Land of the Free

January 6, 2020

Bung Khla to Ban Phaeng

Land of the Free

Bung Khla to Ban Phaeng

After thoroughly enjoying the sunrise and breakfast on the beautiful all wood porch of our all wood little bungalow we simply headed south on the promenade along the banks of the Mekong. Eventually we were so far out in the middle of nowhere the promenade was quite overgrown so we switched to the road alongside it. We love riding out where few people are because we can listen to birds and meet every dog in the vicinity.

Six cute bungalows and we were the only people enjoying them.

Thais are good at making these adorable wooden bungalows.

Another great place to stay and another great breakfast we don't ever get tired of.

Mist on the Mekong. The view from our porch. China can release a whole bunch of water from their dams upstream and suddenly that sandbar out there is completely under fast flowing water. No warning, China does whatever it wants and everyone downstream has to deal with it.

The beautiful Mekong River and Laos on the other side.

There is a promenade to the left being quickly taken over by nature.

It’s amazing how many dogs people living in the country keep. Because the dogs never see anyone like us they are either terrified and run or they don’t like our scent and want to take us out. But then there is Andrea who, it turns out and lucky for me, is a sort of dog whisperer. We stop or nearly stop when angry dogs are approaching us and she calmly tells the dogs that they are doing a good job of protecting their owner’s place and that they are OK and there is nothing to get all worked up about. If I say one word to the dogs Andrea tells me to shut up because my voice just gets them madder. I’ve been bit twice by dogs in Thailand and have gone through the whole series of rabies shots twice so I tend to listen to Andrea. She’s a sort of Bruce whisperer as well as dog whisperer.

This meeting of lots of dogs happens a lot in the country we’ve been cycling through but never have the dogs been super serious about taking off a leg. A lot of the time they are lying in the road, hot and tired from barking all night and don’t even open their eyes as we pass. I like those dogs but even those sleepy ones I don’t dare say a word to. My mantra: ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’

It was another day of back roads riding, so beautiful, so much a feeling of really being ‘out there’. We love days like these. Everyone we interact with asks us where we are going. I have the hardest time remembering the name of the small town we are shooting for and even when I do remember I invariably say the wrong tone which creates blank looks in all these Thai faces so I say the name of the big town even though it’s 100 or more away. Everyone understands the name of that big town but then they laugh because they think, ‘Silly foreigner, thinks he’s going to make it that far by dark.’ I don’t have enough Thai vocabulary to explain that we will get to that big town in three days. The interaction amounts to a bit of a miss but they at least get the idea of the direction we are headed and it satisfies their curiosity.

I’m sure they still wonder why the heck we are doing the trip. Some must think that we have all the time and money in the world to have the luxury of freely riding around in foreign places. Really, I have no idea what they are actually thinking. Knowing the Thais as well as I do I’m pretty sure they are not thinking bad thoughts and that’s the main thing. If they laugh when I say we are headed to a town 100 miles away that’s fine because they are laughing. I then laugh with them and everything is cool. In that way I can be sort of a Thai whisperer. I get along with the Thai people better than any single population in Asia. We find they are actually a lot like Americans and I think they feel that way too. They love Americans and America - Land of the Free. Thailand is the only country in Asia that was not overtaken by a colonial power. Since they have never been ruled by anyone they too are in their Land of the Free.

All these backroads were initially made of concrete, (Siam Cement, one of the biggest companies in the world intricately and corruptly tied to the government and partially owned by the crown.) Now, after years of use a lot of the concrete has failing joints between sections which means we ride all across the road finding the least bumpy joint to cross. That can be tiresome but it is still worth it to be off the big road 212. Riding these back roads now can also mean a fresh layer of asphalt has been recently laid on top of the concrete making the smoothest surface imaginable. Thailand takes great care of its roads even way out in the tiniest places. Riding fresh asphalt in such remote country is pure joy and we ride all over the largely vehicle less road smiling. I have no idea why these roads aren’t filled with cycle tourists from all over the world. To follow along the Mekong for hundreds of miles with great food everywhere and cheap beautiful bungalows every few miles is truly a carefree and amazing experience - Land of the Free.

We held our time on Hwy. 212 to a minimum, maybe 8 miles. During those eight miles both Andrea and I had the funny feeling that it was somewhere nearby when, five years ago, we spotted a big black scorpion crossing the busy road. Every time a car came by it would raise it’s pincers and arch its tail ready for a fight. We went on hoping it would make it across but it didn’t look good.

Well, stranger than strange…in that same section of road we found another big black scorpion this time dead by the side of the road. There must be a big population of scorpions in that area because we have never seen them anywhere else on three cycle trips through SE Asia.

This scorpion was huge but I think he was dead. At least his stinger had been run over.

Back on the small road near the Mekong and long about lunchtime in, again, the middle of nowhere, we suddenly came upon a restaurant. It appeared so suddenly that we at first whizzed by but the smell of roasting garlic made us abruptly stop and turn around. We ordered fried rice, the simplest thing for them to make, but it tasted so great. I always get a tiny side dish of chilies and garlic slices swimming in fish sauce which I dump on top. There were three women also eating at the restaurant and as I listened to them I knew they were speaking Lao. Then I realized the cook and his wife were also speaking Lao. We had been thinking that we were so far out in the country that it was basically Laos but identifying the language confirmed our suspicions. NE Thailand (or Isaan) is essentially Lao. The territory was part of Laos a long time ago and the people remain basically Lao.

For us, it doesn't get any better than this.

Just another beautiful bike ride through the forest.

For the most part Thai roads, even in the middle of nowhere, are in exceptionally good shape.

We love these unmettled roads in Thailand.

A large lotus pond. Too bad it's not the season for blossoms.

The sign said, "Call any time." So, I tried to call back to the 1970's. No one answered.

We went past a nice looking resort on the outskirts of the town Ban Phaeng but we were heading to a different resort on the opposite outskirts of town. First we wheeled into the nice looking town and to the market. We came away with what we needed for breakfast. Yes, you guessed it, a papaya and a mango and a small carton of soy milk. It is a bit of relief knowing that in the early morning we can eat something in our room and just go afterwards and ride for hours without needing anything more.

After the market we headed to that other resort we had seen on Google maps. But, we found it to have gone out of business and was completely overgrown. It’s amazing how quickly things go back to nature in the tropics.

So, we had to ride back two or more miles to the first resort we had seen. It turned out to be a great place with nice people running it. They even ran a little store connected with the resort. There was an old German man living there every winter whom we met briefly and who seemed starved for someone to talk with in English but we were rather tired and we simply went to bed early. I felt sorry for him but there will be other travelers I would imagine, someday, although we sure haven’t seen many. Just about every place we stay has no other guests. We’ve kind of grown accustomed to the stark vacancies and enjoy the quiet. We’re not young. We don’t need to drink beer and tell tales of dogs or scorpions to anyone. Oh, wait.

lovebruce

The nice resort we originally passed by.

Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 943 miles (1,518 km)

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Rachael AndersonI wish I had Andrea’s talent as a dog whisper. Maybe she can teach me.
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4 years ago

Andrea BrownTo Rachael AndersonI may have learned it by wrangling kids from kindergarten through 8th grade and I didn’t know it worked on dogs until we started bike touring. So far, anyway.
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4 years ago

Jen RahnTo Andrea BrownI would say that earning your title as Bruce Whisperer has something to do with it too.

The dogs of Thailand know: a woman with a 'Bruce Whisperer' title is not one with whom to feck.
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4 years ago

Frank BrownMy question is: Why would anyone want to call up the 70's? Nice story/pics A&B
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4 years ago

Andrea BrownTo Frank BrownHi Frank!! Agreed, let the 70s molder in the past. Glad you’re enjoying the journal, thanks for riding along with us!
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4 years ago

Kristen ArnimThis entry really makes me want to be on those unmettled roads!
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4 years ago

Bruce LellmanTo Kristen ArnimWhen they are hard packed and dry they really are a treat.
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4 years ago