We left the guest house quite early, had breakfast in town and were on the road by 8:36am.

This is the couple that runs the guesthouse where we stayed.  They were very nice and made our stay very comfortable.   The second photo is breakfast in town before we left.  Notice our motorbike in the background.

The road north and then east from Mae Hong Son is very scenic.  If I stopped every time I thought the view was stunning, I would still be on this one road!!  So here are a few samples.  BTW, can you spot the farmer in the rice paddy (second picture – P1010009)?

Every morning the monks walk around the neighborhood to collect alms.  We spotted these two way out in the middle of nowhere.  The lady, who it appears lives here brought out some stools for them to sit on.

This lady had trouble getting on the bike … no wonder once you see the load she is carrying with the basket hung from her head.

We came across this car that had broken down – no need to move it off the road, just put out a few branches on the road to warn other motorists, and then make yourself comfortable.  We gave the children some balloons and chewing gum.

The recommended number of people in the back of a ute.

This woman was playing a home made wind instrument – and it sounded very nice.  She was sitting by a popular scenic lookout.

This is a new coffee shop just outside one of the towns along the way – they building is unique and the view is stunning.  As for the coffee – who knows, though the place was busy.

One of the dangers is livestock.  They are always on the road.  The only greater danger are dogs – though the livestock is more in rural areas, and the dogs are more a risk in towns and villages.

When there is a dispute between people in Thailand, people are quick to gather around and listen to the arguments.  This is what happened in the first picture.  The second and third picture show a local woman I wanted to photograph, and as soon as she noticed, she took off her hat.

By mid afternoon, Rebecca was falling asleep while we were riding, so we stopped at the ever popular bus shelters, and Rebecca had a sleep.  In a field nearby, a farmers was irrigating his crop row by row, by opening or closing a little passage in the dirt for the water to pass through.

Once Rebecca woke up, we kept riding.    We were on the lookout for a petrol station and a nice place to spend the night.  We had passed a service station just a 1km back, but thought that there would be plenty more ahead.  How wrong I was – nothing but roadworks for many kilometers.  To cut  long story short, we we ran out of fuel about 4km from a petrol station.  So Rebecca got a ride with a local woman who was weaving baskets by the side of the road.  They looked so funny as they went to buy petrol.  The fourth picture shows the woman and her mother, who came out to continue weaving while her daughter was helping us.

Thai people are very friendly.  Here is one waving to me while I am waiting for Rebecca to return.

This mountain is the backdrop of the town where we spent the night – Chiang Dao.

Daddy is taking care of the baby – notice that the baby is also wearing a bum belt.   The second photo shows where we had dinner.

By the time we finished dinner, the town looked deserted.  However, a couple of shops were still open, including this one, which was so full of products that even the floor in all the isles was covered.  Check out the large candles being sold – the were over a meter tall.