Rest Day in Mae Hong Son

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Mae Hong Son ("The City of Three Mists") is the principal town of Mae Hong Son province.  Today we did very little apart from walking around this delightful sleepy small town with its many Shan-style teak houses and shophouses.  The wet market was big and very interesting with a strong Shan influence.  Unfortunately, most of the ethnic fabrics have disappeared, replaced with polyester from China. 

Founded in 1831 when a Chiang Mai prince led an elephant-catching expedition, Mae Hong Son became an elephant training centre, and grew into a permanent settlement for Shan mahouts.

Beautiful presentation of cheroots and matches at the day market

It can get chilly overnight in Mae Hong Son and recycled t-shirts come in handy

Novices

We then walked to the lake and the large royal Wat Chong Klang.  There, we managed to find a Karen lady who was selling handwoven items, from whom we bought 2 scarves.  Among the hill-tribes, the Karen have the strongest weaving tradition .

Wat Chong Klang

Laundry for monks

Decorations waiting to be installed - Wat Chong Kham

Back at the hotel, we did some bicycle maintenance and washed our clothes. All ready for tomorrow.

At dusk, we returned to the lake to find a hive of activity.  The night market was in full swing.  Unlike in Pai, this market was very much for the locals: there were a variety of food stalls with low tables set up on the pavement by the lake.  We had street food for dinner - curry puff, gai yang, barbecue pork, som tam, sticky rice and roti with banana.  Couldn't get better than that, followed by a beer at a bar playing Eric Clapton and a television transformed into a fish tank.  No licence fee needed!

Dinner by Lake Chong Kham

The evening's entertainment

On the way back to the hotel, we met Mario, a Canadian cyclist travelling around Thailand for 6 months.