Pocket coaster cave creeper

The only rules on these roads are: 1.Don't crash, and 2. Don't ride the cows without asking them first

The open road evaporates worries, poses new perspectives, and splatters bugs across your face. Over the next few days I ride up and down Northwest Thailand along this seemingly endless roller coaster of mountains, valleys, and plains. This coaster includes not only varying terrain, but microclimates as well. One moment I'm flying through a toasty pocket of air and the next I'm bursting into a chilled pocket. 

Pocket Coaster Supreme, mmmmm that's a good pocket coaster

Roadside d-lite

I grow more and more comfortable on my motorbike, leaning hard into tight corners and hurdling down stretches of straightaway. The combination of playful curves, swooping slopes, and Thai sunshine is ecstasy inducing on a bike. It's during these dreamy, carefree rides that I catch myself laughing, drunken from the sheer pleasure of it all. At times I stop, turn around, and repeat some of these perfect portions of pavement over again because they are so damn satisfying. Scratches that itch I can't quiet reach riding the bus around San Francisco.

I sat on a post along this stretch of road for about fourty-five minutes sketching that cozy pocket of valleys and peaks. People driving by gave me funny looks and I gave them a winky wink or two

To keep things fresh, every now and then I turn on a whim up a skinny unmarked jungle road and cruise for a while, or ride down a secretive rural village alley to see what's in store. Every narrow path that I pass beckons me to explore it, and I have to take a breath and remind myself, "There just isn't enough time to explore them all!" I would if I could.

"Please Parker, take my shady jungle path towards uncertainty and possibly undiscovered ancient ruins and majestic beasts!" Whispers every side road into my perked up ear

While in Mae Sariang I pull over at one of the many coffee shops to gaze off the patio at the great river flowing lazily along below. I watch some water buffalo mosey lazily across the river, stopping to cool off in a deeper portion as they pass. All so peaceful, but in my rush to see every last bit of Northern Thailand during my all-too-short six day road trip, I somehow can't quite properly appreciate the serenity of these lands. The clock is always ticking in the back of my thoughts, but I try to stop to appreciate and process all of this magic the best I can.

Water buffalo lolly gagging in the river running through Mae Sariang

I stop to get a snack before heading off to the next destination. An old smiling woman peels tiny bananas, grills them lightly over coals and then presses them between a wooden vice. The smashed fruits are placed in a small plastic bag that's then filled with fresh sweetened coconut milk. As I attempt to pull some cash out of my pocket to pay for the tasty treat, my scooter key tumbles from my grasp and lands on the narrow concrete sidewalk below. I bend down to snatch them up and gasp at what I see. Had the keys landed just an inch to the right, they would have plummeted down a tiny hole into a sewer canal a few feet below. Luck is on my side on this day! After a sigh of relief I pay the smily old gal and cruise over to a rice paddy hut to munch my smashed banana surprise in the shade of the heavy sunlight.

Banana lady smashing some of her grilled bananas. Why the smashing? I couldn't tell ya.

Somewhere between the cities of Mae Sariang and Kuhn Yuam my curiosity overcomes my desire to make it to my next stop before nightfall. I follow signs marked with a cave icon onto a back road winding through clusters of shy brown shacks. Roosters and stray dogs poke around the dusty road, villagers peek out from their yards and watch me drive past.

Asked this jolly fellow if I might snap a portrait of him while he worked his palm leaves

The path spits me out into a sun drenched forest tangled with palms, and twisting road begs me to accelerate as quickly as possible without flying off the side of the mountain. I come to a park station of some sort and discover entry to the cave itself requires a lift from a pickup truck. I hop up onto a bench welded to a truck bed, and for the first time on this road trip I meet a few travelers on the same loop I'm following, only headed counterclockwise. They consist of three Danish folk, a German couple, and one American.

Played some guitar at the cavesite base. The rice paddy fields make for a wonderful audience

The truck plops us before the mouth of Kaew Komon Cave and we begin our descent into the dimly lit throat of a passageway. Here and there bouquets of brilliant white crystals splash the ceiling with a fine glittering shimmer. Formations change shape and color as we go further down, but artificial lighting and cement stairs disenchant the experience a bit. 

Information: Caves located within caves are also called caves

I'm looking one of those dark, dank caves. One filled with haunting mysteries, booby traps, and quiet spooks. One that swallows you whole and intends to turn your body to a pile of dusty bones in some dead ended vein of its endless labyrinth. The kind of cave The Goonies led me to believe waits for me somewhere out there.

"This place is nothing compared to Lot Cave." claims the American as we reach the cave's end. "You could easily get lost in that place." I take mental note of his statement and soon thereafter we all resurface from the narrow passageway.

How could you drive past this sign? That man in the cave image is having a blast and a half!

Back on the road on my own an hour or so later I come across another form of natural intrigue, a modest hot spring. As the sun sets I take a dip and begin plotting my next move. That initial taste of cave crawling has whet my appetite for more, and according to my map the mountains ahead are carved with many a dark and gaping mouth, hungrily awaiting my entrance with stalactite fangs. I assure myself and the caves, "Soon both of our appetites will be sated!"

View from my cozy little hot spring room. Not included: Sound of old Thai man groaning as he simmers in his old man hot spring stew