Ban Rak Thai village is day 2 of the riding days a fantastic ride from Karen Hill Tribe Lodge directly to the Border of Burma.  

We'll stay on the border lakeside in this unique Yunannese culture village a chinese tea village populated Kuo Min Tan fighters from Yunnan Province China, after the Communist take over.

Fine Yunnanese food on offer tonight including tea leaf salad a few beers and maybe some locally produced fruit wine.

Actually the entire route not just this section offers incredible riding.  The Mae Sot route in particular was a mammoth task to complete taking over 20 years,  previously a nasty stretch of choppy road, landslides and pot holes but today smooth asphalt weaving its way through dense jungle and hill tribe villages.

A firm favourite on 70% of our tours and loved by every one the first night of the tour in the Beautiful karen Hill Tribe lodge with the Karen as our hosts for the evening.  A perfect location for the first night allowing the group to relax or recover from a long haul flight.

Spend the evening with a beer or two in beautiful surrounding underneath a starlit sky by a roaring fire. (fireplace only active Nov - February)

Not ideal to call it a "Highlight" more of an interesting experience highlghting the plight of the Karen people still fleeing the Burma border through conflict.  Mae la refugee camp is the biggest of 9 refugee camps along the burma border where more than 40,000 Karen call home albeit (hopefully) temporary.

We are not able to enter the camp but it's on route and a good time to stop, ponder the enormity of the "Bamboo Village" and grab a quick snack before making our way onwards. 

One of the least visited places in Thailand due to it's accessibility being one very twisty road in and the same back out known as Thailand's "Death Highway".

The name may have some connection to amount of buses and cars plummeting over the cliff edges but actually the name came from many years ago when the Thailand communist party who didn't want the road built as it would disrupt trade with Burma and the Hmong militia army. A reported forty road construction workers were killed in just one massacre.

Only 170 kilometers from our previous nights locationin Mae Sot but a good 4 to 5 hours ride and worth every twist and bend it will throw your way with absolutely stunning mountain scenery.  Lots of stops on this trip taking in the awesome views.