Arriving in Sri Sawat

After a good night sleep and our usual breakfast consisting of mango, banana and sticky rice with soy milk, we were ready to hit the road. The first 10 km was a nice, flat road, riding through shady big trees, something you wouldn't normally see down here and with the fresh morning air, it almost seemed like being back home. We had no clue what was ahead of us that day. From looking at google map, it  seemed like we had to cross a few mountain parts to get up to the dam, but after some days with mostly flat land, we were both exited to do some pushing again..And so we did! First uphill started straight after the turn of to Sri Sawat.

Great start of the day, riding on a shady road.

Seven kilometers going up, but we were both feeling good and energetic and for once, it was a doable uphill (not like those typical steep once they like to build down here) and we reached the top pretty fast. We enjoyed the downhill with a beautifully view of the valleys and mountains surrounding us and the place really gave me the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. After some rolling kilometers we reached the first "village", if you can call the five houses with a small shop in the middle for a village, and sat down to have a small break and a refreshing drink. Bet they don't see many farang around here, especially not on bicycles, cause there was some serious starring competition going on. We finished our drink and went back on the road.

A few land slide along the deserted road.

Firs stretch of the climb was pretty easy, only 8% steepness...

...Then continuing, still 8%...

...And finally an earned 8% downhill...

...After some kilometers we realised:
the sign where either part of a very well planned engineering job...
or maybe just a bit random

We knew that we had one more uphill to do but had no clue how long or steep it would be, on the other hand, we had already encountered some pretty pretty nasty uphills in these four months, so how bad could it be?? Well i guess there can always be another "hardest one so far" as long as you are on the road and this one turned out to be that one. By far the hardest on this trip, at least for me. It was getting close to 11 when we started going up, luckily most parts of the road was shady and the beginning was quit enjoyable. The road was in a good condition and all surrounded by nature and no cars,people or houses, we felt like being all alone in the world -was a nice feeling, just us and the mountain. That feeling stayed for some kilometers, but after five or so i started to be tired and the uphill didn't seem to end anytime soon, on the other hand, it can be hard to tell when the road twists and turns around the mountain and makes you think: "around the next corner must be the top", but no, far from, it just kept on going up and up and then a bit more up..The road got more steep the further up we got and the heat had really kicked in, no need to say, i was struggling! How long could this stupid uphill continue for??

Ten kilometres up hill riding
through jungle and mountains,
great!!!

Ten kilometers to be exact, fucking hell, what an uphill! Towards the end I was so smashed, totally wrecked, every part of me was in pain and for a few steep parts Miki had to help me push the bike, felt like i had no energy left in my body. I had my first breakdown (and the only one) on this trip, in the middle of nowhere on the way up the never ending road..Finally, after hours and what felt like days, we reached the top and was granted with an amazing view of the valley and the dam and the best part: a 12 km downhill!!

On the top of the hill a small shrine... 

...Did we make it or died trying???

 Never felt that a downhill was so well-earned! Once down in the valley, we rolled along for some kilometers before we found a spot to cook our lunch, once again, way past lunch time. I started feeling pretty bad, headache and pain in my whole body, guess i was just totally smashed after a very demanding day on the bike and with another twenty kilometres to go before hitting Sri Sawat, i caught a lift with a pickup truck, while Mikele did the stretch by bike. Sri Sawat was a very weird town, just government buildings, a hospital, two restaurants and a police station, really much not alive compared to all the villages we passed earlier in the day but it had to do for the night.
By 18.45 the tent was up at the local police station and after eating, we went straight to bed, both exhausted, it was 20.30! What a day!

The last twenty kilometres to town a constant, tiring up and down.

Floating accommodation at the dam

Stine, the last person left on earth, what is she gonna eat??!!

And the sun goes finally down.

The road to nowhere

Heading south , our next point of interest was to visit the two dams in central western Thailand in the region of Kanchanaburi.

To get there we kept on following the usual road further west on our map, doing so we biked across two rather interesting and desolated regions: Uthai Thani and Suphanburi.

Not much going on in there for sure, just the heat wave staying with us those extra days (that seemed to last forever). We followed one regional road after the other 1117, 1072, 3504, 3456, 3438, and so on, trying to keep as east a possible. Every 50 kilometres a new intersection and the only chance to get some supplies or snacks, since there's barely anything along the road. These intersections are often turn offs to national parks wich explain the abundance of shops -people stock up before getting to the park. Unfortunately for us, visiting them wasn't an option, they where all on a dead end road, sometimes up in the mountains, and too far from the main road for a one night stop.

Dusty intersection along the way, many of them!

Some shoots of the road to nowhere, pretty desolated
 but still beautifully.

So called "house truck".

A couple of days we had to push some extra kilometres to find accommodation some others we just camped at police stations because nothing else could be found. Tree days passed and no sign of a market, fortunately every evening we encountered a village fair but couldn't really rely on it to be at our next stop every night. Started to eat "pad pak" (fried vegetables) at road stop along the way, its faster and easier than cooking our self but the portions are seriously small to fill you after a day on the bike! Some may say, there is a limit to how much of it you can eat, often being the only vegetarian option, but for me there is actually no limit if i need to fill up!

Eventually, one morning, we reached town of Ban Rai which, for some reason, was very well alive. First we hit the market of course, the feeling of having a choice about our meals once again was great, we got a shake and some snacks and sat around for a while watching the quiet town life passing by.

Its nice to take it easy once in a while, but couldn't wait around all morning or the heat would get to us, so we finished our snacks and took one last stopped at a petrol station to buy some ice to put in our bottles, in an attempt to keep the water cold as long as possible, it has the tendency to turn into piss pretty fast down here! 

Finally arriving at town of Ban Rai where we got welcome with  flags!!!

Finally bananas, shakes and sticky rice, luxury!!!

A knocked down sing is welcoming us on the nasty 4031.

Cycling some kilometres out of town we where looking for a tiny secondary road pointed on the map, a little Gray line zig zaging on the paper, we could guess it meant we had some mountains to do, but these kind of roads are usually the best to ride on, being quiet and crossing beautiful landscapes. 

Yes, it surprised us i must say...got at the turn off and the road was just a dirt track! We didn't know what to do and though that it could turn out to be funny to see where and in wich conditions it would take us. Going on for a few kilometres it turned steep and pretty much unreadable right away, the wheels where skidding on the loose surface and the many holes weren't gonna do any good to them too.

After the first hair pin turn a cloud of smoke was covering the path, it was a Forrest fire. The air was thick and since we were forced to push the bikes, we didn't exactly have the speed to go through it fast, so we had to leave them behind and run through it to have an idea if the track was passable or we had to give up and turn back.

And the fun begins...

Pushing through the smoke, 

Fortunately the smoke cloud was only a few meters long and going over another turn, the wind brought it in another direction,so we quickly pushed the bikes over and kept on going, still no cycling though...

Pushing on the loose surface....

After 3 kilometres more, at least, we hit a down hill and shortly after that, the sealed road once again -it was a relief for our bones with the smooth feeling of the asphalt. Soon we started encountering villages again and riding up and down again trough the hills. Lunch time was very well past and we lied down exhausted and crashed under the first shade until four o clock. The plan was to ride 15 km more that day and camp at a police station in a lost village, but once there we found out that accommodation was 20 km further down the road in our direction and the thought of a real shower and a bed gave the extra push to get there. We even got rewarded with the usual town fair, third day in a row, we really felt lucky and after a day where it seemed like we never stopped, finally we went to bed. 

And finally on the top!

All you get out of outdoor life is dirty feet and black stuff in your lungs, great!

But it was all worth, especially when you know that
at the end of the line a shower is waiting for you.

The heat wave

Superman is dead!!!
One of Thailand very crude accidents preventions advertising found along the roads,
at least in this one there is no blood or badly amputated bodies.

central market in Chiang Mai.

Religious statues sold at the market, could spend hours looking at your perfect idol.

After waisting some days in Chiang Mai, doing basically nothing except eating and being on the Internet in our big room at a dodgy hotel, outside the city wall, we where seriously in need to hit the road again.
From here on we didn't really have a plan, facing the hills of the northern loop wasn't an option (though i would have loved it), so we decided to take the first road east of the mountains going south, still trying to avoid the highway as much as possible. The planning came pretty easy, we just lay the map out and pointed at it "this one!", it's also the only one there is!

Giant laying down Buddha on the hills. 

The road to Hot being renovated since a year now...

I passed by last year and it was the same dusty busy hell.

Leaving Chiang Mai felt right and certainly very comfortable, we woke up, panniers ready and just ("just" in bicycle touring vocabulary means walking down at least two floors of steps, with all your gear hanging from you, more loaded than a camel, just not to face the stairs again.) walked out the door in the direction of our favourite vegetarian spot for a noodle soup. Cycling out of town is always the same thrill in big cities, it always takes some hours before the endless houses stops and you get the feeling of being in the countryside again.

Boiling room at the hotel in Hot.

The market in Hot.

Having breakfast before departure.

The destination for the day was a town called "Hot", the most appropriate spot to ride to, since a heat wave from the south was approaching and the temperatures where gonna rise up to 45 degrees. It made the next days and especially the next nights  a steaming bath to go through. During the day we tried to start earlier than usual (never happened), and made our lunch breaks longer to avoid the unbearable sun, dripping sweat while trying to take a nap at the bus stop after our meal. During the nights, sleeping in the tent was close to impossible, no oxygen came through the mosquito net and at the police station where we stayed, the cops even insisted we stayed inside under the roof. The building was releasing heat!

Air con room tonight!!!!
In your face global warming!!!

"Yok", rice soup for breakfast.

And this is how you eat it, lift it with the spoon
and put it in your mouth, easy!

Temple gate on the way to Li

A great 15 km downhill!!!!

Our daily banana shot.

Camping under a boiling roof at the police station,
some cops even brought us  cakes for breakfast

The highlight of this days a 15 km downhill, very pleasant and unexpected from Hot to Li.
When we made it to the city of Tak, the wave was suppose to be ending, but it didn't, it stayed with us all the way through to Kamphaeng Phet, where we took a day off to visit the ruins of an old city of the Siamese empire. We basically didn't go out during the day, tried to do most of the things early in the morning and hiding during the sun hours. Not being on the bike made the heat even harder to stand, at least cycling through the whole day gives the body a reason to stand the high temperature and you experience it growing for the whole day, but sitting in a air con room, which we don't normally do, but in this heat was a must,  and walking back out into the open, is a serious slap in the face!

Lost in small country side roads.

Our best friend: the mile stone.

Having a delicious coffee at a small stall on the road,
waiting for the King to pass by.

Oh no! River's panoramic! Not again!
No worries, this is the Pin river the only view you will get of it.

Stine, fighting hard against the heat.

My first flat tyre!!!
On my new front wheel.

Riding along the Ping river, from nice village roads...

To dirt madness!!!

Riding into Kampaeng Peth we bump right into a "Vegetalion" restaurant.

Some of the ruins of the ancient city of Kampaeng Phet.

Spent hours riding around!!!

Great truth about sugar, that's why i feel so good down here!!!
Nothing comes without it.

Typical Thai posing...

Chinese temple