Bicycle Touring – Page 5 – Simply cycling around

Somdet Park > Nong Thuen, Public Park (56km)

Today I arrived in Kalasin, the second biggest city in Eastern Thailand since I left Laos. Right at on the edge of the town there was another café along the road so I stopped there. Actually I’ve saved most of them on google map so I can easily plan my day. I know it’s not really adventurous but that’s not the goal these days. Mainly, I cycle between 30 to 60 kilometres per day, early morning and late afternoon and spend the rest of the day at my “office” :-) Because of this, you can still read what I’m doing AND I can update technically my website too :-) Anyway, when I arrived in Kalasin, I sent 2kg of stuff back to France. I feel much lighter now! No, not really… In fact, I don’t even feel any difference haha.

Somdet > Somdet Park (14km)

This day is one of the shortest trip I’ve done. 14km! In fact, I did not go very far this morning because it was pissing rain. I waited for a bit but the rain went on so I decided to pack my stuff and move under a shed nearby to dry everything. Once I’ve done all of that, three women who came to offer food to the monk and eat there as well invited me to eat some food too. Finally I decided to come back to the same Amazon Café as yesterday and cycled few more kilometres late this afternoon.

Ban Lat Kachoe > Somdet (70km)

Today I’ve done the biggest hill of my trip to Bangkok. After this hill the road will be quite easy normally. Last night a storm came by but fortunately I didn’t find myself in the center of it, just few rain showers. Once I’ve done that “super hill” (which is an easy climb) I enjoyed a long downhill following by a flat road. I arrived at the next Amazon Café this morning and stayed until 6pm. Finally, I’ve found a temple less than 2km away and slept in the garden.

Kusuman > Ban Lat Kachoe (56km)

Aie! The return of the hills! I was still okay without haha :-) But that’s fine, it was far to be the Loas style so I survived ;-) Not much interesting thing on the way today. I didn’t take much pictures neither. I was just focused on the hill. Should I do it tonight or smash it tomorrow morning? Actually if I would have done another 40km today, I would get across to hills, the second being the highest. So I’ve decided to climb the first one this evening, sleep somewhere around a village and do the second part tomorrow morning by fresh temperature. That sounds like a good compromise :-)

Ban Phongpheng > Kusuman (Thailand) (71km + 3km by bus)

After nearly 2 months spent in Laos (my idea was to stay there only one month at the beginning) I’m back in Thailand for 28 days max, the length of the free VOA (Visa On Arrival). Most of the day, the road was flat and easy but I know some hills are coming soon. That’s a pretty easy day. I feel I came back to civilisation today. Laos was good, and Thailand is different.

Step, Vientiane > Lao Friendship bridge 3 (349km, 4 days)

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The fourth and last step of my trip in Laos. This time the road was barely flat and I enjoyed it! The weather tended to turn to rain but I managed to stay dry every night as there was no wind like in the mountains. Contrary of what I heard from Stéphane, the people on this area were very friendly with me. The kids, as always, said “hello”, “good morning” or even “thank you” when I passed them. At the beginning I thought about cycling until Savannakhet to apply for a “2 month Thai visa” but I realised I did not need 2 months. A VOA (Visa On Arrival) of 28 days for free will be enough. On the way, I came across the friendly bridge number 3 and decided to shorten slightly my stay in Laos.

Namsang > Ban Phongpheng (95km)

I think I should change my disc pads very soon :-) I tried today but I don’t have enough tools with me. I will have to go to a shop. Technically, when I push the piston back to where it should be, the second one goes out. So I don’t have enough space to fit the two pads AND the disc. That’s a problem. Fortunately, I don’t break a lot these days so I should be fine until Bangkok.