Motorbike challenge: riding Thailand's Mae Hong Son Loop
Nathan Thompson buckles up for an adrenaline-fuelled 600km adventure of hairpin bends, precipitous drops and frontier festivities
Motorcyclists are supposed to lean into corners. But when all that lies beyond each gut-wrenching turn is air - clear mountain air - the tendency is to err on the side of caution, to take each turn at a sedate speed and avoid the pickup trucks practically falling down the slope in the opposite direction, brakes screeching while passengers flop back and forth, their cheeks fleshy pancakes on the windows.
The Mae Hong Son Loop, a much ridden motorcycle route, runs through northern Thailand's lush national parks. Beginning and ending in Chiang Mai, its 600km flow around 1,864 curves, chicanes and hairpins. The views are of tumbledown forests, aeonian mountains and waterfalls hanging like blue exclamation marks amid the pines.
It doesn't take long before it begins to happen. I gently lean the bike, my body and my head into a purposeful vector aimed at the internal cusp of the corner. The only sound is the whine of the engine and the wind rushing through the helmet's vents. Tyres are sucked towards the outer edge of the corner. Trees, rocks and shrubs pass overhead. Then the 300cc Honda tilts back and devours the following ascent. At the next corner, the world is again wrenched away - this time to the right. Adrenaline surges like popped champagne and behind the visor, I'm grinning.
many hire shops, with bikes suitable for all levels of expertise, from pootling scooters to bikes so laden with equipment, they look like they were designed to fell a Death Star.
The first challenge is to get to grips with the intricacies of the Thai road system. Having overshot the exit out of Chiang Mai twice, the journey begins with a flat burnout towards the first stop, Chiang Dao.
