Three days trekking in the Thai wilderness felt good coming off in the shower though I didn't wait long to head back for the hills. This time though, it was through the power of a motorbike rather than my own two feet. The Belgian and English guys [from the trek] and I decided to rent bikes and complete a four-day, nearly 640-kilometre loop of Northern Thailand.

The morning after we finished the hike we headed for our rental bikes, strapped our bags to the back of the Belgian guy's bike [he opted for a 500cc], threw some trash bags over them and headed for the northern town of Pai.

This hippy enclave is about three hours from Chiang Mai, but we planned to stop along the way. That is, if we could get out of Chiang Mai. Leaving the rental centre we ran right into a parade of school children and brightly covered trucks blocking the one road circling the town. With painful patience we eventually negotiated the parade and made our way for the open road.

First stop? Well after I negotiated some issues with my gears what? Third gear won't get me up a hill? with the English guy's help, we found ourselves in front of a dramatic waterfall.

Nestled in the green that dominates the Thai countryside and without a tourist in sight we had the incredible water feature to ourselves. The height of the waterfall, however, made it painful to actually stand under it.

After our morning shower we continued along tiny, twisty roads through the mountainous countryside. It wasn't always easy the guidebook warns anyone with a weak stomach not to tempt this road by bus, or at least not to eat! Slightly less nausea inducing by motorbike, the trucks racing the opposite way on our side of the mountainous tribe roads hardly instilled a comfortable ride at times. Apparently there's something like 1,000 hairpin turns on this stretch of road!

Luckily we could tuck into bubbling hot geysers [no eggs allowed!]. A break from the bikes felt good and the steaming, bubbling baths were interesting [at 90 degrees Celsius we were not allowed to swim], but all the riding worked up an appetite. We found a random restaurant along the road and stuffed our faces before moving along.

Continuing through rice paddies, lush greenery and mountains covered in mist helped pass the time to Pai. Enjoying the scenery was one thing. The bike another. Luckily it was nothing a glass of wine couldn't fix.

We met the two Dutch girls from the trek and together, wandered around a tiny, valley town that sits on either side of a river and provides an escape for leftover hippies. There is not much to actually do in the town, which consists of about two roads with some restaurants and bars. The interesting part lies nearby.

There wasn't a chance I was getting back on the bike that afternoon four hours of climbing and the vertical descent was enough. The next morning me and my two travel buddies decided to see what Pai's countryside had to offer. For a start there is a canyon [read a small ridge with a decent view].

A fellow canyon visitor suggested we get ourselves directly to the hot baths that bubble nearby. We could actually swim in these. No more convincing was needed.

Who would have thought that in the 34 degree Celsius of Northern Thailand a hot bath was what we needed? Bamboo shoots transported steaming water over my shoulders as the naturally formed bath helped ease bike-battered muscles from the previous day.

After completely shocking the locals who were bathing in their clothes [bathing suits are not the norm for Thai women], we left the heat to head to the chill of a waterfall with a naturally formed water slide.

After a few lost ways [though you can hardly begrudge this especially when the scenery is just so lush] dodging chickens, dogs, and children and crossing the back roads we eventually found it. Um...I now understood why the guys I spoke with about this said I would have to throw myself down the slide.

It is naturally carved into the rock well, until it stops and riders have to fly through the air into the pool below. No stairs here either. Climbing the rocks to the start was terrifying enough. I chickened out. Instead I became the photographer for my two travel buddies who risked life and limb multiple times.

It was sunset and time to head back to Pai for dinner with the Dutch girls before getting ready for the trip to Mae Hong Song the next day.

While the weather held out for us the first two days of the trip, the third was not as clear.

With plastic covering our bags and raincoats covering our bodies, we attempted the three-hour trip to Mae Hong Song the North Western provincial capital.

It's little more than a mountain-sandwiched town surrounding a lake, a few restaurants, an airport and a Wat glaring from a mountain above. We decided to eat and push on to the nearby long neck village.

We debated this decision over and over again. Part of me felt like it was a human zoo. The other part thought it was a way to give its inhabitants, Myanmar refugees, a chance at a decent livelihood.

We did not know what we were getting ourselves into. Like most Bermudians I grew up riding on the back of my dad's bike and have driven a bike since I was 16. In all that time I think I have only come off about three times.

It took me all of ten minutes on the path to the village, which was water-logged and algae strewn, to skid off my bike!! Rainy season is probably not the best time to try this trip. The dips in the road had at least a foot of water and skid marks where more than one person had already come off their bikes. Luckily my travel buddies had not gone too far ahead and turned back to "help".

Still a bit shaken, my Belgian travel buddy tried to help by starting my bike for me. So helpful he was that he broke the kick-start! The closest town was at least 50 kilometres away, the rain was starting again and I was water-logged. Maybe visiting the long necks was not the best decision.

My Belgian travel buddy, however, was not going to give up; with legs flailing, he ran with my bike up and down a ten-foot dry spot on the watery road. Twenty minutes of this, my temperamental bike was back on track and in ten minutes we made it to the long neck village.

For 250 Baht [or about $7], which I felt terrible paying, we were let into this "village" populated by women with coils wrapped around their necks. Welcome to a Disneyland sweatshop. The one dirt path is lined with women selling everything from scarves to bronze bells while tourists take pictures and ogle at the size of their necks. It all felt so wrong!

The worst part is no one even knows for sure why these women wear the coils anyone thought of asking? A sign in the village speculates to prevent tiger attacks or to save the family's gold when under attack.

Walking away feeling like weird voyeurs, we got back on our bikes. I scratched my leg trying to use the kick-start and eventually, after my running start, began our trip. We had envisioned getting to a town further along, but as the night set in so did torrential rain.

Mountainous roads, with no lights and no idea where we were going did not sound like a good idea. We found a tiny hotel on the side of the road and decided to rest up there for the night before setting out for Chiang Mai the next day.

The next morning did not provide any more sun than the afternoon before. Why oh why did we decide to do this trip in the rainy season? After three hours in rain, fog-engulfed mountain roads where I couldn't see five feet in front of me, and windy paths that make the Rockies look like child's play I was ready to drive my bike off a cliff. Luckily my travel buddies made me eat some lunch.

I had nearly defrosted yes, in Thailand I was wearing jeans, my ski jacket and three layers of shirts and was still freezing cold when we had to get going so we could arrive in Chiang Mai in time for the Belgian guy to get the night train down south.

I am never going to ride a bike again! Or at least that's what I swore to myself as we finally pulled into the rental place with fingers I couldn't feel and legs that found it hard to walk. After bidding adieu to my travel buddies I found a hotel with a hot shower and a restaurant with some hearty green curry before crashing in bed.

Next stop: A very slow boat to Laos......