[quote=“seeker4”]Good info, please keep it coming.
A question about maps. Assuming I start in Chiang Mai and want to rent a motorcycle to drive around to nearby cities (Mae Hong Son, etc), are there maps available for purchase that make this easy enough? In English even? Where is the best place to get maps for driving in that area?[/quote]
There is a widely available map called “The Mae Hong Son Loop” which is made by the man behind this website:
gt-rider.com/
You should be able to get it in local bookstores in Chiang Mai. But I could lend you my copy if you keep it nice!
There are some motorbike rental shops in CM. They have various bikes but the most popular kinds are: spindly little stepthroughs (some of the rather zippy 150 2-stroke variety), 225/250cc dirt bikes (some pure dirt, pain-in-the bottom kickstand only and too tall for a shortarse like me, some reasonable dual-purpose models), and 400cc street bikes. I rented a CB400 Super 4, but there are some V-twins as well which I think would be nice.
Around 550-600 baht per day for a 400cc bike with insurance (N.B. the ‘insurance’ offered in Thai rental shops is a recovery service offered by the shop itself and a guaranteed maximum charge in case of accident/theft). Smaller bikes are cheaper.
A decent, friendly rental shop is Mr Mechanic:
4 Soi 5 Moonmuang Rd.
T.Sri Phum A.Muang
Chiangmai
50300
Tel. 053-214708
Mob. 01-8824402
A nice quiet, clean guesthouse in CM is Somwang. Very friendly, helpful owners; clean, quiet rooms; showers have plenty of hot water; meals if you want; can arrange cookery courses, rafting, trekking etc. About 200 baht for a twin room (two double beds)
2 Rachamankha
Soi 2
Chiangmai
50200
Tel. (053) 278505
I know I mentioned before about the 5Mb worth of web pages that I made about my North Thailand trip, but I don’t have space for them on my site, which is free and only offers 20Mb. I will try to figure out how to either repost them publically or split them off and email them to you, but it’s not easy because they’re all in a big mess caused by my poor grasp of Frontpage and HTML.