Day 7 Days to go 1073 – It’s 7.45pm Tues 6/12/11. I am sitting in an open area common room at Mohn mye horn resort I’m guessing about 60km from Chaing Rai. That sounds a bit flash for a $15 Aus a day girl or about 400 baht. No I didn’t pay the 2000 baht per night. It got to ‘the end of the day’ o’clock about 5pm when I started asking locals where I may sleep. I kept getting waved onto this place. Here I was met by the owner ‘Munee’ who in his best English told me the cost and in the same breath apologised knowing I wouldn’t be able to afford it. I then asked if he had a quiet spot I could camp and here I am. He didn’t accept any baht and gave me two yogurts and a bottle of water instead. Kind is the word. I promised him a plug on the blog which he did graciously accept so I’ll post his own to say thank you. I’m loving the Thai people. What I ‘m appreciating most is the warm generosity comes from the richer and the poorer. Last night I’m staying at a tiny rural home and tonight I’m soaking up the lavish all given in kind. I even managed a decent bird bath in the female amenities so I’m feeling a million bucks. I started today by having a photo with by all accounts the grandad of the extended family living on the farm. He was sitting in the sun watching the mushrooms dry literally and was very happy to have his photo taken. The ride was really hilly this morning. One thing I have learnt early about cycle touring is that it teaches humiliation 101. It’s not very glamourous pushing your bike and trailer up hills that get too long and steeps for these little legs at least. However once over the range it was downhill (max speed 52.8 yay) and flat for the next section which was great. I stopped for a break at a local road stall and had my first thai noodle soup with green veg, peanuts and chilli Yum (35baht or $1.50). Tummy rumbles tonight but who cares when travelling solo 🙂 All carbed up it was a really enjoyable afternoon even the last couple of hours which were back in the hills. I went through a town and saw a wifi sign in front of a cafe’ so for the price of an expresso (30baht) I got onto the internet yay. I tested sending a post via the ipod using what I typed last night from the notes application so I hope it worked. i didn’t proof read it first so please excuse the grammar. I put dido on the ipod today for some inspiration to get up and over one of the more trickier climbs. It chomped into the battery life so tonight I’m using my solar charger for the first time and it’s working yay. I’ve got such a great range of safety toys thanks to my genius partner so it’s fun to play with them now in real time to have more of a clue about how great they are. I’ll be all IT savy in no time 😉 So the stats for today. Distance 78km, Costs 85 baht, Favorite moment: the whole day. least favorite: my first decent puppy attack who chased me for about 50m with the sound of my growling back at him echoing in the hills. Life’s good and all going well I’ll be in Chaing Rai tomorrow arc. It’ll be good to share some photos. I have a slide show going on my camera and it doesn’t take long to collect some cool memories. Ipod all charged its te for bed. Talk soon x
shecyclesolo 