March 21, 2016
Sukhothai to near Si Satchanalai
We left Gardenhouse at about five to six this morning. Still pretty dark and at least half an hour before sunrise.
Music had been blaring from the night market area a few hundred meters away since about 4am so any noise we made leaving the guesthouse wouldn't have made any difference.
We stopped for an enormous bowl of spicy minced pork and rice - definitely the best breakfast we had had on the road so far.
We had chosen a back road so the traffic was mostly quite light. The route was flat, it was cool (relatively speaking 30 degrees C is certainly cool compared to 40) and the light wind was mostly from the side. All in all, a very stress-free ride which meant we were at Sakthong Resort, about 6 kilometers from Si Satchanalai at about a quarter to ten.
So early, in fact, that it is still cool enough to sit on the balcony of our little cottage while I type up this report.
Sakthong is a resort which I guess is aimed mostly at local tourists. It is about 2km away from any built up areas (I think the local village is called Tha Chai) and nestles between some farms and a forested hill that looks like a nature reserve. We're spending 2 nights here so we can visit the Si Satchanalai Historical Park tomorrow.
We had lunch at a local eatery about halfway to Tha Chai - the most amazing kuaytiaw (noodle soup) with pork and whole lot more.
After an afternoon nap, we cycled down to Tha Chai to find some supper. On the way we bumped in a young fellow who works at the historical park who had seen us at lunch and wanted to show us where he lived (about 100m from where we met him) and while we were there, the owner of our resort arrived and suggested we eat at a restuarant down a small side street that leads to some farms. We took her advice and had a lovely, relaxing meal. We will probably end up there again tomorrow night because it is the closest place to Sakthong that we can eat.
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It has been very interesting travelling in SE Asia during the dry season. The two times we have been here have been in June and July whne the rains have already started. At the moment there seems to be a lot of preparation for the rains by the cleaning of dams and canals. The view from our dinner table tonight shows a very dry dam being cleaned.
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 515 km (320 miles)
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