Day 3 was the best day so far (for Sinead anyway).

Up early we definately were this morning, thanks to the whooping noises coming from the Gibbons in the jungle at 6am to which our faithful guard dog decided to react to along with the rest of the dogs in the village (as you can see he was still there in the morning). After another freezing cold shower, as if we needed waking up, we had breakfast, said goodbye to our fleeting friends and hit the road again towards Mae Hong Son. This would only take us about an hour so we decided to detour and go right up north towards the Burmese Border to a place called Rak Thai. We were told this place has a gorgeous lake that's worth seeing so decided to go for it. Little did we know this would turn into a mission and a half. We left the main Soppong - Mae Hong Son road and took a one that literally climbed vertically upwards. It was so steep that if we stalled the bike at all we would either topple over backwards or just slide back down the hill, it was nuts! We thought to ourselves 'will we bother to keep going?' but after clearing almost 16 of the 25km we decided we'd come too far to back out so battled on regardless of Sineads excruitiatingly sore arse!

However, the further we climbed, the more remote and slightly dodgy the road became not to mention the fact that nothing was written in English anymore! Crap - this was a bad idea, but with only a cliff edge on one side and a mountain on the other we had little room to turn around! We finally got to a plateau in the mountain trail and were thinking of packing it in when we saw a great big red arrow pointing left - a type of don't push the red button scenario - so off we went in that direction! we passed over more dodgy roads that seemed to lead nowhere and through a Shan village where we got plenty of stares - about 6km onwards the road literally ended. We found ourselves at a peaceful mountain reservoir surrounded by pines and bamboo huts, it was beautiful, like something you would see on a postcard from Switzerland! Unfortunatly the fact that we were 1) lost 2) had to retreat back down the mountain 3) running low on fuel and 4) starving didnt allow us to bask in its beauty too long.

We set off back down the mountain and noticed the only sign written in English 'Ten and Ben's Trekking HomeStay Food and Drink' - surely we can get fed here. We werent even off the bike when the owner Ten came out to greet us with a massive smile and waving arm. At first we assumed he thought we were someone he was expecting so we quickly just said we wanted some food - No problem, 'wild pig and rice OK?' eh 'OK, why not'! he led us up to the balcony of his house that looked out over the mountain, it was lovely. We sat down on the floor on a mat and he poured us some coffee and told us how he and his father in law Ben do trekking tours into the jungle, it sounded amazing! you stay in one of his rooms (a wooden bed beside a toilet) for a night, then he guides you into the jungle for a 2day/1 night trekking tour where he teaches you how to build a bamboo shelter that sleeps 8-10 people (in 2 hours - we saw the video and its very impressive), how to cook your own rice in a banana leaf, boil water in bamboo and navigate through the jungle while also learning about the different wildlife that is there! Ben came home at this stage, an old guy that had perfect English. He greeted us warmly and gave us freshly picked guava from his garden, yum! While Ten (who is also part of the Karen Tribe) went off to cook up the rice and wild boar, Ben (from Burma) told us how he and Ten run the 'community learning centre' in their village, Ma Kay Soam, which translates to Tomato Village. Community learning centre is a bit much for this tiny little village - they basically volunteer their time every evening from 6-8 to teach the local kids from surrounding villages how to speak english and they use the money they get from trekking to supply food etc for other volunteers that come to the village to teach the kids (a German girl comes every year for a month to teach english and stays with Ten) - it was amazing listening to the humble old man from Burma speak so passionately about the education of the kids in these rural villages. We were gutted we couldnt do the trek but we had to get to Mae Hong Son that evening in order to keep on track of our 5day adventure so after eating a rather garlicky but tasty dish from Ten said our goodbyes and faced the windy road back down the mountain to Mae Hong Son. Oh before we left we had to top up on fuel - this was hilarious, the petrol 'station' was a shed in some old boys garden with 2 barrels and a cylinder coming out of each with markings of 1 or 2 litres on it. to fill the cylinder the guy wound a handle that pumped the fuel into the cylinder to the 1/2 mark, which ever you asked for and then gave Matt a little hose to put into the tank. He opened the valve and the contents of the cyinder emptied into the bike (see the pics) - Amaze-balls, and now you know why today was the best day so far.

In Mae Hong Son we found accommodation in the centre of the town for £3 strolled the night market, got some food then headed to the only pub in town. On route, it started to chuck it down so we ended up staying for over 2 hours sipping our Sang Som whisky and coke waiting for the torrential down pour to ease. We were back about 10pm, shattered and looking forward to a good nights sleep.....

S&M