Bob on a Valley Spokesmen Ride in Thailand 2005

Loop of the First Four Days (Orange Line)

January 16 - Uttaradit to Sukhothai - We finally got on our bikes today. It was about 70 degrees when we started and about 90 when we finished. The ride was very flat and we ended up with 69 miles. We had lunch in a roadside hut. Pretty good noodles, pork, and vegies. Right near the end of the ride, we met a German ex monk who is now leading bike tours in this area. He led us to a funky wat where all of the buildings and statues were built by another monk over a 30-year period. Our hotel rooms cost us less than $10 US. The bathroom is a combination shower, sink and toilet. It's clean.

Day 2 Lunch Stop


Phet Hotel

January 17 - Sukhothai to Kamphaeng Phet- Our hotel tonight, The Phet Hotel, is 500 bhat which is about $12. It's a little nicer than yesterday's hotel. It has no hot water, though. Today's ride was 50 miles. It started out at around 70+ degrees and warmed up to 90 or so. Terrain was very flat, but I was still tired when we got in. Lunch again was in a hut on the side of the road. I split chicken with basil and chicken with ginger with another rider. The latter was a little spicy but both were good. I think it cost us about 60 baht apiece which is about $1.50. I didn't see as many crops as yesterday. We started out with rice fields like yesterday, but that was all. Yesterday we saw lots of very lush fields of vegies and a lot of tobacco.

I walked to the ATM and on the way back I wandered through the farmers' market. The variety and quantity of food, fish, meat, etc. was incredable. It puts the Berkeley market to shame. Tonight I ate crab with non-spicy curry sauce and lots of vegies. It was tasty, but really hard to eat. The crab has small legs - nothing like Dungeness.

Day 3 Rest Stop (Barbara, Geoff and Kaman)

January 18 - Kamphaeng Phet to Phitsanulok- This was another very flat ride - 63 miles. The only hills were two overpasses coming into town. Weather was low 70's at the start and low 90's at the end. Not much to look at on this leg. There were lots of rice fields and some banana trees. We stopped and got a bunch of bananas at a roadside stand. They looked like John Martin's Ocean Beach bananas but didn't taste like them. Our hotel is probably the nicest yet. It still isn't first class - more economy class. We have hot water.

Day 3 Lunch Stop

Phitsanulok Golden Grand Hotel

Day 4 Lunch Stop

January 19 - Phitsanulok to Uttaradit- This was another very flat ride (I only used two gears all day)- 68 miles - weather mid 70s to high 80s . We saw endless rice fields. Notice that I say fields instead of paddies. Thailand is the largest Asian exporter of rice and you can tell by looking at the countryside. We stopped for watermelon at about 50 miles. We also made several fanny breaks. The miles are getting to us.