Betterlife - Thediarygame : The Someong Loop, Chiang Mai Thailand

It's been a few years since I posted my adventure series, but yes it's number 43. The last post was a cycling series around the island of Bali in 2019. It must have been an adventure, about a week long adventure! Then From January and February 2020 I rode a Vietnamese half-length motorbike! It was one of the greatest adventures of my life and deserves that title in itself. But now I'm back with a new, much shorter adventure, cycling the Somoeng Loop in Chiang Mai Thailand.

Loop Somoeng is about 106 kilometers from pure motorcycle ride pleasure. The large mountain west of Chiang Mai city is called Doi Suthep. Well, the Someong circle basically goes up and around this mountain. I would say 90% of the trip is a beautiful windy mountain road, with all sorts of things to stop and look away.

At the furthest point from Chiang Mai City is the small farming-based town of Somoeng. There we found a Buddhist temple with pictures depicting the cycle of Karma. Each Photo is a representation of action and consequences. They are explained specifically in Thai which my Thai girlfriend read to me but see if you can tell just by looking at the pictures. As a side note, this temple is home to the biggest fattest pig I have ever seen in my life! Like wow, that's a big fat pig!

Somoeng town has a local market and you know I love mine! So I had to get some of those photos. They also specialize in growing strawberries, it is situated a bit up in the mountains so they have the right climate. They are super sweet and delicious.

There are some amazing places that seem made just for selfies and photo ops. The first is this purple flower garden. It's actually more like a purple flower field! People come there specifically to be photographed wearing color-coordinated outfits to match the flowers! Very interesting and instagramable place!

Then there's this huge golden wheat field, with a nice sign that says "Rice Farmer Service Center" hmmm? Looks like they had a makeover and forgot to change the sign or something. But wow, we spent there taking all sorts of fun photos. We were certainly not alone, it was a Saturday and a lot of Thais from town seemed to be there; women in their best dresses photographed.

We passed the Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens as we went on a loop trip. I said, "Look at that! Should we stop there?" My girlfriend said "Oh that place is so big you need a whole day to go there." So we did the following week. Probably the best Botanical Gardens park I've ever been to! Very impressive! Be sure to check it out on my blog.

We also stopped at this huge Buddhist Temple on our way out of town. This is certainly one of the most impressive temples I have ever seen. I've said that several times now! Chiang Mai is full of amazing temples. I had a few of those photos mixed up but they were so big and so neat that I ended up with enough photos for the series itself, Wat Pa Dara Phrom Phra Aram Luang! Make sure to check it out too.

Overall, the highlight of the trip is of course the trip through the mountains. Anyone with intermediate skills and doesn't mind a sore butt at the end of the day should have no problem covering the 106 kilometers. Start early, stop, rest, take photos and enjoy! Now come and let's take a closer look at Somoeng Loop in Chiang Mai Thailand!

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