30. Working our way up north

A movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention while I was packing my things. I turned to brush the perceived bug away when I saw it was a scorpion. I grabbed my towel in an act of panic and threw it over the arthropod. That was a mistake, since when I lifted the fabric from the floor the scorpion was gone! I slowly and carefully examined the towel at arms length when Dan came to my rescue and saved my life from this horrific beast by finding it and putting it safely outside.

The ride from Noi’s house went on winding dirt roads through the rice fields and small villages. It is getting hotter, the wind is no longer a nice breeze that keeps you tempered but it is warm and does not cool you off, and the humidity is worse. I am getting further away from the ocean, but I hope that the mountainous northern Thailand will be cooler.

We stopped for the night in Uthai Thani and had a quiet evening. A stroll around town and something to eat was the goal of the day. The waitress cleaned the table like a pro, swiping it with her cloth letting all the trash and food fall right down on the street.

The next day we continued north towards Phitchit. After a hundred kilometres we got bored of the highway and took a detour through some rural roads, and rural they were! For miles and miles we were riding on bumpy dirt roads that seemed to lead to nowhere, but so far my GPS has not failed me even though Rob and Dan constantly expresses their doubts.

Rob and I again arrived ahead of Dan and we sat down on the curb to wait for him. The sun set and it quickly got dark but no sign of Dan. We had our theories and after an hour he turned up and confirmed he had got a flat tire.

Not far from our hotel we found a nice restaurant and tried to order some food. People were not shy to stare and laugh at us when we tried to make the waiter understand that he could serve us anything at all, as long as it was food. He asked the patrons if anyone spoke English and a guy tried to help us. His English was severely limited but we managed to explain that we would be happy to eat anything and after a while three random dishes were served.

We stayed at the Plaza, a room set us back a whopping 600 baht. Right next door there is a Karaoke bar and we sang some of the few western songs they had. Dan is really serious about his karaoke and took the microphone away from me complaining about my voice. Perhaps he hasn’t heard a recording of himself singing, because that would have shut him up for life.

Some girls sang Thai pop music and we recognize the song from somewhere. Suddenly Pao, who we met in Sing Buri, is in the music video! It turns out he is a member of Carabao, one of the most popular bands in Thailand. That explains why the band playing at the Gypsy Bar was so damn good! It blew our minds and we had to tell everyone at the karaoke bar about how we knew the celebrity currently singing on the screen. People had their doubts.

The last day of riding before a day of rest in Sukhothai, once the capital of the Thai Empire, turned out to be a quick and easy 126 kilometres mostly along a straight highway. A day of rest actually means a day of party and we had a great time with Sam, Rufus, Sena and Nora.

The day off was spent exploring the ruins at Sukhothai Historical Park 12 kilometres west of the city. The park is pretty big so it made sense to take the bikes. Sam had gotten interested in our way of travelling and rented a mountain-bike to ride the distance with us, and he had no trouble keeping up.

The ruins were nice, but not as inspiring as the ones in Ayutthaya. Neither was the city of Sukhothai. However, almost all cities inspire you to drink beers, but we have now gotten tired of Chang and have switched to Leo.


Distance:
72 km from Noi’s home to Uthai Thani.
148 km from Uthai Thani to Phichit.
126 km from Phichit to Sukhothai.
31 km from Sukhothai to Sukhothai Historical Park and back again.
Total: 2545 km.

Dirt roads through the rice fields.

Uthai Thani. Maybe not the most exciting city.

Extremely rural roads towards Phitchit.

 Self portrait.

 Karaoke!

 Just somewhere along the road.

Riding into Phitsanulok for lunch.

Party in Sukhothai.

 Ruins in Old Sukhothai.

 Ruins and pond.

Rob has a feeling.

Riding into Phitsanulok.