Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Way behind
For anybody still reading this I am working slowly towards updating the blog. Contrary to what the blog says I have not been in Chiang Mai/Thailand for the better part of four months. There was a long period of neglect which I am now trying to account for.
Onward to Soppong
The hills out of Pai started one or two km out of town and didn't let up until our wonderfully relaxing descent into Soppong. Again we faced some pretty brutal road grades with one turn winning the prize for "what the fuck were they thinking when they engineered this road". We'd already been climbing for close to an hour having just hooked to the right around a "moderately steep" hairpin turn. After rounding the turn I could see another left coming up with what looked like a bit of an increase as we approached. Once we turned the corner the road went "holy shit" steep as the grade increased about ten fold, or at least that's what it felt like as I tried to pedal up it. Thankfully all of the climbing led to a long, winding, and fast descent into Soppong.
Soppong was a little riverside hamlet dotted with guesthouses and an open air market. Even with a few hours of climbing to start the day, the long descent put us into town around 10am just in time for breakfast. After breakfast we scouted out a few guesthouses before settling on one with a nice little tropical jungle enclosing a cold water pool and a large open air deck equipped with a hammock and a collection of comfy pillows. With so many enticing options I took the opportunity to lounge on the deck for the better part of the day. In hindsight I probably should have explored the town a bit more, but the hammock was so damn comfortable, the day passed before I realized it. Besides, an afternoon of leisure is a great way to recover from a long day of climbing, or at least that was my rationalization for it.
Soppong was a little riverside hamlet dotted with guesthouses and an open air market. Even with a few hours of climbing to start the day, the long descent put us into town around 10am just in time for breakfast. After breakfast we scouted out a few guesthouses before settling on one with a nice little tropical jungle enclosing a cold water pool and a large open air deck equipped with a hammock and a collection of comfy pillows. With so many enticing options I took the opportunity to lounge on the deck for the better part of the day. In hindsight I probably should have explored the town a bit more, but the hammock was so damn comfortable, the day passed before I realized it. Besides, an afternoon of leisure is a great way to recover from a long day of climbing, or at least that was my rationalization for it.
Pai continued...
The festivities of the previous evening led to a slow start to the following day. My body just doesn't process alcohol like it used to...I hurt. We managed to drop the mopeds off by noon, and spent the remaining hours of daylight alternately relaxing at the hotel and wandering around town. Our lone trip of significance was a brief foray to the local pool to cool off in the mid-afternoon heat. No matter what kind of trip you're on lazing in poolside huts always feels good for a little while.
It would have been easy to stay in Pai for a few more days, except for my apprehension about spending too much time off the bike with some punishing hills still to come over the next few days. So after two super mellow days wandering the valley around Pai, we saddled up once more, rising early to head back into the hills.
It would have been easy to stay in Pai for a few more days, except for my apprehension about spending too much time off the bike with some punishing hills still to come over the next few days. So after two super mellow days wandering the valley around Pai, we saddled up once more, rising early to head back into the hills.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Pai
12 hours of blissful sleep after our arrival in Pai, we awoke to sunny skies and our first full day in one of the many hippie epicenters in Thailand. Culturally downtown Pai doesn't have a whole lot on offer but within 20k of town there's a bounty of natural attractions. 20k on bikes sounded like a tall order after the marathon ride the day before...instead we opted to rent mopeds to checkout the local waterfalls. After close to 3 months in SE Asia this was our first adventure via the ubiquitous tourist moped rental. As far as towns to learn to ride a moped in Pai was ideal, minimal traffic and a low-key atmosphere with very few people zipping around town creating unwanted hazards.
Our first excursion took us up to Mo Paeng waterfall about 13k out of town up into the lower slopes of the mountains. Being the dry season, not a whole lot of water was falling down the mountainside, but there was just enough to grease up the rocks for a couple of nice natural waterslides for the local kids to take advantage of. We sat and watched the slew of kids piling down the slide into one another before Paris couldn't resist and jumped in line for her turn. She wasn't all that graceful, but she was successful at negotiating the rock slide. Even better, below the first slide was a longer, steeper slide into a lower pool. Paris carefully negotiated her way to the launching point for the upper slide and I prepared to photo document the impending spectacle. As it turned out, the rock was pretty slick and Paris was on her ass and in the water before I could actually pull the camera out.
After viewing her exceptional grace in tackling the slide I felt that it was necessary to put on a proper show of how to blunder down a slippery rock surface. The first slide was a little anti-climatic since I only made it about halfway down before friction slowed me to a stop, I was too big for the ride. Ah, but the speed I managed on the second slide adequately compensated for my poor showing on the first. I gave myself a little push which sent me sliding down to a little bench in the slide, which promptly sent me airborne and positioned me for a graceful sideways entrance into the small pool at the base of the slide. As fun as the slides were, the overall lack of recent precipitation left the pools a little stagnant and thus not the most appealing location to spend the afternoon.
From Mo Paeng we went in search of the other waterfalls in the area and spent the day wandering various paved and dirt roads in search of other water related adventures. Nothing substantial materialized from the later excursions, but it cruising on the mopeds was a nice way to kill the afternoon and rest our wear legs. And of course in order to celebrate our arrival in Pai we headed out on the town and hit up the local bars. As always I made a sweaty ass of myself storming the dance floor with my awkward 6'5" frame. Ignorance is bliss.
Our first excursion took us up to Mo Paeng waterfall about 13k out of town up into the lower slopes of the mountains. Being the dry season, not a whole lot of water was falling down the mountainside, but there was just enough to grease up the rocks for a couple of nice natural waterslides for the local kids to take advantage of. We sat and watched the slew of kids piling down the slide into one another before Paris couldn't resist and jumped in line for her turn. She wasn't all that graceful, but she was successful at negotiating the rock slide. Even better, below the first slide was a longer, steeper slide into a lower pool. Paris carefully negotiated her way to the launching point for the upper slide and I prepared to photo document the impending spectacle. As it turned out, the rock was pretty slick and Paris was on her ass and in the water before I could actually pull the camera out.
After viewing her exceptional grace in tackling the slide I felt that it was necessary to put on a proper show of how to blunder down a slippery rock surface. The first slide was a little anti-climatic since I only made it about halfway down before friction slowed me to a stop, I was too big for the ride. Ah, but the speed I managed on the second slide adequately compensated for my poor showing on the first. I gave myself a little push which sent me sliding down to a little bench in the slide, which promptly sent me airborne and positioned me for a graceful sideways entrance into the small pool at the base of the slide. As fun as the slides were, the overall lack of recent precipitation left the pools a little stagnant and thus not the most appealing location to spend the afternoon.
From Mo Paeng we went in search of the other waterfalls in the area and spent the day wandering various paved and dirt roads in search of other water related adventures. Nothing substantial materialized from the later excursions, but it cruising on the mopeds was a nice way to kill the afternoon and rest our wear legs. And of course in order to celebrate our arrival in Pai we headed out on the town and hit up the local bars. As always I made a sweaty ass of myself storming the dance floor with my awkward 6'5" frame. Ignorance is bliss.
Monday, June 28, 2010
A long day with lots of hills
Tackling the hills into Pai was an epic day of cycling. Our map led us to believe we could break the roughly 135k ride to Pai into two manageable days of riding. The first day would take us through the lower foothills and leave us in a position to hit the longest section of the climb in the early hours the following morning.
We started out of Chiang Mai a little after 5am just after the curfew had been lifted for the daylight hours. The first 30k were flat with gentle rises here and there to spice up an otherwise monotonous morning. Once we turned onto highway 1095, the road into Pai, we began to hit some of the first rolling hills leading up to the big climbs.
After a brief stop to fuel up on some chicken curry we began our upward push to Pai. We soon discovered the foothills leading up to Pai were not quite the gradual start to the bigger climbs still to come. We hit some pretty wicked stretches of road that made my legs burn something fierce. But the early start to the day also meant an early end and thus a light at the end of the steep, steep tunnel. Around 10am we topped out on our biggest climb of the day and started scoping out the roadside for a guesthouse to crash in for the afternoon and evening. We had a specific spot in mind based on our map and decided to push a few extra kilometers to shorten the long ride still to come.
Much to our surprise we never found the guesthouse listed on our map and subsequently managed to overshoot all the other guesthouses by about 10k. Given that we had dropped down the other side of the first big hill we opted to try our luck heading to Pai instead of turning around and climbing the hill a second time. We carried another 10k before trying our luck at a roadside cafe to inquire about any possible upcoming guesthouses. Turns out we were a little screwed; the next guesthouse wasn't until Pai...60 very steep kilometers away.
Now we had a dilemma to consider. It was around 11am, which meant we would be tackling a pretty epic climb in the hottest part of the day. What we did have going for us were some heavy gray clouds capping the hills and providing a check on the soon to be broiling temperatures. We sat down and discussed our predicament over a frosty mango shake laying out the various options.
Option 1: wait for a bus.
Option 2: ride back to the guesthouses we had already passed.
Option 3: suck it up and ride.
Option 1 felt like a cop out, I mean we did come to northern Thailand to ride in the hills. Option 2 meant moving uphill in the wrong direction, not fun. Leaving us with Option 3: suck it up and ride to Pai. Once the decision was made it was time to lather up with sunscreen, saddle up and ride, hoping the clouds would continue to provide a little cover through the afternoon.
Given the distance we still had to cover and the amount of time left to do it, we picked a mellow manageable pace and began cranking up the hills. We climbed, turned, climbed some more, turned some more, and slowly churned up the snaking road towards Pai. The lower half of the climb, thankfully, maintained a pretty reasonable grade and gave us hope that we had not undertaken more than we could handle.
Sometime later, I'm not really sure how long, we were given a brief respite from the interminable uphill as the road contoured along the hillside, and allowed us to crank a few kilometers on the precious flat grade before giving way to the base of what was most likely the last big climb of the day.
Given my large frame and the distance we had covered since breakfast, we decided a snack break and some cold beverages were in order. In hindsight what I really needed was an actual meal, but that didn't become apparent for another hour or so. The pickings were pretty slim at the stand with no real substantial options. In the end I went for a healthy snack of coke and potato chips, supplemented with raw peanuts for protein. I spent the next 10 odd minutes or so gorging myself on the few relatively insubstantial snacks I had found, hoping it would provide me with the requisite energy to finish the day.
Almost immediately after we left the snack stand, we rolled into the town of Mae Sae, dotted with restaurants, and surprisingly a few guesthouses. At this point we were mentally committed to the climb so we didn't give the guesthouses much thought, but I did contemplate stopping for an actual meal before we attempted the last few hills. With a stomach full of junk and no appetite to spur me towards more food we carried on into the hills.
Skipping a substantial meal felt fine for the first 6k or so after Mae Sae, but then I burned through all the sugars and quick energy from my junk food foray, and the climbing got really hard. That's not to say it was easy before, but now I was hurting, my body needed more calories than I had given it. I stopped to down some peanuts, but my energy level had already crashed pretty hard. We were approaching the top of the climb and my legs were fading fast. Right before we reached the top, and the last rest stop before the descent into Pai, I came as close I've been on this trip to being physically unable to pedal my bike. I was seeing stars as I mashed down on the pedals around the last one or two turns to the summit. Then, at the moment my body couldn't go any further, there was a restaurant. At this point we knew that the remainder of the ride was going to be downhill, but my body needed something before we carried on. The patron of the restaurant whipped us up a couple of orders of fried rice with chicken which I put down with a semi-cold bottle of honey lemon tea. Even then I still needed some time to let my body start processing the food before we left.
While we rested one of the police officers manning the checkpoint heading into Pai came over and entertained us with some questions, compliments, and conversation. When we told him we had started in Chiang Mai that morning I think he realized pretty quickly why we looked so haggard. We had pushed a good 100k at that point with a solid 60k of that uphill. He told us, much to our relief, that from the checkpoint on we would be cruising almost entirely downhill. With this welcome bit of info we hopped on our bikes and started down the last 30k into Pai.
Right he was, most of the last 30k into Pai was down a steep windy hill that shot us out into the valley leaving us with a few rolling hills heading into town. At that point in the day even a few rolling hills were about all my legs could handle and it took some effort to mash the last few out before we rolled into Pai and the prospect of a good night of sleep and a few days off before heading on. The final tally for the day was about 140k and 10 1/2 hours of riding with plenty of climbing.
We started out of Chiang Mai a little after 5am just after the curfew had been lifted for the daylight hours. The first 30k were flat with gentle rises here and there to spice up an otherwise monotonous morning. Once we turned onto highway 1095, the road into Pai, we began to hit some of the first rolling hills leading up to the big climbs.
After a brief stop to fuel up on some chicken curry we began our upward push to Pai. We soon discovered the foothills leading up to Pai were not quite the gradual start to the bigger climbs still to come. We hit some pretty wicked stretches of road that made my legs burn something fierce. But the early start to the day also meant an early end and thus a light at the end of the steep, steep tunnel. Around 10am we topped out on our biggest climb of the day and started scoping out the roadside for a guesthouse to crash in for the afternoon and evening. We had a specific spot in mind based on our map and decided to push a few extra kilometers to shorten the long ride still to come.
Much to our surprise we never found the guesthouse listed on our map and subsequently managed to overshoot all the other guesthouses by about 10k. Given that we had dropped down the other side of the first big hill we opted to try our luck heading to Pai instead of turning around and climbing the hill a second time. We carried another 10k before trying our luck at a roadside cafe to inquire about any possible upcoming guesthouses. Turns out we were a little screwed; the next guesthouse wasn't until Pai...60 very steep kilometers away.
Now we had a dilemma to consider. It was around 11am, which meant we would be tackling a pretty epic climb in the hottest part of the day. What we did have going for us were some heavy gray clouds capping the hills and providing a check on the soon to be broiling temperatures. We sat down and discussed our predicament over a frosty mango shake laying out the various options.
Option 1: wait for a bus.
Option 2: ride back to the guesthouses we had already passed.
Option 3: suck it up and ride.
Option 1 felt like a cop out, I mean we did come to northern Thailand to ride in the hills. Option 2 meant moving uphill in the wrong direction, not fun. Leaving us with Option 3: suck it up and ride to Pai. Once the decision was made it was time to lather up with sunscreen, saddle up and ride, hoping the clouds would continue to provide a little cover through the afternoon.
Given the distance we still had to cover and the amount of time left to do it, we picked a mellow manageable pace and began cranking up the hills. We climbed, turned, climbed some more, turned some more, and slowly churned up the snaking road towards Pai. The lower half of the climb, thankfully, maintained a pretty reasonable grade and gave us hope that we had not undertaken more than we could handle.
Sometime later, I'm not really sure how long, we were given a brief respite from the interminable uphill as the road contoured along the hillside, and allowed us to crank a few kilometers on the precious flat grade before giving way to the base of what was most likely the last big climb of the day.
Given my large frame and the distance we had covered since breakfast, we decided a snack break and some cold beverages were in order. In hindsight what I really needed was an actual meal, but that didn't become apparent for another hour or so. The pickings were pretty slim at the stand with no real substantial options. In the end I went for a healthy snack of coke and potato chips, supplemented with raw peanuts for protein. I spent the next 10 odd minutes or so gorging myself on the few relatively insubstantial snacks I had found, hoping it would provide me with the requisite energy to finish the day.
Almost immediately after we left the snack stand, we rolled into the town of Mae Sae, dotted with restaurants, and surprisingly a few guesthouses. At this point we were mentally committed to the climb so we didn't give the guesthouses much thought, but I did contemplate stopping for an actual meal before we attempted the last few hills. With a stomach full of junk and no appetite to spur me towards more food we carried on into the hills.
Skipping a substantial meal felt fine for the first 6k or so after Mae Sae, but then I burned through all the sugars and quick energy from my junk food foray, and the climbing got really hard. That's not to say it was easy before, but now I was hurting, my body needed more calories than I had given it. I stopped to down some peanuts, but my energy level had already crashed pretty hard. We were approaching the top of the climb and my legs were fading fast. Right before we reached the top, and the last rest stop before the descent into Pai, I came as close I've been on this trip to being physically unable to pedal my bike. I was seeing stars as I mashed down on the pedals around the last one or two turns to the summit. Then, at the moment my body couldn't go any further, there was a restaurant. At this point we knew that the remainder of the ride was going to be downhill, but my body needed something before we carried on. The patron of the restaurant whipped us up a couple of orders of fried rice with chicken which I put down with a semi-cold bottle of honey lemon tea. Even then I still needed some time to let my body start processing the food before we left.
While we rested one of the police officers manning the checkpoint heading into Pai came over and entertained us with some questions, compliments, and conversation. When we told him we had started in Chiang Mai that morning I think he realized pretty quickly why we looked so haggard. We had pushed a good 100k at that point with a solid 60k of that uphill. He told us, much to our relief, that from the checkpoint on we would be cruising almost entirely downhill. With this welcome bit of info we hopped on our bikes and started down the last 30k into Pai.
Right he was, most of the last 30k into Pai was down a steep windy hill that shot us out into the valley leaving us with a few rolling hills heading into town. At that point in the day even a few rolling hills were about all my legs could handle and it took some effort to mash the last few out before we rolled into Pai and the prospect of a good night of sleep and a few days off before heading on. The final tally for the day was about 140k and 10 1/2 hours of riding with plenty of climbing.
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai consists of a sprawling urban landscape surrounded by undulating green mountains. The focal point of the city is a large square, the old city, encapsulated by a relic moat morphed into a scenic canal. Trees line the walkways on either side of the moat creating a shady promenade with fountains spaced throughout. Once you enter the old city the crowd and businesses turn touristy; loads of guesthouses, internet cafes, and western restaurants. Despite the preponderance of western oriented businesses on the main streets a little wandering would lead to the maze of back alley ways and lanes taking you into the heart of the old city and away from the tourist facade along the moat.
We ended up staying in Chiang Mai for a little longer than we had planned, mostly to take advantage of a hotel deal of stay three nights and get the fourth for free, I'm always a sucker for those. The extended stay did give us a chance to hit up a few bike shops and take care of some necessary repairs that we had been putting off due to a lack of adequately equipped bike shops. As it turned out my bike required some additional repairs and replacement parts after our one day ride in Chiang Mai, so the few extra days turned out to be quite necessary. Over the course of the last few months my chain had worn away the teeth on my front and rear cogs which frustratingly resulted in the chain slipping of the rear cassette any time I applied pressure to the pedals. Not an ideal situation when the next few weeks were going to be cycling in some of the steepest terrain of the trip. Fortunately a replacement Shimano crank set and cassette only set me back $60, a steal considering in that in the US a cassette has cost me up to $70 by itself. If you ever end up in Chiang Mai and need to find a bike shop go to Jacky's bike shop, they were quick and knew what they were doing with the repairs and didn't rip me off.
The day trip that brought about the end of my cassette and crank set took us 20k up to the top of Dusthep Poi. I found that trying to climb 20k with the chain consistently slipping off the cassette any time I tried to crank up a steep section is frustratingly slow. Add to that the chain periodically falling off when I shifted, made the whole climb an extra special one. But make it to the top I did, although with no small amount of grumbling as I'm sure Paris would attest to.
From the top it was a bit of guessing as to which way we needed to go to hit the trail that would take us back down the mountain. The maps we perused in the bookstore had a clearly marked trail that could potentially take us down, but once we were at the top it wasn't at all clear where that trail started, if at all. With only a vague idea of how to get down we hit up an expat mtn. biking tour operator for some friendly suggestions on which way we should head. Unfortunately for us the guy wasn't exactly overflowing with information, at best he was cagey about relating any trail info to us. I'm not sure if he was trying to rope us into his tour, or if he was afraid of liability issues, but either way he didn't give us much and made it sound surprisingly difficult to find the trail down the mountain.
As it turned out there were plenty of locals along the road who were quite happy to point us in the right direction, and in the end we found our way down via a series of dirt roads in various states of repair. We wound down from the upper slopes through a Hmong village and a smattering of liche plantations before being spat out on a little reservoir about 9k from town. After stopping for a waterfront lunch and some cool drinks we hit the road and cruised the last little bit back into town.
We finished up our stay in Chiang Mai in somewhat unsettling circumstances due to the political situation in Bangkok. On our second to last day in town the Thai military stormed the protest barricades in Bangkok bringing an end to months of protest and at times bloodshed between protesters and the military. This sparked outrage and protests in many provinces around the country and led to the government calling for a curfew. For us this meant an early dinner and picking up extra snacks before holing up in our room for the rest of the night to sit out the curfew. I'm not entirely sure if there were any significant protests in Chiang Mai that night, but on my way to the store there was a tire bonfire raging at the end of the street that our hotel was on. Even that didn't last all that long since it was extinguished during the three minutes I was in the store. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and life seemed to carry on as usual the next day. Paris came across a few vandalized pay phones, but other than that all seemed well, at least where we were staying. Curfew extended for one more day and than we headed out of town early the next morning to the tackle the hills leading up to Pai.
We ended up staying in Chiang Mai for a little longer than we had planned, mostly to take advantage of a hotel deal of stay three nights and get the fourth for free, I'm always a sucker for those. The extended stay did give us a chance to hit up a few bike shops and take care of some necessary repairs that we had been putting off due to a lack of adequately equipped bike shops. As it turned out my bike required some additional repairs and replacement parts after our one day ride in Chiang Mai, so the few extra days turned out to be quite necessary. Over the course of the last few months my chain had worn away the teeth on my front and rear cogs which frustratingly resulted in the chain slipping of the rear cassette any time I applied pressure to the pedals. Not an ideal situation when the next few weeks were going to be cycling in some of the steepest terrain of the trip. Fortunately a replacement Shimano crank set and cassette only set me back $60, a steal considering in that in the US a cassette has cost me up to $70 by itself. If you ever end up in Chiang Mai and need to find a bike shop go to Jacky's bike shop, they were quick and knew what they were doing with the repairs and didn't rip me off.
The day trip that brought about the end of my cassette and crank set took us 20k up to the top of Dusthep Poi. I found that trying to climb 20k with the chain consistently slipping off the cassette any time I tried to crank up a steep section is frustratingly slow. Add to that the chain periodically falling off when I shifted, made the whole climb an extra special one. But make it to the top I did, although with no small amount of grumbling as I'm sure Paris would attest to.
From the top it was a bit of guessing as to which way we needed to go to hit the trail that would take us back down the mountain. The maps we perused in the bookstore had a clearly marked trail that could potentially take us down, but once we were at the top it wasn't at all clear where that trail started, if at all. With only a vague idea of how to get down we hit up an expat mtn. biking tour operator for some friendly suggestions on which way we should head. Unfortunately for us the guy wasn't exactly overflowing with information, at best he was cagey about relating any trail info to us. I'm not sure if he was trying to rope us into his tour, or if he was afraid of liability issues, but either way he didn't give us much and made it sound surprisingly difficult to find the trail down the mountain.
As it turned out there were plenty of locals along the road who were quite happy to point us in the right direction, and in the end we found our way down via a series of dirt roads in various states of repair. We wound down from the upper slopes through a Hmong village and a smattering of liche plantations before being spat out on a little reservoir about 9k from town. After stopping for a waterfront lunch and some cool drinks we hit the road and cruised the last little bit back into town.
We finished up our stay in Chiang Mai in somewhat unsettling circumstances due to the political situation in Bangkok. On our second to last day in town the Thai military stormed the protest barricades in Bangkok bringing an end to months of protest and at times bloodshed between protesters and the military. This sparked outrage and protests in many provinces around the country and led to the government calling for a curfew. For us this meant an early dinner and picking up extra snacks before holing up in our room for the rest of the night to sit out the curfew. I'm not entirely sure if there were any significant protests in Chiang Mai that night, but on my way to the store there was a tire bonfire raging at the end of the street that our hotel was on. Even that didn't last all that long since it was extinguished during the three minutes I was in the store. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and life seemed to carry on as usual the next day. Paris came across a few vandalized pay phones, but other than that all seemed well, at least where we were staying. Curfew extended for one more day and than we headed out of town early the next morning to the tackle the hills leading up to Pai.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Updated bike route
The highlighted blue routes are the ones we've biked. Markers not connected by blue routes we either took a train or bus to.
View Southeast Asia bike route in a larger map
View Southeast Asia bike route in a larger map
Phitsanlok onward to Chiang Mai
Leaving the falls was no easy task, it was such a cool, peaceful, and beautiful landscape, but leave we did, and early. To Phitsanlok from Poi falls we covered a pleasantly flat 60k. Our ride consisted of the usual: traffic, beautiful scenery, and plenty of dogs chasing us down the road, maybe we look like giant salty steaks on bikes. For whatever reason, they catch our scent and they are after us and letting anybody in the vicinity know about us. Not really a problem, but when you're riding nonchalantly down the road, spacing out in the hills, having a little ball of fur hurtle out at you from the bushes can be awfully startling.
Originally we planned to crash for a night in Phitsanlok before catching the train to Chiang Mai, but after our initial cruise through the town, we decided to skip the night in town and shoot for an afternoon train to Chiang Mai. Since we had managed to acquire our usual fetid odor after 3 hours of riding, we decided to find a cheap hotel room to shower up and store our things until the train left at 1:30pm. This was before we actually bought the tickets. When we did purchase the tickets we found out that our 1:30 train didn't actually leave until 8:40pm, leaving us with roughly 12 hours to kill in town. The hotel room wasn't exactly posh, which left us searching for a place to spend the day.
Well, if you have 12 hours to kill in a smallish town in Thailand, what better way to spend the day than at a local mall. That's right, we spent the better part of our day in Phitsanlok at the mall. Got some shopping done (my Chaco's are sadly about to go), hit up the old internet, and of course hit up the mall arcade to play some ping-pong, it felt like middle-school all over again.
We did manage during the course of the day to make our way to the local weekend market in town, and see something closer to traditional Thai culture. The weekend market was an impressive display of meat, fish, fruit, clothing, pretty much anything you could want. If you want to buy a pigs head, that is the place to go. Plus they keep the fish fresh in basins built into the countertops. Pick your fish and that is filleted right there for you...entertaining.
After 12 highly entertaining hours in Phitsanlok we packed our bikes onto the train and proceeded on what turned out to be an uncomfortable 8 hour train ride to Chiang Mai. I know I've said it before but infrastructure in southeast asia is not meant to accomodate tall lanky white guys. 8 hours of fitful sleep later we arrived in the mountains of Chiang Mai.
Originally we planned to crash for a night in Phitsanlok before catching the train to Chiang Mai, but after our initial cruise through the town, we decided to skip the night in town and shoot for an afternoon train to Chiang Mai. Since we had managed to acquire our usual fetid odor after 3 hours of riding, we decided to find a cheap hotel room to shower up and store our things until the train left at 1:30pm. This was before we actually bought the tickets. When we did purchase the tickets we found out that our 1:30 train didn't actually leave until 8:40pm, leaving us with roughly 12 hours to kill in town. The hotel room wasn't exactly posh, which left us searching for a place to spend the day.
Well, if you have 12 hours to kill in a smallish town in Thailand, what better way to spend the day than at a local mall. That's right, we spent the better part of our day in Phitsanlok at the mall. Got some shopping done (my Chaco's are sadly about to go), hit up the old internet, and of course hit up the mall arcade to play some ping-pong, it felt like middle-school all over again.
We did manage during the course of the day to make our way to the local weekend market in town, and see something closer to traditional Thai culture. The weekend market was an impressive display of meat, fish, fruit, clothing, pretty much anything you could want. If you want to buy a pigs head, that is the place to go. Plus they keep the fish fresh in basins built into the countertops. Pick your fish and that is filleted right there for you...entertaining.
After 12 highly entertaining hours in Phitsanlok we packed our bikes onto the train and proceeded on what turned out to be an uncomfortable 8 hour train ride to Chiang Mai. I know I've said it before but infrastructure in southeast asia is not meant to accomodate tall lanky white guys. 8 hours of fitful sleep later we arrived in the mountains of Chiang Mai.
Impromptu rest day
Our afternoon spent relaxing at the falls was so nice we decided to take a rest day and kill another day there. We blissfully slept in until 7:30am and then made a bee line to the falls and proceeded to copy the kids from the day before, leaping off the ledge and into the pool below. The morning swim was followed by a few hours of lazy riding in the villages around the river, checking out the local wats, and taking in a cold bubbly beverage as the temperature began to crank up. We sat out the mid-afternoon heat in our lovely refrigerated paradise, followed by some evening river wandering and delicious dinner from the weekend night market. Exactly what my tired legs needed.
Riding to the unknown
From Dansai we wanted to ride somewhere that put us within a reasonable day of riding from the town of Phitsanlok. Sounds easy, but we weren't at all sure what kind of accomodation there would be along the road, which as always left me a little apprehensive about the ride.
The day started early, and so did the hills. We climbed for the first hour or so out of Dansai and descended down a comprable down hill, followed by kilometers of rolling hills. Rolling hills may not actually be the best description of the terrain, they were actually short, steep ascents, followed by short, steep descents. A few kilometers into the ride you don't really mind them that much, but when you're struggling up one of the steep hills at 10am on spent legs, they're much less pleasant.
About 45k out of Dansai we stopped in the town of Nahkon Thai for a little breakfast recharge. Unfortunately for us the first place we stopped wasn't serving food and came with an elderly drunk lady who followed us to the next restaurant. Despite the fact that we don't speak Thai, she was pretty intent on asking us questions we didn't understand, and was unperturbed by the frequent shrugs of bewilderment I gave in response to her many queries.
We sat down for a breakfast of fried rice with chicken, but she remained unfazed and continued firing away at us in Thai. At this point the ladies in the shop tried to pull her away, but she was pretty obstinate and was unwilling to vacate our table. It wasn't until one of the waitresses hopped on her moped and brought back what I can only guess was a relative, that she finally left. Even then it wasn't without a fight. A woman, maybe her daughter, literally pulled the old lady out of her seat and onto the floor, despite her protests, and dragged her by the arm out of the shop and down the street. The ladies at the restaurant were visibly relieved to finally have her out, and appeared to be pretty embarassed by the whole affair. Our breakfast was delicious though, even with the in-meal entertainment.
Nakhon Thai to our final destination for the day was a bit of a slog, we only had 29k, but every meter of it hurt. Of course the road tormented us with a few extended hills in the last 5k to the junction where we planned on staying. Unfortunately when we arrived at the highway junction we found that there weren't actually any places to stay. This left us with a decision: continue riding and hope to find something down the road, or hop a bus the remaining distance to Phitsanlok. Some of the vendors at the highway junction spoke enough english to let us know that there were a few resorts down the road on the way to Phitsanlok. Than the question became whether we wanted to risk having to stay at a place that could be well out of our price range. The last roadside resort we checked the prices at was close to $60 a night, a little higher than our preferred $10 accomodations.
Our main obstacle with the bus was our overwhelming stench and the fact that we would be marinating in it on a public bus for a few hours. Thai people pride themselves on cleanliness, so two foreigners drenched in sweat, in an enclosed environment may not have gone over all that well. With that in mind, we pounded a couple of cold drink and decided to head down the road, and hope for reasonable priced accomodation.
Thankfully from the highway junction the road was flat and well shaded, a huge relief for my tired legs. About 7k from the junction we passed signs for Poi Waterfall and sleeping bungalows. Since we weren't sure what else was going to come along, we took a shot, turned off the highway and hoped for the best.
Once again our inability to communicate in Thai proved troublesome. Trying to use the language guide in the Lonely Planet has proved useless. I absolutely butcher the phonetic spellings they provide, rendering them into incomprehensible babble. I get lots of blank stares when I try to speak in Thai.
There was a girl at the desk who spoke a little english, she understood that we were trying to find a place to sleep. With that out of the way she took us out to one of the bungalows. We were definitely impressed. The bungalow rested on a hillside overlooking the river, shaded by a thick canopy of trees, with a large shared wooden balcony and benches. Basically an ideal place to kill the rest of the afternnon...and it had AC. It was great until she told us the price, at $40 it was well out of our price range. That was when the liguistic adventure began. Over the next ten minutes or so we tried everything we could to try and communicate that we would love to stay, but wanted to know if there were any cheaper rooms. This was greeted by looks of complete bewilderment, by the multiple people they brought out to try and communicate with us. Finally we were saved by a miracle pocket sized translater...a calculator. Turns out the room was only $14 dollars a night, more expensive than what we usually paid, but given the circumstances well worth it. After solving that minor problem we were left to unpack, shower, and enjoy the beaufiful surroundings.
A few hours of snacking and napping later the prospect of the waterfall pulled us out of our mid-afternoon lethargy and led us outside once more. Poi waterfall is a 20-25ft ledge of sandstone with brown sediment rich water plunging over its edge. The falls were a popular spot with locals swimming in the cool water and picnicing on the shaded banks of the river. Lying in submersed in the cool flowing waters felt great in the midst of the afternoon heat.
The day started early, and so did the hills. We climbed for the first hour or so out of Dansai and descended down a comprable down hill, followed by kilometers of rolling hills. Rolling hills may not actually be the best description of the terrain, they were actually short, steep ascents, followed by short, steep descents. A few kilometers into the ride you don't really mind them that much, but when you're struggling up one of the steep hills at 10am on spent legs, they're much less pleasant.
About 45k out of Dansai we stopped in the town of Nahkon Thai for a little breakfast recharge. Unfortunately for us the first place we stopped wasn't serving food and came with an elderly drunk lady who followed us to the next restaurant. Despite the fact that we don't speak Thai, she was pretty intent on asking us questions we didn't understand, and was unperturbed by the frequent shrugs of bewilderment I gave in response to her many queries.
We sat down for a breakfast of fried rice with chicken, but she remained unfazed and continued firing away at us in Thai. At this point the ladies in the shop tried to pull her away, but she was pretty obstinate and was unwilling to vacate our table. It wasn't until one of the waitresses hopped on her moped and brought back what I can only guess was a relative, that she finally left. Even then it wasn't without a fight. A woman, maybe her daughter, literally pulled the old lady out of her seat and onto the floor, despite her protests, and dragged her by the arm out of the shop and down the street. The ladies at the restaurant were visibly relieved to finally have her out, and appeared to be pretty embarassed by the whole affair. Our breakfast was delicious though, even with the in-meal entertainment.
Nakhon Thai to our final destination for the day was a bit of a slog, we only had 29k, but every meter of it hurt. Of course the road tormented us with a few extended hills in the last 5k to the junction where we planned on staying. Unfortunately when we arrived at the highway junction we found that there weren't actually any places to stay. This left us with a decision: continue riding and hope to find something down the road, or hop a bus the remaining distance to Phitsanlok. Some of the vendors at the highway junction spoke enough english to let us know that there were a few resorts down the road on the way to Phitsanlok. Than the question became whether we wanted to risk having to stay at a place that could be well out of our price range. The last roadside resort we checked the prices at was close to $60 a night, a little higher than our preferred $10 accomodations.
Our main obstacle with the bus was our overwhelming stench and the fact that we would be marinating in it on a public bus for a few hours. Thai people pride themselves on cleanliness, so two foreigners drenched in sweat, in an enclosed environment may not have gone over all that well. With that in mind, we pounded a couple of cold drink and decided to head down the road, and hope for reasonable priced accomodation.
Thankfully from the highway junction the road was flat and well shaded, a huge relief for my tired legs. About 7k from the junction we passed signs for Poi Waterfall and sleeping bungalows. Since we weren't sure what else was going to come along, we took a shot, turned off the highway and hoped for the best.
Once again our inability to communicate in Thai proved troublesome. Trying to use the language guide in the Lonely Planet has proved useless. I absolutely butcher the phonetic spellings they provide, rendering them into incomprehensible babble. I get lots of blank stares when I try to speak in Thai.
There was a girl at the desk who spoke a little english, she understood that we were trying to find a place to sleep. With that out of the way she took us out to one of the bungalows. We were definitely impressed. The bungalow rested on a hillside overlooking the river, shaded by a thick canopy of trees, with a large shared wooden balcony and benches. Basically an ideal place to kill the rest of the afternnon...and it had AC. It was great until she told us the price, at $40 it was well out of our price range. That was when the liguistic adventure began. Over the next ten minutes or so we tried everything we could to try and communicate that we would love to stay, but wanted to know if there were any cheaper rooms. This was greeted by looks of complete bewilderment, by the multiple people they brought out to try and communicate with us. Finally we were saved by a miracle pocket sized translater...a calculator. Turns out the room was only $14 dollars a night, more expensive than what we usually paid, but given the circumstances well worth it. After solving that minor problem we were left to unpack, shower, and enjoy the beaufiful surroundings.
A few hours of snacking and napping later the prospect of the waterfall pulled us out of our mid-afternoon lethargy and led us outside once more. Poi waterfall is a 20-25ft ledge of sandstone with brown sediment rich water plunging over its edge. The falls were a popular spot with locals swimming in the cool water and picnicing on the shaded banks of the river. Lying in submersed in the cool flowing waters felt great in the midst of the afternoon heat.
Riding west
Out of Loei, we headed west to the festival town of Dansai, nestled in the undulating hills south of the Mekong. Our goal as always was to shoot for a 10am arrival and beat the mid-afternoon triple digit heat. Apparently Dansai is the location of a three day spirit festival at some point in June, but outside of that the town maintains a pretty low-key atmosphere.
We laid low for a few hours in the hotel room staying cool and re-hydrating after the ride before venturing out into the town in the late afternoon to collect snacks for the next day. Our wandering leds us to the large open air market in downtown Dansai, a large concrete roof covering tiled islands where people have laid out their goods for purchase. All the usual fare was there, various types of meat on a stick, all kinds of fresh fruit, cold drinks, and an assortment of bagged snacks.
After picking up some fresh fruit at the market we poked our heads into a few smaller snack shops in search of our dietary staples so far in Thailand: half-liter cartons of chocolate soy milk, and raw peanuts. Healthy, healthy...what can I say.
In the evening, after an underwhelming dinner of fried rice, we wandered to the imposing Wat on the hillside overlooking our hotel. By the time we arrived the light was almost gone which limited our views of the temple, but we were treated to a tour of the grounds by a nun who spotted us wandering aimlessly around by the entrance. She was a wonderful guide and the first local we had met who spoke fluent english and we were able to have a conversation with. The grounds of the Was were beautiful, immaculate gardens, high golden arches, and the dark silohuettes of the buildings against the purple evening sky.
We laid low for a few hours in the hotel room staying cool and re-hydrating after the ride before venturing out into the town in the late afternoon to collect snacks for the next day. Our wandering leds us to the large open air market in downtown Dansai, a large concrete roof covering tiled islands where people have laid out their goods for purchase. All the usual fare was there, various types of meat on a stick, all kinds of fresh fruit, cold drinks, and an assortment of bagged snacks.
After picking up some fresh fruit at the market we poked our heads into a few smaller snack shops in search of our dietary staples so far in Thailand: half-liter cartons of chocolate soy milk, and raw peanuts. Healthy, healthy...what can I say.
In the evening, after an underwhelming dinner of fried rice, we wandered to the imposing Wat on the hillside overlooking our hotel. By the time we arrived the light was almost gone which limited our views of the temple, but we were treated to a tour of the grounds by a nun who spotted us wandering aimlessly around by the entrance. She was a wonderful guide and the first local we had met who spoke fluent english and we were able to have a conversation with. The grounds of the Was were beautiful, immaculate gardens, high golden arches, and the dark silohuettes of the buildings against the purple evening sky.
Phu Kradung
After killing a day in Loei, based on the mutual conclusion at 5am that we didn't want to get up, we rose early the following morning and caught a bus to Phu Kradung national park for a day of hiking. Phu Kradung is a sandstone plateau rising out of the tropical forests of northern Thailand, and the first national park we've visited in Thailand. Upon arriving at the park we were hit with a bit of sticker shock when we saw the roughly $14 dollar entrance fee. Definitely much more than we've had to pay thus far on the trip, but it quickly became apparent that the money is put to good use in the park. The visitors center and entrance to the park is immaculately kept. The park is dotted with secluded well shaded picinic areas, winding nature paths, and a well maintained trail to the top.
The trail up Phu Kradung rises sharply out of the rolling northern plains of Thailand, ascending the shoulder of the extensive plateau. We began on a 4m wide boulevard cutting throught the thick tropical forests and accompanying humidity. The boulevard gave way to a wide stone staircase climbing the slopes of the plateau. As we gained elevation the trail slowly began to narrow from the wide boulevard to a well worn rock strewn path.
Brief respites in the slope were accomapanied by rows of bamboo food stalls occupying the precious flat ground. We didn't hit the park during the peak tourist season, which meant the bamboo huts stood empty, waiting for cooler temperatures and larger crowds. Each short bench etched into the slopes of the plateau would soon give way once more to the steep rocky slopes sending us toward the summit.
By the time we reached the summit we had passed from dense tropical forests at the base, into a cool pine savannah blanketing the top of the plateau. Aided by the cooler temperatures and teh gentle breeze blowing across the savannah, our arrival at the top of Phu Kradung felt wonderful. Open grasslands with a scattering of stately pines, offering pockets of shade to the landscape.
We wandered around the edge of the plateau skirting the sandstone cliffs the define the mountain top, peering into the distance, absorbing the beauty of the undualating hills below. From the cliffs we headed across the savannah towards the mountain top visitor's center, passing by a beautiful pond/stream, the most relaxing spot of the day. Cool water winding its way amid the grassland and pine trees, rolling and tumbling over the moss covered sandstone beneath it. Serene. Sadly our time constraints(mainly the need to catch an afternoon bus back to Loei) kept us from taking in all the sights.
Phu Kradung took a solid eight hours of hiking to explore, and we still only managed to scrape the surface of its beauty. I regretted the eight hours of hiking the next day on the bike, but the park was absolutely worth it.
The trail up Phu Kradung rises sharply out of the rolling northern plains of Thailand, ascending the shoulder of the extensive plateau. We began on a 4m wide boulevard cutting throught the thick tropical forests and accompanying humidity. The boulevard gave way to a wide stone staircase climbing the slopes of the plateau. As we gained elevation the trail slowly began to narrow from the wide boulevard to a well worn rock strewn path.
Brief respites in the slope were accomapanied by rows of bamboo food stalls occupying the precious flat ground. We didn't hit the park during the peak tourist season, which meant the bamboo huts stood empty, waiting for cooler temperatures and larger crowds. Each short bench etched into the slopes of the plateau would soon give way once more to the steep rocky slopes sending us toward the summit.
By the time we reached the summit we had passed from dense tropical forests at the base, into a cool pine savannah blanketing the top of the plateau. Aided by the cooler temperatures and teh gentle breeze blowing across the savannah, our arrival at the top of Phu Kradung felt wonderful. Open grasslands with a scattering of stately pines, offering pockets of shade to the landscape.
We wandered around the edge of the plateau skirting the sandstone cliffs the define the mountain top, peering into the distance, absorbing the beauty of the undualating hills below. From the cliffs we headed across the savannah towards the mountain top visitor's center, passing by a beautiful pond/stream, the most relaxing spot of the day. Cool water winding its way amid the grassland and pine trees, rolling and tumbling over the moss covered sandstone beneath it. Serene. Sadly our time constraints(mainly the need to catch an afternoon bus back to Loei) kept us from taking in all the sights.
Phu Kradung took a solid eight hours of hiking to explore, and we still only managed to scrape the surface of its beauty. I regretted the eight hours of hiking the next day on the bike, but the park was absolutely worth it.
Always hot
Another day of biking, another 4:30 am wake up call, or alarm at least. Waking up that early does not get any easier. What usually drives me from the sweet sweet comforts of my pillow is the knowledge that biking at 5am is far more comfortable than biking through the midday heat. Not that I needed further confirmation, but the early morning hours of the ride were absolutely beautiful, and a joy to ride in. By 9am the heat was already becoming unbearable. Our early start put us into Chiang Khan a little after 11am, which is about as late as I am willing to push it, past that and I start melting like a stick of sweaty butter. After a solid six hours of riding, we spent the afternoon between our refrigerated room and the guest-house terrace overlooking the Mekong, resting up for the next day of biking to Loei.
The ride to Loei turned us south and took us away from the languid Mekong. Rolling hills, rice paddies, and a short ride. We were off the road by 9:30am and retreated to our air conditioned paradise. Loei has the feel of a developing Thai city, overflowing with electronics, cars, and larger grocery stores.
Our afternoon storm in Loei was impressive. The storms start out so gentle and indecisive. Light rain evaporating off the still sizzling concrete and wind passing in scattered gusts. Trees swaying and dancing to the periodic bursts of wind, obeying the whims of the circulating air. Each succesive gust of wind hits a little harder and carries with it more sustained rainfall. Finally the dam bursts, horizontal sheets of rain are pounding into buildings, attacking open windows, and drenching clothes carelessly left on balconies to dry. Thunder rumbling through the clouds and flashes of lightening illuminating the darkened sky.
Then, the storm has spent its fury and the dark clouds begin to break, rays of light pierce throught the once foreboding darkness. Intimidating cloud banks bathed in the soft glow of the returning light. A melange of pink, orange, and red patterned with a patchwork of decaying clouds. Dusk in Loei is an amazing sight.
The ride to Loei turned us south and took us away from the languid Mekong. Rolling hills, rice paddies, and a short ride. We were off the road by 9:30am and retreated to our air conditioned paradise. Loei has the feel of a developing Thai city, overflowing with electronics, cars, and larger grocery stores.
Our afternoon storm in Loei was impressive. The storms start out so gentle and indecisive. Light rain evaporating off the still sizzling concrete and wind passing in scattered gusts. Trees swaying and dancing to the periodic bursts of wind, obeying the whims of the circulating air. Each succesive gust of wind hits a little harder and carries with it more sustained rainfall. Finally the dam bursts, horizontal sheets of rain are pounding into buildings, attacking open windows, and drenching clothes carelessly left on balconies to dry. Thunder rumbling through the clouds and flashes of lightening illuminating the darkened sky.
Then, the storm has spent its fury and the dark clouds begin to break, rays of light pierce throught the once foreboding darkness. Intimidating cloud banks bathed in the soft glow of the returning light. A melange of pink, orange, and red patterned with a patchwork of decaying clouds. Dusk in Loei is an amazing sight.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Waking up before the heat
Our first actual day of biking in Thailand started early the next morning, 5 in the AM, to beat the heat to our next destination. The ride treated us to flat roads with a few small rolling hills, all while hugging the Mekong. It was a little disconcerting that after we had ridden 25k that morning we were probably about 3k from where we had started the day before in Lao, just on the opposite of the river.
An hour or two later we rolled into the lazy little town of Siangkhan, and enjoyed an afternoon of leisure out of the brain boiling heat, and my first full submersion in the cool flowing waters of the Mekong. The calm surface of the river belies its power. After jumping in the river I quickly realized the current was significantly stronger than I had anticipated, it didn't take long for the river to take me farther down the bank than I wanted to go.
Riding along the river all day it has become apparent how low the water level is on the Mekong. Large sandbars overgrown with scrub brush bifurcate the river into a series of smaller channels, some stagnating in pools among the exposed rock outcrops. I can only imagine how the Mekong must appear to those who have spent a lifetime along its banks witnessing the years of higher flow. Conversely this may not be the worst that they have seen, which may actually provide a small comfort. Or perhaps I'm talking out of my ass, I'll let you choose.
Evening approached accompanied by a dark, ominous cloud bank creeping in on the town. The clouds released their moisture slowly at first, in fat, scattered drops of rain. Once the outer fringes of the storm passed we were treated to the full strength of the storm, sheet after sheet of rain blown sideways by the warm gusts of wind. We sat in a gazebo overlooking the river amidst the cascade of water, taking in the full strength of the storm, beautiful to watch.
An hour or two later we rolled into the lazy little town of Siangkhan, and enjoyed an afternoon of leisure out of the brain boiling heat, and my first full submersion in the cool flowing waters of the Mekong. The calm surface of the river belies its power. After jumping in the river I quickly realized the current was significantly stronger than I had anticipated, it didn't take long for the river to take me farther down the bank than I wanted to go.
Riding along the river all day it has become apparent how low the water level is on the Mekong. Large sandbars overgrown with scrub brush bifurcate the river into a series of smaller channels, some stagnating in pools among the exposed rock outcrops. I can only imagine how the Mekong must appear to those who have spent a lifetime along its banks witnessing the years of higher flow. Conversely this may not be the worst that they have seen, which may actually provide a small comfort. Or perhaps I'm talking out of my ass, I'll let you choose.
Evening approached accompanied by a dark, ominous cloud bank creeping in on the town. The clouds released their moisture slowly at first, in fat, scattered drops of rain. Once the outer fringes of the storm passed we were treated to the full strength of the storm, sheet after sheet of rain blown sideways by the warm gusts of wind. We sat in a gazebo overlooking the river amidst the cascade of water, taking in the full strength of the storm, beautiful to watch.
Arriving in Thailand
Behind yet again. We've been in Thailand for a little over a week, but I'm just now starting to blog about it, whoops. The trip from Lao to Thailand was the easiest border crossing thus far, one stamp and a ride across the bridge, one more stamp, one more form, and we were in Thailand. Done and done.
Our first sight leaving customs in Thailand: a trusty old 7-11, a touch of home across the world. As tempting as a slurpee sounded in the heat, we decided our time would be better spent finding lunch and a good map of the country. Having a vague idea of where you are and where you're headed have turned out to be pretty important pieces of information.
After a little wandering around Nong Khai we found both a good book store to pick up a map, and a nice little spot to grab lunch and figure out what to do with the rest of the day. We spent some time perusing the map and decided to make a 20k push to the next town along the Mekong and shorten the ride for the next day. The 20k push only lasted about 5k before we folded in the face of the heat, probably low triple digits, and found a hotel where we could luxuriate in the frosty embrace of AC. It felt oh so good. One day in Thailand about 5k of biking, and many wonderful hours relishing the miracle of air conditioning. I'm a bit of a pansy when it comes to heat.
Our first sight leaving customs in Thailand: a trusty old 7-11, a touch of home across the world. As tempting as a slurpee sounded in the heat, we decided our time would be better spent finding lunch and a good map of the country. Having a vague idea of where you are and where you're headed have turned out to be pretty important pieces of information.
After a little wandering around Nong Khai we found both a good book store to pick up a map, and a nice little spot to grab lunch and figure out what to do with the rest of the day. We spent some time perusing the map and decided to make a 20k push to the next town along the Mekong and shorten the ride for the next day. The 20k push only lasted about 5k before we folded in the face of the heat, probably low triple digits, and found a hotel where we could luxuriate in the frosty embrace of AC. It felt oh so good. One day in Thailand about 5k of biking, and many wonderful hours relishing the miracle of air conditioning. I'm a bit of a pansy when it comes to heat.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Updated Lao bike map
Blue lines indicate where we biked, and random way-points show the places we took buses to.
View Vietnam and Laos bike route in a larger map
View Vietnam and Laos bike route in a larger map
Fixing the bike and moving on
After a few days of staking out the lone western bike shop in Lao, hoping to find a solution to my current equipment problem, I was finally rewarded today. I assumed that I would need to buy a new crank set to replace the one stripped out arm, but it turns out the friendly owner of the bike shop can simply re-thread the arm, which means I only have to buy a new set of pedals. Now that we have our Thai visas in hand all we have to do is hop on our bikes tomorrow and head out of Lao, and start biking in a new country. It works out well, because our Lao visas expire tomorrow, so if my bike breaks again we could be SOL.
Vang Vieng onto Vientiane
After the short bus ride back to Phoukoun, we grabbed the bikes and made a break for Kasi about 50k away, taking advantage of the mid-afternoon clouds and resulting cooler temperatures. The road wound along the ridgeline from Phoukoun before dropping us amid the jagged limestone remains of eons of erosion. We've seen karsts everywhere in Lao, but they never cease to blow me away. Kasi was an unexciting town, but one with spectacular scenery. No karsts, but rolling hills scattered with rice paddies and stilted bamboo huts overlooking it all.
The ride to Vang Vieng the next day took us up a small pass before sending us tumbling down to the Nam Song river, as it sliced through the karsts towering over the road. All the downhill put us into town around 10am, leaving us with plenty of time to wander around and get our bearing for the next few days.
Before we arrived, plenty of people had warned us about the drugged out, tourist party culture that permeates throughout the town; they definitely weren't lying and it is over the top. Walking the main drag your ears are assualted by bars and restaurants running continuous loops of Friends and The Family Guy. Hearing the soundtrack for Friends felt oddly discordant while walking down a street in Lao.
Despite the over-development of some parts of Vang Vieng, it takes only a short trip across the river to leave it all behind and enter a world of jagged karsts, winding networks of limestone caves, and tranquil lagoons of cool clear water. We spent many of our days on the winding dirt roads across the river enjoying the sharp limestone ridgelines or exploring the various networks of narrow caves.
As someone who has always been a bit shy of confined spaces, the cave exploration put my nerves to the test a few times. I persevered when I could, but I was definitely turned back by more than a few narrow crawl spaces. Mentally there was only so much I could handle, plus being 6'5" doesn't really help the situation.
But, out of the caves flowed beautiful springs of cool, clear water; perfect places to take a midday siesta to beat the heat. My favorite location came equipped with a rope swing and oppurtunities to gain some altitude in the trees before entering the water. For the low price of $1.25 it was a relaxing way to kill an afternoon, and wash off all the sweat from the morning rides.
Alas our time in Vang Vieng had to come to an end. After six days in town we tried to leave but my bike wouldn't cooperate, or more accurately my pedals wouldn't cooperate. I tried to pedal up to the road from our hotel, but soon found that while my shoe was still clipped into the pedal, the pedal was no longer attached to the bike; a bit of a perplexing problem. After some careful consideration, we decided that riding wasn't going to be an option until my pedals could be fixed (unlikely) or replaced. I ultimately purchased some cheap replacement pedals at the local market hoping that they would last the final 150k or so into Vientiane.
Unfortunately the next day the pedals managed to make it about 15k out town before breaking. Or more accurately they took me 15k out of town and completely stripped out the threading on one of my crank arms in the process. I went from needing new pedals, to needing new pedals and a new crank arm as well. Joyous day. I wish I could say I maintained a calm relaxed demeanor in the face of my equipment problem, but I didn't. Somethings were thrown (the faulty pedal, possibly a wrench) before I mellowed out a bit.
After my tantrum we faced the more immediate dilemma of whether to head back to town to catch a bus, or try and hail one from the road. As luck would have it (the only lucky moment of the day) a bus rolled up in the midst of our decision making and solved the problem. Two hours later we arrived in Vientiane, broken bike and all. T
The ride to Vang Vieng the next day took us up a small pass before sending us tumbling down to the Nam Song river, as it sliced through the karsts towering over the road. All the downhill put us into town around 10am, leaving us with plenty of time to wander around and get our bearing for the next few days.
Before we arrived, plenty of people had warned us about the drugged out, tourist party culture that permeates throughout the town; they definitely weren't lying and it is over the top. Walking the main drag your ears are assualted by bars and restaurants running continuous loops of Friends and The Family Guy. Hearing the soundtrack for Friends felt oddly discordant while walking down a street in Lao.
Despite the over-development of some parts of Vang Vieng, it takes only a short trip across the river to leave it all behind and enter a world of jagged karsts, winding networks of limestone caves, and tranquil lagoons of cool clear water. We spent many of our days on the winding dirt roads across the river enjoying the sharp limestone ridgelines or exploring the various networks of narrow caves.
As someone who has always been a bit shy of confined spaces, the cave exploration put my nerves to the test a few times. I persevered when I could, but I was definitely turned back by more than a few narrow crawl spaces. Mentally there was only so much I could handle, plus being 6'5" doesn't really help the situation.
But, out of the caves flowed beautiful springs of cool, clear water; perfect places to take a midday siesta to beat the heat. My favorite location came equipped with a rope swing and oppurtunities to gain some altitude in the trees before entering the water. For the low price of $1.25 it was a relaxing way to kill an afternoon, and wash off all the sweat from the morning rides.
Alas our time in Vang Vieng had to come to an end. After six days in town we tried to leave but my bike wouldn't cooperate, or more accurately my pedals wouldn't cooperate. I tried to pedal up to the road from our hotel, but soon found that while my shoe was still clipped into the pedal, the pedal was no longer attached to the bike; a bit of a perplexing problem. After some careful consideration, we decided that riding wasn't going to be an option until my pedals could be fixed (unlikely) or replaced. I ultimately purchased some cheap replacement pedals at the local market hoping that they would last the final 150k or so into Vientiane.
Unfortunately the next day the pedals managed to make it about 15k out town before breaking. Or more accurately they took me 15k out of town and completely stripped out the threading on one of my crank arms in the process. I went from needing new pedals, to needing new pedals and a new crank arm as well. Joyous day. I wish I could say I maintained a calm relaxed demeanor in the face of my equipment problem, but I didn't. Somethings were thrown (the faulty pedal, possibly a wrench) before I mellowed out a bit.
After my tantrum we faced the more immediate dilemma of whether to head back to town to catch a bus, or try and hail one from the road. As luck would have it (the only lucky moment of the day) a bus rolled up in the midst of our decision making and solved the problem. Two hours later we arrived in Vientiane, broken bike and all. T
Plain of Jars
Kiawakuchum led us to Phoukoun, a short 50k away, and our departure point for Phonesavan and the Plain of Jars. In the interest of time and perhaps a bit of laziness we decided to stash our bikes in Phoukoun and hop a bus to Phonesavan, which conveniently arrived in town about 30 minutes after us and sent us on our way.
The Plain of Jars...was, well...plains full of Jars. 3,000 year old stone burial relics, scattered about the cratered fields of Phonesavan. I don't know if archaeologist are entirely sure why they were used, but the basic idea was bodies (or maybe it was ashes) were placed in the jars after they passed away, some with lids and some without. Not necessarily and exhilarating experience but definitely a unique sight, and well worth the side trip to Phonesavan.
The more depressing aspect of Phonesavan is the thousands of unexploded bombs dropped by the US during the Vietnam war that continue to wreak havoc in the area. Definitely a situation that leaves you feeling a little less than proud of the US.
Minus the bomb craters Phonesavan felt strangely familiar, rolling green hills dotted with clusters of pine trees. Expansive fields covered in a ceiling of gray misting clouds. On the otherside of the world in a largely tropical country, the landscape was oddly reminiscent of the Willamette Valley. The landscape was a beautiful amalgamation of familiar terrain in a foreign country.
The Plain of Jars...was, well...plains full of Jars. 3,000 year old stone burial relics, scattered about the cratered fields of Phonesavan. I don't know if archaeologist are entirely sure why they were used, but the basic idea was bodies (or maybe it was ashes) were placed in the jars after they passed away, some with lids and some without. Not necessarily and exhilarating experience but definitely a unique sight, and well worth the side trip to Phonesavan.
The more depressing aspect of Phonesavan is the thousands of unexploded bombs dropped by the US during the Vietnam war that continue to wreak havoc in the area. Definitely a situation that leaves you feeling a little less than proud of the US.
Minus the bomb craters Phonesavan felt strangely familiar, rolling green hills dotted with clusters of pine trees. Expansive fields covered in a ceiling of gray misting clouds. On the otherside of the world in a largely tropical country, the landscape was oddly reminiscent of the Willamette Valley. The landscape was a beautiful amalgamation of familiar terrain in a foreign country.
Tackling the hills
Based on some conversations with other cyclists we knew heading south out of Luang Prabang we were going to be tackling a series of steep climbs over the next 210k to Vang Vieng. Sure enough it didn't take all that long, about 20k south of town we started with an absolutely lovely 8k climb on some windy roads up to a nice ridgeline view point. The view was nice, but sadly it was nowhere near the top of the climb, that was still another 6k away. After mashing out the last 6k we were treated to a nice long 16k descent, leaving us at just about the same elevation that we started at four hours earlier, wahoo. Which left us starting the truly beastly climb of the day, all 25k of it, just as the mid-afternoon heat was ratcheting up. I know I bitch alot about sweating profusely and the heat, but its really damn hot here, and I'm from Seattle, where the thermometer hardly ever goes north of 85. The climb was beautiful, it just necessitated frequent snack and water breaks to make sure we didn't pass out in the road halfway up. Probably a little dramatic, but it felt pretty brutal at the time.
Our destination for the day was Kiawakuchum, a humble roadside town perched atop a sinuous ridgeline overlooking the distant peaks, and the valley's below. After a day of brutal climbing it was nice to take in a ridge-top sunset, while attempting to inhale all of the calories I had burned off during the day, thank god for sticky rice.
Our destination for the day was Kiawakuchum, a humble roadside town perched atop a sinuous ridgeline overlooking the distant peaks, and the valley's below. After a day of brutal climbing it was nice to take in a ridge-top sunset, while attempting to inhale all of the calories I had burned off during the day, thank god for sticky rice.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Luang Prabang
The morning we took off for Luang Prabang we were treated to a massive down pouring of rain that provided a nice end to the Lao New Year, since it cleared the smoke from the air and provided us with our first unimpeded views of Laos. Disappoint they did not. In the early morning light the limestone cliffs were magnificent, touching the sky all around us. Ridgelines extending miles up the river previously cloaked in a thick haze. We had entered a completely different world, fresh and clean and full of beauty. My head was on a swivel the entire ride, trying to take in all the spectacular views that had suddenly materialized out of the smoke.
The ride from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang was tackled in two days, with the first day to the unexceptional Pak Mong, a way-point for those on longer journeys. Luang Prabang was a 110k ride through rolling hills backed by beautiful limestone cliffs. We started early and rolled into Luang Prabang before the heat of the day set in, a beautiful town lying at the convergence of the Mekong and Nam Ou rivers. If I wasn't so far behind in the blog I would spend a little more time describing our time there, but I am that far behind, essentially Luang Prabang boiled down to a series of disappointments.
Our attempt to see the normally beautiful Tat Sae waterfall fizzled out due to natural causes. Somebody tried to tell us before we paid for admission that it wasn't worth it since there was no water. We nodded and said we'd think about it, but ultimately figured it would be worth seeing even if it wasn't gushing. Turns out when he said there was no water, he meant absolutely no water. The falls were bone dry, leaving us with a beautiful views of moss and artificial sand bag walls. Truly epic. So sad because in full flow the falls look unbelievable with a series of steps of cascading turquoise water leading down to the river. Pak Ou cave also provided us with a less than memorable experience. Maybe it was the cost of the ferry and the admission that soured it for me, but for one of the Holier sites in Lao, they did not use the money all that efficiently to help with the upkeep. Again less than memorable.
Luang Prabang did have its moments, a beautiful sunset from a hilltop shrine, my first view of the mighty mighty Mekong, and an noverall mellow atmosphere despite the abundance of tourists. I'm sure I've glossed over quite a bit, but I imagine if you're reading this you probably don't mind.
The ride from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang was tackled in two days, with the first day to the unexceptional Pak Mong, a way-point for those on longer journeys. Luang Prabang was a 110k ride through rolling hills backed by beautiful limestone cliffs. We started early and rolled into Luang Prabang before the heat of the day set in, a beautiful town lying at the convergence of the Mekong and Nam Ou rivers. If I wasn't so far behind in the blog I would spend a little more time describing our time there, but I am that far behind, essentially Luang Prabang boiled down to a series of disappointments.
Our attempt to see the normally beautiful Tat Sae waterfall fizzled out due to natural causes. Somebody tried to tell us before we paid for admission that it wasn't worth it since there was no water. We nodded and said we'd think about it, but ultimately figured it would be worth seeing even if it wasn't gushing. Turns out when he said there was no water, he meant absolutely no water. The falls were bone dry, leaving us with a beautiful views of moss and artificial sand bag walls. Truly epic. So sad because in full flow the falls look unbelievable with a series of steps of cascading turquoise water leading down to the river. Pak Ou cave also provided us with a less than memorable experience. Maybe it was the cost of the ferry and the admission that soured it for me, but for one of the Holier sites in Lao, they did not use the money all that efficiently to help with the upkeep. Again less than memorable.
Luang Prabang did have its moments, a beautiful sunset from a hilltop shrine, my first view of the mighty mighty Mekong, and an noverall mellow atmosphere despite the abundance of tourists. I'm sure I've glossed over quite a bit, but I imagine if you're reading this you probably don't mind.
Celebrating the new year
From Nong Khiaw we took a day trip up the river to the small town of Muang Ngoi to catch what supposed to be some amazing scenery. In Nong Khiaw it was easy to forget it was the Lao New Year because the town played it pretty low key. Our first look at the boats heading up to Muang Ngoi, or at least the cargo that was heading up there, hinted at a slightly more boisterous celebration of the New Year. While we ate breakfast above the river, we watched as two proters made a continuous circuit to and from the beach, each carrying two cases of 12 bottles of 700ml beers apiece. The result of this procession was as one would expect, a very large formation of beer cases stacked on the beach ready to be shipped up the river.
A little over an hour after we had shoved off we puttered into Muang Ngoi the party was already getting started at 11am. On the opposite bank of the river there were a couple of tents set up, a makeshift soundsystem, and plenty of Beer Lao. This complicated our original plans to make our trip to Muang Ngoi just a day, seeing as anybody that could potentially give us a ride back down the river was well on their way to having trouble walking, let alone steering a boat.
We decided to head out for a hike and weigh our options when we returned. The hike was serene, but as usual most of the views were obscured by smoke. We spent an hour or two wandering out to a nearby village, than meandering back through the open fields. The heat of the day required a mid-afternoon plunge in the cleanest part of the river we could find. Apparently others had the same idea because just down stream we found about 10-15 water buffaloes placidly standing and lying in the river avoiding the heat.
We made some quick tracks back to town, only to find the town dock more-or-less deserted and a huge party raging across the river. I say more-or-less because there was a blue tarp party boat shuttling stragglers to the party as well as dispensing beer along the way. When it came down to it we really didn't have much of a choice, stay on the empty beach...or join the party. As soon as the party boat floated up, we hopped on and joined the party. Since celebrating the New Year involves throwing water on everybody in sight, and we were by a river, total saturation occurred in about 30 seconds.
Luckily when we arrived on the opposite bank we managed to find our ferry driver and surprisingly he was sober and heading back down the river in a few hours. Until then we joined in on the festivities, drank beer, swam in the river, and threw water on anybody in sight. Our ride back down the river an hour or so later provided absolutely stunning views. Although smoke limited the views, it also managed to illuminate the karsts with a beautiful fiery red aura as the sun descended below the horizon and we glided down the Nam Ou.
A little over an hour after we had shoved off we puttered into Muang Ngoi the party was already getting started at 11am. On the opposite bank of the river there were a couple of tents set up, a makeshift soundsystem, and plenty of Beer Lao. This complicated our original plans to make our trip to Muang Ngoi just a day, seeing as anybody that could potentially give us a ride back down the river was well on their way to having trouble walking, let alone steering a boat.
We decided to head out for a hike and weigh our options when we returned. The hike was serene, but as usual most of the views were obscured by smoke. We spent an hour or two wandering out to a nearby village, than meandering back through the open fields. The heat of the day required a mid-afternoon plunge in the cleanest part of the river we could find. Apparently others had the same idea because just down stream we found about 10-15 water buffaloes placidly standing and lying in the river avoiding the heat.
We made some quick tracks back to town, only to find the town dock more-or-less deserted and a huge party raging across the river. I say more-or-less because there was a blue tarp party boat shuttling stragglers to the party as well as dispensing beer along the way. When it came down to it we really didn't have much of a choice, stay on the empty beach...or join the party. As soon as the party boat floated up, we hopped on and joined the party. Since celebrating the New Year involves throwing water on everybody in sight, and we were by a river, total saturation occurred in about 30 seconds.
Luckily when we arrived on the opposite bank we managed to find our ferry driver and surprisingly he was sober and heading back down the river in a few hours. Until then we joined in on the festivities, drank beer, swam in the river, and threw water on anybody in sight. Our ride back down the river an hour or so later provided absolutely stunning views. Although smoke limited the views, it also managed to illuminate the karsts with a beautiful fiery red aura as the sun descended below the horizon and we glided down the Nam Ou.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Laos Bike Route
This is an updated map of where we have ridden. I'd like to note that I am still behind and have not managed to write about everyplace we have been to quite yet. Points without blue lines connecting them are portions that we took the bus for.
View Vietnam and Laos bike route in a larger map
View Vietnam and Laos bike route in a larger map
Nong Khiaw and the Lao New Year
From Udomaxy we hit the road towards a small town called Nong Khiaw on the Nam Ou river a little over 115k away. To beat the heat we made an early departure from Udomaxy, rolling out of town just before 5:30am. As somebody who has never been an early riser I have amazed even myself with my capacity to drag myself out of bed that early in the morning. I guess when the choice is getting up early, or biking in the middle of the day through tropical heat, it's not hard to figure out why I don't mind. The early start helped us slay the first big hills of the day during the cool morning hours and left us with a nice 22k downhill into our lunch stop at Pak Mong a little before noon. As we rode into Pak Mong we got our first experience of they celebrate the New Year here in Laos. The entire country morphs into a battle ground for an epic three day, nationwide, water fight.
As we rolled in to Pak Mong the water fight began, although since we never really fought back it wasn't much of a fight. A group of kids manning the entrance to town spotted us coming a couple hundred meters down the road and excitedly ran to their water sources and filled up whatever they had available, pots, pans, bowls, buckets; pretty much anything that held water. Just as we passed their was a chorus of Sabaidee's followed by a sudden downpour of water as all of their water receptacles were emptied out onto us. A shop owner hosing down his front steps joined in on the fun, letting a stream loose upon us from across the street. I will say the mid-afternoon drenching went a long way to cool me off as the temperatures began to really crank up. Sitting in Pak Mong eating lunch and avoiding the heat we saw a procession of cars, trucks, and motorcycles that had passed through the same watery gauntlet as we had with the same results, a thorough drenching. Watching people dripping with water ride by on their motorcycles was an entertaining way to spend the afternoon.
Upon leaving Pak Mong after a long lunch, we learned that our first drenching was merely a prelude of what was to come. The final 26k from Pak Mong to Nong Khiaw was when we really got blasted. We only passed three or four town, but everybody in those towns was ready. The entrance and exit to each town was manned by a brigade of children with varying means of dispensing water onto those who happened to pass by. As we approached each posse of kids there would be a flurry of movement as they prepared for our arrival, followed by the unleashing of a torrent of water upon us as we passed. After only two towns I was dripping, and remained in a various states of being drenched courtesy of the various water brigades we passed. It was a great experience to have the locals take such great pleasure including us in their celebrations.
Besides the entertainment provided by the water posses, the ride itself was beautiful. Riding away from Pak Mong we entered into a bucolic landscape of vibrant green rice paddies backed by rolling hills of jungle. As we continued toward our destination, the flat landscape dotted with paddies slowly grew into towering walls of limestone until we arrived at Nong Khiaw, nestled along the Nam Ou river which cuts a narrow valley through the limestone cliffs and mountains that loom over it. To take in the poetic scenery, we scored a riverside bungalow that came equipped with a porch and hammocks to soak up the views. There have been plenty of relaxing moments on this trip, but laying in a hammock overlooking the Nam Ou river is right up there at the top.
As we rolled in to Pak Mong the water fight began, although since we never really fought back it wasn't much of a fight. A group of kids manning the entrance to town spotted us coming a couple hundred meters down the road and excitedly ran to their water sources and filled up whatever they had available, pots, pans, bowls, buckets; pretty much anything that held water. Just as we passed their was a chorus of Sabaidee's followed by a sudden downpour of water as all of their water receptacles were emptied out onto us. A shop owner hosing down his front steps joined in on the fun, letting a stream loose upon us from across the street. I will say the mid-afternoon drenching went a long way to cool me off as the temperatures began to really crank up. Sitting in Pak Mong eating lunch and avoiding the heat we saw a procession of cars, trucks, and motorcycles that had passed through the same watery gauntlet as we had with the same results, a thorough drenching. Watching people dripping with water ride by on their motorcycles was an entertaining way to spend the afternoon.
Upon leaving Pak Mong after a long lunch, we learned that our first drenching was merely a prelude of what was to come. The final 26k from Pak Mong to Nong Khiaw was when we really got blasted. We only passed three or four town, but everybody in those towns was ready. The entrance and exit to each town was manned by a brigade of children with varying means of dispensing water onto those who happened to pass by. As we approached each posse of kids there would be a flurry of movement as they prepared for our arrival, followed by the unleashing of a torrent of water upon us as we passed. After only two towns I was dripping, and remained in a various states of being drenched courtesy of the various water brigades we passed. It was a great experience to have the locals take such great pleasure including us in their celebrations.
Besides the entertainment provided by the water posses, the ride itself was beautiful. Riding away from Pak Mong we entered into a bucolic landscape of vibrant green rice paddies backed by rolling hills of jungle. As we continued toward our destination, the flat landscape dotted with paddies slowly grew into towering walls of limestone until we arrived at Nong Khiaw, nestled along the Nam Ou river which cuts a narrow valley through the limestone cliffs and mountains that loom over it. To take in the poetic scenery, we scored a riverside bungalow that came equipped with a porch and hammocks to soak up the views. There have been plenty of relaxing moments on this trip, but laying in a hammock overlooking the Nam Ou river is right up there at the top.
Riding in Laos
I love, absolutely love, riding my bike in Laos. On our first ride out of Muang Khoa we didn't see a single vehicle for the first half-hour, we owned the road for the better part of our 5 1/2 hour ride into Udomaxy. Laos is empty roads and super-friendly people. It's impossible to pass through a village without having hordes of little kids run out to the road with big toothy smiles and hands waving energetically, letting out a chorus of Sabiadee's (hello in Lao) as we roll by. You just feel the warmth of the local people every time you ride through a village. Every once in a while the kids line up on the side of the road and hold out their hands for high-fives as we pass, like running out onto a field for the big game. I can't say enough about how absolutely awesome it is to ride here.
Besides loving the roads in Laos, the ride to Udomaxy was pretty quick, 100k in about 5 1/2 hours and access to an ATM. From Udomaxy we ditched the bikes for a few days for an adventurous bus ride up to the mountain town of Phongsaly. First, if you're going to take a bus in Laos you better show up early. A late arrival at the station results in either an awful seat crammed on the back of the bus, or more likely, a seat on a bag of rice somewhere in the aisle. Unless it's a foreigner trying to ride the bus, I don't think they ever deny refuse a paying customer, since I imagine it is the only way for some villagers to make it into town. What this means for those on the bus is that everything becomes a seat: stools, sacks of rice, the floor all of it is fair game. For the claustrophobic there are usually plenty of spots available on the top of the bus or hanging off the back. If there is an open space to wedge a body into, than that space will be occupied.
Our ride to and from Phongsaly consisted of a combined 13 hours on some of the bumpiest, dustiest, and windy roads we have travelled on. For shorts stretches of the ride we passed through beautiful groves of old growth jungle, explosions of green draping hillsides. The town itself wasn't all that great with most of the surrounding mountains obscured by smoke. Despite the epic trip to reach the town we stayed only a day before making the return trip to Udomaxy. Maybe the views were disappointing but the bus ride each way at least made it a bit of an adventure.
Besides loving the roads in Laos, the ride to Udomaxy was pretty quick, 100k in about 5 1/2 hours and access to an ATM. From Udomaxy we ditched the bikes for a few days for an adventurous bus ride up to the mountain town of Phongsaly. First, if you're going to take a bus in Laos you better show up early. A late arrival at the station results in either an awful seat crammed on the back of the bus, or more likely, a seat on a bag of rice somewhere in the aisle. Unless it's a foreigner trying to ride the bus, I don't think they ever deny refuse a paying customer, since I imagine it is the only way for some villagers to make it into town. What this means for those on the bus is that everything becomes a seat: stools, sacks of rice, the floor all of it is fair game. For the claustrophobic there are usually plenty of spots available on the top of the bus or hanging off the back. If there is an open space to wedge a body into, than that space will be occupied.
Our ride to and from Phongsaly consisted of a combined 13 hours on some of the bumpiest, dustiest, and windy roads we have travelled on. For shorts stretches of the ride we passed through beautiful groves of old growth jungle, explosions of green draping hillsides. The town itself wasn't all that great with most of the surrounding mountains obscured by smoke. Despite the epic trip to reach the town we stayed only a day before making the return trip to Udomaxy. Maybe the views were disappointing but the bus ride each way at least made it a bit of an adventure.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Vietnam to Laos
The path from Sapa to Laos consisted of a few days of riding our bikes and a few days of throwing them up on buses to avoid some particularly nasty roads. Despite our best effort to avoid the truly heinous stretches of road, we still ended up with a wonderfully muddy 25k ride into a small town called Muang Lay that required a quick hosing down of the bikes and riders before they allowed us to continue on the bus. From Muang Lay to Dien Bien Phu and then onward across the border into Lao consisted of many hours of sitting on a bus on windy and/or rocky roads... uncomfortable...but it did manage to save our bodies and bikes from close to a hundred miles of fist sized gravel on hilly roads in tropical heat. One moment of note was our early morning entertainment on the bus ride out of Dien Bien Phu, which consisted of a DVD of a lingerie fashion show set to raging techno music. If you're not stoked about your upcoming 6 hour bus ride, nothing lifts your spirits like techno and underwear at 6 in the morning. Aside from that the bus ride was uneventful but bearable, as always my 6'5" frame doesn't quite fit into buses meant for people half my size.
After a few too many hours on the bus for my taste we rolled into Muang Khoa and our first destination in Laos. Our enthusiasim was quickly dampened by the fact that we had spent close to all of our money paying for our Visas into Laos, and sadly there was no ATM in Muang Khoa for us to restock at. What this meant was scrounging up and exchanging what few dollars we had and making a bee line the next morning for Udomaxy and its ATM's about 100k down the road. In the end it wasn't that big of an ordeal, but I definitely had a few moments of panic considering what would happen if we couldn't get money in Udomaxy and trying to figure out what I might have to sell to get us to an ATM.
After a few too many hours on the bus for my taste we rolled into Muang Khoa and our first destination in Laos. Our enthusiasim was quickly dampened by the fact that we had spent close to all of our money paying for our Visas into Laos, and sadly there was no ATM in Muang Khoa for us to restock at. What this meant was scrounging up and exchanging what few dollars we had and making a bee line the next morning for Udomaxy and its ATM's about 100k down the road. In the end it wasn't that big of an ordeal, but I definitely had a few moments of panic considering what would happen if we couldn't get money in Udomaxy and trying to figure out what I might have to sell to get us to an ATM.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sapa
An end to our vacation within a vacation. Out of Hanoi and back on the bikes, while only managing to get ripped off one more time as we left town. Apparently to get our bikes on the train, our only option was to buy out an entire deluxe sleeper cabin, at the low cost of $96, plus an additional $5 at the station to allow our unseemly bikes into the passenger section of the train. We were even told to bribe the conductor, but at that point she had taken so much of our money that she magnanimously denied our disrespectful offering. At least in the end, all of the money we spent did result in our arrival at Lao Cai with our bikes, about 38k from our final destination in Sapa.
The ride to Sapa...unrelenting. 27k at a 10% grade with a fully loaded bike, and minimal exercise over the previous two weeks, resulted in three hours of panting and pain. From Lao Cai we shot straight up into the mist and the mountains one painful pedal stroke at a time. But as soon as the pedals started churning I felt the freedom of the bike, welcoming the curious glances and cheerful waves as we passed by on our overladen steeds. Their were two kids that were so excited to see me they ran behind my bike and helped push me up the hill at least for a little while. As they started to tire, I began pedaling for all of us since they were no longer pushing, but rather hanging onto my rack as I continued up the hill. Entertaining...yes... but also really tiring when you're not in the greatest shape. After a massive push on the pedals I did finally break away and continue to huff and puff my way up to Sapa. As we neared our destination the clouds began to break and the surrounding mountains began to materialize out of the mist. Jagged ridgelines with densely vegetated peaks thrust up into the sky. Hmong women traversing the streets in brightly patterned headwraps, dresses, and traditional leggings, absently wrapping thread around their hands or selling their goods to the nearby tourist.
Our first day in Sapa we climbed another 15 k, despite the protests from my tired legs, to Silver falls, a beautiful torrent of water cascading down a series of steps as it journeyed toward the valley below. Higher still was Golden stream love waterfall, a single drop spraying water into a deep black pool rimmed in golden shallows that wind down into the forest below. The day finished with a long downhill ride slicing through sheets of rain, our endless days of biking under cloudless sunny skies are long gone.
Following consecutive days of riding, mostly uphill, we switched it up and went for a hike down to a local village about 2k out of town, nestled on the slopes beneath Sapa. Due to its proximity to Sapa and its hordes of tourists, it was hard to tell what part of the village maintained a traditional lifestyle, because as far as I could see it was set up to accomodate foreigners.
Another 2k down the road we came upon Sin Chai village which is probably what Cat Cat looked like before it converted to a tourist economy. Small children and livestock wandered the streets, men and women were at work on the terraced hillsides tilling the land, with some women carrying the newest family member strapped snugly to their back. The villagers who were not in the fields occupied the front porches of their homes, weaving on a loom, or maintaining the ever present activity of stringing out long pieces of thread and wrapping them around their hand. Women would cluster around a doorstep in the morning before the market opened, children strapped to their backs in a sea of pinks and greens, chatting away with one another, but always absently pulling out and straightening lengths of thread and wrapping them around the layer steadily growing on their hands.
We wandered past the village and further along into the rice paddies cut into the hillsides. Young and old, tools in hand, working the soil beneath their feet. Water buffaloes ankle deep in a muddy step dragging the till through the saturated earth. All around us the hills were alive with activity, people hard at work maintaining their crops and their livelihood.
The last few days in Sapa passed with a few nice rides and hikes into the surrounding hills. Although there was one day that was mostly shot due to a cloud that rolled into Sapa early in the morning and sat there the whole day, reducing the visibility to about 50 meters. In a place as beautiful as Sapa losing a day to the clouds was definitely a bit of a bummer, and to add to the overall dreariness of the day the power was out for the better part of it.
Losing a day to the clouds hurt, but the next few days riding and hiking under sunny skies helped ease the pain. Our last big excursion took us to the top of Mt. Hamong which rose up from the ridgeline behind Sapa. From the summit the views were spectacular. The terraced paddies cut into the floor and walls of the valley looked as if somebody was trying create a topographic map of the landscape, with continuous even steps up the mountains 1 meter at a time. A beautiful hike to bring our time in Sapa to an end.
The ride to Sapa...unrelenting. 27k at a 10% grade with a fully loaded bike, and minimal exercise over the previous two weeks, resulted in three hours of panting and pain. From Lao Cai we shot straight up into the mist and the mountains one painful pedal stroke at a time. But as soon as the pedals started churning I felt the freedom of the bike, welcoming the curious glances and cheerful waves as we passed by on our overladen steeds. Their were two kids that were so excited to see me they ran behind my bike and helped push me up the hill at least for a little while. As they started to tire, I began pedaling for all of us since they were no longer pushing, but rather hanging onto my rack as I continued up the hill. Entertaining...yes... but also really tiring when you're not in the greatest shape. After a massive push on the pedals I did finally break away and continue to huff and puff my way up to Sapa. As we neared our destination the clouds began to break and the surrounding mountains began to materialize out of the mist. Jagged ridgelines with densely vegetated peaks thrust up into the sky. Hmong women traversing the streets in brightly patterned headwraps, dresses, and traditional leggings, absently wrapping thread around their hands or selling their goods to the nearby tourist.
Our first day in Sapa we climbed another 15 k, despite the protests from my tired legs, to Silver falls, a beautiful torrent of water cascading down a series of steps as it journeyed toward the valley below. Higher still was Golden stream love waterfall, a single drop spraying water into a deep black pool rimmed in golden shallows that wind down into the forest below. The day finished with a long downhill ride slicing through sheets of rain, our endless days of biking under cloudless sunny skies are long gone.
Following consecutive days of riding, mostly uphill, we switched it up and went for a hike down to a local village about 2k out of town, nestled on the slopes beneath Sapa. Due to its proximity to Sapa and its hordes of tourists, it was hard to tell what part of the village maintained a traditional lifestyle, because as far as I could see it was set up to accomodate foreigners.
Another 2k down the road we came upon Sin Chai village which is probably what Cat Cat looked like before it converted to a tourist economy. Small children and livestock wandered the streets, men and women were at work on the terraced hillsides tilling the land, with some women carrying the newest family member strapped snugly to their back. The villagers who were not in the fields occupied the front porches of their homes, weaving on a loom, or maintaining the ever present activity of stringing out long pieces of thread and wrapping them around their hand. Women would cluster around a doorstep in the morning before the market opened, children strapped to their backs in a sea of pinks and greens, chatting away with one another, but always absently pulling out and straightening lengths of thread and wrapping them around the layer steadily growing on their hands.
We wandered past the village and further along into the rice paddies cut into the hillsides. Young and old, tools in hand, working the soil beneath their feet. Water buffaloes ankle deep in a muddy step dragging the till through the saturated earth. All around us the hills were alive with activity, people hard at work maintaining their crops and their livelihood.
The last few days in Sapa passed with a few nice rides and hikes into the surrounding hills. Although there was one day that was mostly shot due to a cloud that rolled into Sapa early in the morning and sat there the whole day, reducing the visibility to about 50 meters. In a place as beautiful as Sapa losing a day to the clouds was definitely a bit of a bummer, and to add to the overall dreariness of the day the power was out for the better part of it.
Losing a day to the clouds hurt, but the next few days riding and hiking under sunny skies helped ease the pain. Our last big excursion took us to the top of Mt. Hamong which rose up from the ridgeline behind Sapa. From the summit the views were spectacular. The terraced paddies cut into the floor and walls of the valley looked as if somebody was trying create a topographic map of the landscape, with continuous even steps up the mountains 1 meter at a time. A beautiful hike to bring our time in Sapa to an end.
A vacation from the bikes
So...I spent almost a month in Vietnam (last month mind you) and I am just now managing to sit down and write about it. I'm lazy. The first two weeks were a vacation within a vacation, no time on the bike and a lot of time on various beaches in southern Vietnam.
The first few days in Hanoi we spent recovering from our red-eye flight from Bangalore, and the general joys of international travel with bicycles in tow, while waiting for the arrival of Paris' mom from the states. From Hanoi we took off to Hoi An, the clothing capital of Vietnam, down on the southern coast. As a result of my time there, I am now the proud owner of a bright orange tailor made suit, with a purple shirt and lilac vest to accompany it. Some may question the purchase, but I say money well spent.
After a week in Hoi An it was back to Hanoi for one night, and then north for a one night cruise amidst the limestone karsts on Halong Bay. An early morning (at least for me) and a long van ride, led us to the tranquil and stunning beauty of Halong Bay. The harbor entrace is a jigsaw puzzle of tourist buses and private cars, constantly shifting to accomodate the evergrowing number of pieces. We all streamed out of our respective vans and made our way through the maze of vehicles to the sea of white faces, appropriately gathering beneath the large "Tourist Harbor Entrance" sign. It felt a bit like a field trip from middle school, all the different groups bunched up around the entrance waiting for a guide to tell them where to go or what to do. Not necessarily a scene of beauty, but a moment to remember.
Halong bay extended beyond what I ever imagined from the pictures. The limestone karsts stretched endlessly into the mist that enshrouded our ship the first day of the cruise. Gray cliffs, draped in green, jutting out of the turquoise water. Rounded ridges and spines of limestone scattered about the bay, creating a seemingly impenetrable maze of islands. We took all of this in from the plush recliners scattered about the roof of our junk boat, relaxing and taking in the dreamscape, as our boat glided through the water and tiny ripples lapped up against the hull.
Included in the cruise was a tour through one of the floating villages of fisherman that live out on the bay amongst the towering karsts. We toured through the village on what appeared to be a floating bowl, rowed around with four people in it by somebody half my size. The village was set in a bay of placid turquoise water surrounded by three hundred foot cliffs of limestone. As we bobbed through the village in our floating bowl watching the villagers go about their daily tasks of organizing fishing equipment and living their lives, it was impossible not to feel an overwhelming sense of calm seep into your body. We finished up the cruise the following day with a visit to a labyrinth of caverns worn in to the limestone karsts, which were cast in artificial neon light, giving the whole excursion a club like atmosphere...odd but beautiful all the same. Hopefully my pictures do a better job to capture the experience than my words.
A peaceful glide back to the dock and a two hour bus ride later we were back in Hanoi, and getting ready to catch a train to Lao Cai and hop back on the bikes for the 35 climb into the northern highlands of Vietnam.
The first few days in Hanoi we spent recovering from our red-eye flight from Bangalore, and the general joys of international travel with bicycles in tow, while waiting for the arrival of Paris' mom from the states. From Hanoi we took off to Hoi An, the clothing capital of Vietnam, down on the southern coast. As a result of my time there, I am now the proud owner of a bright orange tailor made suit, with a purple shirt and lilac vest to accompany it. Some may question the purchase, but I say money well spent.
After a week in Hoi An it was back to Hanoi for one night, and then north for a one night cruise amidst the limestone karsts on Halong Bay. An early morning (at least for me) and a long van ride, led us to the tranquil and stunning beauty of Halong Bay. The harbor entrace is a jigsaw puzzle of tourist buses and private cars, constantly shifting to accomodate the evergrowing number of pieces. We all streamed out of our respective vans and made our way through the maze of vehicles to the sea of white faces, appropriately gathering beneath the large "Tourist Harbor Entrance" sign. It felt a bit like a field trip from middle school, all the different groups bunched up around the entrance waiting for a guide to tell them where to go or what to do. Not necessarily a scene of beauty, but a moment to remember.
Halong bay extended beyond what I ever imagined from the pictures. The limestone karsts stretched endlessly into the mist that enshrouded our ship the first day of the cruise. Gray cliffs, draped in green, jutting out of the turquoise water. Rounded ridges and spines of limestone scattered about the bay, creating a seemingly impenetrable maze of islands. We took all of this in from the plush recliners scattered about the roof of our junk boat, relaxing and taking in the dreamscape, as our boat glided through the water and tiny ripples lapped up against the hull.
Included in the cruise was a tour through one of the floating villages of fisherman that live out on the bay amongst the towering karsts. We toured through the village on what appeared to be a floating bowl, rowed around with four people in it by somebody half my size. The village was set in a bay of placid turquoise water surrounded by three hundred foot cliffs of limestone. As we bobbed through the village in our floating bowl watching the villagers go about their daily tasks of organizing fishing equipment and living their lives, it was impossible not to feel an overwhelming sense of calm seep into your body. We finished up the cruise the following day with a visit to a labyrinth of caverns worn in to the limestone karsts, which were cast in artificial neon light, giving the whole excursion a club like atmosphere...odd but beautiful all the same. Hopefully my pictures do a better job to capture the experience than my words.
A peaceful glide back to the dock and a two hour bus ride later we were back in Hanoi, and getting ready to catch a train to Lao Cai and hop back on the bikes for the 35 climb into the northern highlands of Vietnam.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Final thoughts on India
Describing India in a few succinct phrases is beyond my capacity as a writer, so I'm not going to try. After five months of travel I can say that my salient memories of India are the everyday interactions we had with people along the road. The moments of genuine curiousity and kindenss from strangers, when it didn't feel like somebody was trying to squeeze something out of me. Palaces, museums, forts; all of it was amazing, but it was the conversations over a fresh coconut milk along the side of the road, in the midst of the midday heat and the traffic that I will remember.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Cities and beyond
After our last few days in the hills we hopped on a bus and headed north for the Mysore in the plains of Karnataka. The city had a surprisingly mellow vibe for such a large population as well as one of the most elaborate palaces we have seen anywhere in India. Ridiculously ornate carved teak ceilings, engraved silver doors, and more chandeliers than I have ever seen, absolutely stunning. From Mysore we moved on to Bangalore to gather up some new bike boxes and prepare for the next leg of the trip to Vietnam. Damn, five months in India coming to an end, not quite sure yet how I feel.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Back to the hills
he northern beaches of Kerala were amazing, but they still don't compare to the hill stations in the Western Ghats, even with the extra effort required to haul a fully loaded bike up the hills. We arrived in Kalpetta surrounded once more by peaks blanketed in lush tropical forests and a shimmering sea of undulating tea plantations, what's not to love about that.
Our bikes provided a great way to poke around town, see the sights, and led to some lazy afternoon rides through the tranquil scenery. Traveling with empty bikes on all the trips out of Kalpetta was a welcome change, all we had to worry about was finding a nice mellow rhythm in the pedals and losing ourselves in the hills.
The first day we did a 20k ride out to Soochpara falls, a nice place to lounge in the shade and cool off under the cascading water during the midday heat. Entertainment for the afternoon was provided by the hordes of Indian tourist that collected in mass beneath the falls for a cleansing bath. My only suggestion for them would be to avoid white towels, there was more than enough on display without those adding to the show.
Chembra peak the next day supplied us with the most spectacular views while were in Kalpetta. We followed a series of interweaving dirt tracks, that cut a path through the open fields of grass along the shoulder of the peak, to the summit. What we lacked in shade was made up for with spectacular vistas in every direction and a gentle breeze to ward off the afternoon heat. The summit belonged to us and provided a comfortable cloak of silence, broken only by the grass rustling in the breeze. Moments of silence become so poignant when the day to day is shrouded in the constant din of traffic. I will leave any descriptions of the scenery to my camera which is far better at capturing the beauty than my words.
The last day at Karalad Lake provided a similar break. A short ride through bucolic fields of palm trees and wheat to arrive at a halcyon lake erupting in beautiful purple lotus flowers. No traffic to hear, just the rhythmic sound of a woman slapping her clothes against a nearby rock. Taken with the scenery the noise blended seamlessly into the landscape. The hills provide a perfect escape from the chaos that is the lowland cities of India.
T
Our bikes provided a great way to poke around town, see the sights, and led to some lazy afternoon rides through the tranquil scenery. Traveling with empty bikes on all the trips out of Kalpetta was a welcome change, all we had to worry about was finding a nice mellow rhythm in the pedals and losing ourselves in the hills.
The first day we did a 20k ride out to Soochpara falls, a nice place to lounge in the shade and cool off under the cascading water during the midday heat. Entertainment for the afternoon was provided by the hordes of Indian tourist that collected in mass beneath the falls for a cleansing bath. My only suggestion for them would be to avoid white towels, there was more than enough on display without those adding to the show.
Chembra peak the next day supplied us with the most spectacular views while were in Kalpetta. We followed a series of interweaving dirt tracks, that cut a path through the open fields of grass along the shoulder of the peak, to the summit. What we lacked in shade was made up for with spectacular vistas in every direction and a gentle breeze to ward off the afternoon heat. The summit belonged to us and provided a comfortable cloak of silence, broken only by the grass rustling in the breeze. Moments of silence become so poignant when the day to day is shrouded in the constant din of traffic. I will leave any descriptions of the scenery to my camera which is far better at capturing the beauty than my words.
The last day at Karalad Lake provided a similar break. A short ride through bucolic fields of palm trees and wheat to arrive at a halcyon lake erupting in beautiful purple lotus flowers. No traffic to hear, just the rhythmic sound of a woman slapping her clothes against a nearby rock. Taken with the scenery the noise blended seamlessly into the landscape. The hills provide a perfect escape from the chaos that is the lowland cities of India.
T
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Equipment failure
Of all the the equipment problems I envisioned on this bike trip, the last one that occurred to me was having the bolt holding my seat to my seat post snapping in half. Turns out hauling a 15lb watermelon in my backpack down to the beach was a little much for the bolt to handle, so it unceremoniously dumped me on my ass in the middle of a dirt road, still a little sore from that one. Fortunately after some trial and error at the bike shop the seat was reattached to the post in a usable, if not perfect fashion. I should say it was barely usable, round two with the bolt occurred yesterday in the midst of an epic climb and left me standing on the pedals for the last 8k of the climb, fun times. There are definitely worse things that could have broken on the bike, but riding without a seat certainly isn't any fun. I think I need to buy smaller watermelons.
Updated bike route
View Kerala Bike Route in a larger map
Updated bike route
View Kerala Bike Route in a larger map
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Heading north
Kerala is beautiful, but riding on the national highway in Kerala is far less amazing. We've spent the last few days plying NH 17 as we've moved up the coast toward the beaches in Kannur and Bekal, by and large uninspiring days of riding. The dust and exhaust on the highways finds its way into every little crease on my face, so by the end of the day I've got enough dust caked on my face that it looks like I'm wearing eye liner. Even so, it is still an enteraining way to spend a day and you usually encounter a fair share of random acts of kindness from strangers along the road. It's amazing how a few encouraging words or a cup of tea from random people on the road make up for a day of sucking in dust and exhaust.
The beaches in Kannur and Bekal have been worth the ride, large sandy expanses minus the overwhelming masses of people. Swimming in the Arabian Sea has been a pleasantly warm experience, like swimming in a giant bathtub full of sand. After spending a day at the beach I now know how all those coconuts make it from the top of the tree to roadside where they provide such a delicious treat in the middle of the day. Apparently the best way to climb a palm tree is to place a cord of rope around your feet that prevents them sliding off the side of the tree, and then shimmying up the trunk. I have the feeling that it is much more difficult than it looks, and in the interest of staying healthy for the duration of this trip something I don't plan on trying anytime soon. A direct benefit of this display of tree climbing prowess was a fresh coconut milk provided by the local tree scaler. Again random acts generosity make for a better day. Now we have a few days to wander the coast of Bekal and search out uninhabited stretches of coast line to bake our skin on.
View Kerala Bike Route in a larger map
The beaches in Kannur and Bekal have been worth the ride, large sandy expanses minus the overwhelming masses of people. Swimming in the Arabian Sea has been a pleasantly warm experience, like swimming in a giant bathtub full of sand. After spending a day at the beach I now know how all those coconuts make it from the top of the tree to roadside where they provide such a delicious treat in the middle of the day. Apparently the best way to climb a palm tree is to place a cord of rope around your feet that prevents them sliding off the side of the tree, and then shimmying up the trunk. I have the feeling that it is much more difficult than it looks, and in the interest of staying healthy for the duration of this trip something I don't plan on trying anytime soon. A direct benefit of this display of tree climbing prowess was a fresh coconut milk provided by the local tree scaler. Again random acts generosity make for a better day. Now we have a few days to wander the coast of Bekal and search out uninhabited stretches of coast line to bake our skin on.
View Kerala Bike Route in a larger map
Friday, February 19, 2010
Parambikulam
Pollachi was not much of a town, but Parambikulam national park just 40k out of town was awesome. We rolled out of bed at 5:30 in the am to catch a 6:15 bus, giving ourselves plenty of time to figure out exactly which bus it was we needed to take. As always the extra time was put to good use since we never seem to find anything on the first try. After running back and forth between the two bus stands in town based on contradictory advice, somebody finally set us down on the curb where our bus would arrive with about ten minutes to spare, to that man I am grateful. The bus ride, was, well a bus ride in India, bumpy and long. We arrived at the park a little before 9 am. After taking some time to scavenge up the required guide for our hike in the park we took off for a nice long 6k hike straight up the highest ridge line in the area. Whoever builds their trails isn't all that interested in switch backs. On the hike it also became apparent that our guide was not a regular, due to the frequent stops and generally labored breathing as we climbed, but he did eventually get us to the top.
In a country teeming with people we were sitting atop a rocky mountain with miles of untrammeled forest surrounding us and just the sound of the wind in our ears. The scene was so peaceful I found to time to recoup some of the lost sleep from the night before. Too bad for me that I had rubbed my sunscreen off on the hike up and forgot to reapply before my nap. Pasty white skin meet high elevation sun and cower before its brilliance. Ouch. Outside of that the hike was spectacular and well worth the time and money. Now we are back in the thick of the heat in Thrissur, where my pores are currently expelling vast amounts of perspiration as I sit in the internet cafe and write this. I may actually be able to produce enough to short out the keyboard if I stay here long enough.
Updated bike route
View Kerala Bike Route in a larger map
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