Day 16,17,18,19 - 142km

The 102km cycle from Mae Saliang to Hot was the best trip to date. If you had asked me 2 1/2 hours in to it you probably would have not found me so happy by it, the day started with a 25km climb which took me the above stated time. After this there was a fast enough up and down bendy road along the top of ridges, 35km from Hot all the sweaty, painfull climbs of the past week were paid back to me in kind with one of the longest descents I have ever done on a beautifully asphalted windy tree lined mountain road, I hardly had to apply pressure to the pedals for the full 35km , there is no better feeling then seeing those kilometre markers fly by you.

Another reason this cycle and all the ones of the past four days have been so great is that it is Songkram (Thai New Year), which is celebrated for a full week by water fights and alot of drinking, so through every town and village you pass you have children and adults cheering and throughing buckets of water over you. Never in my life could this of been more welcomed then in this past week, I feel like a competitor in the Tour de France with my hoards of adoring fans wanting to help me by cooling me off and cheering me on.

This weekend is the height of the celebrations, and nowhere in the country is it celebrated more then in Chiang Mai, so being less then 100km away I thought it would be rude not to make an appearance, so I cycled the 40km to the motor way (getting drenched through) stuck out my thumb and like magic a car stopped straight away, if anyone out there is thinking of travelling Thailand I highly recommend hitch-hiking it is so easy, but maybe not during Songkram as being hit by water while travelling 140kmph is damn sore . I was left just outside Chiang Mai where I cycled the 6km in to the centre through stand still traffic of people on the top of cars, back of youts, pickups, mopeds, bikes, people on the side of the road all having one big water fight, with ice water, flour water, red dyed water, canal water, beer, basically anything liquid they could get there hands on, cracking fun.

So I shall be staying here till the end of the festivities on Tuesday and beyond as I meet a friend from Peru here on the same day so this blog page, me and my bike will have a bit of a rest untill I hit the road again towards the end of the week.