The bathroom deserves its own paragraph

January 4, 2020

Pak Khat to Bueng Kan

Dear little friends,

The phalanx of foreigners that had inhabited a long table at the corner bar the evening before were nowhere to be seen, which slightly surprised me because they had an air of permanence at that table the night before, as if they mostly lived for that table time with their mates, and I mean mates in the British sense, their buddies. The lone American buddy was outnumbered by Brits and Aussies. Anyway, the table sat silent and lonesome in the bright morning light but the day was young and they will be back this afternoon.

The day was young for us too but we’re neither silent nor lonesome as we roll along these beautiful backroads. This section to Bueng Kan is lengthened no inconsiderable distance by following the river instead of Highway 212 but it’s worth every inch of the extra miles.

This is isolated country, with small villages too poor to have restaurants or coffee stands, but the road surface is beautiful, the river flows deep and clear, the different crops keep us entertained, and the scene changes constantly.

We are very fond of these trees, which are known as “dok fai”, or “fire flower” trees (Cochlospermum regium). The trees drop their leaves and sport large round buds, the flowers are 5-6 inches across and very showy.

She proudly showed us the sticky-rice basket she is weaving. This is the top of the basket, which will fit snugly over the bottom half which usually has a wooden or bamboo base. This one has a particularly lovely design.

Here and there are huge boulders deposited by the Mekong, this one amidst a rubber plantation and adorned by a bougainvillea.

An unmettled access road into a rubber plantation. They are mostly dormant and leafless this time of year.

Our road, however, is mettled and beautiful.

This particular village had hundreds of these motorcycle tires painted purple and white and forming fences. Purple has significance in Thailand, it is the color of the eldest princess who has garnered a lot of love and respect in the country.

The theme touched on values such as recycling, these little planters are made out of discarded auto tires. Trash containers all over Thailand are made out of car tires as well, the ones in this town were painted purple of course.

Bruce was stopped photographing something or other and I was drinking water and noticing an unusual amount of pickup trucks parked ahead and the edge of a canopy in the middle of the road. This could only mean one thing: a wedding. Somebody was talking cheerfully into a microphone. Actually, this could also mean a funeral but the talking would have been less cheerful.

Since Bruce was already filming I sent him ahead to capture the scene. It was not just the usual canopy blocking most of the road it was a canopy blocking the entire road, just room enough for dressed up guests to slither by and into their seats at tables full of delicious-looking food, and hungry cyclists to sheepishly push their bikes through like oafs as they crashed the party. We were just trying to get through! People waved and smiled and greeted us with great surprise but nobody motioned us in to partake of the festivities which caused a mixture of relief and hurt feelings in us, the food looked great, and we looked terrible. It would have been super awkward. But did I mention the food?

A few miles later the scene was re-enacted but this time the canopy was safely off-road and quieter and people were arriving dressed in black so this one was a funeral. Was it funeral season? We saw one more later that day. People gather at the funeral place, whether it is somebody’s home or a temple, eat and drink and talk about the deceased and the monk talks and then they go to the crematory. It just so happened that I was riding by the nearby crematory as a body was being carried up the steps covered in a red cloth, so those people back there were this person’s friends and family and neighbors and would soon arrive and be together during the cremation. And there were a lot of mourners, I felt like that person was probably a respected and beloved member of their community. I know it meant a lot to my family that my hometown packed the church at my dad’s funeral. These things lessen the burden of grief, to talk about a person who is now gone but made a big impact on those sitting in the red plastic chairs and arriving by motorbike.

The small building on the right is a crematory.

This temple grounds has a loudspeaker to relay sermons from the head monk or play nice music in the morning.

The Buddha stands in the abhaya mudra pose. It is a gesture of fearlessness or blessing that represents the protection, peace, benevolence, and dispelling of fear.

This poster is faded but represents a large cycling event held a few years ago in honor of the late king (he was still alive then) by his son, who is now the new king. In this image the new king is on the left and his father on the right. We are still seeing people wearing the yellow and blue “Bike for Dad” jerseys.

There is a spot in the Mekong that is a sacred area with large boulders and a temple and last time we were there it was jammed with people but we like the boulders so we stopped in. Deadsville. Tourism is really, really down in Thailand this year. It was a weekend, the weather was great, but no, there was only a handful of people there. The Mekong was running high so the boulder scene isn’t that dramatic but because it is now clear instead of turbid you can look down and see large fish surfacing to feed. We waited to see if a giant catfish would show up but no dice.

The river is higher than usual for this time of year so you can’t see the boulders as well but it’s very deep and relatively narrow here. In fact, it's the deepest point of the Mekong at 640 feet deep.

Grandma shows off her cutie-pie baby granddaughter for me. She is too little to be scared by weird-looking foreigners, in a few months she will burst into tears at the sight of me.

There was one lonely tour bus in a parking lot built for hundreds. Thai buses are often really colorful.

Eventually you have to go on the dreaded 212, which is an attractively shaded highway but the shoulder is narrow and people drive way too fast. We got off as soon as we could and rode into Bueng Kan which has a paucity of places to stay in our price point and the hotel we ended up at was just plain bizarre. Did they give us the only unit with air conditioning? Perhaps. It was the unit near the gate that had probably been the office, with a sliding glass window and everything. The whole place had the look we’ve seen before back in Myanmar in 2008 when no tourists went there so hotels started renting rooms to locals for housing. Call it the hanging laundry index, I’m pretty sure this was the Thai “Florida Project”. You should see that movie if you haven’t.

Pad sii-ew, a stir-fried dish featuring wide soft rice noodles, vegetables, and meat of your choice. Each cook makes it with their mom’s recipe so it’s slightly different everywhere you go.

We did have air conditioning but it was a hard battle for the temperature of the room when the inside of the south wall was hot enough to bake bread on. The little refrigerator placed next to that wall also had to vigorously overcompensate and thus every single thing we put in it was frozen solid the next morning, including our little carton of soymilk.

The bathroom deserves its own paragraph. The stupid little plastic shelf that goes over the sink was installed at a dramatic slanted angle, on purpose. Why? We don’t know. The shower was installed directly over the toilet. Perhaps with normal water pressure one could stand at the side of the toilet and get fully showered but since my shower petered out after 2.5 minutes I didn’t really get to test that theory. The water drained out a large hole directly into the great rat-filled outdoors so the bathroom door remained closed at all times. Except that the door didn’t really close, we know, we tried to keep it shut because besides rat access the sink drain was belching enough sewer gas to strangle a water buffalo. It was a spectacularly bad room but we have had a string of mostly nice rooms and sometimes really nice rooms so one should have a bad room once in awhile so that you know you’ve really been someplace.

As it was, the night was quiet and peaceful, the bed pretty comfortable, the rats did not make their presence known, the bikes fit inside where we like them, and in the morning, whoopy birds called from a nearby vacant lot. I tried to take another shower but the water stopped again and Bruce had to hack our milk apart into frozen squares and it was pure sweetness and freedom to roll away unscathed and onto another beautiful road.

Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 877 miles (1,411 km)

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Gregg ButenskyBest quote I've seen in quite some time!
"one should have a bad room once in awhile so that you know you’ve really been someplace"
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4 years ago

Jen RahnTo Gregg ButenskyI agree!

I'm going to my 'Andrea's Bits of Wisdom' list.
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4 years ago

Betsy ReeseBike for Dad
Scrumptious food
Bathroom photos and description
"The day was young for us too but we’re neither silent nor lonesome as we roll along these beautiful backroads."
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4 years ago