So ridiculously hot & the kindness of strangers.

Kalasin – Somdet 42km yesterday 16th

Yesterday was a leisurely ride to Somdet but still the heat was soaring. We weren’t even 100% sure there was a hotel in this small town but we found TN Place and what a find for 400b. The people all so friendly, so much so that a lady rocked up on her scooter saying she would deliver us takeaways tonight.  Not sure how word got around town that 2 farang  (Westerners) were in town. Maybe someone had told her we didn’t eat the offal we were served for lunch….! Note the offal on rice at lunch was the one and only bad meal we have since being in Thailand and that was purely our lack of Thai when ordering. The hotel owner phoned through our takeaway/delivery order for dinner and Bingo it was awesome!

Today Somdet – Sakhon Nakhon 88km

On the bikes by 6.15am and already not a cloud in the sky so was going to be a hot day. We had read up we were going to get some hills today but bloody hell this made the Whangamoas seem like a walk in the park. We thought we had one Mt pass to negotiate, however after knocking that over and celebrating we were greeted with a further 40km of grunty hill climbs with the odd descent.

I know we keep going on about the heat but it was stifling. Our clothes were completely soaked with salt stains, our faces dripping like taps constantly and once again a battle to keep the fluids up.

As crazy as it sounds we had a blast and loved it. 10km out from Sakhon Nakhon we experienced the true kindness of strangers spirit. Literally being waved off our bikes 3 people were giving away free drinks to anyone on a bike. The timing for this was perfect as we gulped down the super sweet iced blackberry drink, and then another one, and then one drink bottle was filled with it and our water bottles all replaced.  We all tried to converse with each other and 30min later we were on our way buzzing about another cool Thai experience and having pretty much our only flat riding of the day for the final 10km into the city. Found a hotel, had a late lunch, cold shower and stayed into the aircon to try get our body temps back to normal. I think that friend Leo will be popping around soon to see if we are OK!