Day 2: Wiang Pa Pao - Doi Saket - Frankie goes to.....Indochina

December 11, 2017

Day 2: Wiang Pa Pao - Doi Saket

Routing: #118

What a great day! And that´s not because of the cycling as such – just the opposite! I hope I can bring my point across at the end of this post......

When I was getting ready this morning I was not really sure where I would
end up. I was actually a bit concerned as I had read there is one massive hill about half way through and I wasn´t sure how I would cope with it. So I rolled out of the Bighouse Hotel (which is by the way available on booking.com) at 9 am and was hoping to find some sort of food before leaving town. It was less than 500 m after being back on Hway 118 that I saw the typical advertisement for the soup stalls immediately after the Police station. And I tell you: their egg noodle (bami) soup with wantans is worth coming back for by itself. Honestly, it was that good! I thought this day can´t go wrong anymore but things (on the bicycle) were to become very difficult.

The following 20 kms were sort of flat, more or less through urban
environment. The tarmac has just been replaced but not marked yet so
that always opens the door for some sort of road rage. Nothing too
concerning though – I am a strong believer the Thai people are about the most gentle drivers around. After those 20 kms you are all the sudden confronted with a short but steep little ramp. Obviously the welcome message for the serious stuff ahead of you. The next 5 km to the hot springs have a couple more of those short ones but nothing too concerning at all. From the springs it becomes more serious and I read from other cyclists I would be roughly 10 kms of climbing. It was exactly like that but even with my reduced fitness and health condition I thought the first 9.5 km were fairly moderate as the road ascended in several terraces without anything too steep. When I approached the HQ of the National Park after those 9.5 kms I thought: „That has to be the top. Well done, Frankie, you are in better shape than you thought“. Only to have that put right immediately after. Four really nasty ramps in succession over the next 1.5 kms. I only just made it without getting off and at the „39 kms to Doi
Saket“ stone the top was finally reached. Jubilation once again as
I thought the remaining 35 kms would be either downhill or rolling in
the flat. Wrong again.

The 10 kms downhill were spoilt by roadworks and then the going became
really tough. What I thought would be a flat run into Doi Saket were 20 kms of rollercoaster territory with some of the uphill sections being up to 15% as my little GPS computer told me. Even worse: In any of the up-and downhills the shoulder disappears for a third lane as I described yesterday. Any plans to go through to Chiang Mai – which is only another 17 kms from Doi Saket – were completely out of the window. Saying that: I´ve changed my mind about my route a bit anyway. I´ve been to most of the bigger cities and I really do dislike that some of them almost entirely dedicating themselves to the western tourist brigade. I am not necessarily saying Chiang Mai is heading that list (have to be Pattaya or Phuket) but all the same you will see almost any menu in English. Clear message and that puts me off. So Chiang Mai is off; any small place along the western bypass is on. No idea where exactly that will take me but you will be the first ones to know.

Back to the ride today:

When I came into Doi Saket I was almost starving but I started looking for
accommodation first as it was my first night without pre-booking. I turned off 118 and stopped for a cold drink to check the internet. Oops! No result. So I walked into two shops and tried my few words of Thai: Doi Saket, mi rong rem? - Mei mi. Mei mi. Not have! Double oops. I still had enough time in hand and decided to continue towards Chiang Mai. There would have to be something on the way. Just before I came back to the 118 a Thai gentleman was giving me a thumb up and I decided to try my luck a last time. „ Yes there is a hotel just down the highway towards Chiang Mai!“ he answered in good English. I followed his description and found it approx. 500 m from the intersection on the other side of the highway. There is a 7/11 two houses to the right of it which is the easiest way to find it. The
friendly young owner (they live in the house in front of the apartment block right along the highway) gave me a room for 500 Baht in the ground floor. Good room, excellent wifi! Plus there is a very good restaurant right next to the owners place which unfortunately closes down at 6 pm but then an even better noodlesoup stand opens right in front of it. Details: Sunanta Home (nowhere to be seen in writing), Tel. 089-8902368 (the owner should be able to understand you)

Let me finish by referring to my initial statement: Today was a very
challenging (physically and mentally) day and I would not necessarily
recommend this section of the 118. In Doi Saket I had almost given up
on finding accommodation. And right now I am sitting here saying:
What a great day! Because it WAS demanding. Because it WASN´T an
easy booking.com end. Because I ONLY GOT the food I wanted due to my
efforts in learning some essential Thai. Because there is NOT one
single other caucasian person to be seen (or heard) here. That´s the
way I love travelling! It´s still there for us cyclists only 17 km
away from Chiang Mai which makes me happy and look forward to the
days (or better months) to come. I will accordingly make amendments
to my pre-planned route and try to stay in as many singha-singlet-farang-free places as possible. The great thing is I do have a great advisor in my Californian friend Bob who has been living in Thailand for ages and knows basically any minor road in the country. I hope you will live up to my new expections, buddy!

That´s how you know noodle soup is on offer

Feeling like some fruit afterwards? Don´t go past because you can´t manage a whole one. They will slice up as much as you want

When you are approaching such a mountain range there is always hope there might be a last minute turn to bypass it. Not this time - straight through!

At least the wind was on my side. Or in my back to be more precise.

Are these Khmer temples? If so I wasn´t aware they were up that far North

There are several of those hot springs/geysers. And they are hot....

.....they even boil eggs in there and sell them.

How convenient after climbing more than 10 kms

As I said with the watermelons before: If you address a Thai properly they will come your way. Like halfing the standard portions...

On top she told me to take as many bananas as I wanted. Makes me happy - and that´s not about money!

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 199 km (124 miles)

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Chris WeeHmm, no wonder when we rode from Chiang Mai to Mae Kachan in 2015, the hills seemed to be too easy. Downhill from the summit was a blast 😂
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