January 29, 2008
Rim Doi - Chai Prakan: Sunshine, a laptop and a boutique hotel
Cool and grey but not raining. And when the sun comes out we realize what a good decision it was not to ride this road in the rain. Today we have mountain panoramas, the first of the trip. Mountains also mean more work for the old legs but the beautiful scenery makes the day pass quickly.
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I have the impression my legs are going to need a little more training before we hit the hills in Yunnan. I also feel like throwing half of the contents of my panniers overboard - just not our new toy.
The new toy: In Chiang Mai we succumbed to the temptation and bought a one-kilogram laptop that has recently come onto the market, the eee Asus. It's tiny, light, efficient, robust (I hope), and not terribly expensive. We paid 235 Euros, at home it would cost 300. Now we can write our journals as we go, process our pictures to a reasonable size (the shop installed a simple image-processing software for us) and just upload the finished products to CGoaB. This should shorten our tedious sessions in Internet cafes. For travel I wrap the new baby in my sleeping-bag to protect it.
In Chai Prakan we have a new hotel experience to add to our list. The Sai Moon Buri is a boutique hotel. It's bran new and we get the room for half price, which is still pretty pricey for Thailand. But it's very snazzy with features like teak-wood floors, a beautiful swimming pool (which we don't get around to using) and a very attentive staff. Before we turn in, the woman at the reception tells us how we can reach her during the night 'in case of an emergency'. I wonder what kind of emergency she has in mind. Do we look that beat up after the day's ride?
For all its finesse and added comforts, in my opinion the Sai Moon Buri Resort still can't compete with the old-time ambience of yesterday's Rim Doi.
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