Octie Appetie: Mae Hong Son

Showing posts with label Mae Hong Son. Show all posts

01 December 2021

Thum Pum Tham Pla Cave and Ban Jabo, Mae Hong Son

Today, we were going to make our way to Pai. We made a few stops along the journey as well. Tham Pum Tham Pla or Fish cave, Ban Jabo to have 2-dollars noodles with million dollars view and a short break at Doi Kew Lom.

This fish cave is one of the popular tourist destinations in the area. You will find a pond of freshwater fish by a hallow limestone cave. You can feed the fish or otherwise just do a short hiking trail in this hilly forests. It made a good brief recreation stop for young children.

Look at those snake roads ahead us. Mae Hong Son is claimed as one of the most beautiful province in Thailand, but is also known for their hell curves. But it is all worth it to make one's way.

Just before arriving at Pai, we went up to a small village called Ban Jabo. It is the house of Black Lahu community. There are several noodle shops and simple homestays in the area. The best thing out of here is the view and landscape. Their houses sit in the crest of mountain ranges overlooking a thrilling panorama. Each house has the best sight, it would be amazing to wake up everyday looking at that wonderful view.

As we went there when country borders still close, we had no problem at all with crowded tourists. We had the place for our own. We also had some cheap noodles from local restaurants while submerging our eyes with a magnificent landscape. The noodle itself tastes mediocre. However, the scene is PRICELESS!!!

What a view!!!!

Noodle soup from Ban Jabo village

Viewpoint at Doi Kew Lom

From Jabo village, we continued our road trip toward the next destination, Pai. We made a brief stop again at Doi Kew Lom, the view point of a stunning mountanious scenery. At that time, the mist just came by and covered this resting spot, turned everything white. We stayed for awhile until it gone then we're able to catch the beautiful mountainscape.

Stay tuned for the next blog in Pai:

Rim Pai Cottage

16 November 2021

Ban Rak Thai Village

Previously:

Mae Hong Son

Ban Rak Thai village is a small mountainous town with a beautiful lake sat in the middle of the valley. It is only 40 kilometers away from Mae Hong Son city. This village is one of the several Yunnanese communities can be found in Thailand. It retains their oriental looks of buildings and signs. This place used to be very peaceful and serene. However, in the past recent years, this town has been growing significant numbers of tourists. Especially on the weekend or holiday seasons, the city packs with visitors.

Lee Wine Yunnan restaurant or commonly known as Lee Wine Ruk Thai is hands down the most popular and one of the early restaurant in this village. As you can easily guess, of course they serve Chinese Yunnan food here and tea as well as wine testing. Back then 12 years ago, when I was there, there was only one main restaurant and a couple small souvenirs shops in the area but now more and more others are kinda competing and selling similar products to accomodate increased demands in the market.

Lee Wine Yunnan restaurant has the most strategic location of all, right at the door of Rak Thai village and the dining area is facing a calm lake along with beautiful layered ornate houses and mountain on the backdrop. Next door is a coffee shop where you can buy ticket and board the boat to enjoy the village on the water view point. On top of it, they also serve delicious food here. So, what's not to like?

Braised pork leg served with steamed plain bun 390฿

And a well-known to try is their signature Kha moo mor fai or braised pork leg served on hot pot. It comes with 5 pieces of mantou (Chinese steamed plain bun). The leg was humongous and very meaty. The skin had been fried first before they braised again in the aromatic soup for hours. So it's kinda chewy in texture yet melt-in-your-mouth at the same time. This dish is succulent and delighful. You have to sunk the plain bun into the soup too, it will absorb all the juices and flavour. Totally divine.

Yunnan style fried noodle 190฿

Deep fried pork with sweet plum sauce 180฿ and stir fried chayote leaves 90฿

Mantou tod or deep fried mantou served with condensed milk 100฿

This sweet is absolutely the winner dish for me. Although what we had for our main dishes were all heavy and full of carbs but we didn't want to miss this hefty dessert either. It was great in all aspects, texture and taste wise. The soft plain white mantou that had been deep fried into a golden brown color, very crispy and slightly oily on the outer skin, however, inside still maintains its softness and somewhat drier than the steam version. Once you dip that into condensed milk, BOOM... really really yummm...

They also give free hot tea for customers who dine in. Their tea is so fragrant (one is oolong tea and another one I couldn't recall the name). If you want to buy some souvenirs back home, you can use your receipt after dining to claim another 10% discount of your purchase (may not applied on some special promotion products)

To be able to munch into authentic Yunnan cuisine cooked by their own people and sip some teas hot from the source, it was so worth the drive.

Lee Wine Yunnan Restaurant

Mok Cham Pae, Mueang Mae Hong Son

Ph: +66 89 950 0955

Stay tuned for the next blog in Mae Hong Son:

Tham Pum Tham Pla Cave and Ban Jabo, Mae Hong Son

10 November 2021

Mae Hong Son

Previously:

Mae Kampong Village

Mae Hong Son is a province that boast with rich natural beauties like mountain ranges, forests and flowers. Remotely located in North-West of Thailand, bordering with Myanmar. Remote because it is rather difficult to reach this city. First option, on the road, from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son, you need to overcome with more than 1,800 curves that will most likely cause some nausea or puke. Another alternative is by flying, the flight only flies out from Chiang Mai with small plane. This way though could be more convenient and time-saver but it comes with the price too.

The city has also famously known as "the city of three mists" as it is surrounded by high mountains and covered with mist in all three seasons. That's why Mae Hong Son is blessed with cool weather all year round. The things to do there are mostly in relation to visiting temples, enjoying the beauty of natures as well as learning hill tribes art and culture.

As I mentioned earlier, driving from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son could be a little daunting and exciting at the same time. There are 2 main ways to go to Mae Hong Son, the road number 108 or another one passing Pai city. As we were going to stay in Mae Hong Son for the next two nights then continue to Pai after, so we were taking the scenic route 108 and complete the whole circle. It will take about 6 to 8 hours considering how many stops you will make to puke 😆. Thus, we left our hotel early like 9 am and were taking it slow. On the way, we made a quick stop at Wat Phra That Si Chom Thong: a Thai Buddhist temple which dedicated to those born in the year of the Rat.

Finally, after eight hours on the car, we survived the curves without any vomit or nausea. Thanks to our excellent driver/hubby who drove the car safe and sound until reach the destination. And here are some places we visited around Mae Hong Son city.

Sutongpe Bridge

Sutongpe in Tai Yai language actually means succesful. There was a story behind this bridge. It was built by the local residents to help Monks passing that way back to the temple without stepping on the wet rice fields below.

Wat Phrathat Doi Kongmu

Wat Chong Klang, a beautiful temple opposite a lake

After a long day, one of my favourite thing to do for our dinner meal is in-room dining. On my pj's and kids were roaming the room, while noones actually care. Superb. The next night, we were actually planning to go to night market which is located around the lake. Unfortunately we didn't go, beacuse it was raining very terribly hard. So if anyone by any chance ever did go there, please share me your experiences!