December 25, 2022
Thoeng to Chiang Kham
After we ate our standard mango, banana, muesli, soy milk breakfast which is anything but standard because it's so delicious, we lingered in and around our room until we could Facetime with Andrea's two kids and three grandkids. It was Christmas breakfast time for us, Christmas Eve dinner for them and they had all gathered in one house to celebrate. We didn't want to be on the road at the time. It worked out perfectly because we were planning only a 20 mile ride. It was fun to see everyone but certainly not the same as being with them, especially when we are in such a different culture and the disconnect we inevitably feel from our own culture.
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When we did get going (9AM) we were on a large, four-lane highway, very unusual for us. It was cloudy, there was a bit of a headwind which made it feel a bit chilly even! - a first for this trip. There was nothing much to stop for, the road was really boring, the headwind got old real fast and I felt I was getting a bit chilled. There were very few vehicles on the road due to it being Sunday which apparently has become a day the Thais have really embraced as a day to not go anywhere and if they own a business to not open them. It's an amazing change for a society from a few years ago. But there were a few road workers. The highway seemed very new and the road workers we saw were doing the finishing touches like hand painting some curbs along with some cement touchup work. Andrea wondered if they were maybe getting overtime pay for working on Christmas. I told her Christmas definitely didn't enter the equation and I doubted they would be paid extra for working on Sunday either. They were most likely told to work on Sunday because that is the day with the least amount of traffic and they could accomplish more.
It really was the most boring ride of the trip so far. We didn't stop for anything because there wasn't anything to stop for. Wait, I did stop to take a photo of large elephant statues making up a gate to a temple. That was unique. But I didn't even get off my bike to take the photo so it doesn't count as stopping. And, oh yeah, there was a guy running a large corn harvester in a field which I photographed as well.
Then we entered Chiang Kham which neither of us had ever been to. We hadn't discussed where we might stay so we pulled over to discuss it but then saw a coffee shop across the street which seemed like a much better place to discuss things. Although I was immediately skeptical of a place named Mr. Popeye Cafe, we braved it. We ordered coffee, of course, and then sat down to discuss things in the funky, old, wooden furniture scattered around a large two-room area that made up Mr. Popeye Cafe.
American country music played constantly and the decor of the place was rustic, American Western. After a while of looking closely at the Google map of Chiang Kham streets, hotels and restaurants and discussing which of the places to choose we became disoriented because of the music. I think the disorientation really took hold about in the middle of a Willie Nelson song - Always on my Mind - and staying at the Suk Sabai Guest House didn't make sense anymore and I found myself searching for a Motel 6 or even the upstairs of a saloon. The pad Thai Restaurant on the corner of Tantaram Soi 5 and Charoenrat Road fuzzed in my brain and became a Hardee's on Western Avenue and Ponderosa Drive. What's going on here! Where am I? Isn't this Laredo?
And I guess I never told you
I'm so happy that you're mine
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
When you were always on my mind
You were always on my mind.
We had to get out of the Mr. Popeye Cafe. It was driving us nuts. The coffee, too, was little better than cowboy coffee. The whole experience kind of went with the blah day, so there's that; cohesiveness.
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We had accomplished one thing at Mr. Popeye, we had decided to stay the night at Suk Sabai Guest House, sight unseen. As we were looking at the route to the guest house we noticed a khao soi restaurant nearby and it was high noon which is already getting late for khao soi. It was called Khao Soi Heaven! With a name like that we had to go check it out. Andrea suggested finding Suk Sabai Guest House first so we could dump our stuff there. I was shocked that she would suggest such a thing. Khao soi is a brunch sort of meal. It's a special thing and they often run out early. Khao soi doesn't wait. Yes, on the map it said the restaurant closed at 5 but it was Sunday and there was no way they would still have any khao soi left at 5. We have seen other khao soi restaurants run out and on a Sunday, no way. So, we extracted ourselves from the disorienting American country music and got out of Mr. Popeye's cafe.
When we got to Khao Soi Heaven two huge khao soi pots were empty and the third one was tipped at a 45 degree angle, meaning there was precious little khao soi left in that last pot. We did get some but before we were done slurping they did in fact run out of khao soi. It was some of the best khao soi yet. It's really hard to rate them all but this one would definitely be in the top four. This was the tenth time we have had khao soi on this trip. That is by far a record for a trip of ours!
The interesting thing about khao soi is that it has taken Thailand by storm of late. There never used to be much khao soi. It for sure was always only in the far north of Thailand but even then it was hard to find. I knew of a couple places in Chiang Mai in the '70's and that was it. Even a few years ago it hadn't become a thing yet. I think what happened is that it became a thing in the West and boomeranged back to Thailand. Because there are now so many tourists from the West the Thais, savvy beings that they are, figured they needed to make khao soi for the tourists if that's what tourists wanted. So, now there are a dizzying array of khao soi restaurants all over Thailand. But, I will say this, every bowl of khao soi we've had has been totally its own. I think because there are so many ingredients in khao soi, each person who makes it, makes it differently. That's been the fun in trying so many. We keep saying we have had enough but then we see another one, it's noon, we know they will run out, we know how good khao soi is, and, what the heck, we are in Thailand and another bowl of khao soi would not be a bad thing. But it's not as if khao soi is always on my mind. You were always on my mind.
The Suk Sabai turned out to be mai sabai; in other words, not so great. The bed was downright awful but we thought we would be fine for one night. We are actually very adept at roughing it when it comes to hotel rooms. All we really ask for is hot water, which all Thai hotel rooms seem to have nowadays, and air conditioning, which all the rooms seem to have as well. A little refrigerator is a plus and about 90% of the rooms we've had have had one. The room at Suk Sabai was huge which meant we could easily roll our bikes inside. It had all the stuff we require. It was in an awful place, very near to a huge highway which meant we could hear trucks and other loud vehicles. We had to ride a short distance on that highway coming or going. I guess the worst part was that Suk Sabai was a lackluster, strange kind of place that felt more like we were in a truck stop than any sort of garden or a place with a view of anything even semi beautiful. It went with the day. Suk Sabai will never be on my mind once we leave.
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All in all it was a fine day actually. I'm not complaining. We had really good meals and I liked Chiang Kham a lot - it had a nice character. a nice feeling. We rode all around town and found that if you go just a block or two from the main streets it is super quiet and the neighborhoods are beautiful with older, well kept homes; like a step back in time. It was a really nice size, smallish town and fun to have discovered it. There are so many smallish towns in Thailand to discover and they are all rather beautiful in their own way. Yes, I'd have to say it was another good day in Thailand.
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lovebruce
Today's ride: 19 miles (31 km)
Total: 754 miles (1,213 km)
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