Today we finally left the Ping river and joined the Wang river for most of today. In fact, the ping river is the one that fills the Bhumibol lake. We will follow it again later before reaching Chiang Mai. The goal for today is to reach the bottom of the mountain range that creates the natural limit between the Lampang and Lamphun provinces. It will be our first climb for this trip (and the first for me too for the whole Thailand). If we get there tonight we will be able to start the climb tomorrow morning when the temperature is still fresh. 17km is not that much but I don’t know how Pita can handle that. Well, I’m sure she will but that’s more a question of time. The more early we start, the less we will be hit by the heat. Simple logic :-)
Map.
Early morning, the sun is on its way up. We must move very soon to take advantage of the cool temperature.
This is where we slept yesterday night. The fence around this temple was just high enough for my hammock to be set up. Yesterday afternoon I had a 4 hours nap just here, on the ground :-) And I slept well!
Like last week, they are going to build another part of the temple here. Buddha found his spot already.
Over there is the King’s sign. It’s like a logo then :-)
First break, that’s breakfast :-)
That’s the Wang river. This machine is doing some massive works on its bank.
Break time.
We certainly getting very close to a village or a town.
That’s a little town.
Quite cute and very clean. These bin are everywhere here in Thailand. They are made with recycled tyres (I believe).
Between the villages that’s how looks the road. It’s pretty dry here too.
Some time after lunch
It’s now too hot to continue. We had lunch few minutes ago and are now going to have a rest under those trees. Pita is actually under that shed over there.
That’s another nice wooden house we have here. Thai houses are very cute.
We are not far from the water but the heat doesn’t give up.
Under that tree, I expect to have a little warm nap. See you later…
5 hours later…
Back on the road, well, on the path! Unfortunately, we didn’t make it this way. I was following a shortcut shows on Maps but we ended up in a very bumpy dead-end that became worse and worse. We decided to return on the main road and play it safe.
Be careful, curvy road ahead.
We are nearly there and largely over the 50km limit. I’ve spotted a temple situated just before the climb. Seeing the road now, I’m not sure we will find a place where to eat tonight. We will figure it out once arrived.
The temple we have reached this late afternoon was very quiet. Pita met the only monk who lives here. The man told her to ask the permission to stay overnight to the village’s chef. We cycled back to the little town and find out that the chef was actually on a trip in another province. We kept asking around until we found a public shed with benches, toilets and electric plugs. The woman from the shop nearby helped us to make the electricity and water running. In that village there is no restaurant. Fortunately there is a tiny shop where a family sells different veggies, fruits, drinks and other stuffs so we bought some of them to cook tonight. The woman from the shop nearby offered us to use her kitchen. That would be more practical than my pot which is too small for two person. This day is a bit more adventurous than the others and I like that.
Tonight should be quite I guess because there is not much dogs around, there is no much shops, I did not see that much chicken around. Finger crossed, tomorrow will be a day off and I will sleep until 9am! Cool!
Thai people are conscious about the rubbish. I like the recycled rubbish bin idea!
Coming to remote area… interesting.