NORTH THAI HILLS TO MEKONG

UPDATE SHOULD BE COMPLETED SOON - I HOPE. Until then here are some pictures for you to look at. I cycled away from Pattaya (Jomtien) on 10 September 2018, perhaps for the final time. I skirted Bangkok city to the East, and chose the central route - out of a possible 3 routes heading North towards Laos (this is the only one of the 3 routes which I had not cycled previously). Initially the road was a rather busy highway over rolling hills. But, as I progressed Northwards this route eventually turned into a winding, hilly climb, towards the Thai Highlands. The most elevated region where I cycled was the area around PhuRua. It was quite cold in the highlands, with regular chilly rain. At one small temple where I stayed, the monks even had a HOT SHOWER in their bathroom!

In the Northern Highlands at Huai Lat (close to PhuRua) I camped at a watt which had the largest and most fancy temple building I have seen. It is huge, and a modern version of a traditional Budhist temple. In fact, the whole watt complex is more like a village than a temple. The Manager had workers clean up an under cover parking spot for me to camp, and I was invited to a luxurious breakfast the following morning (breakfast for the staff - monks eat elsewhere). The brass statues a few pics below, are inside the temple building. They also have counters inside the temple where Budhist paraphernalia is on sale. The bathrooms were great, even hot showers.

Overnight facilities at the temples can vary. Usually I camp on a covered verandah, sometimes inside or under the "sala" where the monks eat and pray and chant. On more than one occasion I was offered an empty monk house where I could lay my bedding out on the floor.

From the highlands of PhuRua I dropped down steeply to Loei. I was not looking forward to the 50 km stretch from PhuRua to Loei, as the GPS map showed this to be an extremely curvy road (meaning serious uphill). To my pleasant surprise I found that the road was indeed full of sharp curves, but it was all downhill to Loei. From there I carried on North to the Mekong at Chiang Kham town. I had not been to this part of the Mekong river before. I followed the river East for a few days before crossing to Laos from Nong Khai in Thailand, and then on to Vientiane (once again).

Distances cycled since leaving Pattaya (SE Thailand) on 10 September are as follows:- Bang Saen 66 km; Phanom Sarakham 74 km; Nakhon Nayok 72 km; Saraburi 79 km; Lam Narai 75 km; Bueng Sam Phan 83 km; Lom Sak 102 km; Hill Watt 69 km; Huai Lat 57 km; Chiang Khan 85 km; Pak Mang 61 km; Tha Kathin 77 km; Salakhamtai (Laos) 74 km; and Vientiane 24 km. Total to this point is 164 749 km (exactly 1000 km since leaving Pattaya).

It is unusual to see a "Fat Budha" in Thailand. The Budha above is more of a Chinese version of The Budha.

THE LANDING

OK then, hello all of you who thought that perhaps I was a "Gonner"!. After 8000 km, a broken arm, ravenous dog bite, mountains and plenty of rain, I am back in Pattaya Thailand, from where I cycled off about 4 months ago. As usual it was a wonderful experience, but also included visa problems and bike problems, and stomach problems (as usual). My total touring distance so far is 163 749 km. While I was busy updating this blog my computer HD packed up, and it has since been replaced at a substantial cost. Info unrecoverable, but luckily I had backup for most. I have dated the previous 5 posts to the day on which that phase ended (mostly with land border crossings to the next stage / country).