We had a little problem in the morning ... The battery of our scooter was flat, but the guys of the garage near our guesthouse showed us how to kick start our scooter and after an hour driving the battery was fine again :) When we left Pai the sky was cloudy and the mountains were hiding behind the mist, so we did not get a chance to see much of the landscapes. It took us 1h30 to reach Soppong and driving through the mountains in the mist we got cold, so when we arrived in Soppong, a very small town, we went straight to the only shop selling clothes to buy a jumper...trying to pack very light we did not take any warm clothes with us...we expected a sunny weather as we are in the dry season...we were wrong! As we managed to find only one decent jumper we had to "share" it for the rest of the trip. As many travellers do, we stopped in Soppong to visit the Tham Lod cave. The road to the cave is on the right when coming from Pai, opposite the Northern Hill Guesthouse, a good place to have a nice meal. The 9km long road to the cave crosses a village and then the forest. We really liked the visit of the cave. There is no entrance fee but you have to take a guide to visit the cave, it costs Bh150 for a group of 4 persons maximum. You can also opt to do a short trip on a bamboo raft but then it costs Bh400 extra. As we had been told that this "bamboo trip" was not worth it we kept refusing several offers from our guide to do it. Lighting the way with a gas lamp she showed us the many interesting rock formations that can be found in this massive cave for around an hour. Before continuing our journey towards Mae Hong Son we had a very good lunch at the Northern Hill Guesthouse. As it started raining soon after we left Soppong we stopped at a shelter and we met a couple of French Canadians travelling on a big motorbike with their young son. The rain stopped quickly so we could all go back on the road. The landscapes between Soppong and Mae Hong Son are really stunning so we hope that we will have a better weather on the way back as today the mist did not let us see much of it.
