Thailand: A road trip to nowhere fast-Sukhothai- Nakhon Sawan

Tree Line roads and green fields make for a pleasant ride to sooth the ailments of last nights shenanigans

To say I woke up feeling dusty today would be an understatement. Last night’s social gathering with my newfound Thai friends did a little damage to my being. Who am I kidding, I was hungover as buggery. Thai whiskey shots, washed down with beer Chaing chasers might be good for cheer at a community gathering but the next day it is really brutal on the body. Today I just lay there wishing I’d died and gone to a better place. One good thing about motels over here though that I really like is the late check out. A 12pm check out beats our Australian 10am ne hands down. Those few extra hours just take the pressure off and aids you in your post celebration recoveries. But with every good thing there is the flip side. Today hungover, I was trying to load up the bike up in the middle of in the heat of the day, sweating bullets and cursing the incessant throb in my temple.

Thailand has so many temples, at times they can all blur into one. But I still enjoy the randomness of them and the guardians.

I think I finally rolled out of there around 12:30, pointed the bike south and headed for the nearest servo to fuel up and slurp down my favourite electrolyte drink. Pocarri Sweat – I don’t know what isin it, I can’t read Chinese and quite frankly I don’t care. All I know is it does the trick and I seek it out on a daily basis. It’s right up there with my need for Caffeine. Today I inhaled the first bottle and savoured the 2nd as I sat in the shade of a tree beside a random 711 on a road to nowhere. Looking at Google maps I knew today wasn’t going to be an earth shattering ride, I was in central Thailand and whilst it’s beautiful in its own way with miles of rice fields, I find the flatness of it akin to outback Australia (just greener) with miles of the same scenery offering little variety to mix it up. Moreover, given the day was half over I figured the next major city was to the best milestone I could achieve. So destination Nakhon Sawan became the objective. I just wanted to get there and seek out some aircon, maybe die quietly, you know how it goes when you’re hungover. Knowing I only had 220km to ride was a blessing so off I meandered at a sedate pace of 80-90 km/hr.

Ok, I am not geographically embarassed. There’s a city somewhere around here.

Those that are avid readers know that Google maps and I have a love hate relationship, and that I blame Google Maps every time for my geographical embarrassing moments. But today I have to own this one. I blindly plugged in Nakhon Sawan and hit go. What I forgot was Nakhon Sawan was a province and also the capital of that province so good old Google took me on an adventure to the centre of the providence. So hungover I was, I never clued into the fact I was travelling on these back roads to nowhere, through tiny villages and communities. It wasn’t until I was about 20km away from my pre entered Google maps destination that I even started to think wow this city must be small and condensed, hear here I am in the middle of nowhere, clueless, it’s just me, the scare crows in the rice paddocks and the odd farmer staring inquisitively at this crazed farang as he roars on by.

Miles and miles of newly sown crops made for a change of scenery.

Stopping in the shade of the only tree for miles I investigated my dilemma and realised my error. Fortunately, this province wasn’t a big one and the actual city was only about 70klms away. Lesson learnt!! Always and I mean Always put in a proper end destination. Hotel plugged in I head. off to lay my weary head, what’s an hour between friends on the road to nowhere fast I rationalised. On the outskirts of the city my luck ran out, with nowhere to go the heavens opened up on me and I was a drowned rat in seconds. At least I was a cool drowned rat and the sweltering heat had abated a little.
Arriving at a pink hotel I wasn’t overly impressed but it had aircon, it was central, cheap and well it was dry. So, what do weary travellers do. They have a shower, flop on the bed and seek out their next feed. Today I needed some good old fashioned Aussie comfort food. Punching best steak restaurant in Nakhon Sawan into my phone it through threw up a few options and I picked the one that had the highest ratings.

Steak and Veggie, the only way to cure a hangover on the road, naturally washed down with a hair of the dog,

It was only 900m away, but I was even too tired to walk that. So lazily I jumped on the GG and found it without concern. You can imagine my delight when the restaurant advertised Australian grown Beef and there in bold was a good old Aussie T Bone and vege. There was a God after all, I didn’t care if I was going to have to sell my first-born child (sorry Tom everything has a price) to have one. I just wanted a T-Bone and mash. That day in this random city in a random restaurant as I chowed down on my meal, I felt like I’d I had died and gone to heaven. The steak, hands down, was sensational and the road to nowhere fast had provided again.
In case you are wondering – London’s steakhouse bar & Bistro was my Saviour that night. Whilst I cannot say no Australian cows were harmed in the making of this story, I can say that your sacrifice was not in vain, and you did our country proud.