Day 6

Tha Sop Sao, Mae Tha District, Lamphun – Hang Chat

I am demotivated.

I’m not half way done but already pretty fed up with this trip. I feel physically weak and had I not had some WarmShowers hosts lined up, I would have absolutely nothing to look forward to…

But hey, it’s my HOLIDAY. I’m not sentenced to a punishment. I can stop whenever I want. This is why today I decide to focus on good ol’ visitin’. I spend half the day at a local market and half in an “elephant (care?) park”. They use “care” in the name, but given that visitors ride the animals, I say it’s exploitation. I feel really uneasy in there and, once again, find the confirmation that I should really be avoiding the (touristic) beaten tracks.

I hurry to my destination, Hang Chat, where a lovely host called Chai welcomes me with a poster on his door as if I were a VIP. I finally get into one of those typical houses that I see so many: with no doors, just a garage entrance for a car. It turns out the car gets parked on the ground floor which is a garage concealing a staircase leading to the actual housing space. Who would have guessed?

Km: 33.99 km
Tm: 1:46 h
Av: 19.2 km/h
TOTAL: 330 km

 

Day 5

Chiang Mai - Tha Sop Sao, Mae Tha District, Lamphun

Katie and Jared get off to an early start and so do I. I do my usual first 2 kilometres going the wrong way on a 4-lane motorway: there’s no changing sides before the faraway crossroad. The “joys” of entering any bigger city seem to be the same all over the world. I pull up at 10ish to a fab eatery and get the best breakfast eva! I’m ready to handle any number of temples that Chiang Mai will throw at me.

I leave the city southbound by one of many country roads. I don’t find the scenery very welcoming, so am just devouring those kilometres as fast as I can. I’m happy there are many temples to rest my longing eyes on, for I’m craving the beauty I can’t seem to find.

However, despite my efforts, I am not able to reach my preferred destination for the night. It’s only 6pm but it’s already getting dark and I still have over 30km to go. Maybe, on a country road, with my bicycle lighting in working order I would have tempted the beast, but the truck-heavy highway at night do not inspire me.

I try my luck at a police box to see if I could rest my head at the station (I hear other cyclists have managed the trick) but all I get is a 2-km lift at the back of the police truck to a nearby resort run by a phuying kham phet (in short, Thai’s “third gender” or, in long, a person labelled male at birth but growing up as female).

Km: 71.09 km
Tm: 3:58 h
Av: 17.8 km/h
TOTAL: 296 km

Day 4

Rest day in Chiang Mai

The rest day is my “me time”: I start if off with a late sleep in. Once I connect back to reality (at around 1pm) I take my bike to go to the closest market. They’re huge, vibrant, abounding with smells and colours. They’re the pumping heart of any village or city district. I don’t recognize half of the items on display and can’t figure out what the plastic bags revolving on fans are supposed to do… but I do manage to find a stand with fruit smoothies (Thai craze of the moment).

After filling up with local specialties, I decide to check-in for a foot massage. It’s so good and so cheap that I continue with a full-body herbal rub. Three hours later I roll out from the massage parlour, half-dead and half-high… I can hardly speak…

Time to work that stomach abs and get some grub! Luckily, as it gets dark just after 6pm, dinner time in Thailand is a lot earlier compared to 8-9pm in France.

I have dinner plans with my hosts, Jared and Katie, whom I met through the WarmShowers website. They’re fellow cyclists and pretty radical ones too. Katie does a ride every day at 5am for example, right before going to work. They also run, hitchhike… living machines! I’m impressed at how well organised they are: preparing all their meals in advance, taking vitamins, scheduling training sessions... Over the course of the meal, they share their insights on living in Thailand, cycling around the world, changing jobs whilst living the life of an expat… They suggest I do the Mae Hong Son loop as it boasts the most beautiful Thai sceneries. I hesitate all night as what I’ve seen over the past 4 days has been more than disappointing… The loop lies in a mountainous area and is considered one of the most challenging bike trails. Precisely what makes me finally decide against it: I have had health issues for the past year and simply do not have the strength for anything too fancy. It will be plain and simple: I’ll continue straight back down to Bangkok.

Day 3

Chedi Luang, Mae Suai District – Chiang Mai

All the sexy talk aside, I do get to taste some of the monk’s routine. After the meditation practice from the evening before, comes getting up with the monks at the crack of dawn. Well, let me just point out that 8am Thai time is in fact 2am Europe time. And since it’s the first time I’m jet lagged, I get to cry and whine for a bit.

I get woken up by a monk who opens a window to my room to give me a breakfast plate: a very unusual mixture of unidentifiable edible items. I drag myself out of the monastery after about an hour, only to stop *literally* 7 minutes later in what seems to be a local Starbucks (with international prices).

Once I get back on track, it’s just me, my bike, coffee houses, shops, egg-boiling hot springs, (sic) cabbages and condoms (sic and sic!). I do manage to figure out why Thai hot springs smell of eggs (because there are eggs ALL OVER!), but the mystery remains to the commercial logic behind the name of “Cabbages & Condoms” given to one of the local resorts…

Anyways… the views start to give way to a little bit more of nature and general greenery. Not by accident, I shall later find out, as we’re nearing the Mae Hong Son Loop: the most scenic and breath-taking piece of Thai land there is.

I come across an interesting piece of business: a closed restaurant with some fruit & veg laid out on the counter. You help yourself in exchange for the suggested donation (or whatever you can). I get my hands on my first piece of papaya ever: bigger than my head. It’s just the power up I need: the sun is slowly setting down whilst I still have an hour or so to go along the busy entrance road to the highly-coveted Chiang Mai.

Km: 121.77 km
Tm: 6:44 h
Av: 18.0 km/h
TOTAL: 220 km