Is there any better way to spend your last evening in Thailand than having a great Thai massage, followed by a great Thai meal, all for under $25 CAD?

Our ride back to Chiang Saen was uneventful, although we definitely were feeling the muscles we abused in the mountains. Fortunately it was a quick ride, and we were able to check in at Gin’s Guesthouse, have lunch, drop off our passports at the boat office, mail a package home, shower, change, do laundry and still have time for a two-hour massage before dinner.

Unfortunately, after dinner we discovered that Julie, who we had talked to a few days earlier, would not be back before we left. This meant that the staff wanted to charge us more for the room, and weren’t able to provide the Internet or extra fan we had been promised. After a quick phone call the room price was sorted out, and we were able to change our remaining Baht for Chinese RMB. Scott was a bit grumpy about the exchange rate, which was well above market, but still possibly better than we would have done in Jinghong.

By 9 pm our bikes were packed and we were in bed, ready for our 4 am alarm and a quick ride to our boat up the Mekong to China.

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Our plan for the day was to leave most of our baggage at the Yeeson hotel, and do a loop ride up to Doi Tung – the “Flag Mountain” with its famous twin chedis. Apparently one of Buddha’s collarbones is interred in one of the chedis, so it is a significant place of pilgrimage. Along the way is the Royal Villa of the “Princess Mother”, the current king’s mother, who died in 1993. It is partly a museum, and his sister still lives in another portion.

On our way out of town, we saw a sign for the “Afterglow Hostel” with a price of 585 Baht. We aren’t sure if that was for the night or the hour, but with a name like Afterglow we don’t think it is your standard backpacker place!

The climb up to the palace was nice, with a few steep climbs separated by less steep sections on a nice smooth road, and much easier without the weight of our bags. When we reached the Villa, it turned out to be quite a tourist attraction, with lots of small tour buses and visitors. As usual, our bikes turned us into quite the tourist attraction ourselves, and we answered many questions and posed for a bunch of photos.

In addition to the Royal Villa, this is the site of the Mae Fa Luang Gardens, and Doi Tung handicrafts – all part of an effort by the Princess Mother to provide alternatives to opium production for the local hill tribes. From what we can tell it is working, with lots of handicrafts available, as well as various cash crops, including coffee. Becky was sorely tempted to buy some beans, but decided she would refrain, and skip the extra weight for our afternoon of climbing.

The climb after the palace was steep in places, especially one shortcut to Doi Tung. The road was in great condition, but the constant 20% grade was a bit much. We aborted the attempt of the short cut after a few hundred meters because it was just too steep – Becky did not want to push her bike up 3.3 km of steepness after all the climbing we had already done today! (600m elevation gain in 3.3 km is almost 20% on average – steeper in places).

Sadly, when we reached the turnoff to Doi Tung, it turned out to be a large downhill – not something we were prepared to contemplate at 4 pm, since we would need to climb back up again to get home. Instead we decided to continue along the road and finish our loop.

Note that after the Villa there are very few services along the road. We had planned to fill up with water at Doi Tung, but when we deviated so as not to go there, Becky was getting pretty low. We were lucky that when we reached the top there was a kiosk selling wine that also had bottled water and fanta. We recommend that you fill up at the Villa before venturing further afield

The road back skirted the Burma border, and we needed to clear a checkpoint before we could get on it. This was the first checkpoint in Thailand where we actually showed our passports, but we passed through without questions. Just past the checkpoint was a Burmese border station. The bamboo buildings and fences were quite the change from the concrete on the Thai side. Becky stopped to adjust her bandanna, and Scott lost sight of her for what seemed a long time, especially hearing the barking of some dogs behind. He was getting quite concerned by the time she showed up, with a pack of Burmese guard dogs right on her heels. Fortunately it was a nice bit of downhill and we outdistanced them quickly.

Scott had showed Becky Bill Weir’s comments about the road along the border, including “The ridge-top road dived and climbed–I alternately squeezed my brakes for dear life, or winched up in bottom gear. Downhills outnumbered climbs and I was soon back in Mae Sai.” Unfortunately, Becky missed the first sentence, and was expecting a nice downhill back to Mai Sai. We can report that the road is still really steep and the in poor condition, so we rarely were able to go over 30 km/hr. We would not recommend this decent for anyone without disc brakes – as it was our brakes were hot and smelly! Going down the way we came up would have been a much more pleasant ride, but much longer too. We understand why the Lonely Planet says that only experienced motorcyclists should attempt to ride that road – the curves were pretty crazy even on the bicycles.

We were surprised by the number of people walking on the road, but there are several small encampments along the way.

The returning road did not just have steep downhills, it also had some steep uphills to ensure you did not get cold and your brakes had a chance to cool off. This was OK the first few times, but 10 km before the end of the road when it turned up again, Becky gave up and made Scott turn around. We headed back to the village of Pha Mi, and took the village road out of the hills to highway one. This is a hill tribe village, but not a “tourist village” and we didn’t see anyone in traditional dress.

As we approached the valley, we hit a wall of smoke from the burning fields. It pointed out just how smoky the air was down at the lower elevations. It was nice to be out of the pollution while we were climbing in the hills.

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Since we don’t catch the boat to China until Wednesday, we decided to check out the “golden triangle” (where Thailand, Burma, and Laos meet). The masochists in us are thinking of riding up to Doi Tung which according to our map lies at 1512 m and is the tallest peak in Chiang Rai province. This will make it the highest climb we have done to date; however, we will be cheating a little by doing the ride as a day trip from Mai Sai, so we don’t need to carry all our gear up the hills. Hopefully that will make it easier when it becomes necessary to push the bikes!

The Golden Triangle turned out to be a fairly empty tourist attraction – lots of souvenir stands, western restaurants and expensive resort hotels. There are a couple of Opium museums, which we didn’t check out, and a giant seated Buddha on a tacky boat. One nice thing was that there were several places there that sold real coffee.

The ride to Mai Sai was mostly flat or gentle rolling hills, with the exception of one big climb just past the Golden Triangle. About 12 km outside of Mai Sai we deviated to take a minor more scenic route into town. After about 8 km, our GPS had us turn onto a dirt track (shown as a minor road), which we followed quite happily for 6 km. The track was right beside the Mae Sai river which marks the border between Myanmar and Thailand. Unfortunately the trees on both sides of the river meant we didn’t see much of Myanmar up close. Eventually the track deteriorated, and then we came upon a wall – literally. The wall was the protected area of the “Second Friendship Bridge” which crosses the border east of Mai Sai. We turned back and found a farm road that eventually (after several wrong turns) brought us back to the main road into Mai Sai – the GPS doesn’t always prevent us from making wrong turns, especially when the roads it shows all go into the restricted zone. At one point, we were joined by a couple of kids on a bike – we are amused at how good they are at riding double. Many of the bikes actually having a padded seat in place of a rear rack.

In Mai Sai, we are staying at the “Yeeson Hotle” (s.p.) in an air conditioned room for 400 Baht a night. It seems very clean and comfortable so far. They let us keep our bikes downstairs in the lobby / restaurant which appears to act as overnight storage for a collection of bikes, motorbikes, and wheelchairs. We wanted to check out the Monkey Island Guesthouse but it was all closed up. The Bamboo Guesthouse had AC rooms for 350 Baht, but Becky disliked the parade of black ants highlighted against the white walls in the bathroom.

For dinner we walked down to the Mai Sai Riverside Resort, where we had great views of Burmese kids playing in the river a few meters from us. This would definitely not be a hard border to cross illegally! Unfortunately, the food was pretty mediocre and expensive for what you got – we don’t recommend it.

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We rode to Chiang Saen through the warmest part of the day. As we rode, we really noticed the added pollution caused by burning in the fields and hills – fields are often burned in preparation of planting. There are some hills between Chiang Rai and Chiang Saen, but for the most part the road seems to pleasantly follow the valleys through the hills.

Upon entering Chiang Saen, we wandered back and forth along the waterfront searching for the place to purchase our boat tickets. After a few inquiries, we were directed to a spot south of the old city wall. Scott enquired about the location of the office at customs, and we were directed 200m south of the port office. After riding past the office yet again, the person Scott had spoken too passed us on his motorcycle and motioned for us to follow him to the office. It turned out to be in a building that looked like a warehouse behind a partially opened gate. After further inspection, we could see worn out posters of the boat posted on the gate.

After much miming and some translation by our friendly motorcycle guide, and a payment of 10808 Baht (840 Yuan/ticket + 1040 baht/bike + 100 baht/person for immigration), we had tickets for us and our bikes for the Wednesday boat – the Monday boat was not running this week. We did have some confusion when the translator translated 12 as twenty-two, and 13 as twenty-three, but pointing to a calendar cleared that up the confusion. We were instructed to return to the ticket office before 4 pm on Tuesday and hand over our passports. We had previously read about this, so we were aware that Thai customs and immigration are not open at 5 am when the boat departs, so the agent processes our passports the night before.

Once we had tickets in hand, we went in search of a place to stay for the night. As far as we can tell, the Chiang Saen River Hill Hotel is the only place in town with air conditioning. In our search, we also stopped at Gin’s Guesthouse, which had a nice large fan room on the main floor for 400 Baht. Julie (the proprietress) also said that she could exchange Thai Baht for Chinese Yuan – which would be helpful given our arrival in Jinghong was scheduled for 9 pm. She also said she had Internet. It looked good, but Becky really wanted AC, so we paid the premium (900 Baht) at the Chiang Saen River Hill Hotel. Note that neither place is ideally situated – one to the north of the town center, and the other to the south – both are more than 1 km from the night market, although both do have nearby restaurants. From other travelers we heard that the Chiang Saen guesthouse has degraded since its recommendation in Lonely Planet, but there’s another inexpensive (and nice) guesthouse just north in of the town center intersection.

For dinner, we walked out to the night market, and sat local style on the ground with a low table overlooking the Mekong. We were sucked into a place with an English menu, only to discover some very amusing translations (any idea what a mix a vermiform appendix, or mix a fingernail mrs is?). Unfortunately, shortly after we ordered a large group arrived, then the impending storm began to drop some rain on us, with all the chaos, most of our order got forgotten. After sitting patiently for 30 minutes (they put up some umbrella’s to keep the rain off), we gave up and got the rest of our meal to go. It started off so nice, it was such a shame that it didn’t last.

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Since there were a couple of things we wanted to do in Chiang Rai, we decided to stay an extra night here. We visited the Hill Tribe Museum and rode out to the famous White Wat (Wat Rong Khun).

We first visited the Hill Tribe Museum, which has an excellent virtual museum website – possibly better than the actual museum! The Hill Tribe people have migrated to Thailand over the last 150 years from areas of Burma, Laos, and China. In essence they are refugees of war; however, the majority have no rights – not even the rights of recognized refugees. Thailand is hesitant to provide citizenship to the Hill Tribe people because the borders are still very porous and they are concerned that with citizenship more people will migrate to Thailand.

Most of the Hill Tribe people are subsistence farmers. Some still practice slash and burn farming on the steep slopes in remote areas of northern Thailand. For a long time, the main crop was poppies for opium; however, the Thai government has tried to curtail this. Poppies are being replaced by soy beans, coffee, and other cash crops.

Too frequently when you hear of the Thailand Hill Tribe people, you see pictures of a small group called the Padaung or Long-neck Karen. The long-neck Karen that live in their traditional villages live in Burma. The only long-neck Karen in Thailand are exploited by tour operators, who create long-neck Karen tourist villages. Only the women are paid, and they are required to wear their neck rings in order to be paid. They work in souvenir shops selling trinkets to tourists, who are charged a hefty sum just to visit this fake tourist village. One argument for this treatment is that the Long-neck Karen in Burma are in the middle of a war zone, so at least the tourist villages are “safe”. However, they have no identification papers, and as a result they have no rights. Children born in Thailand are entitled to get Thailand identity cards; however, this process is often blocked by the unscrupulous tour operators. It looks an awful lot like modern day slavery to Becky! She found a great article about the plight of the Long-neck Karen in Thailand.
There is some conflicting information regarding these tourist villages.

The Karen (other than the long-neck Karen) are the largest group of Hill Tribe people in Thailand. They tend to settle in valleys and practice more sustainable farming. Because of their large numbers, they have adapted better to Thailand and many have Thai citizenship and identity cards.

Learning about the various tribes and their lives through the museum made us happy we hadn’t gone trekking. From what we can tell, most trekking tour operators do more harm than good for the Hill Tribes, since very little of the money paid by tourists gets back to them, and the vast numbers of tourists can have negative effects on the tribal culture.

In the late afternoon, we headed out to see Wat Rong Khun (the White Temple), about 15 km south of Chiang Rai. Unfortunately, we arrived just after the Wat closed (1700h), so we did not get to see the inside. From the outside, the Wat is spectacular, and nothing like any other Wat we have seen. It is vaguely reminiscent of the La Sagrada Familia which we saw in Barcelona. Construction of the temple started in 1997 and is the vision of Thai painter and architect Chalermchai Kositpipat. The murals inside are supposed to be spectacular – we’ll have to come back and see them another time. It is definitely a tourist attraction, with busloads of Thai and foreign tourists arriving even as we were leaving, despite the fact the Wat had closed over an hour previous. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area! Apparently, they had some issues with tourists in the past, such that now any foreigner entering the Wat is required to be escorted by a tour guide.

For dinner we stopped off at the night market food kiosks. There were at least 30 kiosks but the choice was pretty limited, as there were many that served the same food – Becky counted at least six places serving hot-pot. We enjoyed a hot-pot meal at our table although Becky was totally paranoid that Scott would accidently tip the table over spilling the hot coals all over Becky. Fortunately, that did not happen. Another of the food options was deep fried bugs – we picked up a plate and tried each of the four kinds. Once you get over the creepy factor (and that took some time and real will power!), they aren’t really that bad. The think worms were a little gooey on the inside and tasted a little green. The others just tasted sort of like popcorn.

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Since we did not need to be in Tha Ton before noon, and Fang to Tha Ton was only 25 km, we decided to go find someplace for breakfast. While walking down the main street of town, we came across an alley way that led to the morning wet market. Lots of interesting food available, both raw and cooked. There were a few places to sit and have rice soup – a typical breakfast, but they were a bit too close to the meat vendors for our taste. Instead we walked through the market and picked up a variety of treats to make up our breakfast.

The ride to Tha Ton was quick – it felt like it was mostly downhill, but we actually gained altitude until the last 4 km. We averaged 21.5 km/hr, which is very fast for us – maybe yesterday’s ride through the mountains (and the massage afterwards) was good for us?

Upon arriving in town, we found the place to purchase tickets for the long-tail ferry. We debated seeing if anyone wanted to share a private boat, but opted for the standard 350 Baht per person ferry with a surcharge of 150 Baht for each bike. It turned out we made a good decision, as the boat only had two other passengers. It would have been horribly crowded if all 12 spots had been sold.

Time to push, no pull, no push!

The ride began smoothly, but not 10 minutes into it we heard the grinding of sand as the boat grounded on a sandbar. The pilot got out and as he walked alongside the boat his ankles were just barely covered with water. We were clearly aground – not an auspicious start! The pilot tried a few times to move the boat on his own, but to no effect, so we all hopped out. Fortunately, the water was nice and warm. After 20 minutes of grueling pushing and rocking we got the boat back into deeper water and were again on our way. Becky read in the guidebook that this might happen during times of low water, but we hadn’t expected it quite this soon into the trip!

Most of the ride was smooth going, with the pilot zig-zagging us across the meandering river, finding the spots deep enough for the boat traverse. Several times we heard the telltale scritch of sand scraping the bottom of the boat as we passed over a shallow spot. At one point, we entered some small rapids and suddenly there was a loud “thunk” – we had struck a rock just in front of where Scott was sitting. Fortunately, the boat survived unscathed – Scott checked the bilge below him for leaks a few times to be certain. We traversed several other sets of rapids, each time expertly navigated by our pilot, but several times Scott and the gentleman behind him got soaked as a wave crashed over the side. We never realized our river journey was meant to be an adventure tour!

Scott was very impressed with our pilot, since he was clearly blind in one eye. With no depth perception, navigating a 12 meter boat through the rapids and shallows of the river was quite a feat.

Shortly before we arrived in Chiang Rai, we stopped in a Karen Hill Tribe village. There were several other privately chartered long-tail boats there and it appears this is a regular stop on the river run. The Karen were selling food, drinks and various souvenirs, and also had a snake petting zoo, but the main attraction was the elephants. There were several elephants chained in the main square, which we could feed, and if we had more time we could have taken an elephant ride. It felt more like an amusement park than the villages we have ridden through, and we quickly grabbed some food and got back on the boat. We did take a few photos of other visitors riding elephants, and our fellow passengers feeding the elephants though.

After a short tour around Chiang Rai we decided to stay at the PS Guesthouse. They had a nice big ground floor air conditioned room for 450 Baht. It is about a 2 km walk to downtown and the night market, but in a nice quiet neighbourhood. Once we saw the room, we just had to stay – Becky fell in love with the lamp!

We are not sure how we managed to gain 80 m on our down river boat trip!

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Today’s ride included the hardest hills we have climbed so far. There was over 7 km of uphill, with 3 km involving grades above 15%. We spent much of the 3 km steep part pushing our bikes up the hill. Several pickup trucks passed us, but none stopped to offer a ride – we couldn’t blame them because if they stopped they might not have been able to get started again – it was that steep. At one point Becky was so dead that Scott offered to push her bike up few sections of hill (after pushing his up). On a few of the steeper pitches, Becky took Scott up on his offer!

When we arrived in Sinchai, the small town near the top, we planned to take a break and have lunch – we were not sure how much more climbing we would need to do on the other side of town. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a place to eat in town. Feeling like true touring cyclists, we ended up snacking on some crackers and Coca Cola – we really feel like we have joined the serious cyclists club now.

Fortunately, the break and snack helped. We only had one steep pitch after our snack. Becky pushed her bike up it, but Scott managed to ride. With our crackers and Coke energy, we climbed the hill at twice the paces of our previous climb (4 km/hr rather than 2 km/hr), then it was all downhill from there. Yippee! On the way down we experienced some of the worst roads we’ve ridden in Thailand. There were places where the outside lane (our lane) was only just wide enough for the bike – it would not have allowed cars in both directions. The road had eroded away, but the lines remained as if the road where regular width. Many of the steep corners where so potholed that you had to ride out into the other lane – which ensured that our brakes got a workout on the way down. It certainly added some challenge and entertainment to the decent. We’re very thankful for our disc brakes though – no brake fade, although Becky burned her finger when she touched the disc to see if it was hot.

We stopped at a nice looking restaurant in Ban Yang for lunch, only to discover a group of Taiwanese journalists there. We had met the journalists on our way back to the Guesthouse after dinner in Arunothai, and they passed us on the road up in Sinchai. Upon arrival at the restaurant, they immediately greeted us, and the two photographers grabbed their cameras to snap a few shots. We wonder if we’ll end up in a newspaper in Taiwan? If we understand correctly, they’re here doing a documentary on the schools in this area of Northern Thailand. After the Maoist revolution, many Chinese fled to Burma and this part of Thailand, and it was also used as a base by the KMT (Kuomintang) resistance for many years.

The ride from Ban Yang to Fang was flat and fast, both on the minor roads and the highway. We were happy to arrive in time to find a nice hotel and have a two hour (!) massage before supper. We are staying at the Ueang Kham (UK) Hotel, which has downstairs fan rooms for 200 Baht, upstairs A/C rooms for 300 Baht, fan bungalows for 250 Baht, and A/C bungalows for 400 Baht. We opted for the A/C bungalow because Becky really wanted AC after four nights without it, and being able to put the bikes in the bungalow “mud room” was really a nice feature.

When we came into our hotel room, Scott noticed the following saying all over the sheets on the two beds:

Sometimes it seems
the stars shine brighter
when something wonderful
is achieved …

They’ll be
shining brighter
now for you

Clearly the universe thinks we did well today!

Road notes:
The 1340 was in very good condition from Arunothai to Sinchai, but when we turned off to the minor road toward Ban Yang, there were occasional stretches of potholes, and sections of road were quite narrow due to erosion. Nothing too challenging as long as we weren’t descending too fast. Very little traffic, and a pleasant ride except for the climbing! The 3001 heading north was in good repair with little traffic, and gently rolling hills. Turning onto the 1249, traffic increased but there was no shoulder, requiring a bit more alertness. On the 107, traffic was quite heavy, but we kept to the wide shoulder most of the time. No problems entering the road to avoid the occasional parked car or patch of gravel though.

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We decided to take a bit of a different route north – highway 1178 to Arunothai and then 1340 across to Chai Prakarn or if we are feeling really crazy Doi Ang Khang (reported to have spectacular views as it is the second highest mountain in Thailand). We were warned that the hills on this route are nasty, so we’ll see how we do…

The ride up to Arunothai turned out to be quite nice – several hills but none of them too steep or long and there were some great down-hills mixed in too. It was quite a bit hotter than the past few days though, and Becky was feeling hot and sore (from her falls yesterday) when we came across a nice looking guest house. It turned out to be owned by a Thai-Dutch couple, and not only had western-style toilets, but a real espresso machine! Given the heat, we decided to skip the coffee, but the cold drinks were wonderful, and the owners gave us a couple of packets of rehydration salts – good to know they’re available here! Fortified by our drinks, we rode on to Na Wai, and found a spot for lunch just as the skies opened. Our usual Khao Phat plus a second lunch of Kway Teyao and the best Phat Thai Becky has had in Thailand brought energy back into our legs, and the heavy rain cooled things off perfectly for our afternoon ride.

Just as we approached the Lin Luang checkpoint the landscape changed dramatically. We felt like we were in a totally different country. The land is all farm land, but it is not flat. It looks like a lot of it was recently reclaimed from the surrounding forest area – with many fields filled with stumps. It is clearly between crops at the moment as the fields are covered in dark red soil and not much else.

We are staying at the “Guesthouse” in Arunothai – 250 Baht per night for a fan room with no hot water – although it does look like they have hot water in some rooms (we don’t find it necessary here). There might be another place in town to stay, as we did see signs with a 24 on it (usually indicates 24 hour reception). As it was, we made a wrong turn looking for the guesthouse and ended up asking for directions and having a guy on a motorcycle lead us to it. We have not yet met anyone here who speaks more than a few words of English, so we are using our limited Thai and doing much more miming! It is nice to be away from the tourist areas again.

After checking in, we decided to go on a short ride out to the Burmese border, about 2 km away. First we arrived at a police checkpoint, which looked deserted. After stopping and talking in loud voices for a few moments, a young soldier appeared from inside a sandbagged hut. We wondered if he had been asleep? We explained through Thai and mime that we wanted to see the border, and he told us we could pass through. We weren’t sure whether the “five” he indicated was 5 minutes or 5 o’clock, for us to come back, so we made a quick turnaround once we got to the border, and the big gates across the road. Apparently the border was closed! We read that it opens for local access on special occasions, but never for foreigners. Hopefully we were allowed to take photos of the closed border…

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Tham Pha Pong is a beautiful cave monastery, founded by Luang Poo Sim, a famous Buddhist monk here in Thailand. When he established it in 1967 it was deep in the wilderness in these remote mountains, but civilization has caught up, and now it’s just up the road from the Nest. It is a beautiful spot, with a steep climb up more than 500 steps to reach the monastery, and a further climb to the cave and the chedi. We went late in the day, and saw almost no-one there except the monks. There were many Buddhist sayings posted as we climbed to keep us focused, and the cave and chedi were a beautiful combination of natural and man-made materials, surrounded by trees. Becky followed a path beside the main altar, and discovered the tomb of Luang Poo Sim. At first she thought she was seeing a live monk sitting in lotus position in his monk’s robe, but looking closer she saw he was neither moving nor blinking. He does look very lifelike though!

Our hike began at about 10 am the next morning. It was supposed to only take 1.5 hours; however, that doesn’t account for getting lost. We would have been fine had we not gotten a few tips from Wicha at the Nest prior to departure. For anyone doing the walk, the most useful tip we can give is if you see the blue and white placards (all in Thai) regularly, you are on the correct trail. It is easy to follow a wrong fork and end up on some other trail – we were warned about there being many trails used by mushroom pickers.

Our first 15 minutes of hiking was OK, but then Scott decided to take Wicha’s advice to keep right, since the mushroom trails are generally to the left. We climbed under a marked cut in a barbed wire fence, then climbed up a muddy track beside the fence for 30 minutes. The trail continued to follow the fence line, and didn’t seem very “naturey”, so we turned around the retraced our steps. Not long after getting back on the real trail, we saw a telltale placard. We managed to stay on the correct trail through several forks and cross paths; however, as we approached the end and a steep downhill segment, we lost the trail. We went down for 10 minutes, and decided we were committed. We really did not want to climb back up again! So, we followed the steep downhill trail. Becky slipped and fell a couple of times, getting herself nice and muddy. We managed to get down to find ourselves only 10 meters from the real trail, which looked to be less steep.

The trail brought us out in back of the monastery near the caves. At first, we weren’t quite sure where we were, but we wandered around a bit and found the front entrance, with its souvenir stands and restaurants. After a brief lunch stop, we entered the caves – 20 baht each for entry to the first area. After about 100 m we came to a large room, filled with guides and their kerosene lanterns. We hired a guide for 100 baht, and he was well worth it. The caves rooms were large, with very small connecting tunnels and we saw just how easy it would have been to get lost. There were many interesting shapes and patterns in the limestone, unfortunately our photos don’t do them justice. We walked almost 2 km of caverns, and there is at least another 700 m section which we skipped, as well as many side passages which only the locals know. Unfortunately our trip ended in disappointment for Becky. She was really looking forward to the reclining Buddha at the end, but was not very impressed. They did have the fortune sticks, with English translations of the fortunes. We made a donation, gave them a shake and read our fortunes. Perhaps we should have looked at the English first though – neither of us could make any sense of our fortunes when we read them.

Our first night in Chiang Dao, we enjoyed a gourmet western meal at the Chiang Dao Nest restaurant. Scott noticed a lady seated alone, and invited her to join us for dinner. Meg is originally from England, but moved to Chiang Mai last year and is teaching English and current affairs to Burmese refugees. We enjoyed the wonderful food at the restaurant, and great conversation. From Meg’s description, there’s a strong need for both education and advocacy for the Burmese refugees, and it sounds like very interesting work. The food is still cheap by western standards, but very pricy for Thailand – we spent over $40 CAD (1200 baht) on dinner for two without wine. The same meal would have been well over $80 in Ottawa though, so we aren’t complaining.

Our second night, we went next door to try some Thai food at Malee’s. The owner there was very friendly, and cooked us some wonderful curry and a cashew nut stir fry. Yummy and very filling! We talked briefly to another touring cyclist from Brazil. A few years ago he rode from Vietnam to Spain via India, but this time he was on a short trip hoping to ride into Burma, which he was forced to skip on his last ride. We invited him to join us for dinner, but he was planning an early start and wanted to go to sleep. Unfortunately, we never caught his name.

On our third night, we walked down to the Chiang Dao Nest 2 restaurant where they serve what we’d call Thai fusion. Again Scott noticed someone sitting alone, and invited Melanie, a traveler from Germany, to join us. She is on a three month trip through SE Asia after completing university, much more adventurous than we were at that age! We enjoyed some not-quite spicy enough Thai food (we asked for medium, and it was not spicy at all). Chiang Dao Nest 2 also serves wine by the glass, so we enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and some great conversation. Melanie was headed on a trek into the hills and staying with some of the hill tribe people, and we’re curious how that goes. It’s something we’ve chosen not to do this time.

We found the Chiang Dao Nest 2 expensive for Thai food, and the staff completely disappeared, such that we had to hunt for them when we wanted water and more wine. Overall, we’d recommend Malee’s for Thai food and Chiang Dao Nest for a gourmet western experience.

Before leaving, we learned that the staff at Chiang Dao Nest had dubbed our bikes “The Sleeping Bicycles”. We love it!

We managed to get up at a reasonable time, but it seemed every time we tried to leave, the Gong Keuw pulled us back in. We lingered until after 9 am and even debated spending one more night in Chiang Mai so that we could enjoy the bungalow and the wonderful garden sitting area for a full day, but alas, it was time that we got back on the bikes and explored a little of northern Thailand. We’re feeling the press of time as the days count down to our next ship.

Thanks to the GPS, we were able to follow back roads out of Chiang Mai. Zigzagging back and forth across the Ping River and various irrigation canals, we saw many farmers hard at work in their fields, small villages, garbage cans made of recycled tires and community water purifiers. We saw people mostly working the fields by hand, but there have been a few tractors as well. We stayed on the back road for the first 37 km, then detoured to highway 107 in order to find a toilet and some food.

Thin cloud and a moderate headwind kept us relatively cool throughout the day. Scott had feared that riding in the north would be even hotter than the south after looking at weather reports, but the weather today was quite pleasant – Becky’s thermometer never even read over 40 C!

Shortly after Mae Taeng the scenery changed from farmers’ fields to jungle – including a few hills, but nothing too dramatic. Not long after entering the jungle area, we saw a couple of elephants lazing about. There was a working elephant camp not far, so they must have been “off duty” elephants.

After a few twists and turns in the jungle, the road opened up into a river valley, with more farmers fields. The contrasts made for a beautiful day of riding.

We decided to stay at the Chiang Dao Nest bungalow resort a couple of kilometers from the Chiang Dao caves and about 9 km from Chiang Dao town. It is in the middle of jungle and feels very rustic. We have a fan bungalow, which is quite comfortable. There is no AC available and it doesn’t really feel necessary here with lower humidity and temperatures dropping into the low 20s overnight. The bungalows are screened with windows on three sides. The cost was 595 Baht per night (under $20 CAD), which seemed a bit steep for a fan room. Scott tried to negotiate a better price, but was told “if you want cheaper, go to Malee’s Guest House next door”. Our friends Jenny and Jay stayed at Malee’s Guest House and liked it, but Chris was effusive in his praise of The Nest, so we decided to stay here anyway.

The restaurant at the resort serves Western food and is relatively expensive – 200 to 300 Baht per main course. Given that the food is gourmet western food, the price is actually very good. If you don’t want western food, both Malee’s and Chiang Dao Nest 2 bungalows serve Thai food.

Just after we arrived, we hopped in the shower and discovered something horrible. The winds and light cloud had led us astray, and we were both badly sunburnt. This is the first time in months we’ve had a bad sunburn, so we’re both feeling pretty stupid. It does explain why we were so tired as we came into Chiang Dao though. Oh well, at least we’re in a nice place to recover!

Download GPS Track in GPX format

We were invited in for lunch, but unfortunately we had just eaten. We did sit on the floor and drink water with them while they were eating though. The homes were quite simple, with a concrete pad floor and few furnishings. There was the requisite couch and TV, but no need for a dining room table, since cooking and eating happen on the floor. This does mean the floors are kept very clean though.

The neighbours were going on a vacation to Hua Hin – the first time for some of the younger kids to see the ocean – so we couldn’t spend too much time with them. We all piled into Ann’s pickup to drop them off at the train station – five people in the cab, and five in the back with the luggage. Hua Hin is almost 1000 km away and takes about 18 hours by train.

Once we saw the train off, Ann brought us to visit the main temple in Lamphun, Wat Phrathat Haripunchai. Experiencing the temple with a guide and someone who practices Buddhism gave us an opportunity to comfortably participate in some Buddhist rituals. When we went to buy candles to make an offering at the Chedi, Ann asked us what day we were born. What day? December 31 said Scott. No, what day of the week? We had no idea, but fortunately our mobile phone had a perpetual calendar. (Becky and Ann were born on Tuesday, and Scott was born on Friday). Our offering bundles each contained three big candles, a little candle, three sticks of incense and a flower, but the candles came from different baskets depending on the day. Everyone around us lit their candles and said their prayers without difficulty, but we kept having trouble – first a flame would go out, then we would get wax all over our hands. Before we think about converting to Buddhism, we’ll need a lot more practice!

After our day in Lampun with Ann, we made a quick pit stop at a dentist in Chiang Mai (Big Smile 2). Chiang Mai has many dentists and doctors, and people come from all over the world for cheaper medical procedures. We took advantage of this and spent 500 Baht (less than $20 CAD) to get a desperately needed teeth cleaning. We now both have much happier teeth and much whiter smiles. The equipment in the office was equivalent or more modern than we see at home, and the dentists and assistants were all wearing disposable masks and gloves, so we felt quite comfortable with the process.

We are now ready to get back on our bikes and continue our adventures in Northern Thailand.

The rest of this update feels a bit like a powerpoint presentation gone bad, but it seems like the best way to share our experiences at the course (other than the photos of the yummy food of course!)

Our class began with a tour if the local market. Among other things, we learned:

• what a Kaffir lime (the fruit of the tree that makes Kaffir lime leaf) looks like,
• how coconut milk is made,
• that eggplant comes in a variety of sizes and colours including ones that look like large peas
• that the difference between the white tofu and yellow tofu is that the yellow tofu has been marinated in turmeric.

In the class we prepared:

• a stir fry (Becky: fried cashew nut with chicken – kai pat med ma maung him ma pan, Scott: fried noodle thai style – phad thai)
• an appetizer (Becky: Papaya salad – som tam, Scott: spring roll – pho pea thod)
• a soup (Becky: Hot and sour prawn soup – tom yum kung, Scott: Seafood in coconut milk – tom kaa koong),
• a curry paste (Becky: red curry paste – namphrik gaeng phet, Scott: Panaeng curry paste – namphrik gaeng hung lay)
• a curry (Becky: Chiang Mai noodle with chicken – kao soy, Scott: Panaeng curry with chicken – pha naeng kai)
• a dessert (Becky: Water chestnuts in coconut milk – tub tim krawp, Scott: Mango with sticky rice – kao neeaw ma muang)

Some of the fun things we learned from the class include:

• That Thai food isn’t that hard to make when you have a team of invisible (and visible) helpers there to ensure everything runs smoothly.
• A controllable gas flame for the wok makes wok cooking much easier.
• Coconut milk can be boiled vigorously without harm (note that the coconut milk we used here was much thinner than the canned stuff from home).
• Proper wok implements make stirring/mixing easier (curved metal spoon and spatula – not wooden spoons).
• An extra-large mortar and pestle (and wooden elephant stand) work great for making curries.
• Deep fried cashew nuts are really yummy!

After the class, we learned from Maddie, one of the students in our class, of an inexpensive and really nice set of bungalows centered around a beautiful courtyard garden. We rode over to check it out, and ended up visiting with people there for a few hours. We will move over to the Gong Kaew Huen Kum tomorrow. It’s on Singharat 3 Soi if you’re looking for it. They have nice air conditioned bungalow rooms for 680 Baht per night, including Internet (wireless and a couple of kiosks), coffee, and toast. The people are really friendly, and there is definitely a backpacker culture there. The Sira Boutique was nice, but felt a bit too upscale for our “style”. It feels weird saying that, since we both used to like nice hotels!

The train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was 13 hours, so we decided to take the night train. Unfortunately, first class was full, and the only second class option available was upper bunks across the aisle from each other. Fortunately, the folks on the lower bunks were together, so during the daytime we were able to sit with each other.

Since the train started in Bangkok, loading the bikes was a much less stressful process – the price was different too – only 148 baht for both instead of 200. Most of the time it seems people pay 90 per bike, so we aren’t sure what the difference was. We found it strange that the staff of the cargo car always want us to load the bikes ourselves, but will unload them for us.

Similar to the Chumphon-Bangkok route the ride was anything but smooth. This and the fact that they never turn the lights off in second class, meant that neither of us got a particularly good night’s sleep – even though we went to bed by 9:00 pm and didn’t get up until 6:30 am! In addition, only the bottom bunks have windows, so you can’t see anything or sit anywhere while the folks down below are sleeping. For our cross China train, we will do our best to get a “soft sleeper” (aka first class) cabin. The train from Kunming to Beijing is almost 40 hours, including two overnights (and that’s for the fast train!)

It did not take us long to discover that we really like Chiang Mai. The city is a much nicer size (about 200,000 people), and is a great place cycle around. Cars and scooters are even more friendly than usual, and the old city is a nice size, and filled with interesting places to see and visit.

We found ourselves a room at the fancy Sira Boutique Hotel (a bit of a splurge at 1200 Baht a night – discounted from 2200), dropped off our bags, and spent the morning riding around town. We saw many beautiful Wat’s, but in our cycling clothes we aren’t dressed appropriately to visit. We also stopped by a couple of bike shops, including “Top Gear”, which is owned by a Canadian.

Other than our Friday adventure out to Wat Pho and Wat Arun, we spent most of our time in Bangkok at Jenny and Jay’s place chilling out. We definitely needed some down time where we did not feel the need to see all the sights or ride someplace.

On Monday night, Jenny invited over two pair (that is 4) other cycling tourists that were also in town. We enjoyed catching up with Katrina and Mike who we met in Malaysia, and meeting Elise and Zack. It was nice chatting with a group of native English speakers (we were all either Canadian or American). Becky’s extrovert needs were definitely met – she is now fully charged and ready for our next adventure.

We’re planning to catch a train to Chiang Mai, then get back on the bikes for some riding in the mountains. We’ll see how that goes…

One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free
You’ll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you’re lucky then the god’s a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

Lyrics by Tim Rice, from the musical “Chess”

Scott is not sure what that says about Becky, but he’s keeping an eye out for any bar girls sidling up to her. Running through his head is the proto-rap about chess which surrounds the sung portion. An excerpt:

I don’t see you guys rating
The kind of mate I’m contemplating
I’d let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you

So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage parlours…

An amusing counterpoint, and very much still true in the bar districts of Bangkok. Becky noticed the girls behind glass holding numbers as we went looking for dinner with Jenny and Jay. Unfortunately Scott missed out – he was too busy keeping an eye out for “farang traps”; low awnings and wires at a perfect height for locals, but just the right height to hit a tall westerner right between the eyes when he isn’t paying attention.

On Friday, we decided to venture out to explore a couple of the famous temples of Bangkok before the weekend crowds. We took the Skytrain and a boat up the Chao Phraya River (the “old muddy river” from the song) and visited Wat Pho. Wat Pho is the oldest and largest Wat in Bangkok, and contains the largest reclining Buddha (also referenced in the song) and the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. By that point it was getting quite hot, and we decided to skip the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. Instead we crossed the river and wandered around Wat Arun. It is centered on an extremely large and impressive chedi/stupa. It has steep steps up much of the side so we climbed it and got a nice view of the city.

For pictures

Over the last few days we have been feeling progressively more tired. We decided that it was time for a bit of a break, so rather than riding further along up the coast, we hopped on the train to Bangkok to visit with Jenny and Jay, folks from http://warmshowers.org who kindly agreed to host us in Bangkok for a few days.

We rode to Bang Saphan Noi and asked at the train station about trains to Bangkok. We hoped to take a train on Thursday morning; however, that turned out not to be possible. The only option we were given for trains that take bicycles was the 10:30 pm overnight train. For that night, all second class was sold out, so we booked a first class cabin, at roughly twice the price. Initially we were stressed by the 2000 Baht price, but quickly realized that this was only $60 CAD – not really that bad (that is $60 for both of us).

With the train arranged, we headed down to the beach to check out the various resorts. We hoped to find Internet and possibly a place to shower and hang out for the afternoon. Our inquires into the resorts were not fruitful – no one at the beach had Internet, so we headed back to town. Just before town, we found a nice clean hotel with wireless. We negotiated a room on the main floor for 300 Baht – and were able to roll our loaded bikes directly into the room. A quick shower, nap and some time on the Internet and we were ready to spend the night on the train.

When we arrive at the station, 45 minutes before the train, the attendant tells us that our train is not the next one, but the one after it. A train arrives in the other direction, stops briefly, and continues. Then a train comes, about one minute before our scheduled departure. Scott asks the cargo attendant “Bangkok 86?” The attendant replies “Bangkok.” Perfect, Scott thinks, and starts loading the bikes. Becky looks around and starts to panic. She was told that the second car would be a first class car where our cabin would be located; however, the second car is actually a second class car. So, Becky starts to wonder, “is this the right train?” She asks Scott, he shrugs and continues to load the bikes. A different train attendant runs up to Becky and asks to see the tickets. He quickly confirms that this is the wrong train. Argh! Becky yells to Scott and he quickly pulls the bikes off. Our adrenaline is pumping while we await our actual train. It is the next train to arrive, about 20 minutes later.

Now to be fair, the train had no indication as to which one it was. The announcements were only made in Thai. After the fiasco, the ticket seller who had been helping us confirmed that the next train would definitely be ours. He gave Scott a piece of paper with a 20 Baht note attached and asked him to hand it to the guys in the luggage car. This was the confirmation regarding our bikes and a “tip” for the luggage handlers – which was built into what we were charged for the bikes (100 Baht each).

Our bikes were loaded with minimal bags into the luggage car – which turned out to also be the car where the off-duty train crew slept. Most of our bags went with us into our cabin in first class. In the end, we were glad to have the private cabin and did not need to worry about the safety of any of our stuff while on the train.

The train ride to Bangkok was very bumpy – however, we were both able to get some sleep. We arrived shortly before 6:30 am, reloaded our bikes, and headed out to meet Jenny. We found riding through the streets of Bangkok to be surprisingly simple as we had been warned about much chaos. Becky votes for Aleppo, Syria as the most difficult place we have ridden, and Scott votes for Athens, Greece.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Warning! Santa's sleigh has crashed into a tree, caught fire, and the reindeer have escaped! (or that's what we think it says...)

One thing we can confirm after riding in Thailand for a week is that Thai’s are definitely dog people. Almost every house we pass by has at least one and sometimes many dogs associated with it. They are seldom tied up, and often wonder at us as we pass.

We find it interesting that the dogs ignore the motor bikes, but find us particularly interesting. Scott thinks part of the issue is that we are so quiet we sneak up on them. When he makes scooter sounds the dogs seem less likely to bark. (It’s difficult to run a properly controlled experiment, but dogs seem much more interested in me when we ride up silently.) When they do bark, Becky shouts back at them “GAI!”, which is Thai for “chicken”. So far this has worked for her. We must seem like quite the odd farangs (foreigners) as we ride by on our funny looking bikes making motorcycle sounds and yelling Chicken! at barking dogs.

Seaweed and Popeye drink (100% fruit/vegetable) - powering Becky through Thailand

Today’s ride was long. We are definitely feeling the cumulative effects of riding 7 weeks in the heat. We still enjoy the little things we see in the day and all the cheerful people saying hello, but we are not that enthusiastic about riding the distances anymore. We definitely are ready for several days off the bikes visiting new friends in Bangkok.

We are staying in a lovely little beach town Hat Bang Boet. We have not seen any other foreign tourists in this town, although there are at least 4 hotel/resorts. The standard rate for rooms appears to be 800 Baht, however we were able to negotiate an “expired” promotional rate of 580 Baht. We enjoyed our dinner at a beachfront restaurant as the sun was setting and kids were playing with small boats in the sheltered bay. Very pleasant!

Fishing boats off the beach at Hat Bang Boet

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Our day started out slow, with a huge breakfast at the Tusita Resort (included with our room). We enjoyed a first course of toast, followed by a protein course (eggs, bacon, ham, and sausage), followed by an Asian course (Scott had a soup and Becky had Dim Sum). It fueled us well for the first three hours of our ride.

The weather was perfect for cycling. It was overcast and looked threatening, but it only rained the occasional drop or two. When the sun is covered, the temperature is a full 10 degrees cooler. It was nice to ride in comfortable 33 degree Celsius weather. It will be amusing when we get back to Canada to see what feels hot!

We took many side roads on the way to Chumphon. At one point we ventured back to the main highway (highway 41) and were reminded why we were avoiding it. We ventured back to the side roads, and arrived in Chumphon 5 km sooner than we would have had we stuck to the main road. It is always a bonus when the side road actually gets you there quicker.

We are staying at the Chumphon Palace Hotel for 490 Baht a night. The room is pretty large with air conditioning. As an added bonus they had a working elevator, so we did not need to carry bags and bikes up stairs. Lonely Planet describes it as “budget-prices rooms .. masquerade as midrangers” and we agree. The place has more amenities that our normal 500 Baht room (includes fridge, TV, hot water, and wireless in the lobby). It is slightly off the main road, so it is pretty quiet too.

We wandered around Chumpton looking for a place for dinner, and realized that this is the first Thai city we have been in that hasn’t felt like a major tourist destination. We haven’t seen any other foreigners here. The streets were crowded with stalls selling fresh vegetables and fruit. We found a wonderful little restaurant and the lady there whipped us up a chicken vegetable soup and vegetable stir fry – a little bland but perfect for Becky’s unsettled stomach. With a large beer and a soda water, dinner came to 130 Baht ($4 CAD). We continue to realize just how much we overpaid for food when we were traveling near Krabi in the more touristed areas.

Our plan now is to take a boat from Northern Thailand to China (two days on the Mekong).

For now our schedule looks roughly like this:

• 20 – 27 Apr: Ride the South Eastern coast of Thailand – take train/bus to Bangkok
• 28 Apr – 11 May: Ride some part of Northern Thailand
• 12-15 May: Take boat from Chiang Saen, Thailand to Jinghong, China
• 16 May: Bus Jinghong to Kunming
• 18 -20 May: Train Kunming to Beijing
• 20 May: Bus to Tianjin
• 21-22 May: Ferry Tianjin, China to Incheon, South Korea
• 23 May – 1 Jun: Ride Incheon to Pusan
• 3 Jun: Board ship Pusan to Seattle

We’ll see how quickly this changes…

We were both still tired after our ride yesterday, so we moved very slowly this morning. In addition, Scott seems to be suffering from some of the stomach woes that Becky had. So we decided on a relatively short day today.

We stopped by the Tusita Resort and Spa to take a look at their rooms in our ongoing quest to see how other folks travel. We did not really plan to stay here, especially when their regular prices start at 8000 Baht per night. When were given a special quote of 4000 Baht (probably because the resort was deserted after Songkram), that sounded a bit more promising. Then, Becky fell in love with the pool. The rooms are all on stilts and there is a boardwalk to get around to the different villas. It is absolutely beautiful, and quite a step up from the budget places we’ve been staying at.

We left and checked out some of the other options in the vicinity. We looked into the rooms at one of the beach bungalow places (750 Baht per night) but the rooms smelled of mildew, which doesn’t agree at all with Becky’s asthma. So, we decided “why not?”, and splurged on the Tusita Resort. When we returned, we were quoted 3000 Baht for the room, so with that extra discount it was an even easier decision. We certainly can’t be doing this very often though!

Download GPS Track in GPX format

First off, YAY we did it! What a monstrous day. We crossed from the West coast of Thailand to the East coast today, on a road that was anything but flat. Fortunately, the first big hill was the only really killer one – 3 km of very steep uphill – mostly at 10% or greater. On the way up we paused whenever we could find shade. There were many steep inclines after that, and many long shallow descents.

We have read and heard many times of kind-hearted Thai people in pickup trucks stopping to offer cyclists a ride as they struggled up big hills. Well, we can definitely say it doesn’t happen all the time! We were passed by many pick-ups throughout the day, as we struggled up the hills, but did any of them stop to offer us a ride? No! (Not that we would have accepted a ride anyway, or so we say now…) All we can think is we either look just too weird on our recumbents, or we appear so capable and strong that we obviously don’t need a ride. Scott is sure it is the latter {grin}.

After making our way through the hills, rather than stopping at Lang Suan, we decided to head for the beach (Pak Nam Lang Suan) and find a place at one of the many beach resorts. Unfortunately, this turned out to be more difficult than we thought – we didn’t think about the fact that it is the last Saturday of the Songkram holiday week. There was a festival on and the first three places we checked were sold out. Adding to our difficulties, many of the places here did not have any English on their signs. On the west coast we relied on the English “hotel” or “guesthouse”. Some did have “24” for 24-hour reception, but certainly not all. We’ll have to start practicing our Thai a little more and learn the words in Thai.

Fortunately, the GPS came to the rescue again. Many resorts are listed on the GPS map, so as the sun was setting, we were visiting them one-by-one trying to find one that wasn’t full. Finally, just as twilight was ending, we found a small hotel across the street from the beach – up a big hill (OK, not really that big, but after 122 km it felt huge). We have a nice big air conditioned room – with a balcony and huge bathroom, for 500 Baht and the folks at the hotel offered to drive us someplace to get food (or at least we think that is what they said). Given that the only vehicle in sight was a motor scooter, we opted for walking to a nearby restaurant.

Twice now in Thailand, Becky has been disturbed by people playing with toy handguns. In both instances, the toy guns looked real and were cap guns or guns that made a popping sound when fired. The first incident occurred when a 6-year old boy put the gun to the head of a teenage girl and shot it. The second incident was with a girl (possibly the mother) of an infant was playing with the child and shot the toy gun at the child. Growing up, Becky was taught that guns are not toys, and you never point a gun at anything you don’t intent to kill (even a toy gun). So, it is very disturbing for her to see people playing with toy guns like they were toys! (For some reason water guns are an exception to the rule – although they usually came in brightly coloured models that looked nothing like real guns.)

Road notes: For anyone thinking of cycling this route, no need to worry about food or water. There were plenty of food stalls and small stores to get supplies. There is also at least one resort at the mid-way point in Phato. Also, we saw signs for a few resorts on highway 4, north of the Hat Bang Ben turnoff. We didn’t check if they were open though, and we’d recommend the 10km detour down to the beach and Wasana resort.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Bo and Wasana have been running the Wasana Resort for more than 15-years, and are well known on the Dutch cycling circuit. We were a bit late to catch any of the Dutch cyclists doing a Phuket-Bangkok or Bangkok-Phuket ride this year though. They have a photo album with remembrances associated with the Tsunami of December 26, 2004 – this coast was hit particularly hard.

In the area close to the beach, almost all the construction is new post-Tsunami. There are lots of trees in the area, and we were told they saved a lot of lives as well as reducing the amount of damage to property. As a result, the government continues planting more trees, to reduce the damage in the event of a future tsunami.

We spend one morning exploring the area by bike. Laem Son National Park has its headquarters here. We paid the 100 Baht entrance fee and briefly checked out the park. There were a few short nature trails, but not much else. There is camping at the park and a long beach; however, there were signs warning that it was unsafe for swimming. We did not find the park headquarters itself to be worth the 10 km detour – many people come out here to take a boat to the nearby islands, which we didn’t do. We did enjoy exploring all the minor roads near the beach – many end in homes or fields, and our strange bikes continued to provide amusement for the locals. We always enjoy the smiling faces and hellos that we receive as we ride by.

Fun fact: we learned that some geckos actually make a sound that sounds like “geck-oh”. We thought we were hearing a bird, but learned at supper one night that it was the large (about 6 inches without the tail) geckos making the sound. The smaller ones make a clicking sound almost like a cricket.

We started the day expecting a long, hot, and relatively flat day. Well, two out of three ain’t bad! The flatness of this area was just a little overstated. We never really left rolling hills, and a few of the hills were a little bigger than rollers – although nothing comparable to the Malaysia crossing, there were a couple of 1-2 km climbs – which aren’t so bad when you are expecting them, but can be little overwhelming when you are expecting flat. We also didn’t get the benefit of water being dumped on us – several pickup trucks filled with Songkram celebrants (and water) passed us, but no-one doused us. Given the heat, it would have been very welcome!

As we were starting our morning yoga routine, we heard an unexpected knock on our door. A lady from the hotel was delivering us breakfast. We had not expected breakfast – especially when we only paid 500 Baht for a shiny new air conditioned room. We definitely made the right decision staying at the “Khuriburi-on-see Resort”.

Just as we hopped on the bikes, a row of monks (one older and several very young novices) walked by collecting alms for the day. This is a regular morning routine, that we hope to see more frequently as we leave the more Muslim part of Thailand and enter the more Buddhist part. Scott grabbed an orange from our bag and walked across the street to give it to the monks. It was clear to the monk that Scott had no idea what he was doing, but the orange was gracefully accepted and the monks continued along their way. Unfortunately, Becky didn’t find her camera in time to snap a picture!

About 10 km outside of Kapoe, with the temperature soaring at 42 degrees, we approached a long steep hill. Scott stopped twice and Becky stopped three times during the climb. It wasn’t more than 2 km long, but it was hot and we were tired and not expecting to climb. At one point Becky was starting to feel cramps, fortunately that was just as we reached the top and the corresponding downhill certainly helped to cool us off a bit. We were very happy to see a river side café when we approached Kapoe, and quickly pulled over for a cold drink and some lunch.

After lunch we planned to find Internet and siesta for an hour or two before heading down to Hat Bang Ben (Bang Ben Beach). We soon found ourselves leaving town, so turned around to ask the folks at the police checkpoint about Internet. They quickly asked the people in the building behind them, which turned out to be a children’s library, and we were able to connect our laptop and use one of their computers for free. We sat and caught up on the Internet for an hour while the kids played computer games next to us.

The ride from the outskirts of Kapoe to Hat Bang Ben was pretty flat. We were on Highway 4 for 6 km, and then took the 10 km side road down to the beach area. There are two resorts down here: Andaman Peace Resort and Wasana Resort.

After 10 kms, an additional 2 kilometers along a side road brought us to the Andaman Peace Resort. They have fan bungalows starting at 600 Baht and they are right on the beach. We were seeking AC, so we headed back to the turnoff and the Wasana Resort.

A Dutch/Thai couple (Bo and Wasana) run the Wasana resort and if you call, they will send a pickup truck to pick you up at highway 4, and save you the 10 km ride – although it was actually a very flat and pleasant ride. They have fan bungalows for 450 Baht and air conditioned bungalows for 600 Baht. They are about 300 m from the Lam Soen National Park and there is a free beach about 1-2 km down the road. They were full during Songkram (Friday 10 April – Tuesday April 14), so we were lucky we arrived on Wednesday and not Tuesday! As an added bonus, Wasana and Bo are both excellent cooks, so the food at the Resort is awesome.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

We left early expecting more Songkram chaos today, but only saw a few groups of kids with water and they did not even try to get us wet (well one of them missed Becky and got Scott quite nicely).

Today was either going to be a long day or a short one, as there is a large gap in places to stay between Khura Buri and Kapoe. As you can see by our mileage, we opted for the shorter day. Becky bonked just before we approached the Khuraburi Green View Resort, so we stopped for a couple of cold drinks, a snack, and a rest. We decided not to stay though, since their least expensive bungalow was 1800 Baht (about $60 CAD), quite a bit above our current budget, and their (slow) Internet was an 100 baht/hour.

After an hour and half rest, we got back on the road to Khuri Buri. We saw signs for the Khuriburi-on-see Resort, so when we approach it, we stopped. They had spacious, clean rooms for 500 Baht with AC and hot water although we aren’t sure why it is a “resort” or what we should “see”. Scott bonked shortly before we arrived, so rather than venturing further into town (we are about 2 km from town) we decided to stop here for the night. It turns out this is the same place the Michelle and Dave stayed at during the grand opening last year.

Not two minutes after we were into the room, the heavens opened up and the rain came pouring down. Maybe our bodies were telling us they didn’t want to be wet today?

After the rain, we went looking for food, and found that we were in a small village. We walked down one of the two streets and discovered a large open-air restaurant. The food was excellent and our server helped us with our Thai pronunciations, which was very nice. As has often been the case, the food was quite bland in comparison to Thai food back in Canada. We guess they prepare it specially for Western palates. We certainly see more peppers appearing in the dishes made for locals, but we’re not complaining!

Walking through the village, we noticed that the houses all appeared very new, and many had a small shop or restaurant on the main floor, with more rooms above. The entire front of each house was open, with a rolling door to close it off when necessary. We have seen this construction elsewhere, but this was the first time we noticed both a living room (with couch and TV) and bunch of restaurant tables in the same house. It seems like an efficient design to us, but would likely be impossible in Canada due to zoning regulations. We also noticed a World Vision Community Development Project banner over one of the shops, and we wondered if the houses were built as part of the tsunami reconstruction work? Unfortunately our Thai isn’t up to the task of asking, and no-one we met spoke English well enough to understand the question.

The Khuraburi-on-see Resort is one of the best value places we’ve stayed all trip. Large, clean rooms and good food nearby, the only thing we missed was Internet access.

We have noticed a pattern in our energy levels over the past few days. When we sleep in rooms without AC, we tire much quicker the next day. We aren’t sure if it is that we are heating up sooner, or if we are just tired from not getting quality sleep. Either way, we’ll try to ensure we have AC at least every other night from here on.

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A group finished dousing Scott, and ushering Becky forward

We left shortly after 8 am and it did not take long for our first Songkram experience – as we were leaving Phang-nga a few teenagers were on the side of the road poised to douse us. As we passed they threw buckets of water at us. Fortunately, the day was warm and we were dressed expecting to get wet. All of our panniers are also waterproof, which allowed us to relax as buckets of water were poured over us.

As we climbed a steep 2 km grade, we discovered what a benefit Songkram can be. The sun was hot, there was not even a hint of a breeze, and no shade to be found. As we crawled up the slope, Scott was thinking “too bad there’s no group of kids on the side of the road to cool us down.” Well, no more than a minute later, the universe provided. A large pick-up truck with laughing kids in the back slowly passed us – giving the kids a great opportunity to douse us with water from the huge barrel they had with them. They seemed quite surprised at our effusive thank-yous, but we were very grateful. We continued to greet the passing pickups cheerfully for the rest of the day, since for the most part they were moving much too fast to get much water on us.

Becky, enjoying lunch and showing off her stylish powder-face

After riding for 40 km, we stopped for lunch in a small town, thinking there was nothing ahead of us for 20 km. The weather was looking a little threatening, so Becky wanted to seek cover in case of heavy rain. There was a small café on the side of the road – where the kids out front and some of the adults as well ensured we were covered in pink powder, flower blossom scented water, and lots of just plain water. We ended up stopped there for over an hour, and enjoyed a wonderfully delicious (and very cheap) meal. We enjoyed taking pictures of the kids and watching as they doused the passing motorcycles and scooters.

Us with the kids at lunch

In Phang-nga, we picked up a Thai for Beginners book and a Thai phrase book. The phrase book was very helpful when we stopped for second breakfast and lunch – we’re finally in an area of Thailand where people don’t speak English! Now we can try to express what we want using more words than are in the back of the guidebook. Becky is also enjoying the Thai script lessons in the Thai for Beginners book – hopefully by the end of the trip she’ll be able to read some of the road signs!

We did not expect to see much of civilization today, but were quickly proved wrong. After the first 20 km, we rarely went for more than 2 km without passing by a house or a small village, where our map shows nothing but the road. Of course each small village meant riding through the gauntlet of kids, teenagers, and the young-at-heart with buckets of water or powered poised to soak or paint you. It was quite entertaining and a lot of fun for the first 3 hours – but then began to get a little tiring.

Scott wearing multiple colours, later in the day

When we reached Takua Pa, the Songkram celebrations got really serious. Now we started to see high-pressure hoses, bigger buckets, and powder in more colours. Scott also got to enjoy hearing Becky shriek as we got hit by the first group of celebrants using ice water. He did run the gauntlet first, but cruelly didn’t warn Becky of the freezing experience to come. Some of the older kids delighted in dousing us, and powdering us more thoroughly than necessary, but at least a few did offer us a drink – either of beer or something stronger…

By the time we found a hotel in Takua Pa, we were glad to be off the road, and able to relax, without wondering what the next corner might bring.

(For those following the GPS track, it appears the altimeter was quite unhappy with the frequent dousing it got – the elevation appears much more variable than it actually was)

(Also, for those who may be wondering, the unrest in Bangkok is very localized – no sign of anything here other than people enjoying Songkram. We’re keeping a close eye on the news though)

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On the bike front, we began be deconstructing our shifters, to try and figure out why they were not shifting smoothly. These are the same shifters we had trouble with on our shakedown cruise last June. Since then we’ve been lubricating them regularly, and that has done the trick, but that doesn’t seem to work any more.

Scott, hard at work on Becky's bike

Once we had them apart, we could see where the friction had damaged the metal – we suspect this occurred with our initial shifter lockup problem back in June. Scott cleaned everything out and re-greased everything. Becky still things here shifter is stiffer than she’d like, but it is better than it was. We will plan to replace the shifters with the new ones we got from HP Velo when we get to Victoria in June.

Scott also replace Becky’s front brake cable which got damaged during one of the many times the bike has fallen over (or been placed on its side for buses). He also replaced the front brake pad which had mostly worn out on one side. With the smooth shifter and strong front brake, the bike feels like new!

Unfortunately, we did not quite get around to swapping out Scott’s brake pads or cleaning the chains. That will be task for another maintenance day sometime later. BTW, we did measure Scott’s chain and validated that it is still good. We don’t plan to change the chains until we reach Victoria, so this was good to find.

Typical Thai street, with frequent small storefronts

We were slow to get organized in the morning, and did a short ride to Phang-nga. Becky is having some stomach issues – likely related to the change in diet rather than anything specific. It will definitely slow us down a little, so we decided a short day was in order.

A Wat in Phang Nga (and some impressive hills behind)

When we set out, we were expecting the ride to only be 39 km, but soon discovered that the town was not exactly where we expected it to be. With a little exploration, we found the town and stumbled upon a temple and a fellow Canadian Tourist. We had a brief conversation with Stephen and he pointed us in the correct direction for the Phang-nga Inn.

We have decided to spend two nights in Phang-nga. The Phang-nga Inn is a nice house-based inn. Our room is clean although a little small, and the bed is comfortable. We will also use the extra day to do some much needed bike maintenance. Our shifters are not working as well as we would like, and Becky’s front brake cable needs replacing. Our chains were last cleaned in Turkey, so perhaps we should do something about that as well!

The maps for Thailand are still posing a challenge for us. We are finding that the towns are not where they say they are, and the roads are often labeled different than our map. Google and Yahoo disagree on where some of the roads are! Scott has found a different GPS map which will hopefully prove to be more accurate than the previous one.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

At one point today Becky was thinking that cycling in the rain was like exercising in the shower. But then the rain got much worse and it felt more like swimming than cycling. We stopped under a temporary marquee for shelter and were quickly joined by two ladies on a scooter. We all waited under the marquee for 15 minutes or so while the heavens opened for real. Streams of water began to fill the ditch we were in, and we had to move our bikes and ourselves to higher ground. This seemed to go on for much longer than 15 minutes, and would have been a great opportunity to talk with the ladies. Unfortunately, the only communication we could manage was smiles and nods.

We left at 11 am after deciding we really did not want to spend another night in Krabi, and took the back roads to Ao Leuk (sometimes spelled Au Luk) to get away from the tourists. At first, we did not seem to escape the traffic, but shortly after the rains began the roads cleared, and we were on quiet back roads for most of the day.

We were again happy to have the GPS, even though our maps are not very good. When we looked at the map versus our actual path, we find the road is plotted in a slightly different location! Fortunately, the roads on Google Maps seem to be accurate, and Scott created some tracks this morning. Navigating the back roads, with only the occasional sign in Thai, and very few road numbers would have been a real challenge. Even with the GPS, we did overshoot a few turns, but managed to recover quickly. At one point, this turned out to be rather fortuitous as we would have completely missed a large outdoor reclined Buddha. It was right at the corner, and just out of our field of view while turning.

We eventually pulled up to an intersection in Au Luek and saw a marquee with people in it. We had no idea which way to go for a hotel, so we pulled up and asked. Just then, the rain started again, so we waited under the marquee for it to lighten a little. Looking around, it appeared to be a joint police/army vehicle inspection post, perhaps looking for drunk drivers during the Songkram weekend rush? A women there gave us detailed directions to the hotel in Au Luek, which was rather fortunate, as we likely would have had a very difficult time finding it on our own – for anyone passing by, it is across the street from the hospital, right on Highway 4, and shortly after the traffic light.

The hotel is called the PN Mansion. We have an air-conditioned room for 350 Baht a night (about $12 CAD). There is no Internet, but the shower has hot water and there is an Internet café across the street. They found a spot for our bikes downstairs, which was nice given how wet they were when we arrived. Our room even comes with a bonus gecko nest just outside the bathroom window. As good as TV, and bonus bug control… What more could you ask for?

We went across the street for dinner and had our first taste of Thai hotpot. It was a buffet, so we got to select our own ingredients. They provided us with a hot pot and grill at our table (sort of like fondue). It was wonderful – lots of great vegetables, and some liver to help keep our iron count up. We definitely got our 89 Baht ($3 CAD each) worth!

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Today turned out to be a very wet day. It was not raining when we packed up, but right after we started riding from the hotel out to the ferry (a 23 km ride) the rains began. They were light at first, but the heavens opened up before we arrived at the ferry terminal, ensuring that we were completely soaked. Fortunately, it was warm outside and the rain was warm, so we were only wet.

We took the boat from Langkawi to Satun in Thailand. To Becky, the boat felt a little like a death trap. It was similar to the boat we took to Langkawi, in that it was a high speed boat with a tube of a passenger compartment, that felt very much like being on an airplane. In the back, where we were seated, there were two rows of four seats across. There were only two exits that Becky could see – hence her feelings of trapped-ness. Fortunately, the crossing was smooth, and within an hour we were in Thailand.

Scott was approached at the ferry terminal regarding a bus that would take us to Krabi. We confirmed that it was one bus (we were afraid it would be two). The person selling us the tickets said that the bus left from the ferry terminal (7 km outside of Satun town). Since it was still raining, we opted for this bus – which turned out to be a pickup truck that shuttled us to the bus terminal in Satun. We aren’t sure how much of a premium we paid for this service, but in the end it worked out well and we paid 900 Baht each for bus and bike (300 for bikes).

Upon arriving in Krabi, we checked out a variety of accommodation before settling on the Cha Guest House. What we looked at varied in price from 700 Baht to 250 Baht. We paid 300 Baht (about $10 CAD) for a clean room with a fan. The nice thing about the room was that it was like a small cabin in a garden, which did not involve any stairs (always a bonus when you have bikes to contend with).

The town was preparing for the Songkram festival and had a booming night market with a couple Ferris wheels and other games for the kids as well as a large stage with a live band. We walked through the street market and were amused at the various food stuff on offer – including a variety of fried bugs. Fortunately, we had already eaten dinner, so we will save that experience for a later date!

We lasted only 18 hours in Krabi before fleeing. It didn’t take long before we felt the need to get out of there. The town is a backpacker haven, full of cheap guest houses (actually, not so cheap for what you get) and tourist oriented restaurants, as well as tons of western tourists. When breakfast choices were “American Breakfast”, “English Breakfast”, “Pancake” and “Omlette”, we knew we were staying someplace a bit too tourist-oriented for our taste. It was nice to have fast Internet again though.

Between the new alphabet, completely different language, and new food, we’re feeling confused again. Activities of daily living are more challenging, even here in “Backpackerville”. We were definitely spoilt by the ease of figuring things out in Malaysia and Singapore.

Download GPS Track in GPX format