Doi Mae Salong

I'm breaking into Thailand and starting the order in reverse! My day was invigorating that I can't wait to get this down. It could be the massive amounts of caffeine i've ingested but i only see that as a positive when it comes to writing.
Woke up in Chiang Rai. Small town on 60,000 and had one mission on my mind. I will find a motorbike. In Thailand there is not much in the way of precaution about letting a white visitor use a motorbike and I have been taking advantage. Now in a new town I need to get one and get out to the heart of Thai's tea country. Tea means mountains and mountains mean power. So i needed a beefy ride to get me up but one that does everything automatically to make up for my newbie prowess with a bike. So the shop i found with the nice bike and helmets worked well and before 830am I was on my way with a yellow helmet and my backpack strapped to my stead.
As I cruise out of the city on the left hand side of course, I take a mental check of my trip. Backpack appears to be securely strapped, highway for 30 k then 40 k of winding uphill paved roads, and gas tank is full. After some prayers for safety I sink into the groove of defensive driving mixed with bursts of speed to get around the slow moving trucks and occasional moto driver who want to drive against traffic! The signage in Thailand is relatively easy to follow and I soon find myself at the start of the country road to Doi Mae Salong. A few minutes past roadside shops and I find myself relatively alone on roads laid out to get folks up the mountain. The air is thick as smoke and haze settles all around. Its the time of year where farmers burn there land for different reasons and the result is smog in the kind of areas where on would hope for clear air to promote the beautiful landscape around you. The end result is see off into the distance is not possible and i inevitably enjoy my immediate surroundings and smells.
I get into a groove of curving up the road and begin to relax more as the sun heats up the land. I pass my first tea plantation. Rows of hedged green bushes terrace up and down the landscape. The curves become tighter and the moto is forced to slow as the town approaches. Hotel is found and I'm off to taste teas. Now a properly full stomach is in order to start a day of tea drinking so I'm estatic when I see fresh mushrooms and vegetable stir fry on the menu. When the steam dish comes out minus the fungi I question and am given another dish! Well now on a full stomach but questioning where the mushrooms were I drive down 100 meters to a tea factory. I am greeted by a lady who appears in here twenties and she motions me to sit. I use my Sawadee Krupp to say hello and realize that I will have to dig deeper to get a conversation going. A man quickly joins us and smiles as I keep doing whenever I make eye contact. I've noticed the Thia's love to smile especially to break an awkward silence as I have a tendency to do the same it works out well! There are cups of all shapes in front of me and a chemisty looking set of glass to heat water. Behind the tea bar, is a display case containing what I assume is the teas make here. The man speaks very limited english so I pull out my guidebook to point and say what is your name. We get past the akwardness and soon my som boon and I are becoming friends. Oolong tea is a specialty here and it tastes as good as any other kind I've tried. Each brew is poured into a wide mini bowl and then poured into a long cylindrical container which fits inside the rim of the bowl. You then flip them upside down so the bowl is on bottom and the cylinder is upside down full of tea, resting in the bowl. Then after wait the appropriate amount of time you slowly pull the cylinder up filling the bowl with tea and put the hot cylinder up to your nose to sniff the tea scent. You also roll this between your hands b/c of the heat! Then taste the tea and enjoy. His wife dissapears and we walk to the tea factory through the doorway and look at all the instruments they use. After that we walk back and I am surprised by birthday cake his wife Chuy Sing has brought out! Today is her birthday and I was lucky enough to be there for it and also worthy to be given a cool tasty gift!