Mud

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008

Trip End Dec 30, 2009

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Flag of Thailand Chaiprakahn, Thailand
Monday, October 20, 2008

At hotel breakfast, Aussies had brought Vegemite. J put on Marmite top in reply. 2hr minibus drive to start of ride. We were heading towards the Burmese border and stopped for a break at a police checkpoint. They were checking the people coming in from Burma in the other direction looking for drugs. They find drugs every day in places such as in the wing mirrors of mopeds. They had a black labrador sniffer dog. There were vanloads of children being brought in from Burma to beg. The police were very friendly to us but a couple of likely lads on a moped were getting the 3rd degree. If someone claims to be Thai but the police think they are Burmese, they get them to sing the Thai national anthem. Burmese have slanty eyes apparently. So no stereotyping, then. Nice butterflies/moths on sign. Initial easy cycling along quiet roads. One sharp climb that made us v hot: we lost the breeze as we slowed. James was cycling in flip flops. Stopped at a village. Kids v interested in bikes and most houses seemed to be selling souvenirs. Then off road along a red dirt trail through spectacular scenery beside rice and peanut fields. I tried chewing betel leaf in a village but it didn't seem to have any effect.

Emerged onto tarmac. Van waiting with drinks and fruit (banana, passion fruit) then a fast 2-3 km to a forestry shelter. Picnic: roast chicken, fried rice and a peanut and veg dish and more fruit. We had ridden about 25km.

We heard thunder as we set off, We were soon off-road again through fields. Then torrential rain. Not cold but the parallel ruts in the road filled with water so we were soon soaked. It wasn't unpleasant, in fact it cooled us down nicely. I really enjoyed it. We stopped at a shelter with 4 women. One older and wizened so probably about 40, and three girls of 10-12. They were fascinated by having their picture taken with the digital camera. I had left our camera in the van when I heard the thunder.

Then the rain eased but the roads seemed to get muddier, maybe because the rain wasn't washing us as we went. Soon the mud clogged up the V brakes on the bikes to such a degree that the wheels wouldn't turn at all so we spent 2hr pushing and cajoling the bikes through sticky clay. We would have ridden the distance in the dry in 10-15min. The sun was out so it was hot and exhausting. I found that disconnecting the V brake helped as it gave the wheel more clearance. 2 of the guys had major mechanical problems at more or less the same time as we emergedonto drier road. A derailleur cage fell apart losing a jockey wheel in the mud and on the other a dropout cracked sending the derailleur into the spokes. We were within 2 km of the road so we climbed on a slightly better surface to reach the van and a hosepipe. The bikes and exhausted riders were all covered in red glutinous mud so we skipped the last 27km on-road leg and got back to the hotel: a fairly basic but clean place with a v useful wet room style bathroom in Chaiprakahn. It took ages to even partially was the copious amounts of red mud from our clothes and bodies..
We tried to phone Stuart to wish him a happy 25th birthday - unsuccessful.

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Drug sniffer dog near Thai Burma border	Thailand's most wanted	These guys appear to be in a spot of bother	peanut plants
Great scenery	Andrew on dirt trail	The bikes became a bit muddy	It all became very muddy