Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Road Trip: Thalan, Saraburi

To all you guys who think that we deserve a big full-suspension slap in-the-face for not updating the blog, well, you're right! Three months into the New Year and no new posts. Lazy bastards, plain and simple.

I guess all you good kids got some sort nice bike parts from Santa from the holidays. Of course, the naughty ones probably got whole bikes from American Express. Me? I got a pair of wheels and a new chain. Yep, whoopdeedoo.

Let's get down to business. I'm going to show you images of one of my road trips in Saraburi, a province roughly 150kms north of Bangkok.

The trip starts on a long strip of road along the river. Not much traffic here. I mean, you can pedal for an hour and not see more than two oncoming vehicles. You'll see more cows than cars. Smooth road, slight breeze, and the river make for a pleasant prologue for the rough road ahead.

After the warmup comes the workout - a long stretch of rough road, loose rocks, and dust. I used this stretch for some cardio and intervals. Along the way, the ricefields and railroad tracks provide good distractions from this grind. I like the way the tracks seem to disappear to the horizon, looking over my shoulder for trains.

On one part of the road lies the border between a Ayutthaya and Saraburi, two adjacent provinces in Central Thailand. This part of the trip slices through kilometers of farm roads.

Then, finally, my destination - Ban Rai Coffee House. This place just amazes me. I mean, in between long stretches of farm roads, in the middle of nowhere, lies this good coffee house with good food, fresh fruit juice, and internet! This place must be busy during weekends of people looking for a little peace and quiet.

The lotus flowers in the entrance welcomes romantics until you realize that this is actually a fish pond for research.

Energized by espresso, I pushed on heading back going through SaoHai along road 3041. It was a pleasant surprise to see a procession of sorts along the way - a dude being sent for monkhood (yep, that's him under the RED umbrella) with the rest of his family and friends trailing behind cheering all the way! The dude in the yellow shirt is directing traffic.

I should have captured this on video for you guys to see how wild it was.

Well, there it is. Not much of a ride, nothing extreme or epic. But, hey, I was on my bike and it was excellent!