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6. The Bamboo Bridge, Su Tong Pae

The Bamboo Bridge, Su Tong Pae

An attractive and photogenic stop-off
Published/Last edited or updated: 14th January, 2018

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Mae Hong Son’s bamboo bridge—known in the Shan language as Su Tong Pae—is another of those sites that, while perhaps not worth travelling far out of your way to see, definitely merits a stop if you’re passing by.

Travelfish says:

The bridge itself resembles something of a mini-U Bein bridge with a raised but low, bamboo platform attached to teak piles and stretches some 500 metres across paddy-fields and the Mae Sa Nga Stream. It was built in 2012 purportedly to link a hill-top temple aside 1095 to the village itself.

The small Shan style temple on the low hill, known as Phu Sama, provides fine overviews of the bridge. A sealed road also connects the two and the bamboo bridge is only suitable for pedestrians so, aside from allowing monks direct access to the village (and vice versa), the main users are principally tourists. We did see plenty of atmospheric shots in town travel agents of early morning monks seeking alms from sarong-clad villagers on the bridge but we’d reckon you’d have to be lucky with your timing and there were certainly none about on the morning we visited.

In fact, when we passed by at an early pre-monk hour there was no-one at all and with rainy season emerald fields, it was a tranquil and splendid scene though it can get busy later in the day as local tourists stop off for selfies plus it’s a key feature of organised day tours. Car-park cafes at the highway entrance weren’t yet open when we arrived but a welcoming little spot at the village end was serving coffees, drinks ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 300 words.)