June 10
I finally hit the mountains today after almost 600 kilometers of completely flat land. It was actually very exhilarating, even though I had about a three mile climb that I had to walk most of the way. It wasn't bad - sort of like in Turkey. The countryside, once you get in the hills is teak forest jungle - really thick and lush vegetation and very pretty. Unfortunately it's not too safe to wander into because of the snakes.
I ended up doing 80 kilometers and arrived in a town (population 20,000) called Phrae. It had a Volvo dealership on the edge of town and I stopped at a 7/11 store for a slurpee before I headed into the town. The first hotel I checked was really dumpy looking so, of course, I headed to the top rated hotel where I got a rate at 50% of normal ($16). It has a huge swimming pool with a diving board so I had a nice swim before heading off into town. I had a lunch of egg and fermented pork on rice (that's not what I intended to order but I pointed to the wrong thing on the menu). So now I want some western food. There are no western fast food places here so I looked in the 7/11 and found that they sell ham, mayonaise and small loaves of breads. So that's what I am going to eat for supper. I like Thai food but it is just too much to eat it for every meal.
I should be in Chiangmai in two days. I'll probably stay there for at least 3 days to really check it out. I was told that they have great Thai cooking classes. What would you think if I took one of those? They also offer classes in Thai massage, but I don't have anybody to massage and I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable massaging a stranger. It should be interesting because everybody I have talked to really liked the town, despite the fact there are a lot of western tourists there. You see occasional caucasian men here who are obviously residents. They are usually about our age. I think Thailand is a bit of a paradise for middle aged white men because they are able to find young Thai women - and the Thai women may well be treated better by these men than they would be by Thai husbands so it works out both ways.
It is obvious that the Thais are a lot better off than the Africans in the countries we traveled in. Also, I think very few Thais would like to move to the USA. They like their country and their culture. Things seem to work well here - as evidenced by this easy access to the internet. They are not really cafes, but just have a whole string of computers, generally being used by teenagers. Very few people older than about 20 seem to use them. The computer has an English keyboard with Thai letters on top.
I am really spoiling myself with these high class hotels (they're actually better than some ritzy US hotels because you have so many people waiting on you all the time - although I don't really like that part of it). I just think I deserve it because the cycling really is hard in this heat. Even at 6:00 in the morning it is uncomfortably hot. I watched the Buddhist monks walk into town with their alms bowls this morning. The local shopkeepers all came out and gave them small plastic bags of food.
June 12
Sorry I don't always respond to your questions. It's because I read your e-mail and then I forget the questions and just type away whatever comes into my head. This time I wrote down all your questions and so here are the answers: I get my water by buying it (it costs about 30 cents for two liters at stores or stands alongside the road). Until the past couple of days I could find it literally every kilometer. Now, because the mountain areas are less populated there might be as much as 10 kilometers between places that have water. So I make sure I always am carrying at least 3 liters.
I don't know if I will ride an elephant. The idea doesn't thrill me, although tomorrow I will be passing an elephant training center and may stop in and check it out. Did you know that Thai law requires that elephants be retired and released into the wild when they reach retirement age of 61? Also, they always have a young and an old trainer because they usually outlive the older trainer.
I am feeling pretty happy. This is a fine country to bicycle in. The only problems are the heat and a language barrier which, unfortunately, is almost certainly going to prevent me from having much meaningful interaction with the Thais. Other than those problems this place is a superb place to bicycle. The number of cars that pass me varies, but generally the traffic is pretty heavy. This is not a problem because the roads are all in excellent condition and all have at least 4 feet (and usually 8 feet) of shoulder. It is really like having a bike path. Also, the cars, trucks and mopeds do not drive fast - it is unusual to see anyone driving faster than 50 mph. One thing has taken a bit of getting used to however, and that is the tendency to drive on the wrong side of the road. In fact, it is normal for a moped to pull over to the shoulder and drive against traffic for several hundred yards before making a turn. This is not a macho culture and it is a big taboo to show anger in any way. In the US, people show anger by driving at high speed. Here they don't have that problem.
Today I had an 8 kilometer climb that had a grade of about 6%. The grade is not bad, but I walked about 7 kilometers of it because, like in Turkey, it is just too goddamn hard to ride uphill when the sweat is pouring out of you.
I didn't meet anybody at the pool. Only Thais in that town - I've been the only farange (Thai word for European foreigners) in most of the towns I have stayed at. Right now, I am in a really pleasant small city called Lampang about 95 kilometers south of Chiangmai. I got a nice hotel room for $9 with air conditioning and tv (I have had tv in almost every room but have hardly watched it at all because they never show any movies and when they have an English language station it is either CNN or some stock market station. Who the hell wants to sit and spend the whole day watching people dissect the stock market? When I get to Chiangmai I am going to go to a movie just because I would like some entertainment).
Today’s ride (110 kilometers) was through rolling hills with a couple of big climbs. Most of the terrain was thick forest vegetation - very pretty. A bit like some of the tropical rain forest we saw in Australia. I passed by a little snake that had his head up in the air like he was hissing - he was green like the vegetation and I almost ran over him.