Remote Mae Hong Son town, provincial capital of the eponymous province, is just a few kilometres from the Burmese border in Thailand’s far northwest. The town is barely larger than Pai, thanks to the tourism boom there, but Mae Hong Son certainly sees far fewer foreign visitors. A few large government buildings can be seen and perhaps more cars may zip along the roads, but Mae Hong Son generally has a decidedly more laidback feel to it than its busier neighbour down the road.
Whether you go for bustle or laidback, Mae Hong Son is a more attractive town than Pai; its valley is much narrower, with barely enough room for the town and its tiny airport, with steep forested hills crowding in from all directions. The lake is a picturesque feature in the centre of town and makes for a great spot to take an evening stroll, enjoy a picnic or down a sunset drink, while several attractive Shan-style temples as well as old teak buildings dot the town and hills. Unusually for a Thai provincial capital, there’s a total lack of high rise. An incongruous four-lane ring road now mars the suburbs somewhat, but it’s apparently part of a future scheme to connect Chiang Mai directly with Delhi or somewhere or another.
The population of Mae Hong Son is still largely Shan, an ethnic group inhabiting this whole northwest corner of Thailand which abuts Shan State over the border in Burma (Myanmar). A large number of northern Thais and Sino-Thais have also moved here to establish businesses in the urban areas.