Thailand: A road trip to nowhere quickly

Dodging rain became a bit of an art today, sometimes you win sometimes you got drenched.

Don’t you love it when divine intervention comes a calling. Here I was lying in bed, bored, feeling restless and uninspired. I needed some direction to kick start my adventures again. You see I’d taken a 6-month lease on a condo in Chaing Mai as a base and I was 4 months into the lease and thinking to myself what’s next. I had been here for a while now I was settled, and I felt like I had not achieved a lot and bit of a caged animal. Sure, I’d been on some great road trip adventures with family and friends which I’ve shared. But the real reason why I’d come here was to learn off road riding, but I just never seemed to tee up a ride with friends and let’s face it off road riding in the mountains by yourself was not advisable for safety reasons.

Storm cells like this one made life a little difficult and slow going. You have a choice go through, around or wait it out and when you don’t have a timeline. I guess wait it out wins every time.

Having already fallen of a mountain once I know this first hand and truth be known that scared the shit out of me and really knocked the confidence out of my riding.  So here I was lying in my tiny condo scrolling aimlessly and daydreaming of adventure. When low and behold Facebook of all things gave me the excuse I was looking for. Whether it was divine intervention or ‘the Zucker man’ cunning algorithms we’ll never know but a 2 day off road training course popped up on my feed. So naturally I investigated?

Found this random abandoned temple when I hit a thunderstorm and ducked into a little shelter for cover.

from thunderstorms to colourful wind charms, the open road south is certainly random but i love that about Thailand.

The course was in Chonburi and in 2 weeks’ time. My first question was where the hell is Chonburi a quick search in google maps revealed it was down south and a solid 800km away. It promised 2 days of off-road rider training in a customised training facility and the rest was semantics I just messaged him and more or less said shut up and take my money. I had my next adventure, and it ticked all my boxes. I didn’t know where I was headed beyond that of my end destination and a date 12 days in the future.

I just love the randomness of the open road

For some planning for a road trip can be half the fun, just ask my good mate Carrington who spent months planning her recent solo push bike ride through Nepal and the stans and rightly so. Myself I’ve always be more of a ‘were not here to fuck spiders’ kind of guy. (Aussie slang look it up).

So Decision made, I lay there unable to sleep so I got up in the middle of the night ‘googling’ so hard I swear there was smoke coming from my computer as I mashed the keyboard trying in vain to formulate a plan of attack.

This place was off the beaten track, it was a nice rest stop, would of been a nice camping spot but as a day visit not really worth the farang entrance fee.

The cave was a bit of a let down Had to walk up a very steep rocky path in my bike boots which was no easy fit, the cave was small and no deadly encounters with the wildlife fortunately.

In hindsight I think it may very well have been some trepidation creeping in because I found myself thinking back about my adventures and I suddenly realised this was to be the first time I went off meandering on a solo motorbike ride ever. Moreover, it was to be my first true extended solo trip since I was a backpacker travelling the wilds of Africa way back in 1995. Whilst that may not seem a big deal for a seasoned traveller, for me with my very limited Thai, riding a motorcycle around the back roads of Thailand off the beaten tourist path it was a very valid concern. Sometimes It’s really hard to dismiss the ‘What if this happens’ demon in your head. Today I just had to concede I didn’t have all the answers and accept I was throwing myself in the deep end.

Crickets and Silkworms for dinner anyone, you know what they say, fresh is best. I wonder what the vegans would have to say about the crickets, after all they do compete for food. .

When I did that, it all just sort of fell into place. Sleep eventually came, the next day I found myself packing my life into my brand spanking new Mosko Moto reckless 80 soft luggage system and running around getting last minute things.  

Waking up on the morning of departure I was treated to an overcast and showery day, with the ‘what if’ demon firmly locked away in the condo I wasn’t going to let this be deter me and so I roared out of the condo complex with a tinkle in my eye and a cheerful wave to my favourite security guard , the hardest part of any journey is always the first step and or in this case the first twist of the throttle.

Definitely looked the odd one out here, not a farang to be seen in the entire city. Maybe they were in hiding.

Theres something enthralling about hitting the road without a plan, you just sort of go with the flow and find yourself in places you never even imagined. I barely left Chaing Mai when I was delayed by some heavy rain, but siting in a coffee shop on the side of the highway watching the rain bucket down was soothing in itself. I didn’t mind the rain I knew it was a shower, I had coffee and not a care in the world. Eventually the rain eased off, so I pushed on and was rewarded by with sunshine and rainbows in between rainstorms for the remainder of the day.

At the end of the day, it’s time for a cold beer and quick plot of the route for the next adventure,

That day I took in a random cave I saw on the side of the road, found an abandoned temple in a rain storm and just enjoyed the road to nowhere. I eventually made it to a random town I’d never heard of called Uttaradit.  After successfully finding a place to lay my weary head, I took a walk around the city and was surprised to not see another farang (western tourist) I’d only travelled 253km that day, but it appears I was well and truly off the beaten tourist path. That night I went to bed after not uttering a word of English all day, my few words of Thai and sign language achieved my goals and did me a world of confidence building. The ‘What if’ demons were behind me and only adventure lay ahead and I couldn’t wait for another day to unfold.

Mum they are onto you here !!! better not visit this national park