August 28, 2013, Wednesday, Chiang Mai-Chiang Mai
Though I was tired. I still couldn’t sleep in. Body alarm clock is set for 6-7, today it went off at 6. Andres, Raj and Robert set off for a ride, but I decided to rest. 116 miles the day earlier and I’ve chewed through, yet, another chain. Speeding through the flats wasn’t appealing this morning.
Andres, Raj, Robert and I had a full breakfast of eggs, toast and spreads and an even more full conversation. Robert has done 20,000 kilometers of riding in Northern Thailand, alone; He built his house, and the guesthouse; He’s owned a Longan orchard; Tried out raising silk worms; Lived in Thailand for almost 20 yrs, engineered motor bikes, and seriouslyly considered touring by elephant through Sumatra(while living there). I spent the entire morning at Robert’s breakfast table. We had a lot to talk about.
That afternoon we packed, cleaned up, and reluctantly left Robert’s wonderful home and company to head into Chiang Mai. Wats are hard to come by in very touristy spots. Well, permission to sleep is hard to come by; Wats are everywhere. We found a guesthouse for 150 bath and split the room ($2.50 each
Tonight was our last hurrah, the three of us, together: Andres is going to pause his trip in Thailand. While he and Raj were cycling the central plains, he came across two awesome American friends, with a great house and spare room, good cooking and an open teaching position at their school. Things fell into place for Andres to live abroad, so understandably, his trip is on pause. If you’re following from back home you might think Oh my god, what, who, how? What are you going to do? Relax people! Andres and I had a super easy agreement that we’re going the same direction, but not on the same trip. He could stop whenever, I could too. Splitting isn’t complicated, no remorse, only congratulations on finding a job and cool place to live. And by now, both of us are confident enough to carry on a bike tour solo. And I’ve got a new buddy…jj Raj!
We walked n’ wandered around Chiang Mai city center, stopping and sitting every so often to chat and buy a street-food. Our last stop was listening to the jam at the North Gate Jazz Coop. I’d much rather be unable to chat over this background noise than a pumping club: sitting in chairs scattered across the café opening sidewalk and street watching a live band plain ‘ol jamming. Great way to end the evening.
August 29, 2013, Thursday, Chiang Mai
Our plans were a bit up in the air; Raj and I found some breakfast, and ate slowly, waiting to get the status of a package I had sent to a coworker, of a friend.. of a friend. I got the call that it had arrived; we packed up, checked out, and headed to the Free Burma Rangers office: A non profit that aids marginalized, ethnic groups in Burma, primarily the Burmese Karen. (Where my package was shipped to).
If cycling is the means and not the end, then picking up a package can be how you figure out your next plan. Today, this was the case.
We learned that two of the volunteers were leaving on a 500k 7-day charity ride to the Burma border, to raise money for a Karen girl fighting cancer. I left my contact information in case they had any questions, needed help, tips etc. Our plan to head out of town dissolved when Raj and I both thought You know, it would be cool to actually ride out of town with the FBR couple. We called, proposed the idea and killed some time, waiting for a call back.
And since cycling is a means not an end, then eating lunch at the corner store with your bikes parked out front is how the next plan develops. A passerby asked to photograph our bikes+gear, and we got to talking. He’s an avid cyclist and currently runs a small, but growing business, Rubber Killer designing and in house manufacturing bags made from recycled truck tubes. He offered for us to head over to his house and chat Hell yeah I want to chat with you! Raj and I were looking to hang out that that afternoon and the universe delivered us Joy.
Joy studied architecture in Texas, USA, and subsequently worked at an architecture firm for a few years, before coming back to Thailand. One day, curiosity got to Joy, and one day he decided to try and hand make a bag out of rubber. After a number of friends requested their own bags, Joy decided to turn this side-project into a business, founding “Rubber Killer” He has been building notoriety in the Thai market and is soon launching in Japan.
The bags are sturdy, functional and plain-ol-stylish! Though Joy thought his Chiang Mai home was too messy for us to stay in, he extended an invitation for us to join him, the next day at his mom’s home in the mountains northwest of Chiang Mai. It didn’t take any convincing for us to agree.
Really, this is just an awesome people day.
That evening we met up with Hope and Joey(the FBR cyclists) and discussed the highs and lows of bicycle touring. We talked till ten. Too long, in fact. Raj and I had to secure a place to sleep before all the guest houses closed, and Joey had a job interview, over skype.
Our original guesthouse closed, luckily we found another cheaper option, splitting a single room for 120 baht.
Robert and Joy both independently recommended we check out the music at The Brasserie. This is another gem. Took, the owner is a master on the guitar and played tons of classics: Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan. Joy joined us, and in the AM’s Raj and I had to peel ourselves away from listening to get sleep for tomorrow’s big day.
August 30, 2013, Friday, Chiang Mai-Doi Saket-Pong Yang
The music was awesome, but the amount of sleep wasn’t…. 5hrs for 100+k day. Feeling a bit sluggish as I packed up and rode 15k over to the hospital to meet Hope and Joey. Worried that we were a bit late, we hustled over and passed through the entrance in sync with Hope and Joey. Phew.
Hope and Joey’s ride is going toward Smiling Flower’s medical bills. Smiling Flower is a Burmese medical refugee who suffered a Molar pregnancy, which later developed in choriocarcinoma, a type of cancer. The first step to save Smiling Flower was a hysterectomy to remove the mass in her uterus, and now she is going through treatments of chemotherapy to fend the cancer. Despite these tough circumstances, she still came out smiling to greet Hope, Joey and the other Free Burma Rangers. Her name is certainly fitting.
Smiling Flower now weighs only 25 kilos; among Hope and Joey’s gear and clothing is an evenly split 55 kilos to symbolize their support for Smiling Flower. The raised money will supplement Smiling Flower’s hospital and medical costs, including chemotherapy. They hope to raise 6000 dollars.
Status report: Hope and Joey raised a total or 2000 dollars and were waiting for a few more donations. Smiling Flower has gained 7 kilos since the bike trip began, and completed round 3 of 6 in her chemo regimen and is doing phenomenalmm, as reported by Hope.
Raj and I took 5 kilos each from their load and we all set off eastward, stopping for breakfast, resting, and then riding into the mountains. We had one last chat with Hope and Joey, and headed back towards Chiang Mai. Grabbing lunch at a fine random retro/coffee bar and then doing a late afternoon climb to Pong Yang. The extra 5 kilos of rice did not make it easy, but we both made it up, wandered through the rural back-roads, finally finding it just as the sunset.
Jeesus I am in such big karmic debt, or I’m spending it all. I’m going to make an obscure reference that only my Santa Barbara friends will understand. Joy’s mom’s house is like David Herschorn’s backyard. Now you can picture it, yeah? I’ll describe it for the rest of you. The main house is nestled in a fold of the hillside. The main house has an open air dining area, and most of the common space is outside: a wide patio, and a few gazebos all fully open to the treed backyard. Plus a few paths meandering through the garden. The trees, paths, various gazebos and sit-spots make the place feel like a park, though it probably only an acre of space. And I couldn’t forget to mention that Joy’s mom runs a restaurant out of her house, where locals make an appointment in advanced to come and enjoy her traditional Thai style cooking. We ate dinner and sat on the patio and chatted, though I exited the conversation a bit early when I fell asleep in my chair.
Joy does all his manufacturing in-house, and for his rubber bound books he literally does manufacturing in-house with his house staff/helpers.
August 31-September 1, 2013, Pong Yang (Thailand)
Some rest days are simply called rest days cause you’re not on the bike. These were true rest days. Just plain ol’ lazy days. I spent most of my time writing, trying to keep y’all up to date! A bit of reading. A bit of chatting with Andres, Joy, his mom and helpers. And a bit of eating absolutely fantastic food. On Sunday all three of us couldn’t even eat dinner after such a good afternoon feed.
Joy took us in his 4×4 Toyota up the the tallest peak in the area. As a kid, he would sneak off to on a motorbike, on muddy farm roads, while the area was still filled with Opium, against his Dad’s warnings.
But I can see why Joy would sneak off to get here: it’s above it all. Panoramic views of the Mountains, Chiang Mai basin, Pong Yang valley. We watched the sun fall through the intermittent Mountain top clouds.
