A change of direction: The road to Tak

March 2, 2016

29-02-2016

I like following roads that are less travelled and these Thai back roads, paths and hiways certainly satisfies that need. But I am also very fond of a clean bed and a shower after a hard day's cycling, something that usually does not go hand in hand with the less travelled road.

So I've decided that after today I'll head back in a more easterly direction and towards the more populated and travelled roads north. I'll aim for the Chao Phraya and Ping rivers. I went that way last year, but I'll vary the path (you can go up either the left or right banks) and see what happens. Hopefully, more clean sheets and hot showers for one thing.

I left the police box haven at around 0800 hrs and after a breakfast at the same restaurant and stocking up on fried chicken wings and sticky rice for second breakfast from a street vendor, I'm on the road by about 0830.

There was a small hill heading due east out of town and then a great slow and gentle 10 km descent into the next valley. Stopping for some mandarins I got another thumbs up approval from the old couple manning the fruit stall. The husband gave my bike a thorough going over, checking out the tires and lifting the bike up. I headed due north, up a small track opposite the fruit stall and was quickly followed by a young girl on a motorbike. She didn't speak any English, but let me know she was certain I was lost and didn't really want to head into the rice paddies. When I finally convinced her that yes, I knew where I was and where I was going and all was well with the world, she smiled and waved me good bye and good luck.

It quickly turned into a rugged dirt track through the fields, but that track eventually met up with another small back road and that too eventually joined up with a pleasant small highway... all was well with the world. I stopped for a cool drink at a small village shop and struck up a conversation with the owner. When I pulled out my chicken and sticky rice snack, he rushed off and came back with some more of the same. When I was ready to leave, he refused my attempts to pay.

Dirt Track that eventually led to a small road that in turn found its way to a small highway.

I stopped at his shop for a cool drink, had several, some of his food and fresh fruit and he wouldn't accept any payment. More kindness of strangers.

I took refuge at another petrol station coffee shop through the heat of the day and soon after found a 24 hr motel to spend the night. I spent an industrious afternoon cleaning all of my dirty clothes. A hot shower, clean sheets and quiet night's sleep.

Coffee Stop, midday. I slept on that bench for about an hour waiting for it to cool down before carrying on cycling.

LimTam Resort - These 24 hour motels can't be found on Google Maps or Agoda, you just stumble across them as you ride along - making them even more appreciated at the end of the day when you don't know where you will sleep.
Good value, too. This one was 350 baht.

Daily Stats
* 46 km - a short day
* 3:15 hours of riding
* 14.4 kmph average
* 43 kmph maximum speed on the downhill, abruptly stopped when my somehow flew off and ended up covering my face.
* 1 in 4:how often February 29th comes along

01-03-2016

It was a quiet night, but somehow a restless one, so I didn't get a very early start. I'm still not in the touring groove. I started off with another long short cut that eventually led me back to the highway. I had another great down hill run of about 6 km. My how I do like those descents, even the short ones.

On tires....

Previous to this trip I had done all of my touring on Schwalbe XRs, a beast of a tire. Everyone swore by them and only a few (David Cambon you do stand out) swore at them. While in Laos on my last ride I decided that I'd retire them before they wore me out dead. I certainly wasn't going to wear them out. This trip I'm using 26" x 2" Maxxis Overdrive Elites. They are so much lighter, quieter, smoother and faster than the Schwalbes. For a brief moment I thought perhaps I was a better cyclist than I was last year, but unfortunately I think it's just the tires.... oh well.

I met my first cyclist heading in the opposite direction and I crossed over to have a chat. John, an Englishman, was heading back to Bangkok and catching a plane back to the UK. He's a chef in a seaside tourist town and spends the northern winters cycling SE Asia. He's just finishing a 4.5k loop of the region.

Another mid day rest stop to beat the heat and another 24 hr motel for the night.

Burning the Fields.
After harvesting their crops. they burn the remaining stubble. Visibility is less than 3 km and breathing this air must be like smoking a pack a day. Add the diesel fumes from the trucks and you're also smoking a pack of diesel. I'm a two pack a day man.

Roadside brunch stop. The ladies were a real treat. They gave me a hard time... I don't know what they were saying, maybe it's a good thing I don't speak Thai.

The roads less travelled. You can never rack up big miles for the day when riding these farm tracks. But it's so much more fun to take at least one of these diversions every day.
I went left...

Daily Stats
* 74 km for the day
* 17 kmph average (love those tires)
* 322 km total on the cycle computer

02-03-2016

My 450 Baht room included a two egg & toast breakfast - a pleasant surprise that meant a slightly later than expected start to the day. It was a fairly mundane day along minor highways and side roads heading due west for about 25 km before striking north along the Ping River. But first I had to negotiate my way around Uthai Thani and Nakhon Sawan.

On GPS software...

I finally figured out that I could set a walking track in Google Maps and then put the phone in airplane mode and it still works and speaks out directions as you ride... and the battery lasts a whole lot longer. I also have Locus Maps running at the same time to compare maps if things get confusing. Together with the SP dyno hub I can go a whole tour without relying on a mains charge.

For a change today I rode through the mid day heat and finished early, about 1430 hours. I was fine up until 1400 and then ran out of "umph" (is that even a word?). The 70 km of mostly souless dusty highway did me in. Another 24 hour motel, this time for 350 baht.

Tomorrow I'll try to ride spend more time on the more appealing small roads up the Ping River.

Daily Stats
* 72 km for the day, 4 of which were in search of the evening meal.

03-03-2016

Today was a big improvement over yesterday's mundane pavement pushing. I started out early (0730 - early for me) on the main road, but swapped over to the other side (east side) of the river after a couple of km and rode the morning on the small river frontage road that follows the Ping River. You are basically riding through small hamlets and front yards for the entire ride. It was a pleasant morning and there were many more people walking and riding bikes than driving cars or motorcycles. In fact I'd say in the two hours on the river road I might have seen 5 or 10 cars/motorbikes.

Temple sunrise. It's got to be no later than 0740 in the early morning and the temple's PA system is blaring out Thai pop music at full volume. Any monk that can meditate through that noise must be very adept at his trade.

I passed a cute old lady cooking something up on a roadside stall, swung around and bought whatever it was she was grilling in those banana leaf tubes. It was mashed banana. I rode over to the local temple's riverside shelter, sat on the steps looking into the Ping River and ate my breakfast in complete solitude. For once the temple's PA system was silent...

If you're willing to go slow and cover a minimum of distance in a day you could spend a month doing this ride swapping from bank to bank, sleeping in your tent at local temples, slowly toodling your way north. That might be an option for another trip....

Early morning river road, the way cycle touring should always be.

The busy little highway 1084 is less than 100 metres to the east of the riverside road. I had to swap over to it once the river road surface turned to a rough dirt track and my speed slowed to below 12 kmph. I thought I'd plough down that highway for a couple of hours to cover a bit more distance... I do have only 12 more days left on this visa after all. Once again, it got a bit tedious so I swapped back to the west side of the river and wandered up it's frontage road for a while.

I took a break around lunch time at a noodle shop and killed time checking out my favourite crazyguy blogs on my phone. When they are riding, Jeff Arnim and Kristen Waddell are on the top of my list. Reading about their road wedding made my day - nah, I think I can safely say it will top my week. I wanted to tell someone, but no one in the restaurant spoke English....

Today's gift was a bunch of bananas from the ice coffee vendor.

Back on the 1084 for the afternoon I met a Taiwanese cyclist that has been on the road for over a year. He was heading back to Bangkok and a quick flight back to Taiwan for a wedding, then back to Thailand to resume his ride. He had no idea where he would spend the night; he has a tent and will pitch it somewhere tonight. Staying out on the road, travelling hard, for that length of time is a real achievement.

'Nother temple, 'nother excellent river view. There must be thousands - hundreds of thousands if not millions of temples and shrines in Thailand. If there is a good river view or mountain outlook, there will be a temple sitting on it.

Another night in a roadside 24 hour motel for the night. I'm still about 50 km short of Kamphang Phet - a nice distance to cover by late afternoon if I follow the river frontage roads all the way into town...

Evening exercise class. Everyone shows up and enjoys themselves at this riverside location in front of yet another temple.

Blood red sunset on the Ping River - the one advantage of the air pollution resulting from the dreadful crop burn-off practised here.

Daily Stats
* 75 km for the day, 5 of which were in search of the evening meal.
* 15.5 kmph average speed for the day
* 0: the mango and sticky rice puddings I purchased at the market - he who hesitates is lost.

04-03-2016

Got started around 0800 and immediately crossed over to the west side of the river and started pedalling on the quiet frontage road. There was only a small section of unpaved road and I put down about 50 km by lunchtime, even though I did lots of stopping and consulting Google Maps every time I came to a confusing intersection.

I went past a massive riverside sugarcane factory. What an ugly mess of a place it was. I was happy to get out of there as quickly as I could pedal.

Sugarcane factory. The trucks waiting outside to disgorge their load. It was like one of Dante's inner rings of hell. I was happy to get out of there.

On dogs ...

I know I went on about this topic in my last journal, but the little ankle blighters are still lying in wait at every village. Some are not so little...

I'm trying ignore them if I can. I'd say I have about 20 or more encounters with dogs every day. I'd have fewer encounters if I stuck to the bigger roads. You have less trouble on those roads because the road traffic sorts them out fairly quickly.

Whether you try to ignore them or not, you will have to deal with them if you travel the back roads and villages of Thailand. A stick is a great tool. The locals use them all the time to sort out pesky dogs. In fact if you see cyclists or motorcyclists riding along holding a stick, you had better find one quick because there will certainly be a nasty dog ahead. An umbrella also works. Dog's can't tell the difference.

I've had my rabies injections, so I worry less about getting bitten. It would still be a major pain in the arse (as well as the part bitten), but with the injections, you have more time to deal with it. Without the injections you have to get to a hospital quickly or run the risk of rabies. I usually start talking to the dogs before I get close and that seems to disarm them somewhat. The aggressive ones that mean harm are the problem. They usually rush you quickly from ambush. I'm jumping off my bike to confront them. You're in deep trouble if you get tag-teamed though. Luckily in any group it's usually only one of them that's seriously after your ankles. Getting off the bike really puts them off their game. You know what they are thinking, "WTF is that guy doing getting off the damn bike!! Now I have nuthin to chase!!"

I was blindsided by a big aggressive dog today on one of the river frontage roads. I quickly jumped off the bike and before I could yell at it a couple of the locals were all over it, chasing it through the scrub with their sticks. In sign language one of them told me not to worry about it, they'd sort him out.

Dogs are far less troublesome in Laos and Vietnam. They eat dogs in Laos and Vietnam.... Just an observation.

From the shape of it, I reckon it doesn't have long to live.

Big Cocky Rooster at front gate... with pearls?

The row of junior roosters, also with pearls.

Loved this place.
It's right on the river with massive windows to capture the river view.

Me and shop owner doing the selfie. She has one taken with every cyclist who stops... I was only the second one, so I'm safe saying it's every cyclist.

I ended up spending two nights in Kamphaeng Phet. The town doesn't have much to offer, but the guesthouse was good.

Aussie/Kiwi Victor meets Austrian Victor.

I kept spotting these strange narrow fluted buildings at every temple I passed. Only while sitting under a tree while taking a break did it dawn on me that it was an incinerator. A couple more minutes spent staring at it...
Oh, I got it!! It has to be a crematorium.

Seen on a cafe window, Kamphaeng Phet.
My dad and this guy went way back; as kids they picked tomatoes together in California. Good quote, too.

Daily Stats
* 60 km for the day, straight into the heart of Kamphaeng Phet.
* 16.5 kmph average speed and about 3.5 hrs of riding
* 2: aggressive dogs encountered, one sorted out by the locals
* lost count: the number of dogs barking and chasing me through the villages today
* 1st: First time I've seen rooster statues with pearls.

Strange JuJu totem outside my room at the Triple J Guesthouse, Kampheng Phet

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