After last night's too many Changs, it was an ugly morning. I'm definitely getting too old for this shit, and Re is clearly, already too old (judging from the retching sounds in the bathroom). We really did have a good time last night, but we should know when to say when by now. Needless to say, neither of us was in any damned hurry to get on the road this morning. After some aspirin and water to help with our “dehydration” headaches, we eventually got the bikes loaded up. Around 10:00 am, we headed out for Mae Salong. We made it approximately half a mile before stopping for coffee and one of the best croissants we have ever had. Now, we were ready to go.

Our goal for today was Mae Salong, a small mountain town in the Golden Triangle, about 150 miles away. The first 30 miles of the ride north out of Chiang Mai was a continuous string of city and small towns, with no real open space. In the distance, we could see the mountains and were looking forward to getting back onto those roads. The next section of the ride twisted and swooped along the Ping River, but still no mountains. As it had on other days, the cool morning rapidly gave way to hot weather, and the heat was not helping with out dehydration headaches. After a while, we stopped for some seaweed flavored chips and soda waters at the 7Eleven (of course).



Back on the road, we could still see the mountains, but instead found ourselves riding through straight and level farmland. The GPS counted down the distance to Mae Salong, and it was only in the final 15 miles that we finally reached the mountains. I knew that Mae Salong was supposed to be over 4000 feet in elevation, but we had been riding along at around 1200 feet. That meant the final 15 miles were quite a climb. We frequently found ourselves in first gear, climbing the hills at 10 mph, but it was beautiful.



We literally rode along the spine of several ridges as we rode around the rim of a valley on the final leg into town.



The landscape here consists of steep hillsides, some of which have been terraced for agriculture. This region used to be a huge opium producing area, but the Thai government has managed to eradicate most of the opium growing and replace it with tea and coffee production.

Mae Salong is a small town, so we easily found a guesthouse and were soon dropping our bags in our own little bungalow. We were finally feeling hungry, so we had a late lunch at our guesthouse. Since neither of us slept well the previous night, we retired to our bungalow for some relaxation and a nap. Suitably refreshed, we worked on ride reports until dinner and then found a local restaurant down the road for another delicious meal. After dinner, we went back to the guesthouse, sans Changs. I think it will be a few days before either Re or I will partake again.

150 miles in 6 hours. The bikes were struggling a little on the hills. I will need to put in the new fuel filters and plugs soon.