- Jan 19 - Monday - We left Bangkok for Ayutthaya after picking up our passports from the Myanmar embassy on Monday afternoon. We had to take a train that had a cargo car attached so we didn't leave until about 7pm. The 2 hour journey cost us less than a dollar for each train ticket, but the bikes were much more expensive at 3 bucks each.
- Ayutthaya to Ang Thong (Jan 20 - Tuesday): Left late morning after a delicious meal at a vegetarian restaurant (mapped it on Happy Cow app) on our way out of town. Decided to start out slow and take it easy since we overdid it the first day on our last bike trip. Liesa ran over a thumbtack and got the first flat of the trip. The gas station where we patched it was super nice (big clean bathrooms)! Took route 309, which might have turned into 311 at some point. Stopped in Ang Thong and found the big peach colored Ang Thong Hotel - price was 400B for a room with A/C (also there is no sign in English, so it would have been hard for us to find if we hadn't asked where it was).
- Ang Thong to Sing Buri (Jan 21 - Wednesday): Got on the road at 8 am this morning with our next stop in Sing Buri. Followed 311 the whole way, except there were also smaller paths next to the road on the other side of the ravine that we tried out for a few miles. The problem we found with these small paths is that there's a much greater chance you'll encounter a territorial dog or two that gives chase! Also, they can sometimes veer off and go who knows where. Met another cyclist on the road (Fillip from Belgium) and rode with him for the last part of our ride. It was a short ride and we made it to town early so we checked into our hotel, got some lunch, and walked around the town. He gave us some really good advice on finding towns with hotels: Every province has a city with the same name, and these cities will always have at least one hotel. First time eats for us were grilled bananas (just ok, nothing special) and some sort of desert tacos (pretty tasty - sweet shell with sweet coconut cream and choice of 3 toppings: shredded pineapple, shredded raisins, or egg). Today we decided to budget our speding by using a new method: adding 1000 Baht to the spending portion of our wallet each day (about $30 USD), and only using the money from there. If we have money left over, it stays in the spending portion of the wallet - we can use the excess in the more expensive areas, or just to splurge on something every once in a while.
- Sing Buri to Uthai Thani (Jan 22 - Thursday): Left town before 7 since we had a long ride ahead of us. Our route started out on 311 and rode into town on 3183. Stopped for breakfast at a nice gas station with a 7-11 and made some Thai style ramen noodles and instant coffee. No vegetarian lunch spots on the way so we waited until getting to UT for a meal. It was about double the distance we did the previous 2 days, and by the time we got to Uthai Thani, my legs were tired and Liesa's stomach wasn't feeling right. Filip went on to Nakhon Sawan so that he could have a better ride the next day distance wise. We checked in at the only hotel we saw (kawasaki green and grey building) and got a decent room for 300B +40B for spotty but fast internet if it connected. Dinner was at the nearby japanese restaurant, along with a stop at the fruit stand and local 7-11. Noticed a huge increase in the number of pickup trucks in this area and I'm not sure why.
- Uthai Thani to Nakon Sawan: Today was a psuedo rest day, only going 25 miles or so. Took roads 3220 to 3005. Stayed at P.A, Place hotel - it was 450B and rooms had a nice flatscreen TV and A/C. Unfortunately we didn't plan in advance and missed the only vegetarian restaurant in town before it closed (found it on google/four square with verry little info except address - what we do know is that it closes by 3:00). We went on the search for food - rode through a big city park and tried a shopping plaza - not much luck. Ended up getting some awesome salads from a salad cart outside the park, along with some random junk food from the shopping plaza.
- Nakon Sawan to Kamphaeng Phet (79 miles!): Today was the longest distance in one day on a bike for either of us so far. Suprisingly, we made it wothout our legs giving up completely towards the end. We took 177 north for about 5 miles out of the city, then to 1084 the whole way (with a shortcut through one of the towns). If I were to do it again, I would take 1182 on the south side of the river for the first part of the journey, in order to (hopefully) avoid the large sugarcane processing facilities and the hundreds of related trucks on the north side of the river (all loaded to the brim and travelling as fast as they can down the road). Checked into Three J guesthouse (300B). It's so nice that we decided to stay 2 nights here.
- Kampaeng Phet to Tak (Monday Jan 26th): Route 3002 to 104 in order to avoid the major highways. Stayed at the Suansin Hotel (400 Baht - free toast/coffee/juice breakfast) which is on the right before you get to the major highways at Tak.
- Tak to Mae Sot (Tues Jan 27): We're lucky we left early - this section took us almost all day! There's only one route possible through this area and it's up and over the mountains. We read it was going to be hilly, but didn't expect to be in the mountains the majority of the day. The roads just kept going uphill, turn after turn. It was steep enough that some of the trucks were going the sasme speed as us at some points. There were typically 2 lanes in the uphill direction to provide room for passing, so when the lane drops back down to one you think you are near the top of the mountain - it's a tease, there are miles of uphill left. After one of the police checkpoints we stopped at the food place on the left and had the guy make us up a really nice veggie and rice/noodle dish with coconut milk. It was the best meal ever after making it over the first mountain. He even came over with a coconut with a straw in it and offered it to me. It's like he read my mind and knew exactly what I wanted at that moment. The scenery is nice, but all the uphull sections start to look the same as you are pedalling up the hills in the granny gear and not getting anywhere. Fortunately the last 8 miles or so are almost all downhill for a welcome break. Liesa was getting mad at me for not complaining on the second big mountain when we would go downhill for a little while and then immediatelly have to climb again for a much longer distance. It was nearly impossible to tell whether you were at the top of the mountain. We were really glad to have found a guesthouse (Mea Sot Guesthouse - 200 Baht) and some delicous vegan food at the Borderline Tea place when we got to Mae Sot. Although we were saying we wished we just took a bus and skipped this section of the ride, there was a huge feeling of accomplishment for having ridden our loaded bicycles through the most difficult ride we've ever attempted.
- next stop: somewhere in Myanmar!
Joe has decided to stop updating. He is "too busy."
