Under the Blessing Tree

January 10, 2020

Nakhon Phanom to That Phanom

Dear little friends,

The only thing standing between us and an early start to avoid the heat was the breakfast provided by the BHIVE Resort. You’d stay too, for a beautiful Vietnamese phở. Noodle soups are perfect cycling food, you get a lot of salty liquid, some protein, some noodle carbs, and fresh herbs to put a sparkle in your eye and happiness in your pedaling.

The bikes are ready to go but first we have to eat.

There was also toast.

White bread toast doesn’t have a lot of appeal to me but then again, the smell of toast in the toaster does and also the little pats of butter and jam when you’re missing home. So I made toast but it was too light. Bruce set the toaster to a darker setting and then fished the toast out before it got too dark and while I was enjoying my perfect toast with pats of butter and jam a Buddhist nun used the Bruce-adjusted toaster and burned her toast and tossed it into the trash.

Nothing is pure, not even the joy in breakfast, and I think it’s wise to keep that in mind while traveling that you will get an alloy of joy and waste that should make you think about your place on that spectrum.

Today’s route was pretty much pure Highway 212 and so best to set to as soon as the bowls were emptied. The sunshine has been bright and intense and I cover as much of my skin as I can including a ghostly mask of zinc sunscreen and a bandanna on my head to absorb the sweat that rolls down my face every single day of riding. I smile at somebody and the sweat misting my face collects in the smile wrinkles and rolls like tears, probably confusing the recipient of my smile. I look like a freak.

A graffiti-ed house along the highway. While the swastika is a traditional symbol in Hindu and Buddhist iconography, I’m not certain this is an example of that.

Local produce, turnips, squash, honey, etc.

After a few stops for water and for Bruce to take beautiful photos that I will surely appreciate later even though my inaudible impatient sighing is probably a subtle deterrent that fortunately does not seem to impact him, thank goodness, we really got going and were determined to make some miles. But then we stopped again.

We pass so many schools every single day, they all have a huge front clearing big enough for soccer fields and other sporting events or assemblies and in the back will be a two-story building with airy porches and open windows and the hum and buzz of children, and there are always a few stray kids idling outside on their way to the hong nam. I’ll bet we pass 20 schools a day. But this one had enormous trees, the blessing trees that I described two days ago. Enormous. And at their base, a stage set up, a bunch of motorbikes parked indicating the presence of parents, kids on plastic chairs, and on stage a group of beautiful children in traditional clothes dancing a routine to Isaan music.

Hell yeah we’re going to stop.

We realized it was National Children’s Day, a big big deal in Thailand. The kids practice dance routines for weeks and all are involved. They thank their teachers and parents and show pride and appreciation for their opportunities. And to have this lovely tableaux set under the magnificent blessing tree made me tear up.

So we rolled shyly down and parked the bikes so we could take a few photos and video footage of the festivities. We did this five years ago and the same thing happened, immediately somebody from the school approached us and invited us to the VIP seating with all the sponsors and village dignitaries, they in neat clothing and we in our sweaty cycling outfits with zinc sunscreen mask freak faces. It’s awkward but an honor and we try to carry ourselves well. Once we are seated there will be no leaving until the program adjourns. Dishes of snacks and glasses of ice water were placed in front of us. The snacks were delicious and the water much appreciated. The tree shaded us all.

These are some of the largest blessing trees I’ve ever seen and to have two of them on the school campus is amazing. The kids play on the gnarled roots like the best playground ever.

Pretty darn cute. The massive tree trunk stands behind.

The two adults here are staff at the school and speak English. She invited us to join the audience and facilitated our enjoyment. Truly wonderful people and generous to the pop-in visitors. They love their students.

After their dance this group played a balloon game.

After each group performed one of the dignitaries would award them with a huge bag of crap snacks and eventually it was our turn. The announcer called us up on the stage, explained that we were bicycling around Thailand and translated our remarks about gratitude and enjoyment of the dancing. Meanwhile the little kids were racing around eating their crap snacks and lining up for lunch, and we were able to make our escape after posing for a few selfies. It was a blast.

Some little siblings discovered the snacks left for visiting dignitaries.

I like to leave early. I like to finish early when day after day the highs are in the mid-90s. It is hard for me to put the brakes on for worthy stops and experiences because the heat is getting harder and harder for me every day. And I must confess, I’m starting to feel troubled that I am far away from my own children even though of course they are not children anymore. One just bought a house, one is pregnant with twins, and I’m very much removed from their lives right now. Usually that is not much of an issue but on this trip it has been and seems to get stronger every day.

The blessing trees shade the kids of Thailand running around with their candies and chips in their dance outfits and I adore the scene but feel removed from it by something in my heart that is getting louder.

The last time we were in That Phanom the entire center of town was getting repaved and it was ghastly dusty and sort of a frumpy old town. Now that work is done, the town seems fresher and more fun, and we found a cute little homestay place near the river with cats and flowers and a nice family running the place. We brought our tray food to the porch and ate while watching the cats play in a huge tree that was in a ball rootstock in the back of a pickup parked in the lot of the homestay. They used the tree to climb into a tree that held alarmed birds, hid from each other and then pounced, took naps under the burlap, it was like the biggest cat toy ever, and all for them.

Bruce’s bike poses with a tray of drying chiles at the market.

Bruce then came out of the store and took a photo of the drying chiles just as I predicted he would.

A block away on the river, the full moon shimmered on the Mekong and behind us the evening star pointed us west. Tiny gnats buzzed and crawled on us in the dark so we didn’t dally there among all the people eating and drinking iced beer or warming up at the karaoke bar. But That Phanom was a nice surprise for us, not the tired dusty place we had remembered. The karaoke wasn’t close enough to keep us awake, just muffled and out of tune and then it must have ended but not before I did.

Today's ride: 31 miles (50 km)
Total: 1,040 miles (1,674 km)

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Scott AndersonAudible, impatient sighs! Must be a universal sound. We hear it here in the desert as well.
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4 years ago

Rachael AndersonTo Scott AndersonActually he hears it from me unless I’ve gone ahead.
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4 years ago

Jacquie GaudetMy problem is that I'm the slower rider, in addition to being the photographer. I don't hear the sighs because they are way ahead...
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4 years ago