January 2, 2015
Dear Kat and Willie
Dear Kat and Willie, Wednesday, December 31, 2014 8:45PM
We hadn't intended to leave Nong Khai today, it just happened spur of the moment. We had been staying in an old wooden Thai house (turned into guest house) for two days and rather liked it. On the huge teak wood porch facing east were two nice tables outside our room. That's where we would sit in the sun to warm up in the morning with a cup of coffee and a piece of toast with jam. This is something I've never encountered at a guest house; a toaster and a loaf of whole wheat bread for the guests. It was on a little table on the porch along with the coffee and jam. A nice compliment to warming up. It gets cold at night this time of year, into the low 50's.
This morning we decided it was a nice guest house and we've always loved Nong Khai. Why leave right? So we decided to stay another day. We told the owner of the guest house we wanted to pay for one more night and he got a horrified look on his face. He had booked the place completely. Well, duh, we should have been more on the ball since it was New Year's Eve. Our fault. But it had been so mellow there that we really didn't think it was necessary to reserve the room.
No problem. We jumped on our bikes and within minutes we had biked down the promenade along the Mekong to a guest house we stayed at six years ago. They had two rooms left and we told them we'd be right back with our stuff. We threw everything into our panniers in record time, since it was all in an unorganized jumble, and then we stopped on the way to the new guest house at a noodle soup restaurant that looked especially clean and good. Then we got back on our loaded bikes and at an intersection on the main road I asked Andrea, "Wanna take a left and just head to the next town?" She thought for a few seconds and said, "Sure."
We stopped in a woods a few miles down the road and changed into our biking clothes. Four hours and a lot of headwind later we found ourselves 28 miles downstream in a nice little town called Phon Phisai. It's so fun to be free like that. Bikes offer freedom. Simple as that. They say, "Hey, I'll go anywhere you point me anytime." The wind, on the other hand, hates our freedom and fought us. It's the first day we have had any wind at all! I'm now wondering if that might be sort of normal here in Issan, flat as it is.
Then, we were looking for a place to eat in this little town. Unbelievably everything was closing early including all eating establishments. I wondered why. Restaurants sure don't close on New Year's Eve in the States. At least I don't think they do. We walked through the heart of the town and it was as if a typhoon was on its way. The town was all shuttered up. We went one block over and started to walk back on the promenade along the Mekong thinking it might be a night without dinner. But finally we found one restaurant that was open.
The big surprise was that they not only had Khao Soi but it turned out to be the best Khao Soi we've ever eaten! It's a dish specific to the Chiang Mai region so I'm not sure why it is way over here at all but it was so fantastic that I want to spend another day here just so I can go get more for lunch and maybe again for dinner. I wonder how it would be for breakfast. That is if ANYTHING is open on New Year's Day. I have no idea. It's not even 9PM and the loud music has already stopped. The town is rolled up but that's exactly what we were hoping for. We are not big on New Year's Eve celebrations, especially the drinking, Thais love an excuse to drink alcohol and I have the feeling Nong Khai is busting at the seams right about now so I'm glad we got out of there. This town fits us better.
While we were eating Khao Soi four other foreigners sat down next to us; two from Holland and two from Switzerland. All four of them had ridden their bikes from Nong Khai today! I have the distinct feeling that biking is taking the world by storm. We've met very few bikers on previous trips to Asia but this time we've met many. In fact I'd say most of the foreigners we have had conversations with have been bikers. It's just plain weird. Do we have bike tattoos somewhere that we don't know about? We will be sitting having some coffee and two foreigners will sit down next to us and we talk and eventually it comes out that they're on bikes also and have biked from Holland or Belgium or France. We met one couple who have been biking for 8.5 years!! We went to a very out of the way market and there was a guy with his bike who had biked from Wales! It's incredible how many people are now on long bike tours. It's sort of like the 100th monkey phenomenon. Suddenly the world has rediscovered the bicycle.
Chiang Khan's theme in fact is bikes. Every guest house has small folding bikes available for their guests to use around town. Every tee shirt for sale in that town has a bike on it. Chiang Khan was bike crazy. There were two rather professional looking bike shops also and we often saw Thai bikers zooming around town in their full-on bike outfits. And to top it off, WE are on bikes this time in Asia which must mean that the time for bicycles has arrived and in a big way.
Anyway, since we are meeting all of these bikers it's nice that we can say we are too. And again I want to thank the two of you for getting us off our butts, or maybe I should say out of our seats on buses and onto bike seats. I remember six years ago when we told you we might like to someday do a bike trip. I sensed that you maybe were a little skeptical, silent, but possibly skeptical. Between Andrea spearheading the whole thing and doing all the research needed and you two always encouraging us, the trip actually hatched and here we are doing it and having the time of our lives. You both have been a great inspiration for us. I feel in better shape than I have in years. I think I'm now the one who is more gung ho to get going to the next town. Now, every time we are at an intersection and just intending to go around the corner to a different guest house Andrea is going to think we are heading to the next town. But there could be worse things than freedom and she knows it.
Happy New Year you guys. Thank you for being our inspiration.
Lovebruce
Willie and Kat are our good friends living in Seattle. Kat is one of the best cooks I've ever known. Willie makes the best coffee I've ever drunk but he is quick to say, "The best coffee is the coffee someone else makes for you." Willie Weir is a columnist for Adventure Cycling Magazine. His two books will get you off your butts too. His blogs can be read here:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/category/blog/sights-and-sounds/
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Wouldn't it be cool if the 100th bicycle touring monkey could be identified and honored with a 100th Monkey Award?!
This makes me think of a conversation that Ron and I had with 2 kids at a campground in Ft. Thompson, SD. They were riding their BMX bikes and couldn't believe that we were riding our bikes across the country. We told them they could do it, too. And maybe, just maybe, someday they will...
5 years ago
5 years ago