Day 16: Bueng Kan - Ban Phaeng - Frankie goes to.....Indochina

January 3, 2018

Day 16: Bueng Kan - Ban Phaeng

Routing: #212

What a boring day on the 212! Once again you don´t see the river all day
if you don´t sidekick from the main road which I did once when coming to
Bung Khla pretty much half way through the ride. Unfortunately the
road there deteriorated quickly into a dust track and any motorbike will leave you in a red cloud for minutes. That´s why I do avoid them whenever I can. Back on the 212 the challenging undulations continued, even if those bumps are not as steep as the chart may indicate. They still do require heaps of energy-input.

The highlight of the day was meeting my new Slovenian friends Vesna and
Stefan again just before they got off the 212 a few km before Bung Khla. We sat down for a coffee and chatted for quite a while - very nice talking to people who are pretty much on the same wavelength. I really wonder whether this will become a daily interlude until their Thai visa runs out on Jan 9.

Coming into Ban Phaeng I first went past the J.B. Place Hotel where I had
stayed a few years ago when coming down this road for the first time.
I really liked the place then but it is a few hundred meters out of town along the 212 and as it was almost getting dark today I decided to go and see whether I could find something near the small but vibrant market. I couldn´t and rode back to J.B. Place. I remember very well they charged me 350 Baht in 2008 in the then brand new hotel. 10 years later it had gone up to 400.... Excellent value and realistically it´s only a 15 mins walk into town, 200 meters of it along the 212.

Bueng Kan - I never enjoyed going to a gym but I could see myself exercising right on the Mekong

While there is not much else to show about the ride today, I thought I might share some thoughts regarding my own safety precautions: When the shoulder becomes as narrow as it is for most of the 212 I do ride right of the white line and only move to the left of it once the vehicle has come very close to me. The Thai drivers will reliably move to the middle of the road then and you will have plenty of space. If you ride left of the line a lot of motorists will consider you "off the road" and will not reduce their speed or move over. Close calls guaranteed as my right pannier basically is on the road...

A second thought refers to this typical scenario. The shoulder - wide or narrow - will disappear if you approach a bridge like on the photo here. I have seen hairy situations with scooters ahead of me. I can only assume that the drivers of a truck or car do not necessarily recognize this as a source of conflict as their lane stays as wide as it is. What I do is ridiculously simple: I do repeatedly wave my arm to the right as if I was turning. Always a wide berth given!

Bung Khla - My short excursion to the river, just before....

I still believe those oil palms are attractive trees if you only see the odd plantation. Different view on them if you have cycled in Malaysia for several months...

....and one of the two massive swings in the foyer

Today's ride: 91 km (57 miles)
Total: 1,322 km (821 miles)

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