Day 6: Sukothai to Si Satchanalai National Park

I arrived in Chiang Mai late yesterday afternoon but I have a few days worth of updates to do so I'm going to post one a day over the next couple of days until I'm caught up and rested and ready to head up to Chiang Rai. Also, the total time and total distances below reflect my riding around Sukothai visiting the temples, etc.

Distance biked: 114.32 kms / 71.04 miles
Time on the road: 5:51
Total Distance biked: 589 kms / 366 miles
Total time on the road: 28:10

I reluctantly left the Ban Thai Guesthouse in Sukothai early the morning of Thursday, May 26th. It was a nice place to stay with friendly staff, comfortable rooms and delicious homemade food. I decided to customize my route from that of the one Mr. Pumpy followed from Sukothai. I instead opted for highway 101, skipping the city of Uttaradit which wasn't in my guidebook and where Mr. Pumpy said he spent the night on the floor of a cafe by himself. I figured if I was going to end up sleeping on the floor someplace I might as well do it closer to the next point on my route - Lampang.

So, up highway 101 I went and entered an area that, from the official looking signs posted, appeared to be a national forest or park. At 11:53AM I hit some big, steep hills and I had to start climbing. I hadn't had much of a breakfast (the usual 7-11 fruit yoghurt drink) and I began to run out of energy around 1PM just as the sun was really fired up. Also, as soon as I entered the park no roadside shops were anywhere to be found which meant my water supply was getting low quickly. Reluctantly, I asked some people I rode by for a few cups of water from their jug which they happily gave me. The hills kept coming and I continued biking past 2:30 but still didn't see any shops or roadsigns letting me know I was getting closer to civilization. Traffic was almost non-existent too so there wasn't anyone to ask.

I rode past an official looking station of sorts and a guy out front in a camouflage t-shirt waved hello to me. I waved back and almost kept going but decided that maybe he could tell me how long the forest went on and how long the hills would continue. I got off my bike and wheeled it up the dirt path to the station. He was friendly and when I asked for some drinking water his colleague offered to make me some food which I at first politely declined but, my hunger getting the better of me, I finally accepted and had a plate of rice with spicy vegetables with about 6 glasses of pure drinking water.

The two guys spoke only a little English but communicated to me that they were forest rangers and were responsible for protecting the area and other kinds of ranger things. When I asked about what the road ahead was like and when I could expect to be out of the forest they told me that it went on for another 25 kilometers and that I had quite a few hills ahead of me. A bit dispirited I thanked them, filled up my Camel Bak, took their photo and hit the road not really sure if I could make it another 25 hilly kilometers.

At 4:30 I rode around a bend and saw one of the biggest hills of the day in front of me. I felt that I couldn't go another inch and decided to pull off the road to try and find a place where I could camp for the night. I saw a dirt path leading up to a clearing about 200 feet from the road and went to check it out. It appeared that the plot was being prepared for some future use because the ground was leveled and most of the trees had been chopped down and the area seemed to have been burned recently. I decided that it was far enough from the road that no one would see me and yet I was close enough that I could get out if need be. I unpacked my Siam Hammock and, because I had already slept it as a tent, I set it up as a hammock with mosquito net and rain fly.

At about 6:30 the sun was setting and I decided to turn in for the night. I used the remaining sunlight to write Megan a letter and to record the day's riding statistics and my expenses. It was pretty hot in the hammock because the mosquito net was pretty thick so I decided to take off my shirt and sleep in only my cycling shorts.

As darkness fell the sounds of the forest around me began to change. All the night creatures started to emerge and make themselves known - mosquitos, crickets, spiders, etc. Then I heard two roars echo from across the valley. It wasn't a lion kind of roar but it was definintely feline and it didn't sound like any small cat. I was a bit worried that I might look appetizing hanging between two trees only 2 feet off the ground protected by nothing other than a thin layer of nylon. I quickly got out of the hammock, packed my bike bags onto my bicycle, put my clothes back on and got my flashlight and the big LAPD knife my brother Dave gave us as a wedding gift. I was prepared for anything. I got back into the hammock and was resolved that if that panther/mountain lion/house cat came anywhere near me I'd be forced to take action. I'm sure it would have been frightened more than I as I went running and yelling out of the forest trying wave down any passing vehicle for help. I imagined trying to explain to the poor, unsuspecting person I flagged down that there was a big scary animal in my illegal campsite. I probably would have had to imitate it - making claws with my fingers and doing some kind of cat-like roar as I took swipes at the air. I'm sure they would have understood perfectly.

Thankfully for me (and for the animals of the forest) there were no nighttime visitors to my campsite and I awoke with the sunrise the next morning. I laughed at myself for being so easily spooked and, since my bike was packed from the night before, I bundled up my hammock and headed out to tackle the rest of highway 101.