We woke up and were all enthusiastic-like, thinking we might go out and conquer 106km today… but it was just delusional coffee and heat interfering with our sensibilities. As we are riding down the road the conversation turned to pickle juice, melting, and ice cold smoothies. Some fresh black tarmac during a construction zone felt like we were in a frying pan. By the way, it didn’t stop all the workers from honking, beeping & giving us smiles and thumbs up.

We aren’t wusses. Honestly! But the heat just did us in today. And the coming days are forecasting highs of 36c and nothing but sunshine. By day’s end we were each desperately trying to keep sun off our necks & shoulders. Randy and I were nerded out with our “daBrim” over our helmets. Couldn’t care less about how we look, lol!

We wussed. Right around the 60km mark. Somewhere between downing the bag ‘o salty chips & guzzling water and staring ahead at the looming mountains a cute little roadside resort presented itself to us—none of us could resist escaping the heat. 690THB (about $28) bought us each a room.

It took a while to get rolling today. First time on the loaded touring bikes is a wobbly experience that makes you say to yourself “whoahhhhh”, “phew”, and then “ok, ok, I’m in charge here!” Then we took the plunge, and popped out onto the busy street to go with the flow. Right out of Chiang Mai we flowed down the left hand side of the road past streets full of cars, scooters, motorcycles cutting in and out. Here, you pick your line of travel and don’t stray because all those fast-than-bike-but-slower-than-car moving forms of transportation feels like organized chaos. Once you release your death-grip on the handlebars, it’s easy to start noticing all the gorgeous flowering trees and shrubs everywhere. You’ll just have to take our word for it because we ain’t stopping to take a picture! Despite the busyness I still saw so many Thai faces light up with big giant emoji-smiles, and sometimes road workers would issue words of enthusiastic encouragement. Yep, smiles everywhere.

When traffic thinned and we were finding our groove suddenly this big glittery golden gorgeous piece of architecture compelled us to pull off the road for a period of admiration. The Buddhist temple Wat Ton Phung Mueang was something that can only be seen. Photos don’t do it justice. There wasn’t a soul in sight so we just planted ourselves under a tree in glimmering appreciation.

Then it was time to look for a hotel or something. This was supposed to just be a little 30k warmup ride to work out the kinks. Found one! But upon arrival the gates were locked and it didn’t look welcoming. (Neither did the barking dogs across the way seem to want us there). So we revisited booking.com and found one about 6 km back where we came from. About an hour later, and after some multi-lane highway lane-switches, down a teen tiny pathway we managed to find our accommodation. “A Day Inn” (who comes up with these names?) Not fancy, and there’s a little house-gecko occupying Randy’s & mine room. I guess he can stay. He was here first.

We headed out for dinner. First to a “buffet hot pot” place that looked supremely popular but not our style. Down the road we went to the little happening restaurant where we had to cross a rickety bridge to get to it. All Thai menu—we couldn’t understand a thing on it, but it was a lot of fun trying to figure it out with our server! We got three Thais all smiling & laughing trying to help us out. We ended up placing an order for something and waited to behold what arrived. I guess it was tasty cuz we all ate every bite on our plates, and Randy ordered up a second meal! There seems to be a correlation—the less English available, the better the food! As we were preparing to leave, one of us (not naming any names) ventured to the toilet. Squat time! A cultural experience to be sure!

As we were leaving the restaurant a whole table full of cute smiling Thais were delighted to try out their English. “bye-bye” “have a good evening” “good night”. The day ended the way it began—smiles in the Land of Smiles

Jet lag, Luggage Reunification, bicycle reassembly and the Chiang Mai Nighttime food-fest

Today was reserved for recovery from the 12 hour time difference, acclimatization to temperatures 50c warmer than where we came from, and to eat Khao soi, which we did twice today. And we played Lazy Tourist. Mostly because we feel all wide-eyed & spry until that jet lag hits and bam! exhaustion hits hard. That’s when a swim in our rooftop pool feels just about perfect.

As promised, our luggage babies were delivered which means we can roll out whenever our little hearts desire.

The food quantity and variety is mind-boggling. There’s a Halal food sub-district here in Chiang Mai and we happened to find ourselves sampling a buckwheat something-or-other and also some big giant crunchy noodlish who-knows-what. Taste tests work wonders. We walked away with two.

We discovered a nighttime cruise of the Ping River for 200THB ($8). We’re in for that! It’s a sensory extravaganza of lights best shown rather than described.

Far from home now, and far from our luggage too!

The flight was fantastic! EVA Air has their act together. The food was quite tasty and the seating gods bestowed upon us an empty seat between Randy and I, and two empties next to Deana. After sixteen hours of darkness in the sky, we were treated to a spectacular view of the sun peering up over the earths edge. We would be landing at the same time our connecting flight was boarding and somehow the airline attendants knew this—about 30 minutes prior they came and relocated us to the fancypants seats near the front so we could disembark first. Time to mooooooove it! Chop chop, run! that flight was waiting! Dang those airline folks are good. They held up signs, and fast-tracked us right through! Next landing—Chiang Mai. As soon as we reached the luggage retrieval location, there were our bike boxes all smiling at us, all happy and saying “I’m here!” in their beautiful cardboard & tape glory. Then, like expectant parents, we waited for the second pieces of luggage to arrive like magic on the conveyor belt—which eventually just ran bare. Everyone else took their babies home and we were empty handed. All three pieces of our luggage babies were left in Taipei during that speedy-switchover. Tomorrow—That’s when the “PIR” (Property Irregularity Report) claims it will come.

We opted to find a taxi big enough for all our bikes and us and for 300Thb ($12) we were delivered to our hotel where we sat under some amazingly fragrant trees that sprinkled us with beautifully fragrant flower buds from a Millingtonia hortensis (Indian cork tree), and purple flowers from a Blue jacaranda, listening to tropical bird sounds, sipping beer (and Coke), and noticing it was pretty darn warm even here in the shade.

We ventured in the old city area (8k walk—not sure how we had the energy) and sought out some Khao Soi, and Pad Thai for dinner. $2 each. Out in the street we each picked up some delicious fresh carved pineapple for about $.80

Our hotel room is lovely—king size bed, big screen TV, kitchenette area with a bar fridge, and a beautiful shower. With or without luggage we are not roughing it here in Chiang Mai!

Three people, 150lbs of bike, 100lbs of gear and 2,000kms.

We have a start point and an end-point—Chiang Mai down to the beaches of Prachuap Khiri Khan then to Bangkok. Everything in the middle is going to be our free-range adventure! Randy and I are ready to roam and we are bringing our good friend Deana with us this time for Thailand 2023.  Bikes are packed with foam, paper and plastic in boxes and they are weighing in at about 48lbs each.  We’ll carry about 28lbs each of gear in the form of panniers, clothing, sunscreen etc. on our bikes. Everything we need for more than 6 weeks on the road. Randy will be hauling all the bike tools & spare parts so will need to carry four panniers.—Deana and I (Anita) will each carry two, plus a handlebar bag and trunk bag.  We have packed like minimalists, nothing so glamorous as a hairdryer.  Ha! No room for such luxury.

Our flight leaves late Sunday night (actually, early Monday morning, 0045h). Our brains will be all stirred up and crazy once we reach Chiang Mai 22 hours later when Randy will unpack the bike boxes right in the airport terminal and re-assemble them—probably a 4+ hour job!  We’ll load up and cycle right out of the airport onto the busy streets of Chiang Mai, all wobbly and woozy from the long transit.  We’ll try to keep ourselves sharp as we navigate traffic that rides on the left-hand side of the road. Given the fiasco that is air travel and luggage handling in Canada is right now, we are grateful to be flying with EVA Air—so we cling to the hope that our luggage AND our bikes will arrive.

Let the adventure begin!

Deana’s bike looks a little more like a skill-challenging puzzle

That’s it! I hope it arrives.

That’s what’s going into Randy’s panniers. He thinks of everything—we are in very good hands. Having a bike mechanic among us is a godsend.