Another day through some beautiful countryside with one big hill in the middle.
There were Wats galore along the road today. They’re all in pristine condition too.
I’ve followed Andrew Haycraft’s blog on crazyguyonabike.com and it’s been entertaining as well as extremely useful. Today, he’s heading to Chiang Dao from Tha Ton – the reverse of my ride. So we agreed to keep an eye out and hopefully meet along the way. I can’t remember the name of the town where we spotted each other, but we sat in the shade and had a chat for an hour or more. I got some good info about Laos, but it was great to finally meet this guy and thank him for the help he’s given me. He’s done lots more of this than I, and he was happy to share his experience. Gotta love the bike touring community. Thanks Andrew !
About an hour later, the Swans game started, so I plugged in the headphones and listened to the mighty Bloods thrash Collingwood … by a point. That was extra motivation, and the rest of the day’s 100+kms breezed by.
The technology to listen to the match live is great. Considering I was in northern Thailand near the Myanmar border, surrounded by hills and agriculture, the ability to have phone coverage and free access to the broadcast through the AFL app is just wonderful.
I’m appreciating the cooler weather up north. Tha Ton is a nice friendly town with some dramatic scenery beside the river. A monastery overlooks the town, and the morning gongs must mean that nobody sleeps in late here.
Dinner was at the only place open at 6:45pm. Very nice, but the highlight was the meticulously translated and handwritten English menu. Somebody had gone to a lot of trouble. The meal was wonderful as well !
I left the restaurant and it bucketed down. I didn’t have my poncho, but 7-11 had ice creams, so that won out over getting drenched. I’d hoped for the rain to stop, but after 20 or 30 minutes, I realised that 7-11 probably sold disposable poncho’s. D’oh.
I was home and dry 15 minutes later.