December 20, 2016
To Ubon Rathchathani: Hot again!
The hotel breakfast was a typical Thai breakfast, with jok, a couple of other dishes (spicy, not spicy) with rice, white toast and instant coffee. I thought it was okay, but I'll admit I ran out of fuel during the ride today.
It was long and hot, back on 212, and not very interesting.
I have trouble eating when I'm really hot, and that dragged me down today. I ended up stopping for cold drinks, first iced Thai tea. Then I bought a bottle of green tea and poured it over the ice left from the iced tea. Then another 10 km or so down the road I bought an iced cappuccino. The ride felt like it went on forever. Once I got near Ubon Ratchathani traffic picked up, and it was a long haul down to the river where my hotel is. This is a surprisingly large city, and it must be a good place to buy a car, since there are car dealerships all along the road into town.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I need to be careful about reapplying sunblock through the day. I'm a bit crispy right now. The Thai sunblock seems to sweat off faster than the stuff I brought from home, and that's all used up. I also have a heat rash on my thighs again. I bought some Snake brand prickly heat cooling powder. I think it's like Gold Bond powder from home. The Snake brand comes in a metal tin and is pretty big, given the size of my panniers, so if it doesn't help I may leave it behind.
I booked the hotel last night, the Sri Isan, which is seen recommended in other journals. When I checked in, I was told there is construction noise from 8 am until 4 pm, and that there is a problem with the water. It is yellow due to a break in the line, and the city is fixing it. Had I known about these 2 problems, I wouldn't have booked a non-refundable room through Agoda! The room is quite small, but the AC works well and the bed is good and has good sheets. For 425 baht, it's okay. The walk up rate is 500 baht. I'd love to learn how Agoda works that the hotels won't match their rate.
I went to the night market for dinner. I had duck! It was the first time this trip. I also had some desert, a split soy bean pudding with coconut milk. The night market is no longer by the river, but it's just a 10 minute walk from the hotel in the other direction. I hope I can find the morning market tomorrow.
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 1,857 km (1,153 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |