Day 9 Bike: Pushing for a Rest

July 15, 2023

Ing Phu Resort (Dan Sai) to Phetchabun

I had been going nonstop since Vang Vieng and the long hard days at the desk were taking their toll. It was time for a much needed rest and I booked a resort hotel on Agoda with a swimming pool at the next largest town to force myself to get there.

A late start at Amazon Coffee. Didn't get going until past 10am

As usual keeping up the healthy food with coins at 7/11

Yes they sure did suck. The starting gradient was well over 12% and it gradually eased off, but the whole thing went on for well over 10km. It was excruciating. What kept me going was knowing this would be the last major hill pass, and really so.

Found a shop midway up the hill and got water plus the electrolytes to make a killer good drink

It was well past noon by the time I got to the top of the hill and I was already exhausted and famished. At this rate there was no way I would make it to my pre-booked resort by dark. Or so I thought.

Then the descent was so steep it wore out my brakes and I could hear squealing all the way down the initial 2km. The bike needs serious maintenance at the first available opportunity. What happened is the brakes got worn out from the dirt road in Laos with the constant steep ups and downs as well as avoiding all the rough spots. That road really ate my bike to pieces.

Once past the initial steepness, the road here turned into a thunder run. By this I mean it was well over 30km of flying downhill through a valley with a twist and turn type of road. The gradient wasn't steep at all and this was an epic joy to cycle on.

When things eventually flattened out I stopped for the famous chicken on a stick

Not to stop for chicken on a stick is a felony. I made sure to enjoy a half order of this plus spicy salad and sticky rice. It cost 140 baht and used up the remaining part of my daily coin mini-budget but it was totally worth it. Since the coins had run out, I couldn't be bothered with taking apart the panniers and fishing for more, so I resorted to finding an ATM.

Once I begrudglingly did that, I realized that from now on all the stuff I bought would need to add up to even amounts in order to minimize the coin change.

So the first thing I did was break the 1000 baht bill with exactly a 40 baht purchase. This left a bunch of 20 baht bills in change. Then I would look for items that rounded off in 20 baht increments. At one point I bought a water for 7 baht with a 20, so that meant I had 13 baht in change. This in turn meant the next items I bought at 7/11 had to add up to 33 baht, and I was able to look around to find stuff for that.

It sounds like mental torture and it is indeed extreme, but you need to understand the reasons for doing this: if you just buy things willy nilly with whatever bills you have, then you'll end up with a pile of baht change. That will accumulate like no tomorrow. Then you'll be in the exact same predicament that I started with and the one I trying to solve with this trip.

After that point it turned into a semi-motorway the whole way to Phetchabun and there was nothing scenic to look at, nothing inspiring, just flatlands and farms. So it became what is common to do on Thai roads like this: hammer out distances. That I did and was soon rocking along well over 20 km/h the entire rest of the way there. That is of course with a few more stops thrown in.

Looking back the way I came. This was the junction of north-south highway 21 I was on, and other other major east-west highway 12

Found an interesting T-shirt at a gas station stop

Eventually I did make it to the resort and was blown away by what was there. For only $30 a night they had upgraded me to the room with a balcony view. I couldn't believe this, for my budget I had not expected anything like this at all. Staying two nights would definitely be a good call, as I need a catchup day after the whirlwind last week.

With all that cycling there was no time to attend to all other manner of business, and the backlog of emails and chat messages was staggering. This was becoming a colossal problem. How was the future idea of a digital detox going to get off the ground if, on a trial run like this it becomes nearly impossible to put away the social media? Even the simple action of reading a book becomes a challenge with all these devices.

The swimming pool, surely it's better in the day

After the much needed rest day, I figured it would make sense to aim for Chachoengsao and then reassess the situation. That is a midway town between Bangkok and Pattaya as well I'm trying to get in touch with some Thai contacts who live there and were most helpful last trip in sorting out my condo. They know people who know people living in Pattaya, and any leads to help sell this condo are appreciated.

The problem is that they are all on Whatsapp, and that phone got destroyed with the tubing in Vang Vieng so there's no way to pull up my old contacts. Facebook wasn't helping get in touch with them either. Love it or hate it, social media is everything when it comes to stuff like this. Personally I hate it because all your accounts are tied to that one device and if something should happen to it you're basically hooped.

Today's ride: 116 km (72 miles)
Total: 1,089 km (676 miles)

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