TANDOIDS
Current Location: Pai, northern Thailand
Distance Cycled: 10,192 km
Squashed Snakes: 37+
We were stopped on the side of the road getting our breath
back before we pushed the tandem uphill. My left hand gripped the rear brake
lever to stop the bike rolling backwards. Sweat trickled down my left arm,
reached my bent elbow and dropped to the ground. Drop by drop, the dark patch
of moisture on the road grew wider.
Mae Sae - there was nothing to indicate a guesthouse behind the restaurant. |
It would be fair to say we had under estimated this stretch
of road. It was steeper than we had expected, especially as we climbed the
switchbacks, and the weather was hot - 37 degrees C in the shade. Our water was
running low. Despite the above, we were in good spirits. We knew that once we
reached the top of this climb it was a downhill slide to Mae Sae where we hoped
to have three guesthouses from which to choose our night’s stay.
An hour later, we cruised into Mae Sae and looked around us.
There were no signs in English saying guesthouse, nor was there that strange
Thai word that looks a bit like tsunami but means guesthouse. And nor was there
the telltale number 24, which also indicates shelter. Never mind, we rode down
a hopeful driveway only to find ourselves in the grounds of a school. Next was
a drink stall where a woman told us the nearest guesthouse was 12 km back the
way we had come, over the hill.
“What about the other way, the way we are going, towards
Pai?”, asked Judy.
“Nothing,” said the
woman. “Next guesthouse Pai.”
Over the creek ... |
But if you went through the tea factory... |
Past the tea drying ... |
Through the chicken run... |
And the orchids ... |
Suddenly there it was, with a deck but no beer. |
Past the hen house.... |
Three beds, a hot shower and fresh towels. |
We bought a Coke and a Fanta and sat in a small patch of shade to consider our options. Pai was 45 km away over a steep climb. It wasn’t impossible, but the day was getting on and we were hot and tired. We came up with a plan. I would buy four bottles of water to get us up the hill, and Judy would stroll across the road and ask someone else about accommodation - just on the off chance.
A couple of minutes later she yelled, “just going to look at
a room” and vanished through a restaurant.
I took in our surroundings. There was no beer in the
restaurant’s fridge, a point I noted with concern. There was also a small halal
meat sign and two of the women wore headscarves. I may have been tired, but I
was still able to deduce we must be in a Muslim village,* something I didn’t
really expect to find in the north of Thailand.
An age later Judy reappeared and said the room was fine. In
fact it was better than fine - it was big, clean and comfortable with a hot
shower and satellite tv, but getting to it was a route march through a chicken
run and the woman wouldn’t negotiate on the price, TB600.
We gave in without a fight and the family joined in to help
us. We pushed the bike through the restaurant and spare hands carried our
panniers across a stream, through a grassy area where tea was being dried in
the sun, and the hen house.
It was a relief. We don’t carry a tent in Asia, and we
really hadn’t liked the prospect of another 45 km ride.
We pondered our good fortune and wondered why the drink
seller had said there was no guesthouse. As we chatted, two women arrived up
the path with towels and extra blankets. A small boy was clutching a toilet
roll.
That evening, they cooked us Pad Thai and refused payment
for the tea and sliced pineapple they served as dessert. The next morning, they
refused payment for breakfast and we felt a bit embarrassed at having tried to
negotiate the room price.
It had been a delightful, if rustic, experience and we
climbed back on the bike refreshed and eager to tackle that last stretch into
the hippie haven of Pai – a place so different that we felt like strangers from
another planet.
Judy on our sixth wedding anniversary - dining out at a superb restaurant near Chiang Dao National Park. |
Judy the Stoker’s Quotable Quotes
“One of the advantages of cycling is that you travel slowly
so that when you take off with the room key you don’t get very far before you
discover you’ve still got it” – on realising she has the key from our guest
house at Mae Sae, 12 km on at the top of a hill. She arranged the key’s return
through the police on a roadside checkpoint.
“It looks like a bowl of spaghetti, there’s so many wriggly
bits,” while studying the road on our GPS as we climb into the hills.
Where elephants go when they've been rescued - Elephant Training Centre south of Chiang Dao. |
"Sorry I took so long. There's chickens and they got out, and we had to round them up before I got to see the room,"on disappearing at Mae Sae.
What mahouts get to do when the elephants have been rescued. |
*Judy dug into her Lonely Planet and discovered that a “substantial”
number of Hui-Chinese Muslims emigrated from Yunnan in China in the late 19th
century.
What happens to old bikes if they are lucky - a leafy garden and an umbrella. |
Great story - persevere!
ReplyDeleteJen
Thanks Jen, back on the road tomorrow after three days in Pai. It's almost too comfortable here and ready to get back out there.
Deleteas always, a wonderful read and so easy to visualise. Oh and congratulations on 2 magnificent milestones.
ReplyDeleteOver 10,000 km cycled and a 6th wedding anniversary ! Both take effort and dedication - something you guys have bucket loads of.
Kyle