Lamphun to Chiang Mai: Time to hit the tourist scene

November 21, 2016

I hit the hotel restaurant for breakfast shortly after they opened at 6 am. The hotel doors were still locked, and I had to go through the terrace to get out of the hotel and into the restaurant. I had the European breakfast of fried eggs, ham, bacon, and hot dogs. There was a buffet with coffee, juice and toast to go with it. Good fuel for cycling. The Wi-Fi in the restaurant wasn't working, so after eating I went back to my room and looked after some business online, extending my debit card travel alert, which can only be done for a month at a time. I'm coming up on a month of travel!

Then I hit the road. I headed north on the road to Chiang Mai, electing to use the road suggested by maps.me, and not my Garmin. It ran parallel to the railway tracks. The shoulder was narrow and over grown, but signs kept showing indicating a bike path.

14 km of bike lane, or 14 km to the bike lane? As I pedaled on, the kilometers on these signs increased, and I couldn't quite figure out what they were telling me.

I eventually gave up on the posted bike lane, as traffic was heavy and fast and the shoulder was quite narrow. I pulled off at a crossroads where I could get across the railroad tracks, and consulted maps.me. I had stopped for less than a minute when a woman in a car stopped and asked, in English, if I needed help. I ended up following her for about a kilometer to make a connection to another road to Chiang Mai.

The other road was also busy, with a lot of shops and activity next to the shoulder, but the shoulder was wider (although quite pot-holed) and traffic was slower. As I got closer to Chiang Mai, it got busier and busier. There were signs about bicycles, but I wasn't sure if they were telling the cyclists to be careful or the cars to be careful of cyclists.

Looks like a yield sign. Am I meant to yield, or are other vehicles meant to yield to me? It doesn't really matter. I just try to behave like the other bicycles. And sometimes like the motor bikes.

I made it into the old city, enclosed by a moat, and found the Manee House, which had been suggested by Bettina at the retreat. I had reserved one night there using Agoda. I planned to stay in Chiang Mai a few days, but wanted to make sure the guest house was okay and had a good place for my bike.

I arrived early, about 10:30. The weather had been comfortably cool, and was just starting to heat up. I had stopped and spent some time at an Amazon Cafe, but had not delayed my arrival enough for normal check-in hours. Initially they told me to come back after 2 pm, but then as I was taking the panniers off my bike to leave in storage, they said the room was available. They also changed from telling me I had to leave my bicycle outside with the motorbikes, to telling me to take it into the room.

So I went in, showered, and got set to walk around a bit. I asked about extending my stay. They wanted 800 baht cash per night. The online booking had been 700 baht after taxes, so I went online and booked 2 more nights. I was outside looking at the rack of tourist brochures when I heard my name. It was Bettina! Her mother keeps a room here full time, so she had recommended the place, and has a couple of days before flying home. We made plans to meet later for dinner. I went out walking, past the 3 Kings monument, and to the historic Wat Chedi Luang. This wat was built in the 1400's, and is one of the bigger attractions in Chiang Mai.

Although a historic site, the wat is still active, with schools attached and lots of students around.

I went back to my room, and spent some time looking at the route to Chiang Rai. Then I met Bettina and her mother Christa. We walked to an area where they were taking a yoga class. While they were in class, I walked around the neighborhood and visited another wat. This was Wat Phakhao. It has a nice garden area where you can sit, and even free WiFi. The Buddha inside the wat is lit, and the lighting changes color every minute or so. That's unique!

In Wat Phakhao, the Buddha is illuminated with lights of changing colors.

I spent some time talking with a young monk there. He was anxious to practice English. He told me he lives at this wat, but studies at a different one. We talked about English vs Thai, and he told me Thai is easier because it doesn't have tenses. I told him Thai is hard for an English speaker, because it has sounds we don't hear properly. He compared go and went in English and Thai. I told him that it would be easy for me to remember, as Thai for "go" sounds like "bye", or as he said, bye-bye. He laughed and said it was with a "p", not a "b", and tried to show me the difference.

Then I met Bettina and Christa at a natural food restaurant. I had stir fried pumpkin. Quite good! They had a lot of advice about where to go for services like massage, and we had a fun conversation. It was also fun to reflect back on the retreat with another student, and compare our experiences.

Then we went back to the guesthouse, and I called it a night.

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Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 770 km (478 miles)

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