Riding Through a One Song Town

November 24, 2022

Kamphaeng Phet to Kosamphi

The Mai Yai Resort offers a free buffet breakfast which starts at 7AM. We've been setting out to ride an hour before that but today it was very cloudy and a bit cooler so we certainly didn't want to miss the buffet breakfast. We knew how good it would be because we have been at Mai Yai Resort two mornings.

This offering of breakfasts included in the price of the room is kind of a new thing with guest houses in Thailand. I know the more expensive hotels have been doing it for years but now it seems some of the lower priced guest houses are also offering free breakfasts. We ALWAYS got a breakfast included with our room in Burma but they were mostly quite spartan but still a nice gesture and the Burmese tea alone made us never miss a breakfast. Some were great too. It's nice to see Thailand getting into the action now. It must be driven by competition.

Anyway, we loved the breakfast at Mai Yai this morning. There were three different offerings of Thai dishes, rice, as many fried eggs as you wanted (and I will say that the eggs in Thailand are the best I've ever had anywhere), toast, marmalade, and six different kinds of coffee with unlimited refills. Everything was unlimited so knowing that we would be riding today I pulled out my hollow leg and started filling it. You see, one of the Thai dishes was my favorite with long beans, ground pork and lots of hot chilis. Oh, and there was a bowl of extra chili and garlic slices swimming in fish sauce which I always deplete too. Simply put, it was a Bruce Heaven Breakfast.

So, our room cost $13.75 (beautiful room too) but we ate and drank that much each morning. In fact, today we had no desire to eat any lunch OR dinner because we were so full.

We got going an hour and a half late but it didn't matter one bit. We had another ideal little road right along the Ping River. It’s only a mile or so parallel to the super highway which means it is the least vehicle’d road we’ve had yet. Most of the time we had the road all to ourselves. It was an easy day with only 23 miles to the only guest house for miles. Rain threatened but we laughed at it. It has been in the forecast for days but nothing ever comes down. This time it did start raining but only for about four minutes. We ducked under an overhang and didn’t get wet. Then we were dry all the way to our guest house. Once inside our room the skies opened up. We feel lucky we have escaped rain with most of it coming at night. I have a raincoat but Andrea does not. It’s still hot so getting drenched would not be that much of a problem and might be enjoyable.

I love the old teak buildings that haven't ever been painted. In some small towns there are lots of them still.

Where we took refuge for a four minute rain.

We crossed lots of these little tributaries to the Ping River.

I've been trying to take photos that describe how we feel we are riding through living rooms. Everything is quite open to the street and life goes on right out in the street.

People don't think twice about taking over the shoulder of the road to grill some chicken sate.

No idea what either of these vines are but they are gorgeous.

This roadside shrine was filled with small statues all quite neatly arranged. The drinks are offerings not just garbage that was piled there.

Thailand must be one of the best places in the world to grow desert rose plants because they are everywhere. This one is particularly spectacular.

You never know what you will see along the roads.

Sand extraction from the river is a huge on-going operation in Thailand which could have disastrous environmental consequences if too much sand is removed.

We had one section of the road where it went to dirt briefly. The tall grasses with their beautiful seed heads leaned in and made the road half its width which made it even more enjoyable.

A new, bright green, rice crop is looking good in the distance.

We are finally encountering slight hills which means we are getting to the north of Thailand.

I’ve mentioned how people we have encounters with just start speaking in Thai without a thought that we might not understand them. When this happens we know we are somewhere far out in the countryside. Another indication we are way out there is if we enter a small village and there are loud speakers on power poles spaced about 100 meters apart all the way through the main part of the town and if we are lucky there will be music blasting from them. There could be announcements too but we would always rather have music.

Today we entered such a place and the music was nice but the same song played over and over as we rode slowly through. You may have heard of a one horse town, well, this was a one song town. There was almost no one around either. Maybe they were so tired of the song that they were all inside with pillows over their ears. It wasn’t a bad song but now that we have arrived at our destination bungalow and have had our showers that song won’t leave our heads. We heard it too many times! Maybe we rode too slowly through the village.

Our guest house is called the Kiang Nam Ping Resort . Everything is called ‘Resort’ in Thailand now. Guest house is out - Resort in. So odd how things change in Asia but when they do it is quick and across the board. No one wants to be different or left in the past. I guess maybe resort sounds more desirable nowadays. I’m fine with either name, I just think it’s funny how things change. The “love hotels” always called themselves resorts, or at least most of them. But now everything is switching to resort.

Our little bungalow at the Kiang Nam Ping Resort. $12.

Every place we stay the towels are made into yet another design.

Anyway, our resort is right next to the Ping River which is beautiful. The Ping is very full and running fast but it’s not as full as it was a month ago. It looks like this resort lost some of its little sitting area to the river recently. It also seems as though things have changed at this resort. We’re pretty sure they used to have a restaurant but when I asked about food I was told there was a place 1.8 kilometers down the road. There is a big sign advertising their coffee too but there is no evidence that will be happening. We think Covid really changed places like this. The bungalows are all super nice and quite new but things must have been rough during Covid. I think they are waiting to see how many people come to stay here before they start offering a lot of extras like food and coffee.

With the clouds and rain today the temperature stayed a bit cooler and we really enjoyed that change on our ride. We were able to be more relaxed and do more videoing, photographing flowers and general lallygagging. Our next stop, Tak, is 25 more miles and we feel strong enough now to have done the whole thing in one day but that would have left no room for lallygagging. Lallygagging is where it's at. There is no rush. Plus, we would have gotten really drenched, which although not that big a deal, it might have been a bit more dangerous. We both feel much stronger and more in the groove to take on this bike trip now. We feel the worst of the heat is over and if it keeps raining the smoke situation will be kept at bay. It’s unusual to rain this time of year but if it rains mostly at night I’m all for it. Things were never really looking down but now they are definitely looking up.

Either there is something wrong with the clock in our bungalow or there is something wrong with the time/space continuum. We found numbers stuck to the floor.

lovebruce

Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 301 miles (484 km)

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Jen RahnLollygagging is definitely where it's at!

And that clock is simply demonstrating the futility of the time/space continuum .. because all we have is Now.
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2 years ago

Bruce LellmanTo Jen RahnYes, this clock basically describes our trip. There are days when I really have to think about what day of the week it is and once I remember I wonder why it matters.
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2 years ago

Kristen ArnimGlad you are getting your groove! Just no inappropriate grooving at temples okay?
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2 years ago

Ron SuchanekYou didn't mention what song was playing repeatedly, but be glad it wasn't "Carry On My Wayward Son" or something by Huey Lewis. So there's that to be thankful for.
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2 years ago

Ron SuchanekTo Ron SuchanekOr Dust in the Wind! 🤮
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2 years ago