Day 12 Bike: The Shift

July 19, 2023

The relenentless hills, headwinds, and traffic seemed like they would never end. Most of the ride yesterday had been hovering between 100-150 meters elevation and this was typical for the Isaan plateau. At some point the road would have to drop off this plateau and reach sea level, and Saraburi was where that would happen. That is exactly the rationale I had for setting such a brutal long distance day: I could clear Isaan. But when would this ever happen? The road kept on climbing through more and more hills until the sun started going down.

The most dangerous part had to be the narrow section of concrete road through the forested hills. Trucks were coming fast and furious and there was no shoulder to ride on. It was at that point when the massive downhill to get off this plateau finally happened. The descent was rough thanks to the concrete but I flew down the hill regardless.

Finally this is it. Off the plateau for real

Once near the bottom were a few restaurants but the ones I tried happened to be "closed" despite the bright lights and people eating. Fine then, I would just move on. That I did and found a cluster of small food courts and other restaurants, and much to my amazement the people serving me were friendly. There was an elderly mother and her daughter (probably 50 years old) asked many questions about my trip. The mother served up some wicked fried rice with spicy sauce and it was all very good. They asked where I was staying. The mother then said, "Why not stay in a hotel here? It's only 400 baht. The road is too dangerous to be riding on."

They had a very good point, it was really fucking dangerous with all the trucks and the sun had gone down. To make matters worse the roads had converged onto quite a busy motorway (highway 1) which meant all the traffic doubled. And there were dog chases everywhere. The hotel would have been a good choice but I had to refuse and crush the last 15km because of that booking I had made in Saraburi. This is the law of the universe really, when you aren't looking and have already made a decision that's when people find you.

I was more surprised than anything because for the last several days the locals had been complete sourpusses. The whole point of the bookings was motivation for crushing distance to get out of here, as well as reward to make up for all the unpleasant cycling in the area. But the fact these people had been nice suggests there may have been a shift and I was entering better parts of Thailand.

The plan today was all flatlands riding to reach Chachoengsao where I would hopefully see a local friend I had met pre-pandemic. We kept in touch off and on. She had helped with the condo earlier, and knew people who lived in Pattaya so this was a good lead. She aptly put that all the people involved in mismanaging my condo were deplorable, and was really sorry for this and apologized on behalf of Thai people. While that gesture was surely appreciated, it won't change my mind that I want to sell out. Any leads to get this condo on the market and start the selling process are worth pursuing and this is one of the primary trip goals.

Before all that, I had an amazing sleep last night at this hotel. It was quiet and clean, as well the bed was soft for once. There also happened to be a delicious breakfast, a swimming pool to update the blog, and a gym to do a strength workout if I was up for it. The only thing missing was a Thai massage -- still have not found one this entire trip.

Not only was it the best hotel of the trip, it was the best sleep of the trip. I slept like a baby for more than 10 hours uninterrupted and there was a calmness about the place, a feeling of serenity like I had entered a different part of Thailand. It was the same feeling as on previous trips after having come through Isaan on a bike and then entered this lower part of the country.

It just felt like everything changed. There were restaurants galore, the tables and chairs were back out on the street, and the amount of development made places to stop become so abundant they were off the chain. Sure enough, the social distancing became nonexistent in this most populated part of the country. So it offered a lot of evidence to validate my theory that the cities were moving on from covid while the countryside was still stuck in it.

Got a lot done here, but was a very late start, after 11am. Didn't manage to hit the gym. Who cares about that right now.

Another minimalist milestone, the box of one baht coins was completely emptied after three days of gradually spending them. The one that remains are all 5 and 10 baht coins but for that it's a lot easier just to go to a bank. It won't cause the staff hassle.

Looking back at this amazing hotel: Glai Glans Place

The road started out with insanely busy motorway so this was a good chance to crank out the music. Even then the traffic noise was so loud I couldn't hear the music. Things were just awful at the start. The good part though were all the places to stop. There were so many options that I now found myself skipping potential 7/11s left, right, and center.

Finally my route turned off this insane motorway and things got a lot quieter. The music mix also calmed down at that point which was scarily coincidental.

Followed this much quieter road for over 60 km and it was quite a treat.

This happens to be a bus graveyard. I actually rememer taking some of those buses in the past. Scary stuff.

Time to wake up because the 7/11 coffee isn't that bad after all.

After the 60km the road had reached a major junction and a decision had to be made. I was on the social media with both my local friend in Chachoengsao as well as a guesthouse owner at my favorite home called the Sananwan Palace in outer Bangkok. It turns out my local friend helping me with the condo had to bail but she could meet the next day. So then I began to wonder, why go to Chachoengsao if that can be skipped and then the route diverted to the Sananwan -- only an additional 5km. But first I wanted to get in touch with the owner on short notice and let her know I was arriving.

She never replied to my messages so at this point I would just book one night on Agoda because this road was at the point of diverging. Of course, the law of the universe says that's precisely when the owner replied to my messages and said don't book, just show up, we're not busy.

Anyways, the course was replotted. Unfortunately that took me straight into a headwind whereas Chachoengsao would have been a tailwind so I then soon started cursing the decision.

One of the stops happened to be a massive food market and the first thing I noticed: no social distancing. I was elated. And before anyone says so, I already know about the Wuhan market pre-covid.

At that point my legs were starting to feel serious burn and overuse. The headwinds were taking their toll and it was getting to be too much. In order to get some good distance in these conditions, you're constantly mashing the pedals and it is a killer on the legs.

It wasn't long before my legs had enough and were protesting big time. Unfortunately I couldn't stop because the road beside the airport happened to have 'no bicycle' signs on it and so I needed to book it out of here.

It was at this point where I bonked. The outlet mall was so huge it made a good excuse to walk around and shake out the legs.

After a few more turns, I had made it to the Sananwan. The staff there recognized me right away and one of the first things they said was, "So you brought another bike, don't you want the one we have here?" Long story on that. Due to minimalist philosophy I'm going to sell it to them at a loss since they expressed interest in the bike and I don't need that one anymore. But not before using it for commutes in town.

I was amazed at the renovation work they had done to the place and an entire new unit had gone up during covid. Looking back they were right, they said invest in this property, not the Pattaya condo.

Anyways, it all felt like coming home for real. I was so knackered from the biking I figured there's no rush to get to Pattaya, that can wait for next week. It's time to chill for at least 6 nights. The staff were totally on board with this and helped put the bike away. They said, "You need to relax now, forget about the bike."

I couldn't agree more.

Today's ride: 122 km (76 miles)
Total: 1,460 km (907 miles)

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