Ride Day: Chiang Mai to Mae Katchan

1/3/09
Day: 84.76 km
Cumulative: 422.8 km
Avg Spd: 14.9 km/h
Max Spd: 69.0 km/h
Ride Time: 5h 40m
Highs: riding through teak forests, passing through a national park, creeks along roadside for miles, kind venders offering directions, having a vender answer my "thanks" with "mai pan rai" ("no worries"), passing through a village specializing in wicker and basketry, seeing Thailand's tallest geiser
Lows: Long sometimes steep uphills (up to 30km), hard time finding a place to stay in Mae Katchan because there's no Latin characters anywhere, missing Sharon a lot and thinking of her on her way home to SF


This was a tough day. It was hot, it was my first day of real climbing to pass over the mountains East of Chiang Mai. The first 20 km went pretty smooth, but then the climb started and the heat poured on! Found a neat spot to stop for lunch overlooking a (manmade) waterfall in a "parklike setting." Good food at the right time in the right place (for the right price). Took a little nap on the table at the cafe.

The forests are lovely, multi-tiered, I wish I had more time to wander through. There's a lot of camping and nature resorts on highway 118, most of which had some form of bridge over the creek. I had to push on, though...I've got places to be and a visa that's getting ready to expire.

I decided to make a b-line for the border at Chiang Khong and take a two day river ferry to Luang Probang. Some other cyclists I met told me they were doing that and it sounds really lovely. I mentioned it to a vender on the roadside and he said "very pretty" so it got a local thumbs up, too!

Climbs were tough, but with a last push over the ridge, I saw a lot of signs designating a change of province and then a steep decent for about 9 km, which was very very nice. I pedaled on to Mae Katchan and wandered around near dark looking for a place to stay. I wandered through town and had to turn around and go back. I asked a handful of people where I could find a place to stay, noone spoke very much English. In the end, I asked one person and then moments later, after passing the hotel I couldn't see (the Thai script on signs is very different from the writing in my small dictionary), asked another woman who turned me around and got me to the hotel (where the two eleven year olds running the place spoke no English). I got an ok room at a cheap price, cold shower and collapsed. Fortunately, there was a small restaraunt right behind the hotel.

No poems today. The heat and the press to put on some serious miles sapped me.