Sunday 14th Feb
Firstly, happy Valentine ‘s day to Ann, my long suffering wife, who agreed to let me come on this trip away from home for 16 days xx When I called her at 08:30 UK time she was decidedly frosty.. boiler had locked out and no hot water and she thought I had forgotten V day! 1hr later the flowers and chocs I had ordered got delivered and all was well 🙂
We left Chiang Rai at 9am to ride the last 280kms to Chiang Mai..through the twistes in the mountains again. As we left CR we stopped at the “White Temple”.. Unusual as they are all golden here.. Would be rude not to do one temple while we are here ..
We soon got to the mountains and more great roads, up and down with corners of all sorts.. and a few potholes and diesel spills to keep us honest! Coffee stop right up in the hills, great scenery.. ideal for a Sunday ride.
As we decended the mountain the temperature rose.. now in 30s, thankfully the next 80 odd kms was fairly straight and we could keep a good pace, the wind helped to cool us. We stopped about 50 kms from CM for a snack, piece of cranberry pie and cappucinno as a change from noodle soup 🙂
We were ready for the last lap into CM and ready to fight with the swarming Sunday traffic..it was HOT.. high 30’s. We seemed to catch every red light, now we have the heat from the engine and the sun..getting sweaty. Each get away from the lights is like a Moto GP start..we always win the drag race but then the locals catch up and are so good at weaving in and out of the traffic. Finally we arrived at Tony’s Big Bikes and changed into our day clothes..the ride is over.. 3500kms behind us of great riding and new experiences daily…but the Adventure is not over yet, we still have 2 nights in CM:)
We checked in at our hotel, actually a guest house.. very friendly, laid back and run by a Thai lady who likes a drink and is often hung over next morning ( I know this as I stayed here last year)
That night we went to watch a Muay Thai boxing match.. beer was served by a rough looking ladyboy. The fighters were small wirey guys, not an ounce of fat on them, the smell of Sloans liniment hung heavy in the air.. they went at each other hammer and tongs and most fights were stopped by KO. And so to bed we went and the chance to take it easy the next day.. maybe another temple..
