Day 3

Chedi Luang, Mae Suai District – Chiang Mai

All the sexy talk aside, I do get to taste some of the monk’s routine. After the meditation practice from the evening before, comes getting up with the monks at the crack of dawn. Well, let me just point out that 8am Thai time is in fact 2am Europe time. And since it’s the first time I’m jet lagged, I get to cry and whine for a bit.

I get woken up by a monk who opens a window to my room to give me a breakfast plate: a very unusual mixture of unidentifiable edible items. I drag myself out of the monastery after about an hour, only to stop *literally* 7 minutes later in what seems to be a local Starbucks (with international prices).

Once I get back on track, it’s just me, my bike, coffee houses, shops, egg-boiling hot springs, (sic) cabbages and condoms (sic and sic!). I do manage to figure out why Thai hot springs smell of eggs (because there are eggs ALL OVER!), but the mystery remains to the commercial logic behind the name of “Cabbages & Condoms” given to one of the local resorts…

Anyways… the views start to give way to a little bit more of nature and general greenery. Not by accident, I shall later find out, as we’re nearing the Mae Hong Son Loop: the most scenic and breath-taking piece of Thai land there is.

I come across an interesting piece of business: a closed restaurant with some fruit & veg laid out on the counter. You help yourself in exchange for the suggested donation (or whatever you can). I get my hands on my first piece of papaya ever: bigger than my head. It’s just the power up I need: the sun is slowly setting down whilst I still have an hour or so to go along the busy entrance road to the highly-coveted Chiang Mai.

Km: 121.77 km
Tm: 6:44 h
Av: 18.0 km/h
TOTAL: 220 km

Day 2

Mae Kon – Chedi Luang, Mae Suai District

Dinner bought the previous day being hardly edible, I stick to the bundle of bananas I was graciously given upon my check-in by the house owner. With some coffee in hand and a river flowing below my balcony, the late start of the day (it’s midday, again!) is not too bad. After two hours I’m already hungry and stop in an easy-to-miss food-serving-hut off the road. The fare is delish and I start to develop the theory the more miserable the place looks - the better food it serves.

I continue off the national 118. Nothing to report really, as it’s all asphalt and roadside commerce. I’m quite disappointed really as I was hoping for some more scenic views and am getting none of that. I guess I would have to go off the byroads, but those don’t really take you anywhere.

I get a bit discouraged by the end of the day when all there is around is non-arable withered land, with not a single friendly spot to pitch your tent. Hold on, I didn’t bring it with me this time round!

With no guest houses in sight, I decide to knock at a temple’s door. After google-translating my pitch, the monks kindly accept to host me. There’s this 18-year old monastic who shows me around and discusses life choices with me. Why he chose to enter a monastery, how he wants to get to know God and himself better. It’s dramatically different from our Western ways, where all that matters is getting richer and more attractive so that we can hook up… Although I hear that Thai women will not marry a man who hasn’t been ordained as it would suggest he has no control over himself to keep it in his pants…

Maybe it *is* about getting laid in both our cultures after all?

Km: 55.87 km
Tm: 3:04 h
Av: 18.1 km/h
TOTAL: 99 km

 

Day 1

Chiang Rai – Mae Kon

I believe I’m still jet lagged, so don’t set off before 11am. Filled up with coffee, I ride 10 km to fill up on some breakfast in Chiang Rai. I follow my “Guide du Routard” suggestion and end up in a cheap but first-class dining facility “Oasis Vegetaurant”. Seriously, I think it is the best vegetarian food I have EVER had.

But the clock strikes 1pm, I oughta go. I leave the city for the Thai countryside. Since I do not know what to expect, I guess I’m just partially disappointed with the local views: concrete roads leading through… nowhere…. The only novelty, from my point of view, being the ride fields and hundreds of tiny house-like buildings scattered all across the farmlands.

After a solid hour of cycling, I have my first “wow” moment: Wat Rong Khun, aka the White Temple. In the middle of an empty sizzling land stands this white shining wonder, looking as if it came out of a fairy tale. Is it a palace? An enchanted castle? Turns out it’s a beautifully and masterfully crafted art exhibit in the form of a temple: truly astounding.

My host Tao mentioned it the day before and did not omit recommending visiting something of an opposite sort: the Black House, which is, in turn, a pitch dark museum. It’s getting late in the afternoon, so I hit the road. Thanks to internet maps, a point of interest pops up: Khun Korn Forest Park Waterfall. I’ve never seen a waterfall before, so I decide to go for it.

I finally veer off the main road and get into the tropical forest: with palms, tall trees, lianas and eye popping green. After 2 hour-worth of climb, I get to the park entrance but, to my surprise, I am not allowed to go in, as the park closes its door at 6pm. My attempts at negotiating myself in come to naught. In the last bid to reignite a humane response to my obvious misery and self-pity, I sit down at the gate with my bike and pout. No understanding whatsoever. The guard laughs (?) at me and takes a photo (of me!). A Caucasian girl on a bike in the middle of nowhere must sure be a sight for eyes. I relinquish after what seems to be a whole session and slowly retire to a guest house a downhill-ride away.

Km: 43.65 km
Tm: 2:32 h
Av: 17.1 km/h
TOTAL: 43 km

Day 0

Chiang Rai

My kingdom for the ability to leave the nightmare of Bangkok behind!

When I get off in Chiang Rai, the different flow is already tangible in the small homey airport. A group of school children is playing some Thai music to welcome the passengers. A living business card of a local school I assume.

I am staying with a lovely CouchSurfer tonight, Tao. Upon arrival at his, we just lose ourselves in conversation until my jetlag speaks up and demands to be taken into consideration. When I finally wake up, two other CouchSurfers have arrived and we decide to paint the town red!

Hop of a taxi away, the city of Chiang Rai welcomes us with nice food, authentic Thai vibe, not many white faces and some great massage. One of the masseuses has a tiny Thai baby: the CUSTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. For the first time in my life I consider kidnapping and going into human trafficking…

Day -2 & -1

Bangkok

Times have changed or so have I... I get to Bangkok and... nothing.

Nothing happens: no magic, no excitement, no feeling. Thai capital is more of a disappointment really: big, dirty, suffocatingly moist, almost damp and without any architectural interest. I am mostly taken by the curious technical solution of keeping all the electrical wires out in the open in the streets. Tons of wires hang between poles and cover everything that lives behind. If your flat happens to have a window giving out onto the street, well, the view might just as well be that of gloomy dirty cords hanging out right in your face.

My many questions do not bring any satisfactory answers. Some of my interlocutors don’t even notice until I ask whilst me, it is the only thing I can see!

I am tired. Upon arrival at the hostel (Bed and Bike! Of course!) I force myself to stay up and beat the jet lat. I go out into the sticky streets to get some food and get into the local beat. I listen to the suggestion and go to Ken Sao Road for a bite. Fatal mistake: a huge tourist-trap, where the only exchange you'll ever get is the commercial one. No interest whatsoever. I wonder how come people actually do go and spend time in places like that. I was just repulsed. Discouraged. All you can do there is just spend your dough.

The only positive outcome of the stroll is the idea that one of the travel agencies prompts: fly up to the north to Chiang Rai.

I return to the hotel and fall into a 22-hour coma. Must be the jet-lag effect.

I force myself out of bed only because of the plane ticket I need to buy for Sunday if I want to get out of Bangkok. And I do. And pronto, please.

I decide to rent a bike to go for a quick tour of the neighbourhood. It's bizarre to be living at night: I haven't seen the Sun in 4 days though (flights took 1 day and a half). The city's pretty lively. Surely some of the party must be taking place once the Sun has set and the temperatures have become more bearable. What I find most appealing is cycling in the warm air of the night. The city of Bangkok being just in the background of me and my pedalling and my music. Cruising being the art in itself, the most pleasurable one I have recently found.