It’s election day here in Thailand and I feel very much a part of it. I’ve ridden past hundreds of election signs unfortunately oblivious to the context of the battle or the policies of the candidates.
Yesterday, in the centre of Nakhon Ratchasima, we found ourselves in the middle of some electioneering. The candidate and his supporters arrived on the back of a ute and while the main guy went to pray, his offsider started a speech to the supporters. It’s a very different approach to back home.
And today we passed a number of polling stations along our route. Interestingly, there’s a nationwide alcohol ban from 6pm yesterday until 6pm today. I guess a sober elector is a good elector, but tourists can’t buy alcohol either.
As well as election day, it started out as absent-minded-John day. I felt like I misplaced everything I needed while packing up Consequently, I was late, pressed the wrong buttons on the bike computer and generally faffed around.
It was satisfyingly cooler today but we had a headwind for most of the day, so I guess it evened out. This is my fourth day of riding for this trip and I’m pleased with how it’s going, as I hadn’t been riding much before I left. In fact, the purpose of doing this section through Thailand was to get some kms into my legs before the hills happen in Vietnam.
We chose Phimai as the destination, er … I chose it. I simply love old temple ruins such as those at Angkor Wat, Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, so there was no way that I was going to miss this.
And I’m pleased we came here too. The Phimai Historical Park is great. It’s small, but the temples are well looked after, and they’re almost in the centre of town.
Then, at the end of election day, at 6pm, the alcohol curfew was lifted and we enjoyed a beer and some dinner (bought from the markets) by the lake.
I doubt the next few days will be as interesting.
Nice start to the trip. It looks like you’re settling into the groove nicely. How long until you hit Vietnam?