to Chom Thong: further south

December 9, 2016

The profile looks like more climbs than we actually did...just a reminder that most roads are not totally flat. Though once we rejoined 108, the last 20km was rolling. The ride itself is fairly boring. First we skirt around the south of Chiang Mai on the 121 ring road, then we turn on route 3035 like Jared recommended. The road carries less traffic than the 108 and has a nice wide shoulder and marked as a bike lane all the way along with plenty of fancy new coffee shops.

After a while we leave the city behind and find ourselves among irrigated fields. We have a slight tailwind and make good time. At about 1:00 pm we reach Chom Thong.

There seem to be two things worthwhile in this town, either go see the waterfall about 5km away, or check out the Temple in the center of town. Googlemaps shows hotels at the junction to the waterfall / national park but nothing in the center. We are more interested in the temple so we first ride all the way into town to see if there was a Guesthouse closer to the temple than the 1km out at a junction to the National Park.

A quick look around reveals nothing, and when we ask, we are redirected back to the junction to look for a Smile guesthouse that would now be on the right side. No such luck even after asking several times. So we went about two kilometers towards the NP and found the R House Hotel. Although friendly, a basic room was 600 baht, which is more than we wanted to pay. Also there did not seem to be any shops or restaurants nearby.

So we ride back to the junction and asked again at a restaurant with coconut shells hanging from the ceiling across from Tesco lotus store. Back behind the restaurant are bungalows for 600 baht, we figured this must be the going rate for rooms in this area. Patrick is fighting a sore throat and cough and is ready to be done so we take it.

Later in the afternoon we walk back to the Temple.

One of the few photos we took on the road today. This was as exciting as it got.

At the Chom Thong Temple. Patrick likes the grim on this guy's face.

Statue and one of the large wooden posts holding up the roof.

Personal electronic devices cannot be ignored.

Sunset. The National Park to our west holds Thailand's highest mountain. We are not sure, but this might be it.

Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 25,867 km (16,063 miles)

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