Another chapter closes today. I've ridden solo for the past 18 days going through Laos and Thailand covering about 2500km altogether. This actually ranks up there on the "crazy things I have done" scale, so I'm pretty chuffed about it. It'll be a two bike adventure from tomorrow onwards as I ride with Husref the next couple of weeks or so. (to the relief of me mum of course.)
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| A good guidebook |
The last night in Chiang Mai before shooting off I had the pleasure of meeting Pat and Sheonagh in Chiang Mai. Two gutsy ladies going around the world on 2 bikes. They spent 3 months in Malaysia and absolutely loved it. You can read their stories here.
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| Sho and Pat |
After quite a bit of riding in Thailand I must say their infrastructure as far as roads go is just top notch. Honestly I do think many of the roads here make little or no economic sense judging by the traffic but I'm just glad they did it. It's all numbered as well so just grab a map and plot your route by the numbered roads
It's about 380kms from Chiang Mai to Nan and I headed out to Phayao so that I can take the famous 1148 from there to Nan. Phayao is a good place to have your lunch break as there's plenty of restaurants near the lake. I had a fried rice with chicken and when it was time to pay I got a shock when he tells me it's 25baht. I'm like, what? you gotta be kidding? a full on meal for US80cents? brilliant! Usually, this is when my brain goes into the "hmmmm i could live here" mode...haha
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| man made lake in 1939 |
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| blue bike+blue restaurant=cheap fried rice with chicken no less. |
Now having done all the way from Chiang Mai to Loei via Nan, I can safely say, it's a bikers heaven. The road is just well paved and smooth, there's a bit of road works or cracks here and there, but nowhere near to stopping you enjoying the rest of it. Any type of bikes will appreciate either the road or the view or in many instances both. You have so many options to take as the road forks here and there just to get to where you're heading. Traffic is extremely light in these parts as well.
I actually took the wrong way to Loei and spent an hour back tracking and totally loved it cause the road was just too good. Fast left and right sweeps taken at a leisurely 80 to 100km and your only regret would be that it's ended, but soon enough you get onto another set of sweeps and it starts all over again. The 1026 and 1268 into Loei are roads that I would do over and over again, that's how good it was.
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| check out the road |
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| I kid you not about the traffic |
When I reached Loei I met Chris, another biker in the hotel who came in from Nong Khai, and we're just exchanging stories about the roads we've been through. I echo his sentiments that sometimes you just want to stop every 5 minutes to take pictures but at that rate we're just never getting there.
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| Chris from London |
So after Vietnam, what's it like traveling alone? In short, I'd have to say it's been brilliant. I met and made friends with so many people with common interest that it's just unbelievable. Many roads that I took had literally no traffic on it, so it was just me. That's when it does occur to me that if anything was to happen to me here, No 1, nobody would know, No 2, I'm royally screwed. So I'm grateful to God that it all went smooth for me. You can be amazingly flexible with your schedule, ride when I want to, stop when I want to and so forth. There are other challenges as well but I shall not bore you with details. I'd just like to say that I would definitely like to do this again.
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| My company for the past 18 days |
Fuel Consumption
1. Chiang Mai 360km 460baht 13.3liters
2. Phayao 158km 225baht 6.5liters
3. Nan 240.5km 420baht 11.18liters
4. Na Muen 156km 225baht 6.51liters
5. Phu Rua (just b4 Loei) 267km 330baht 9.71liters
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