"The Microlighting Experience" a Chiang Mai Travel Page by DarkRay

I think the best way to describe a microlight is that it is like a tuk tuk that has been fitted with a pair of wings. The experience of riding on one, especially during take off phase where speed was being picked up, was simply exhilarating!

It was however, a rather expensive thrill at 1500 baht (about US$40) for just a 15 minutes ride up in the air. But you will have so much fun up there that the 15 minutes simply whizz by like a breeze. Quite a bit of distance is covered, and we even flew over a very beautiful dam.

Longer rides are also available at 2600 baht (about US$70) for 30 minutes, or a whopping 3500 baht (about US$90) for an hour! All prices include return transfers to your hotel.

But if you want additional perks such as wingtip pictures, it will be an additional 300 baht for 15 exposures! Coupled with the cost of developing the cost, you can see that this is certainly not a cheap outing by any standards.

Just remember that as it can get really cold up and extremely windy up there, do bring along a jacket along, especially for the longer rides.

This is the first of the 15 wingtip photos they took, which is of the pilot steering the microlight into proper take off position.

Before the take off, there were a series of checks the pilot had to go through. Although the microlight was not moving during this period of time, my heart was beating very excitedly, in anticipation of the eventual take off.

And we were off in the air! The cables and orange patch in the top part of the pictures are of course parts of the microlight. The very long and very straight road cutting through the landscape is the Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai Expressway.

Another view of Chiang Mai while up in the air.

The is another of the wingtip photo taken while we were up in the air.

We also flew above the very beautiful and scenic Chiang Mai Dam. There was an air of serenity about it that really drew contrast with the thrill I felt while in the microlight.

After the 15 minutes flew by literally, we were again back on the ground.