Orphan boy

After the big festival in Mae Chaem we took the bike onward down an old highway that leads to the Mae Hong Son loop. It was in rough shape through rough country. Think dusty rugged roads. Dry baked hills and tiny villages in the mountains.

We stayed the night at a a very interesting place called Hot Coffee: an NGO that has set up some simple, but charming cottages on their property as a way to help fund their orphanage and school in this area. Being a very poor area many of these children are orphaned from poor families that can't feed them or refugees from Bruma. This school - non profit guesthouse is a great idea to raise money and interest. A way to contribute as a traveler to a good cause. It is also very interesting visiting this region. One of the most remote parts of Thailand. This is not the tourist Thailand, quite the opposite.

Woman wash in the river. The bells of water buffalo chime in the hills. And the sounds of bulbuls rings in the evening. We had a lovely time here exploring off the beaten track.

This photos is of one of the young orphan boys at the washing steps by the river.