June 20
Well, I finally found an internet cafe after more than 420 kilometers of biking in the boondocks. I tried to call last night because I thought you might be worried but I could not get through on the AT&T access code. Anyway, the past 3 days have been a trip and a half. I left Chiangmai on Sunday morning and rode to Doi Ithanon national park (the highest mountain in Thailand). I really bonked on the climb - the grades were like 15 or 20 percent and I could hardly even walk up them.
When I finally got to the park headquarters (at about 5 or 6,000 feet elevation) I rented a bungalow that looked great from the outside but when I opened the door gigantic cockroaches and assorted rodents began scurrying in every direction. The bungalow consisted of a large room with a steel framed bunkbed in one corner and a bathroom with a tub filled to the brim with coal black water. Sort of reminded me of pictures I’d seen of the Khmer Rouge torture chambers. Needless to say, this was not what I was looking forward to. My only other option was camping and fortunately the forest service rented me a pup tent (for $1.75). I actually got a nice night's rest in a pine forest next to a Hmong town (the mountainside is populated by Hmong). The next morning I decided not to go to the summit and cruised down (reaching speeds of 75 kph) and then continued south through Hot (what a dump) and then Doi Tao. Neither place had a hotel or guesthouse and I was getting pretty desperate. Finally I found a grungy monastery and stopped in and just sat there until a monk came out. I asked if I could stay the night and he (along with the three other monks who lived there) agreed. So I got to sleep in one of the monks huts.
The monk who met me (his name is Phra Panuphong Poopak) spoke a few words of English and we spent several hours sort of carrying on a conversation. It was more frustrating than illuminating. I’d have preferred that they just go about their everyday life while I could sit in the corner observing. A lot of the local people came by to visit the monastery while I was there. There was even a teenage girl who seemed to be flirting with the monk and stayed around him for about an hour. He joked with her but didn't seem to flirt back. I got to wash my clothes with the monks detergent (they use Fab). One of the monks was a chain smoker and another spit regularly and was constantly adjusting the robes under his crotch – must have been a baseball player. It was fun.
The next morning I was off before 6:00 and after about 100 kilometers I finally came to a town that had a hotel (Thoene). It was a weird place, a junction on the main highway to Bangkok. The highway was like I-5 with three lanes going in each direction and exit ramps just like a freeway. The only difference was that there was about one car passing every two or three minutes. Unfortunately, this town did not have internet and I was feeling lonely and deprived not being able to communicate.
When you get out of the tourist area it is really incredible how difficult it is to communicate. In other places we have traveled we could always write things out or look it up in a dictionary. Not here. The alphabet is nearly incomprehensible. When I try to compare a name on a roadsign with my map I literally have to study it for two or three minutes.
This morning I got up and after a tough 3 kilometer climb out of Thoene I had a pleasant ride into Sawankhalok where I got a hotel and, after about 1/2 hour of searching, found this internet cafe. There are a lot of famous ruins in this area (it was the capitol of Thailand several hundred years ago) and I might do a bit of touristing tomorrow. Anyway, I really felt kind of lonely the past few days. I think I have gotten addicted to our internet interaction. It feels good to be able to communicate again. I also got a bunch of other e-mails today, and that was nice.
June 21
I took a short day today and went to Sukhothai, which is really the first tourist type town I've been to since Chiangmai. The internet costs $1.50 an hour here instead of the $0.50 I'm used to. I went out to visit the ruins (which are about 15 kilometers from town) and they were pretty impressive although I more enjoyed the fact that they had made the grounds into a delightful park with several ponds lakes and shady trees. It was really pleasant just to sit under a tree and relax for awhile. I also have a pretty nice room in a place where the staff speaks English and there are other foreigners staying.
I had a tough night yesterday in Thoene. First, when I went out to get supper from one of the sidewalk vendors I got caught in a monsoon rain. It rained with an almost unbelievable intensity for about 25 minutes. I had to run across the street to get under shelter and every inch of my body was completely soaked by that 5 second run. After the rain let up the water was about 2 inches deep in the street and there were waterfalls pouring on to the street from gutters on the roofs (these gutters stuck out about 10 feet from the roofs). There was also an enormous thunderclap which actually caused my ears to ring - it must have been directly overhead. All in all, this was a pretty exciting event.
After I got back to my hotel room and changed clothes I went into the bathroom and managed to smash my head on the door frame. This particular door opening was about 5 feet 8 inches high, but you had to step up 6 inches to enter the room – in other words it seemed like it was sadistically designed to smash heads (this is not the first of such door entrances I’ve come across in Thailand – the rationale for the undersized doors is beyond me, but it must be religious or traditional). I’d already had a couple of minor bumps on this door, but this time I was almost knocked unconscious. Anyway, while I was fuming about my throbbing head, I started to think that the air conditioning was poisoning me. It smelled funny and the room was like a cave. So, I ended up sleeping poorly.
I have been eating pineapple now that I am starting to see it for sale by vendors alongside the road. The other day I stopped and ate a whole pineapple that weighed at least 5 pounds just like we ate watermelon when we were in Turkey.
June 21
I am now in a town called Sukhothai which is a bit touristy. I've been in the sticks for the past few days and so did not have access to the internet (I'd actually been on line most days since I've been in Thailand - this place is really wired). I didn't take your advice for my birthday and get drunk. Instead I decided to bicycle up Doi Ithanon, the highest point in Thailand at more than 8,000 feet - BIG MISTAKE - I made it up the national park at about the 6,000 foot level and then absolutely bonked. Fortunately, I was able to rent a tent from the park service up there and I camped in a beautiful pine forest. The next morning, rather than climb the remaining 2,000 feet, I just coasted down (at nearly 50 mph!) and eventually worked my way back to the flat lands. The following night I stayed at a Buddhist monastery because there were no hotels or guest houses (I knew that that was a fallback measure and it worked - I just stopped and waited until a monk showed up and then let him know I needed to sleep. He let me stay in his hut).
As far as my diet is concerned I generally ask for khao kaeng (rice with curry). I've never gotten the same thing twice. I always get rice with some kind of meat and vegetables and a hot sauce of some sort. It's actually quite tasty. I also get noodle soup, which I like better than the rice. The broth is excellent, with a number of spices added to make it wonderfully hot – it makes your face feel like it is on fire. The only food I have found that I do not like is their fried rice. It is much greasier than the kind we are used to and I am not going to eat it anymore. Some of the restaurants that have English menus sell "American Fried Rice" so I guess it really is different.
I had a really weird night. First I met this New Zealand couple named Bill and Carol and we had a really nice talk for about 3 hours (I really needed some conversation badly). I drank a couple of beers and got a bit woozy and then had a lot of trouble falling asleep. I think I told you that my room did not have air conditioning, but had a fan. Anyway, by 2 a.m. I was feeling almost suffocated by the heat. I took one of the towels (a big beach towel) and soaked it in cold water, then after wringing out some of the water, I used it as a blanket. After about 20 minutes I started to cool off and was able to take it off and fall asleep for a couple of hours. Can you imagine doing something like that in Seattle? I then woke at 5:30 and rode the flat 80 kilometers to Kamphaeng Phet, a good sized town of about 30,000. It had a nice hotel with rooms for only $12 (and a swimming pool) but they wouldn't let me bring the bike anywhere in the hotel, or even park it in a safe covered area besides the front door. I would have had to just leave it in the parking lot. I couldn't leave Junior out in the elements like that and so they lost my business. I found another hotel with a room for more money ($15) but it does have air conditioning and tv.
On my ride today it rained (for the first time while I was cycling). It was just a light rain like in Seattle, but it sure cooled things down. It was my first really cool riding day of the entire trip - I don't think the temperature has ever dropped below 75 degrees, except when I was way up in Doi Ithanon. This town didn't have an internet cafe, but there was a business college and when I went in they said I could use one of their computers for 50 baht an hour. That was nice
Tomorrow I have a long ride to a town called Nakhon Sawon. My guidebook said it is known for not being very friendly because it's mostly Chinese. I don't care as long as it has some hotels, which it does. And also I think it is big enough to have something like a Pizza Hut - I am getting a little overdosed on Thai food and need a break.
June 25
I don't have any suggestions for Thai food. All I do is point. I've asked for Khao Kaeng (rice with curry) about 5 times and every time I get something different. I don't think I've gotten any curry yet. There's a soup with Tom in it that tastes pretty good. Personally, my favorites are the noodle soups. You eat the noodles with chopsticks - this is the only time you are allowed to eat Thai food with chop sticks. RICE MUST BE EATEN WITH A SPOON. You keep the fork in the left hand to swat away the flies. If Bob, Janis or Claire break these rules I will know about it.
I am now in the town called U Thai Thani. I was here about 3 weeks ago and decided to stop here again because it was a nice hotel and the bar run by the American from Houston. I'll stop by the bar right after I send out this e-mail. I really had to push myself today to get here because it was a ride of 173 kilometers. It was completely flat and the scenery pretty nondescript. About half of it was through rural populated areas where there was a house about every 50 yards or so and there were people everywhere. It was a bit like Africa with everybody shouting "hello'. The other half was through mostly big rice fields and palm trees.
In two days I will be at the Kanchanaburi (the River Kwai town) and then am thinking of heading up into the mountains and going west toward Burma. I understand there is a very nice national park and I might like to spend a little time there. Even though the mountains are hard cycling I think I prefer it to beach front riding. After the national park I do intend to head south of Bangkok along theeast coast. The New Zealanders I met the other day told me about some islands that sound fantastic (Ko Sumei). I don't know if I'll get that far south in my remaining time, but I might. I am planning to ride south until I run out of time and then take a train back to Bangkok.
June 27
I did remember to take my Malaria pills today. I had a very difficult ride today of 138 kilometers because there just happens to be a gap in places to stay in this area and I had no choice unless I wanted to stay in a monastery. There was also a headwind and the scenery was flat and nondescript so it was a real "mindgames" day. Sometimes I even admire my own willpower when it comes to doing things like this. Today was almost like getting on a stationary bike and riding it for 138 kilometers without stopping.
When I did make it Suphan Buri I headed right to the big fancy hotel to see what they would offer me (the guidebooks said rooms started at $35). They offered me a room for $18 so I took it. I am really going high style. People open the door for me everywhere I go. Once I settled in I headed for the mega-mall I saw on the outskirts of town. I took a tuk-tuk (one of the motorized bicycles with a carrier in the rear) to get there - my first tuk-tuk ride. I was so wasted last night that when I went to the bar I ordered a meal of egg salad, potato salad and french fries - three things I have been craving. The potato salad was hot and had been cooked - it was, by far, the most delicious potato salad I have ever tasted. I didn't talk all that much to the bar owner as I was pretty tired and he was focused on a movie. I suspect that his bar gets about 2 customers a week. The Thais are probably intimidated by it.
When I walked back to my hotel room from the bar I had dogs growling at me the whole way back to the hotel (the same thing happened last time I was in this town). I was pissed and almost pepper-sprayed one of them. There were dozens of people walking around but the dogs all picked me out - it's incredible how they know I don't belong. Feeling a bit paranoid the past couple of days. Remember how, in Africa, women used to laugh at us when we rode by. Here, the girls laugh at me when I just walk down the street (in my fancy clothes yet). Not good for the ego. At the mall today there must have been a thousand people. I was the only non-Thai in the whole place. Kids wondered by to gawk. It is probably a combination of blonde hair and beard, but who knows. Anyway I must be quite a geek in these people's eyes.
I have a fancy room for the night and there is a big swimming pool if I want to go swimming. As far as Burma is concerned, I will not be getting that close to the border. I am going into a national park that is probably 50 miles from the border. The malaria problem with the Burmese border comes from the fact that there are a lot of refugees settled near there and they have a malaria problem. In fact, I changed my route slightly when I read in the Bangkok Times that there was a malaria outbreak in the town called Tak (because of a Burmese refugee settlement there). You can probably find it on the map because it is a pretty big town. I don't intend to do any more long days of cycling. I am going to try to limit myself to 80 or 90 kilometers, which will get me to the next town before noon. It is cooler now so the afternoon cycling is not as bad as it was a few weeks ago, but it still is not a lot of fun dealing with the heat.