July 14, 2018
Day 1 - Happy, No Power
Chiang Mai to Happy House Homestay
With all the anticipation of finally getting started, an early start might happen right? Sure, at 3pm. First order of business was loafing around at cafes, then I got a message from my friend who wanted a scooter ride to the airport. That was an adventure in itself, and with only 37 minutes to spare, he just made his flight. Back in town I had to take care of a few more errands, such as returning the scooter and mailing off some important documents.
So finally setting off, a major rainstorm. Yesterday was the remnants of a tropical storm and apparently the locals were all saying at least another four days of heavy rains. Oh yay! Not the most encouraging news, but you have to put things into perspective. Now is the rainy season, and that's just how it goes.
I managed about three hours mainly uphill and then decided to pack it in for the night. There was conveniently a homestay just off the road and the locals could see me coming a mile away.
I was met with smiles and wais, and offered a beautiful big room, dinner and breakfast all negotiated for 500 baht. But there was a catch: no electricity. It is hard to say why this is the case, but maybe the areas is remote or could be affected by the roadworks. It's the first time I've encountered such a thing in Thailand. It happened in Burma on a previous trip, also this season no less, and was a bit of a drag. But you basically have to adopt the 'mai pen rai' attitude of the Thais in these kinds of situations, i.e. just go with it.
I sat down to dinner by candles of course and got chatting to the person who runs the show around here, an 80 year old who I'll call Aunt Sai. She didn't look that age at all, and had this youthful exuberance and energetic spirit about her. There is no doubt in mind that in her younger years she was a super model, and right away she got talking about the importance of exercise to maintain good health. This was turning into a great conversation and of course the bicycle made it all possible. It's been said many times that cycle touring is the passport into these kinds of local encounter jewels, and it's a key reason why I do it. Aunt Sai right away asked me, "Why are you doing this?" and of course I didn't know the reason except for "I like it" and that started the conversation. She then asked, "Why aren't you going to Burma?" Funny she should ask that because the guy at the food stall some 15km back asked the same question. Maybe things have changed, but I had a terrible experience at that border back in 2011 and am not inclined to make a future trip at that particular entry point. If you cross the border at Mae Sai where all the locals talk about, you can't go anywhere else except back out. Perhaps it's different now but I doubt it.
Back to Aunt Sai and her story. She said she ran a guesthouse in Mae Hong Son in her early 60s and an English tourist was there for a holiday. This guy had recently seen his wife pass away and didn't know what to do. So the advice was do what everyone else does when facing a life tragedy: make a trip to Thailand and find yourself. Right away this man took a liking to her and made a few inquiries about Aunt Sai and what she was about, etc.. he cut right to it and said, "I want to take care of her." And that began a new marriage for him whereas this was her first. It lasted 15 year until he passed away, and then she now found herself debating whether to go back to England (they acquired a lot of assets there) or stay in Thailand. All this would certainly explain her impeccable English. She went on to say she was diagnosed with cancer and the doctors gave her two more years to live. I couldn't help but get real sad at that point, because if this were my situation I would be devastated. But she was not, and maintained her youthful spirit and wasn't concerned. The only thing she was focusing on was taking care of this ragtag cycle tourist and making sure I got enough food to eat, and how to deal with the power outage. As it got too dark to talk she basically said go to your room and good night.
The power brownout was an inconvenience but it came back on, just as a lizard scurried away. I was thinking earlier maybe should have just powered on up the mountain pass and down the other side, but this little stop proved to be a good call.
Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 103 km (64 miles)
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