10 written upThe calendar

Burning season

ช่วงเผา

Roughly late February to late April, agricultural and forest burning fills the valleys of upper northern Thailand and adjacent Myanmar with smoke. It…

Khao Phansa and Ok Phansa

เข้าพรรษา และออกพรรษา

Vassa, the rains retreat. It opens and closes with festivals, and it runs across exactly the months this circuit is quietest.

ลอยกระทง และยี่เป็ง

The full moon of the twelfth lunar month, usually November. The river festival, and the northern lantern festival that shares its dates.

ปอยส่างลอง

The Shan ordination festival, held in Mae Hong Son and across the province, most commonly in late March and April. Boys are dressed as princes for…

Songkran

สงกรานต์

The hottest days of the year, marked by pouring water. On a motorcycle this is a fact you plan around rather than a festival you attend.

The Akha Swing Festival

เทศกาลโล้ชิงช้าของชาวอาข่า

Yehkuja, the most important festival of the Akha year, held around a tall four-posted village swing. Worth timing a trip for — a different trip.

ทุ่งบัวตอง

Tithonia diversifolia — Mexican sunflower, บัวตอง — flowers across Doi Mae U-Kho in November. It is the one thing on this circuit with a hard date.

ฤดูหนาว

Dry, clear, cold at altitude before dawn, and the busiest and most expensive months on the circuit.

The hot season

หน้าร้อน

March to May. The low ground bakes, the high ground is bearable, and the difference between them is two thousand vertical feet and about eight…

หน้าฝน

June to October. Afternoon rain most days rather than all-day rain, waterfalls running, rooms cheap, and PM2.5 at a tenth of its March figure.