Off the Beaten Path, Deana’s Banana took Flight

Route: Nonthaburi to Nakhon Pathom
Distance: 70km
Daytime high: 43C (in the sun)

We simply couldn’t pass up the pool this morning so we decided to loiter, do handstands in the pool, and just lay there floating till we were required to checkout at noon. We knew it would be tough starting our ride in the intense mid-day heat, but we figured it would be worth every drop of sweat. We take temperature readings from Deana’s bike computer and our bodies already knew—it was hotter than ever. 43C in the blazing sun. We guzzled water, ate potato chips for the salt, burned through electrolytes, and when it became unbearable we planted our sweaty drippy selves inside of a Cafe Amazon for a strawberry smoothie.

We needed to ride west of Bangkok, because yesterday we skirted the city a little too close for comfort. There is no direct route that doesn’t involve mega-highways so Randy plotted out a route that took all the alternatives. The roads here are generally wonderful surfaces to ride on but there were Home-Depot sized speed-bumps on those side roads so we kerplunked and jostled enough to make Deanas banana go airborne and land on the road. A sweet Thai man ran to the banana’s rescue and made sure that Deana and her banana were reunited. (Thais are so sweet) We were far off the beaten path and grew a little more concerned when we started down this teeny tiny rough gravel road not much bigger than a footpath. A few kilometres in it suddenly seemed to bisect someone’s small humble property with furnishings and belongings occupying the space on both sides of the path. The resident dog freaked out and the lady who was having a siesta was startled awake by what must have felt like a weird dream—to suddenly have three strangers on bicycles invading your personal living space. The dog couldn’t get rid of us fast enough.

You never know what you will encounter with every turn in the road. We rounded one bend in the road and right before our eyes lay this big beautiful Wat Bang Phra. Even though we were on a mission to reach our next destination by nightfall, this stopped us in our tracks. It simply required us to stand in admiration. Gorgeous!

Thailand is a colourful place. The trucks that transport goods to and fro are downright wild looking. It seems as though truck drivers compete among each other to bling out their rigs. The mirrors, the wild paint jobs, the Michelin Men and all things shiny—We’ll let the pictures show what we mean!

We don’t usually begin looking for a hotel room until we are a few hours away. Sometimes we stumble across a gem like yesterday, and other times our accommodation has been fairly basic. They are however, always clean and a good value. Sometimes our room cost just 500 bhats and other times we splurge and fork out the big bucks like 1,000 bhats (about $38). Tonight we are living large cuz we just feel like we deserve this!

As we stood outside 7-Eleven tonight we were entertained by people coming & going, and all the ways that humans transport themselves here. It never ceases to amaze us how few wear helmets. Every single day we see entire families of four riding together on a single motorcycle, even with little babies carried in mothers arms. Trucks run down the highway with goods bursting at the seams and still even more people stuffed together and piled high on top, sometimes just riding on the roof.

Everyday is a new adventure for us!