Na Haeo to Bang Khok

This morning was really fresh, it often happens when we are close to the mountains, sometimes at night it's even cold, probably because we are use to stand 35 degrees during the day, so when it drops to 20, it feels like it's freezing! Fortunately we had a warm cup of coffee brought to our doorstep, which often happens at resorts in Thailand.     We rolled back into town and bought some rice for our usual "rice and banana snack" after 30 km of cycling; and then left a bit worried, if what we had was enough calories, to keep us going through the hills.

The mountain is waiting for us!

We rode through some villages and flat land at first, it was almost as if the landscape wanted us to forget about the mountains ahead...All of a sudden we noticed a pickup truck on the side of the road, with a lot of plastic bags hanging from it. Local people and flies where surrounding it, giving the impression something very much needed was sold there!

The very well appreciated market pick up

Once close to it, we found out it was a rolling market, passing from town to town selling veggies, and not so great looking meat and fish -that's what the flies where on to! I guess this is the way to keep fed all these small villages that has no markets.

The locals wondered what business two like us had to do there, but once they saw we knew what it was about, they started pushing their products.

It really saved our day, we got a big bag of veggies, well as big as you can fit on a bike, and got two meals out of it.

There it was at km 20, the wall was waiting for us, it was hard to get to the top but for some reason , maybe the good experience from earlier on, we got on it and got rewarded with an amazing view and a sign telling us we where on a pass 1115m high. (hard to believe once i biked 4 time as high as that  with my good friend now home with a flat tire ;) all my love dude).

The 4 km downhill that came afterwards where pleasant too, after the experience, the rest of the day seamed like nothing.

We got to the village of Romklao, another nothing, and pushed through to the botanical garden, where we knew we could camp.

To get up there tough, we had some crazy steep 2 km to go, which we were not ready for, but once on top another surprise: toilet, showers and even Internet!

Camping at the botanical garden, what a luxury

The day after, we finally had some luck with the hills starting with a long descent, which brought us to a police checkpoint on a intersection, i noticed a boiler under a roof and told Stine, we may get some water out of the cops for a warm coffee. Once we stopped, we realised the place was actually a tourist stop where coffee was available for free and from the pictures on the wall, other cyclist passed by and camped there.

The intersection, free coffee and accommodation, only happens outside the western world

Our new friend, a cop , who would have ever said!

The cop in charge was really excited and took lots of pictures, could tell he loved it, exchanged some words and let us rest a bit. We both thought that the next time we come through,  we'll skip the camping uphill and go straight for this place!

From here on we biked through a long stretch of beautiful, green jungle, passing  waterfalls and having great view of Phu Soi Dao, a big mountain in a national park overlooking the area. This is one of the very few places in Thailand, where tigers can still be found and riding around it, i was  glad it got turned into a national park because once out of there, not a tree is left standing.

Instead pineapple plantations rule the landscape between one village and another. Lunch time was getting close and once again a pickup shop saved the day.

Phu Soi Dao waterfall provides another amazing camp spot...just mind the tigers...

Some jungle riding pictures

Cooking under a bus stop, we noticed some people taking something down from a tree, using a long bamboo stick. It was a red ants nest, a great construction, the size of a coconut made of leafs somehow glued together, something you would say a bird made.

Once on the ground, it was laid on a tray and let to rest for a while, until the angry ants had left in panic, i felt like the bite of this insect was pretty painful and the distance those people where taking from it, confirmed my fears, i guess a whole nest can seriously injure you!

Finally the ants abandoned their house and by shaking the nest, a woman was getting larva out of it, it looked like spelt grains, i often seen it sold in markets, but i would never have guessed what it really was!

What an emotions packed day! Now we only had some few km left before getting to our first "big town" in a while. We heard this place was bigger than other villages we previously passed and people loved to remark, "it even has a supermarket!".