This is a travel log of my cycle tour through Thailand, Lao, and Cambodia in Jan - March 2004

brad haack at yahoo dt com

For each ride I show the distance and the ride time (the actual wheels spinning time it took to complete the ride). Sometimes I list the guesthouse that I stayed at, many times I neglected to make a note of it. I used Lonely Planet extensively to find the guesthouses, although in many small towns it it was pretty easy to just make a lap around town and then pick one.  I also used MrPumpy for a lot of good information including routes, lodging, and general south east asia information.

The bike

Lightspeed Obed titanium hardtail. I was going to take my old steel Bridgestone, but the stem was frozen in the frame so I had a late change to the lightspeed. The bike has front suspension which was not necessary or desirable for a trip like this. I had the preload cranked down all the way. I also built some plastic spacers to replace the elastomers to lock it out completely, but I took them out once for an off road day and never bothered to put them back in. Cranking down the preload was good enuf.

The low gear was 22/30 and I used it. The high gear was 42/12 and I didn't really feel like I needed higher gears. I used 1.5 slicks or 2.0 semislicks. I took an extra set of tires, but next time I'll try to find a high pressure semislick with a smooth center tread, about 1.75 – 2.0 and just take 1 extra. I had a front handle bar bag and Ortlieb rear bags. With the fairly short chainstays, my heel hit the bags. Before I left home I built some brackets to move the rear rack back about an inch and it worked well. The frame does not have rear rack mounts so I used clamps, and they held up just fine.

Thailand Map

Jan 14, 2004

Arrived at Bangkok airport before dawn. Assembled bike in airport. Considered riding from airport but everyone I talked to said to take the train.  So I rode the train (right from the airport) to Ayutthaya.   It was fairly easy to buy the ticket for myself and the bike.  Being nervous about a new country I rode in the baggage car with my bike.  Very nice ride, doors open in the quaint old train.  Friendly baggage guy, but he didn't speak English & I didn't speak Thai.

Ayutthaya is an interesting town, there are lots of people on motor bikes, sometimes 3 on a bike. Traffic seems to flow in some sort of chaotic order.

Jan 15, 2004
AAAAGH, they have goat head thorns in Thailand. I rode thru some mowed grass around a ruin & ruined 2 tubes w/ many holes.  I have 1 more spare & patch kits so I should be OK as long as I don't ride thru another field of goat heads.

Jan 16
2:50, 68 km
Headed west from Ayutthaya.  Had a vague idea of where I was going.  I was nearing my destination of U-thong when U-Thai stopped and offered me a place to stay.  I accepted.  He is a semi retired 'district officer' from somewhere south and was building a chicken farm.  It was too early to stop and conversation was a little awkward, but I couldn't pass up the local hospitality. He went to college in Chicago & both of his sons went/are going to college in the US.

Jan 17
4:39, 100 km
Huay Kha Kheng Country Home Resort.
This morn U Thai & I rode to town and had breakfast at the market.  The visitor center folks told me there was no guest house in LanSak so I stopped here. Nice, but expensive, 600 Baht ($15).  This is kind of a swanky country resort. The terrain the past 2 days has been nothing special, mostly flat farms.  Got into some hills today.

Jan 18 Mae Wong Natl Park
148 km, 7:07
A very long day.  The last 10k was very steep. I'm pretty trashed.  I just had snacks today, didn't eat enough and not feeling well.  Much nicer ride today.   There are some fairly large bungalow's for rent which are fairly expensive.  I rented a tent for 250B.  Park entrance fee was 250B.  The staff here are friendly young adults, 1 speaks good English.

January 19

I met some expat journalists (Mike & Ira) here to do a story on some park meeting here in a few days. I drove around with them and went to the top of the park and went to Klong Lan waterfall.  I had planned on going through the mountains to Um Phang, but it sounds like it would be impossible, or way too hard.  The road has been abandoned and probably has many down trees on it.

Jan 20 -  Kamphaeng Phet
75 km, 3:26
150 baht

It was an easy ride, but not very pleasant. Smoky air, trash next to the road, boring farm country. The houses aren't very pretty, many steel sided or concrete blocks. I met some other farangs in a restaurant and had dinner with them and went to the market. I only saw 3 other westerners in town. It might have been Chinese New Year, it was noisy all night. Loud speeches, music, and roosters. I was going to stay 2 nights but decided to move on.

 
Jan 21 - Taksin Maharat Natl Park
99km, 5:20

Most of the day in boring farm country. Smooth road and wide shoulder so I made good time for most of the day. Slow going and lots of climbing at the end of the day. I was thinking about staying 2 nights here, but all they have to eat is rice. I'm tired of rice, I crave noodles.

Mae Sot January 22, 2004

55 km, 2:45

150 baht Fortune Guest House

Very hilly but net downhill, 2300 ft.
Pretty ride. I'm in Mae Sot, next to the Myanmar (Burma) border. Last nite I was at a nat'l park. I was thinking about staying 2 nights, but all they had to eat was rice. I had lasagna for lunch today, this is the biggest tourist town I've been in since Ayuthaya so they have some western food. There are quite a few immigrants/refugees from Myanmar here.  They have the worst human rights on the planet right now.  There are Karen guerrillas hiding in the hills.
The shrine I stopped at today was very impressive, a giant Buddha with snakes coming out of his head, surrounded by dragons & steep rocky cliffs  behind. The hills are steep, a lot of time at 6 kph. Yesterday, the last 12 km took me about 1.5 hrs. Today was relatively easy, net downhill, but still some steep climbs.  I'll rest up here for a few days, the next few are going to be tough. 

Stayed a few days in Mae Sot and moved to the Ban Thai GH.

January 24

119 km, 5:50

Mae Salit

100 baht?

Today was probably the nicest ride so far. Sparsely populated, rolling hills. I'm in a guest house which has no name, and have a bungalow overlooking the Mae Nam Moei river. There are 2 restaurants in town and both closed at 5:00, one of them was nice enough to feed me after closing. Much different than the central plains where there are many more people & lots of options to buy food.

January 25, 2004 Mae Sariang

~75 km, 5:20

150 baht
Today the hills of Thailand crushed me.  I had a long hilly 120 km ahead of me so I started out at 7:30, shortly after daybreak, planning on eating an hour or 2 down the road.  Unlike central Thailand there were no restaurants & a couple of the little road side stands didn't even have water.  Very sparsely populated.  I passed a large Karen refugee camp. After getting only half way in about 5 hrs it was obvious that I wouldn't make it to Mae Sariang by dark, & my knees were feeling the hills.  I was in my lowest gear quite a bit of the time, & that's 22/32 mtn bike gearing.  I stopped at the first road side restaurant that I'd seen all day had a bite to eat and caught a songthaew (a long truck w/ seats in the back) to here. I'll spend a day or 2 here & then head to Chiang Mai. 

January 27 – Ban Mae Waen

47 km, 3:38. A lot of climbing

40 baht

After riding about 40 k, with a lot of climbing I turned off the highway and went 6 km on a rough dirt road to a little Thai/Karen village & stayed at Pan House.  It was a real Thai guest house, they had 1 spare room which they rented out to tourists like me for 40 baht.  I'm sure I was the only westerner in town.  The owner, Pan2 was a friendly guy who spoke a little english.  I wanted to talk to him more, but some Karen pulled up in a pickup w/ some Water Buffalo parts which he bought (after what sounded like some discussion about the price).  He bought the legs, head, & hide.  Some friends came over & they went at it.  I went down to take a closer look later & I was surprised at how much meat they got from the head.  I'm not sure what he was going to do with it.  He might take it to the market to sell it because he went off earlier with some pig parts & sold them at the market.  I think his brother was Pan1 and started the guest house & trekking guide business.  He was killed in a motorbike crash & Pan2 took it over.

NOTE: This GH was listed in lonely planet and it said to turn off at mile post 68, the turnoff was actually at MP 65. I went back to the highway on a different (& better) road which came out at MP 61 (sign for a water fall).

January 28 – Chom Tong

100 km, 5:30, + ~2200 ft, -~4500 ft

Today started out slow as expected, steep rolling hills for a while, but nothing like Mae Salit.

I stayed 2 nights at a very nice guest house for 300 baht.  I thought about riding up the road to the highest mtn in Thailand (~2500 m, starting at about 100 or 200 m), but my legs said no.  I noticed w/ pleasant suprise that I wasn't woken up by roosters at 4 AM like I have almost everywhere else here.  I thought jokingly to myself that they must have killed them all, then I realize that they probably did.  There's some kind of poultry disease so they have to kill them all to keep it from spreading. 

January 30, 2004 Chiang Mai

60km, 2:30

Easy ride, but not a very nice ride. Busy 4 lane highway.

This is quite a change.  Chiang Mai is quite a tourist town, I think there are as many western tourists here as there are local people.

February 2, 2004 Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai Cycle Club

I spent about 5 days in Chiang Mai resting & seeing some of the town.  My friend Scott and his fiance Toi took me to many fine restaurants & picked out good food to eat. Rode up the mtn, Doe Suthep, 1000 – 1200 m climb. I went up on the main paved rode, and continued on to a coffee plantation & a village (heading downhill now).  I met a Frenchman (& his Thai girl friend) on a motorbike who said there was a dirt road down, but he got lost when he tried it.  I decided to try out my well honed route finding skills and go down the dirt road.  It was a fun descent & I didn't have any trouble getting lost.  Wished I had my fat tires on though, I wasn't planning on doing a mtn bike descent.  There were a few forks but it was easy to tell which had more traffic. 

February 4

Met up with Louise, who I had met thru a southeast asia cycling website (mrpumpy.net). We took the bus from Chiang Mai back to Mae Sariang.

February 5 – Khoun Yuam (Koon Yom)

98 km, 5:44, ~+400 m

Pretty hilly. Not as bad as Mae Salit to Mae Sariang, but pretty steep. Louise didn't have low enough gears for the hills and decided to take a bus.

February 6, 2004 Mae Hong Son

65 km, 3::20

Not too bad today, pretty nice ride, but legs are tired. Still hilly, but easier than yesterday. I saw an elephant walking down the highway with his handler riding him.  Very cool.  I heard some down below the highway too, but couldn't see them due to the shrubbery. This is a pretty little town in the hills.  I'll rest up hear for a day or 2. 

I think the next stop is cave lodge.  In addition to caves, I hear there's some mtn biking.

February 7, still in Mae Hong Son

They're having a festival here., the end of the cold season. It's a lot like a county fair except no 4H. Today I rented a motor bike (Honda 125) & rode to Mae Aw and Ruam Thai. I went as far as I could before a border guard stopped me. It was very pretty. Small farms and green hills.

February 8 – Cave Lodge

75 km, 5:16

Very hard hills, the hardest since Mae Sariang.

I hung out there for a few days, exploring, some on foot, some on bike.  The Australian guide there suggested a bike route which wasn't very good.  About 2 hrs looking for the trail, 2 hrs hike-a-bike, 2hrs riding. 

February 12 - Pai

45 km, 3:05

A big hill today, but the grade was OK except for a few sections. Since the ride was so short it was almost easy.

February 13 - Pai

The Blues have circumnavigated. Went to a blues bar last night.  A medley of styles, short hair, long hair, tattoos, funky clothes & hats.  1 pool table.  Could have been back home except most of the faces were Thai.  The band was very good.  A guy named Chai on lead guitar, the band was also called Chai.  He could play, very, very good.  The place was empty at 9, packed at midnight.  Why do they always do live music so late?

February 15 – PAI

Rode around w/ Annie and Ellie. We found a little single track and a waterfall. Pai seems to be dryer than the surrounding area.

February 16 – Chang Dao

138 km, 7:30

Mallee's Nature Bungalow

I didn't plan on riding this far, but the town at the crossroads didn't look very attractive so I decided to go the extra 30, then the extra 8 to get here. The hills were hard today, but the climb was right away (~2 hrs), then rolling hills, then a descent, then easy rolling hills, then a final climb to get here.

February 17 – Chang Dao

Still at Mallee's. Went up to cave and monastery. Very pretty and green here. Good food at Mallee's.

February 18 – ThaTon

110 km – 4:53

Garden Home

Easy Ride, some hills between Chang Dao and Fang, but nice grades.

February 19 – Chiang Rai

90 km, 4:30

Mae Hong Son GH

Some steep hills, but a nice ride. It was suggested by Malee that I go thru TaTon, but it was nothing spectacular and probably shorter the southern route. Found a bike store on the way into town and picked up some supplies.

February 20

Met up w/ Annie, another mrpumpy.net acquaintance. We did a 57 km local ride. Found some fun dirt roads/trails to ride on. Saw some women collecting crawdads or something in a small stream.  I didn't get a close look at what they were getting but they were overturning rocks and catching them in nets as they floated  downstream.  Saw a Thai farmer walking around w/ a gun.

February 21 – Chiang Kong

100 km, ~ 5:00

Bamboo Riverside GH

Pretty easy ride, some easy climbs. Lots of farms and villages. More populous than I've seen since central Thailand. This town is on the border with Lao.

February 22 – Pak Beng

Crossed the river (and the border) in small boats to Huay Zai. A hectic scene getting visas along with a whole flock of other tourists. Took the slow boat from Huay Zai to Pak Beng Scenic, but crowded and uncomfortable. This town reminds me of a 1 street dusty old west town. In addition to handling the tourists it appears to be a trading town for the people who live in the town. Don't let them help with your bike up the hill from the ferry. Louise had a bad experience with some locals who carried her bike up the hill from the river and then demanded a way too much money for the service.

February 23 – Luang Prabang

Rattana GH

Another long day on the boat. The speed boats get bad press, but I would consider that next time.

February 25

Still in Luang Prabang seeing the sights. Went to Kuang Zi waterfall today. Awesome, swam under the falls. Ran into Louise, after taking the bus out of the steep hills she rode around northern Thailand and had a wonderful time.

February 26 – Phu Khun

128 km – 8:15, ~+1000 m

A long day with lots of climbing. Fortunately for me Annie didn't want to do this ride and she carried some of my gear on the bus. It probably would have been a 9 or 10 hr day if I had all my gear. This is a desolate crossroads town with one guesthouse.

February 27 – Vang Vieng

100 km – 5:15

Todays ride might have been the prettiest of the whole trip. A net downhill but seemed much harder than it should of on my tired legs. 

February 28 – March 1

Hanging out in Vangvieng. Vangvieng is another small tourist town, kind of a gaudy version of Pai. There are some awesome rock formations around here.  I went in a large cave for over an hour.   There are at least 5 pizza restaurants.  Most of the restaurants have a TV blaring.  I found one that didn't & had some nice music playing.  They had a page on the menu of 'special' menu items, 'to make you fun & happy',  it was explained to me that they put ganja in the food.  I'm ready to move on to Vientienne but am recovering from some bad food. 

March 2 – Phonhong

87 km – 4:15

Decided to take the direct route instead of the Lonely Planet suggested route to Vientienne. Kind of a noisy unattractive town. I think I'm the only westerner here. Staying in a new guest house but the drains don't work in most of the rooms.

March 3 - Vientienne

70 km, 3:15

Thawee GH $6

Some rolling hills, then flat, a little head wind. Spent of couple of days here seeing the sights. Lao is poorer but in a sense is more westernized than Thailand due to the French colonial period.

March 5 – Nakhon Ratchasima

Train

Spent all day on the train travelling through some mundane flat farm land in NE Thailand. My bike & I were in the passenger car this time. 3rd class trains in Thailand are nice, not like the stories i've heard about some other countries. The border crossing was easy & low stress, unlike the border crossing into Lao.  I got lucky & rolled up to the train station 45 min before it was leaving, I had missed the morning train & would have to wait till the next day or take the night train but there was a 1:00 train too. Arrived in NR at around 8pm.

March 6 – Sa Kaew

180 km, 7:30

450 baht for a hotel room.

I was going to stop in Kabin Buri (140 km), made it there in great time, 25 kph. The guest house was 6 km out of the way (sounds like no big deal now as I write this) and I decided to push on even though it was hot and into the wind. I must have finally got fit and recovered from my food poisoning because I felt pretty good. It was a pretty nice ride most of the way. Green forest, cloudy morning, it had rained. It got hot around noon. Sa Kaew is a bustling friendly town.

March 7 – Sisophon, Cambodia

108 km, 5:30

Hard day. Head wind and rough road. The border crossing is an amazing mess of humanity struggling to make a living. Lots of people pulling carts over the border, some barefoot. The border guards charge a little extra for the visa. The drivers are crazy, passing at bad times.

March 8 – Siem Reap

105 km, 5:30

Rough road, dirt road, head wind. I was covered in dirt when I got here. I wasn't looking forward to riding today, but it wasn't too bad. About 70 km of dirt, the rest paved. I met a friendly English teacher in a roadside stand when I stopped for a drink.

March 9 – 11 Siem Reap

Toured the Ankor temples for 2.5 days. Amazing stuff. Decided to fly from here to Bangkok, then home.

March 12 – Bangkok Airport

Fly from Siem Reap to here. Tried unsuccessfully to find a bike box in Siem Reap. Turned out that they didn't really want the bike in a box for that flight anyway. I took the wheels off and tried to make it as compact and sturdy as I could. The bike made it all the way back to Denver that way.