On the Road

Today I am in a little town in Northern Thailand called Chang Dao about 80 km north of Chang Mai. It's a sleepy town with a nice hotel and a couple of small street restaurants with good food. A great place to recharge the batteries.

The day before yesterday was spent in planes and airports, chasing our bikes, which despite their size were difficult to locate in Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport. But when we finally got to Chang Mai we were greeted by a driver from the hotel who loaded on the bikes and drove us the 3kms to the hotel. Hawk and I were both keen to get the bikes unpacked and built so we could check if anything needed fixing before our journey could properly begin. Thankfully the bikes came together well and nothing needed any work.

Yesterday we did a little sightseeing on the bikes, testing them out and testing ourselves out. I felt good on the bike, but the traffic was difficult as all the drivers here seem to have broken turn indicators. We did a small mountain climb on the bikes in the afternoon to push the legs, I didn't mind the climb which I took easy, but I loved the descent where the bike wound out to 63km/h - not possible in Singapore where there are no hills.

Today's ride was just about clearing the town and finding a nice rhythm. We managed to average a nice speed for the first 40km which was all highway. Then we hit a nice section of forest and windy road which I really enjoyed as it represented the start of what I was really imagining our journey to be like. Towards the end of the ride I had a few difficulties with my right knee, so this afternoon has been spent stretching and walking with fingers crossed that it is nothing sinister and will pass.
Cpp

Haven't really had any photographic opportunities yet, but will start posting a few picture when the chance arises.