Picture Post 2

The pictures on this post have been taken along the stretch from Nan to the Laos border where we had to go to renew our visa.

Stine speeding fast down one of the many hills to Santisuk.

Thai way of re-pave the road: first you smash everything up for  50 km, 

then, when the mud is wet and loose you start putting new asphalt on, great riding!!

My hand model holding one of our favourite snacks we have as a second breakfast.

Consist in sticky rice, red beans and coconut milk stuffed inside a bamboo stick then roasted on fire, seriously yummy!,  as you can see.

Right after rice my hand model had a bowl of noodles, no, just kidding, this is later on, at lunch time, waiting for the rain to pass. All bus stops looks the same.
On the back ground our new friends that loves us so much, from the left: scaby, bone sack and starvy . 

A great cycling day, a small secondary road with no traffic and clouds in the sky keeping the temperature...decent,  is the perfect combination to get to our destination.

Reached Pua, a little town with a massive cross road in the middle.

Beautiful views from there

The temple in Thung Chang.

We took some days off in the nice town of Thung Chang to ride up to the Laos border and renew our visa, this picture was taken at our first stop 

The border was "only" 100 km away so we though: "we just bike up there , get the stamp and  ride back,  will be home by                  two o'clock!"

It turned out to be a hell of a ride, I was glad we had no load on the bikes. We went  over 3  hard hills beside the  normal uphill!

Turned out to be a whole day mission, after 7 hours on the saddle we made it back.
So we decided to take the next day off too, hanging out and drinking coffee with Marco the  owner of the resort we stayed at.

The day after we took our revenge over the hills by renting a scooter and go visiting some caves and Hmong villages (one of the tribes living in the area).
Same story, the engine could barely make it up hill and after four ours driving we turned back.

But the scenery was really worth it!

Picture post!

This is the kind of sign you want to see after a long climb. 

Approaching Sirikit dam

The floating restaurant at the end of the road where we waited for the ferry

We arrived at lunch time at the restaurant and thought we might as well get a meal here rather than cooking ourselves. The owner said there wouldn't be a ferry crossing til 2 o clock so we decided to eat there -how pricey can a fried rice n veggie be? We watched several ferries going back and forward, mostly empty the way we were heading, thinking it was a bit odd..By 1 o click we had finished our dinner and suddenly there was a ferry waiting for us. We quickly paid the man, turned out the fried veggies (which we actually had brought ourselves), cost us 200 baht!! What a scam, but guess a man has a living to make when you live on the wrong side of the dam. 

One of many ferries passing by while we ate.

Water caravan.

Local "delicacies", caught in that brown water you see behind, also the place where they washed our veggies and the toilet flushed..good thing they give a spank to the frying!

The right side of the dam -this is where the magic happens, had we only knew..

Burning hot under the sun.

Damn you dam!!

Finally some downhill, going through the hills..

20 km outside Nan, the road turned wide and very busy, something we're not used to anymore.

aaarrrgggghhhhh!

Miki's new high performance purchase.

My home made tire patch, stuffed inside my old tire, actually lasted pretty good.

Went sightseeing in Nan with our friend Jin. This is at a Temple some 40 km north of town, it's an old weavers house where the local women made the traditional clothes from the area.

The Gong -for good luck.

Our friend Jin.

Eating at the night market. You pick up food from the stalls and sit down at the end of the market in front of a stage, where local kids perform all sorts of stuff.

Amazing old house in Nan.

Coffee time! One of many.

The story continues..

Sorry, we know, we've been lazy with the posting lately! Actually we've been busy sweating our asses of crossing the mountains in Nan, Phayao and Chiang Rai district. It's been a crazy ride and it's been some of the toughest we did so far, maybe except those nasty climbs outside Na Haeo..We finally made it to Chaing Rai, after a few days on the bike, a small stop in Tung Chang to make a visa run for Laos and doing some sightseeing in Nan province and a 5 days non-stop biking through some amazing landscape and small hilltribe villages. We're both amazed to find such places still existing in Thailand, who would have thought after spending so many winters in the more touristy parts of Thailand. I feel much more attracted to this country than ever before, though driving through these great places, makes it hard to return to the bigger cities again, surrounded by other tourists and all the nasty that goes with it -people who've been here, you know what we mean!!

Well back to the story of our crazy adventures. After some sickness days in Nam Pad, it was hard to get back on the bike, not cause i didn't feel like it, more cause my body kept on saying NOOO..well i guess i should have listen, cause that first day back on the road was hell! Fuck!! After 10 km it started going up and up and more up. I wasn't ready at all and really struggling with no energy inside of me, as if my legs just couldn't do it. I never felt like that before, so i was pretty freaked out. Mikele also didn't feel so well, so when a dude stopped to offer us a lift,just as i was taking a break going up a steep never ending hill, we said yes. I always thought it was weird when cyclist took rides with trucks, but now i fully understand -it was great!

crossing the sirikit dam with the small ferry -if you can call two long tail boats tied together with some wood and pulled by a third boat, for a ferry.

 Not sure at all i would have been able to get up that mountain by myself. Later on, after some more ups and downs, we faced another steep long hill in the mid heat. Again i felt like shit, cursing myself for doing such a ridiculous thing as a bike trip in the mountains of Thailand in the baking sun! I mean how stupid can you be? Then came the downhill and the landscape unfolded in front of us -amazing view! I was still pretty smashed though and when we faced another steep long uphill, i stopped the first pick up truck and asked for a lift into town -no problem, people are so super friendly down here, i mean, how often would a thing like that happen at home? In town i waited about an hour at the local shop before mikele came flying down the hill. They sure don't see many tourist in that place and it felt like the whole village came down to have a look at the strange falang with tattoos and metal in her face. It was nice though, doing some small-talking with the bit of thai i speak and the bit of english the different locals spoke and an hour passed by real quick. At night, laying in the tent, camping at the local police station  (yeah, who would have thought that would ever happen,haha), full from yet another amazing home cooked meal and a bucket shower from the station, i was sooooo relieved that the mountains where behind us and the next day would be a fairly easy 85 km to Nan.

Nan was great, second time I'm there, first time with my good friend who's now at home being a mom (i miss you!!), so i already knew where to go and how to find my way around..We ended up staying for 5 nights, meet so many nice people and had a great time chilling around, drinking coffee and planning our next move.
Well, when we finally got back on the bike it felt great and i was feeling so much better than the last time. There's a direct road going north out of Nan to the border of Laos, but we decided to do the more scenic one, going by smaller roads through the hilly parts of the area. (Look at the map to get an overview)

our friend Jin, also happen to be the owner of the most amazing veggie spot in Nan

First stop was Pua, a small town on the main road heading further north, about 70 km by the road we did. We couldn't find any journals on crazy guy on a bike about this specific  area and after our hell day of crossing the sirikit dam, we weren't sure what to expect. It turned out to be an amazing ride, what a day! I was all ecstatic when we made it to town, you know, one of those days where you can just keep on going and being on your bicycle feels like just the right thing to be doing! really days like these is why we do this shit, no?!

Phua in the morning, just before hitting the road.

We read that there was suppose to be a really nice place in Tung Chang, which was only 35 km or so from Pua..what to do? we only just started biking and didn't really feel like such a short day on the bike. we decided to have a slow morning, drinking coffee and catching up on some writing, by 10 we were on the road..we took some smaller detours, but around lunch we couldn't stretch it longer..only 44 km..fuck..well, let's check out the place anyway. We followed the signs down a small street and there it was, it was like a dream (well not really, but pretty close to) what a place, set in a valley with the views of the mountains. i immediately though, i wanna stay! And so we did.

we just arrived and look at the mess!

The owners, a thai/italian couple were super friendly and after a chat with Marco about the road to the border, we decided to stay for the night, leaving our shit there, race to the border, get the fucking stamp and rush back to our nice bungalow..well, guess we should have known better..no way a trip through the mountains down here will be a smooth going. fucking hell, some crazy ass ups and downs and the thought of having to go back the same way we came almost killed me! Some of them where so steep that even without the load, i had to stop several times, holding the breaks hard for the bike to not slide, what a struggle. well we made it, 106 km and some waiting at the border + 7 hours of cycling i was ready to go to bed at 8!
The plan was to leave next morning and everything was ready and packed, we just needed to have one coffee before..we ended up chatting with Marco for a couples of hours and suddenly it was 11.30! What the hell, let's stay another day, rent a scooter and head up some of the mountains to check out the local hill tribes and some caves, so we did. It was such a nice stay we had and i deffo wanna go back, maybe stay a bit longer and spent some more time in the area. so many beautiful and interesting things to see and no other tourists while we were there -just the way we like it.
The morning after, we politely turned down a morning coffee with Marco, very well knowing how it could turn out and really, we both wanted to get back on the road, exited to do a route through some more mountains. next stop, Ban Pha Lak.

from Thung Chang-Ban Pha Lak, after climbing up for 2 hours..deffo worth the effort.

another picture from the top, we know, you've seen this before, but it's still pretty nice,eh?!

between Song Kwai and Ban Pha Lak

cleaning our bedroom at the hospital, ban pha lak.