been spectacular on a clear day. As they were they were still impressive; it seemed like the temple was above the clouds. This was the temple with the boys sweeping the tiles, the monk with the cat, etc.

I continued up the mountain road towards the summit. When I reached the palace, I was turned away because they were closed for lunch from 11:30 - 1:00 each day. I decided I'd check it out on the way back down from the summit.

The national park containing the summit had no other tourists, and I also had trouble finding anybody working the tourist facilities. I found the trail head and started jogging up the jungle path. I was constantly assaulted by bugs; the Great Australian Wave makes taking steady photos of the views pretty hard, but I'll post photos from this day later as well. Definitely glad I was taking my malaria pills. I lost the trail for a while and ended up jogging along a logging road for about a kilometer before I doubled back and found the trail again. After a while I reached what was the highest point I could see through the dense trees and undergrowth, so I dubbed it the New Summit of Doi Suthep and ran back down so I could get on the road for the main part of the expedition.

With my adrenaline pumping and the excitement of being back on the road I headed back down the steep, winding, gravely road. At every turn there were signs to blow the horn, and on the straights there were signs saying that it's a two lane street, even though my scooter took up half the width. The clouds had lifted somewhat, and the views heading down to the main road were a lot better than on the way up. A word of advice: pull over to look at them; don't gaze when you are coming up to a hairpin turn.

I slid out, laughed at myself, bandaged myself up, and decided I probably shouldn't do the 4-5 hour expedition I had planned to do after the mountain detour. I cruised back down to lick my wounds and have a beer.