Finding a quiet path north: and stealth camping in a field somewhere north of Nakhon Pathom

February 27, 2016

This morning the phone camera, after considering it's options, decides it will work again. I have a phone with attitude.

Kumnumm Cafe, Nakhon Pathom. The building is over 100 years old and still in beautiful nick. The cats are friendly.

Spent the night sleeping on that couch with the cafe cats - one kept attacking my toes during the night.

Didn't get a particularly early start this morning, maybe about 8:30-ish and it wasn't until about 9:00 that I had finished my breakfast at a roadside food stall and could settle into the pedalling. It didn't come easy. Traffic was a bit heavier than I liked and I was working into a head wind all day and my own head just isn't ready for this yet. It takes me at least a couple of days to become at ease with touring, especially if it's in another country.

Double trailer load of sugarcane. It's cane harvest time and these guys are all over the highways and back roads, large and small, 24/7. They move ponderously and always give way.

As much as I enjoy Thailand and the Thai people Todo, it isn't Kansas... or Perth for that matter.

I had set a gpx path for the ride north and then forgotten to load it into the phone. Once I figured that out I found a canal road and followed it north. When things got confusing I was stopped at and intersection trying to figure out which of several possible small roads would keep me away from the small but very busy highway. Kowhit pulls up in his pickup truck, rolls down his window and offers assistance - long story short: we pile the bike and panniers into the back of the truck and he takes me on a meander through back roads that will get me past the highway and onto a great canal road north.

Kowhit came to my rescue when I was trying to figure out the best way to avoid riding the small but very busy highway.

I really like these people... such kindness shown to strangers.

I found a series of canal roads heading north - if there is a canal, then it has a road. Some of them are paved, some aren't but they are all an excellent alternative to bashing out kms on a busy road. I swapped from one to another and then ran out of canal and ended up on a not too busy minor highway heading north.

Large canal road, still no traffic... A busy highway heading the same direction was within sight, but this road was quiet.

A very quiet peaceful canal path that continued for about 6 km. Nice when you can get it

Road block. Local farmers keeping through traffic off of their canal while they do some crop irrigation. No fun getting your pipes run over by big cars - bicycles, no worries..

Midday roadside coffee stop - had fun with these two ladies and Google Translate.

About dusk I found a quiet field to camp in, a couple of hundred metres off the road and behind a couple of trees. It wasn't particularly stealthful, but it was far enough off the road and unapproachable by vehicle. I stripped off and got pretty clean with half a water bottle of water and a wash cloth. Did a little naked dance under the starlight - had there been anyone to watch it would have been quite comical.

Daily stats:

* 56+: cycling and then whatever Kowhit's ride through the back roads added.

* 8: hours spent pedalling, much of it at very slow speed in the hot sun.

* 1: the number of times I've danced naked under the stars in recent memory.

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