Am starting this post at the bus station in Chiang Mai. Another 'learning experience' this morning, when we proudly hailed a Song Thaew ( Craig did!), who took us here despite us rolling the bikes, and carrying the backpacks. Then we found out the first several morning buses were sold out. We have tickets for the next one, and are following the advice given at a Thai bicycling web site, and can only hope we can charm, (and maybe bribe?), the driver's assistant, to accept our bikes in the luggage area. We will still have to find another local bus once we arrive in Chiang Rai, to take us closer to tonight's stay in Thoeng. Am determined not to take the guest house host up on his/her offer of picking us up in Chiang Rai, because we were given a rip off price quote for this service, when I had asked about info on the local buses.
Link to Chiang Mai 2+
I think it'll be good to try to manage on our own, after being escorted around by Muffy, who also speaks some Thai. She is off south with friends now, and we are eager to see more of the countryside. Communication will be difficult until we return to Chiang Mai for New Year's.
Craig spent lots of time looking, and this finally paid off, when he found descriptions & maps, of local rides by a bike club here in Chiang Mai. We rode 50 miles, directly from the guest house, and ended up on beautiful, quiet, small roads for maybe 30 miles!
We have been to more markets here than we have seen in our life. Am again amazed all the vendors find buyers for everything, but the crowds are reminiscent of e.g. The Esplanade on July 4. We bought a sheet sack, which we will cut open to make a top sheet, as these are not supplied in guest houses in Thailand. It probably won't last many washings, but then our load will be lighter again. Yesterday I finally bought a cloth face mask. Should have done this a week ago, as it is polluted enough here, and the city sits in a river valley, between mountains. Will now go and buy toilet paper, as this often is not supplied. But we didn't buy a water buffalo, or a cow with a hump when at my first ever agricultural market!
Planning bike rides here is more difficult than we anticipated. Until now, our lack of detailed planning once we arrive in an area, has worked fine, but there are fewer roads here, and some are far too busy, and uninteresting to ride for more than a few miles. The commercial tours are very expensive, but we have sent inquires to Laos, where we hope to go next. Due to the rules of the type of Thai visa we have, we need to leave Thailand by January 4, and can later re-enter, but only if arriving at an airport.
We, and the bikes, have arrived at the guest house in Thoeng, and our hostess picked us up at the local bus station, without charging us, as it is only some 3 miles away. We will make every effort to arrive in a new place in daylight from now on, as seeing where you are in the dark, without being able to read the local signs, and despite Craig's GPS, was difficult. We had hoped to get off the local bus right in front of here, but it didn't quite work out this way..
Am continuing this post in another bus, on our way to Chiang Kham, nearby. We had one very nice ride in Thoeng, through rice fields & a forest preserve, a short stretch in to the hills..just like in pictures we have seen.
Yesterday our ride was cut short by the first flat we have had in the 1700 miles (~2500 km) we have ridden since leaving home. Unfortunately Craig was unable to get the spare tube to work, and we haven't carried patch kits for years (wonder if any of our friends do?). I put my thumb out, and we got a ride from a very nice gentleman whose English was good; he's a retired banker from Bangkok, now living up north. The local bike shop , with Craig's help, got me back on the bike, but due to the unusual tire size I have, we now have no spare tube until back in Chiang Mai.
Last night, the guest house hosts unexpectedly arranged a very nice dinner for us, by their fire pit, eating outdoors, everyone wearing hats & jackets. Their son played a local instrument, incredible beautifully. It's called a Seung, 4 strings, on a turtle shell, but apparently usually made from all wood. We will send pic's to Christian in Finland!
Before this, we had breakfast at the nearby childhood home of the owner's, where her sister now lives. There also, we ate outdoors in a pavilion, despite temps barely reaching 50 F (10 C), and I liked a couple of the Thai b-fast dishes, with e.g. rice & coconut.
Thai people are incredibly friendly, and helpful! After arriving in Chiang Kham, we walked around, again carrying the backpacks, and rolling the bikes. A kind woman, who had lived 12 years in Japan, and who spoke some English, asked us to follow her to a restaurant where we could get warm vegetarian food at 10am! It was delicious, they charged not even $4 in Thai Baht for the 2 of us, so we gave them some extra as they likely cooked for us before hours. We started shedding some of the many layers we wore, but my winter wool socks stayed on. It warms up immediately with the sun, but I had worn my wool hat and liner gloves, as it was 46 F (not quite 8 C), when we left the guest house in the dark.
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