Stage 1 — Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai

After checking all details and finding out that others before me have also taken this little adventure on a scooter, I was ready to go on the 250 km trip through the north of Thailand.

I went on a Friday and had planned to leave in the early morning at 6 o’clock to get out of the city before the traffic wakes up. But as I was excited to go, I woke up on my own at 5 already and were set to leave just 30 minutes later.

It was still dark and the roads where completely empty at this time, so quickly I made my to the highway 118, which would take me all the way to Chiang Rai. I did this trip in the middle of March, when it’s already pretty hot during the day with temperatures of 35 °C and more in Thailand, but in the early morning it was still quite fresh. I would definitely recommend to bring a jacket — which of course I didn’t — but at least I had my sweater on.

The other essential parts of my equipment were my face mask to protect me from the pollution on the way, as it is also burning season at this time of the year in northern Thailand. It can be really, really nasty with the air quality during this time. Also, a good helmet with a functioning visor is an absolute must on such a long trip!

I’ll be honest. About one hour into my trip I thought to myself that this was maybe a really bad idea. While it was still completely dark outside, suddenly the nice highway road transformed into a very long construction path — unpaved roads without any streetlights. I was the only scooter among very few pickups driving by and also felt exactly like that mentally.

Luckily, after a while I was back on a real road and the sun was slowly rising, bringing some light into my sight and mind. Through the smog of forest fires around, the sun really looked like what it actually is — a big red fireball.