Chiang Mai to Mae Sariang

A few weeks later I take myself and a lady friend on a overnighter to her home town of Mae Sariang. I've hired a 400cc chopper styled Honda and have paid particular attention to the quality of the seat. This bike turns out to be the biggest adrenaline rush on two wheels since I am 17 and my mate almost flips his Hillman Hunter.

The night I pick up the bike we take it out around Chiang Mai just for fun. We cruise the road skirting the city walls, enjoying the sound of the loud pipes and revelling in the occasional moment of excessive speed when the traffic allows.

The next morning we are up bright and early and at about seven we head off into the countryside with the plan of making the most of the cool of the first few hours of the day. The first twenty or so kilometres are pretty slow as we are still in the built up area but after that the road opens up, another nice smooth Thai super-highway, and I give the bike some stick.

We are just getting up to a decent speed when the chain breaks, taking out the chain-guard, the helmet lock which just happens to get in its way, and removing a fist sized chunk from the rear mudguard before, in its final gasp, smacking my lady firmly on her left buttock.

They tell me that first you have a Thai girl but then you get a Thai-ger. This certainly proved to be the case as this whole disaster was apparently totally my fault and I should have predicted and prevented this mechanical failure of a bike which wasn't mine, and with which I had no familiarity, in a truly remarkable and god-like way.

Anyway, out with my cell-phone and onto the hire company who come through, an hour or so later, with a replacement bike. After considerable delay we are on our way again.

We deviate through 'Doi Inthanon' national park, halt to sightsee at immense and numerous waterfalls, and enjoy a great ride, winding and climbing our way upwards through the bush clad countryside. We ride to the top of the mountain, the highest point in Thailand, where there are two huge monuments to the King and Queen. Of course this is peopled by a bunch of orange clad monks and the views and the monuments themselves are spectacular.