Monday, April 6, 2009

Where I Don't Include a Picture Because Laotian Internet Is Slower Than Any Internet In The World.

We rolled into Chiang Rai after pushing out an 85 km morning. The roads where smooth, the scenery fantastic and every 2 miles there was a place selling grilled corn. I didn't eat any corn, but I liked the idea that I could at any time. Rarely, in my everyday life, do I go about things confident that at anytime I could satiate a sudden desire for sweet corn. For almost four hours I confidently pedaled knowing that any cravings for sweet corn could be pounded into submission around the next corner.

We blew into Chiang Rai, drafting like a tour team, around noon. First stop, a guy who sold ice cream blocks out of a cooler strapped to his bike. Breckan suggested I start carrying her panniers and she starts carrying the "ice cream cooler." This sounded like a good idea until I realized I would be carrying her bags for the whole trip and after about a day, she'd be carrying an empty cooler- not full of delicious ice cream. The ice cream blocks were actually pretty cool. He just cut up this big chunk of ice cream and stuck a stick on it. The next stop was a delicious, oh so delicious, khao sooy place for lunch. We rode through Chiang Rai for a couple of minutes before stumbling upon a guest house with the nicest lawn I've seen in Thailand. The owner for more than helpful and drew incredibly good maps, for a girl! If you're in Chiang Rai, stay at Baan Rub Aroon Guesthouse. The place slams!

The evening was spent eating and eating some more, and then we ate some more. I ate at another Khao Sooy place that had been in Chiang Rai for 80 years and was now being run by generation number 4. The marketing team had gone all out when searching for the perfect name. "Khao Sooy Restaurant." Keep it simple guys. Keep it simple.

We spent the next day in Chiang Rai riding around and looking cool. Something that was not hard on our super sweet bikes. The next morning we took off for Laos. We had two days to get to the border because Kyle was having passport problems.

2 comments:

  1. Please tell me what Khao Sooy is, my mouth is watering and I don't know why.

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  2. Spencer, Isn't Laos east of Thailand? I haven't looked at a globe in 15 years so I could be wrong. But I'm pretty sure you're going the wrong way.

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