Sukhothai to Kamphaeng Phet

Riding on the left, surviving the relentless sun & heat, we tested fate — fate won, our Pink Room and the incredible Festival, omg!

We are riding in the left hand side of the road like we’re pro’s! We ride right on into busy cities along with silly traffic and just move with the flow. It does seem to make sense….we do most things, directionally, from left to right, so why not? Honestly, we agreed that the drivers here allow us a little more space and consideration than do our Canadian counterparts. Perhaps it’s because there are so many scooters and motorcycles on the road. Drivers expect and accommodate them/us everywhere. We even roll on down multi lane highways comfortably now! And it must be said—our previous CanBike Safety Training has been absolutely invaluable. We feel safer, more confident and we make darn sure we are visible and predictable.

Today was hot. There’s never a cloud in the sky it seems, and we can feel the heat radiating upward from the road and downward from the sun. As long as we keep moving we do all right. We have little tricks for making the heat bearable—stop every 10k and wait till we drip sweat. Once we are underway again the evaporation has a cooling effect. We seek out cold drinks constantly. The water in our bottles gets hot quickly. We pour cold water on our heads and that works wonders. we probably drink about 5L a day and still finish the day thirsty. Today we spotted some gorgeous lime & orange popsicle-like treats at a gas station and it was like heaven. If the weather wasn’t hot enough, we biked alongside a farmers field that was burning. This is common at this time of the year as farmers want to burn off all the debris that remains on the ground. Everywhere we go we see blackened fields.

Whenever we stop, people want to know where we are from, where we are going, and how long we are here. They eye up our bikes and give us gigantic smiles and thumbs up. Today a woman named “Penn” made conversation with us despite neither of us knowing a word of the others language. Charades is a fun game in every culture and always makes people laugh. I could tell she was trying to tell us about something big happening in the town we were going to, but we had no idea what she said. We’d have to wait and see….

This morning our pump broke. Not a cheapy pump either. It is a good quality one that should do the job,but broke while topping up our tires this morning. The nearest place to buy a new one was 22km back the way we came yesterday. We took a gamble that today wont be the day we get a flat. Our destination was 82k away. We stopped just a few kms short of our final destination to locate a bike shop on Google Maps to but a new pump. With address in hand and just a few kms to go, we leave our roadside rest spot and wouldn’t you know it…a flat! Big bummer. No pump. We notice some people at a school across the street and decide to ask about where we can call a taxi. These wonderful Thai people all came to our rescue—a young teacher translated our situation to a nearby kind and generous man who offered to take the bicycle wheel himself on his motorcycle down the road to a place to get it filled with air. Everyone there was so kind and thoughtful as they all tried to help. Thank you, thank-you, to the wonderful teacher “who sometimes teaches English”, and thank-you to the 72 year old man who transported the bicycle wheel to and from the shop. You are all so lovely and kind!

We found a hotel to check into. Our little cottage is a cute little Pink doll house that just exudes happiness. It’s actually Barbie pink both inside and out. Ugh I k it was 500 Thai Bhats. That’s a whole $21 and our breakfast is included. 😁

Coming into town we saw there’s a HUGE festival underway. It looks like a carnival extravaganza, with endless rows of super inexpensive clothing, toys, plants, shoes, and weird foods to try. Trust me when I tell you….we will not eat fried up giant cockroaches! Supergross! However, the other 99% of the food looked intriguing, smelled amazing and looked tantalizing.

We may stick around an extra night here, but aren’t committing to anything. We won’t know till we wake up and see what strikes our fancy!