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.

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.