Hello! Where you go? Where you come from? I love you!

The above words are the most common expressions that we have heard from day to day on the Thailand leg of our bike trip so far. Our terrain has been mixed since we left Chiang Mai but we’ve been fortunate enough to spend a few of our days meandering on smaller roads through small villages where we have met and encountered some incredibly friendly people.

We left Chiang Mai on February 21^st and decided that our first week should serve as a training week since despite all of the running around we did getting ready to leave, we didn’t fit in as much bike training as we had hoped. Once we got on the road, we were pretty happy that we hadn’t set expectations too high. With the heat and haze (which both seemed to set in the week before we left), we felt pretty good about taking it relatively easy (or so we thought).

On Day 2 which we renamed “Grunting Granny Gear Day,” we encountered steeper hills than either of us have ever encountered on bicycle. It was a little disheartening when 10km took us about 4 hours (seriously) and much of it was spent pushing our bikes up hill. Despite the difficulties of this day, it was one of our best days with incredible scenery. Going down made the ups almost worth it and arriving in Jaeson National Park (which has hot springs and a waterfall) and sharing a campsite with a group of monks made for an excellent end of day.

In the days that have followed, highlights definitely included arriving in Chiang Khan (below), along the Mekong River, and following the Mekong through small towns to Nong Khai, where we are now. Due to time constraints (visa expirations and an annoying exam that Heather has to write), we had to take a bus from Phrae to Loei which, while disappointing (to miss out the ride), was necessary.

We've had some fun and interesting interactions with different characters along the way. In Long, after asking for simple directions, we ended up with a friendly police escort to the only accommodation in town. We've also had some interesting discussions with locals about effects on the Mekong River from Chinese Dams.


There have also been some challenges such as extreme heat, smoky air, and steep hills in the north of Thailand. Every year, around this time of year, it's common in Northern Thailand to use slash and burn agricultural practices. This, combined with burning dry forests creates a polluted haze. Along with the heat, this is always a difficult time for people in the north. As we've made our way south, we've found less of this and we hope that this continues. While we loved our life in Chiang Mai, at this time of year, it's nice to be away. We hate to sound negative but we think it's useful to point out since cycling in the North is incredible outside of the burning season.

Tomorrow we're crossing the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge and heading to Vientiane. We'll try to update this about once a week and we'll try to be more concise in future entries!

For more photos, click on the slideshow.