Today promised to be the hardest day since I crossed the Malaysia / Thailand border. There was a 10km, 450m climb after about 20kms, and my best friend, Komoot said that there were about 5 sections of 10% and over. That just means pain for me, as I’m not a climber.
I visited 7-11 on the way, and stocked up on water and snacks. I love their Banana cupcakes which are small muffins. Then I headed up to the main road, and got a big wave from my restaurant friends from yesterday.
Today was fantastic. The scenery changed immediately. There were terraced rice paddies, and trees that cast shadows over the road, and then there was that one hill.
It was much easier than expected and the traffic was very courteous to this slow moving old sod on his touring bike.The hill was over before I knew it, and I sped down the other side yelping with joy. It was great. I saw a coffee place, couldn’t stop in time, but went back and boy was it worth it.
Got the daily dose of Pad Kapao Moo Kao Dao – very nice, and the best Flat White of the trip so far. It was superb, I told the lady and thanked her profusely.
She asked about my trip and where I was heading.Then she said something that a number of Thais have mentioned. She said – ‘Welcome to Thailand, you’ll find that people here are happy’. It’s true, but it’s part of the national conciousness that they are happy – and that is a wonderful thing.
I felt as though I’d done all of the hard work for the day (I had), but still had 30kms to go, and there looked like there was some rain ahead.The run into Lampang was easy and I headed to the river area where the Riverside Guesthouse was (where else).
This is a wonderful old guesthouse consisting of three traditional Lanna Houses with all of the creaky boards and atmosphere that you’d expect.
I wandered around town looking at some of the other old wooden houses that have stood the test of time. They weren’t restored nor were they tourist sites or museums, but were still being used. I was also surprised about wandering around in the middle of the day. Maybe I’m getting used to the climate. Still sweat like a pig though.
I spent some time in the nice outdoor dining area with a beer and this blog doing some planning which hasn’t been a strong point of this trip and still isn’t.
Dinner was at a bustling local restaurant around the corner then a good night’s sleep at the Riverside.
Part of the meal