I left you on Saturday night in Chiang Mai, we decided to have an easy Sunday after the rigors of the mountain tour also to be honest we were a little (in fact very!) saddle sore, the bike I hired was not the most comfortable to put it mildly! So on Sunday morning we headed into town for a b it of breakfast and to make plans for the day, after a nice breakfast in a little bar I hopped on the bike, pressed the starter and – nothing! I tried tapping the starter motor and rocking the engine in gear but no joy. The bike had no kick start so the only option was a push, Chris was in hysterics at the suggestion but I convinced her and she gave a good shove up the road, I let the clutch out in third gear and bingo – back to life! We decided we would rather not continue this routine at every stop so I returned the bike to the shop and got my favourite Thai bike a Honda Phantom, I bonded with this much better and the guy at the hire shop recommended we go to the hot springs for a day out, sounded a plan!
It was a great 45 min ride to the springs and my little Phantom burbled away happily when we got to the springs we had a look round and then saw the egg stall, you can buy your own eggs to boil in the sulphurous spring to give them a unique erm eggy flavour (ok, I know but remember we are on holiday!) So fortified with eggs and Chang beer (burp!) I decided that I needed a swim in the beautiful hot though vaguely farty (sorry!) water. Only trouble was I only had the shorts I had on, still what the hell, in I went had a great swim and dried off on the road in about 20 min!
It was still mid afternoon so we decided the distant mountains looked inviting and set off on the most beautiful road I have ever ridden, every turn brought another panorama, we stopped for a drink where I have a routine of sifting out the most obscure (and cheapest) fizzy drink whilst Chris chooses coke (you can glean a lot from that!) As I sipped my lovely red fanta we talked and said, wouldn’t it be great if we could just carry on up that road and not care where it led, we would find a bed somewhere. We toyed with that idea but eventually decided we had better return to Chiang Mai as we had a hotel room and our return train booked the following morning, but it did plant an idea in our heads!
If we are lucky enough to get back next year we are just going to hire a bike in the north for a fortnight and head off with no plans, we might look up a friend in Chiang Rai then take in Laos, I think that would be a great antidote to our stress here – fingers crossed!
Anyhow to continue our tale we left Chiang Mai for a slightly more sober journey on the night train to Bangkok then a journey by coach back to Pattaya – tales of “sin city” to follow (parental guidance recommended!) bye for now!
Hard or soft boiled? (eggs are in basket!)
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