November 27, 2025
Mai Dai
Nan to Ban Luang
Dear little friends,
Well, our adventure plan to the border crossing was not going to be a thing. Luckily I had plotted out another route earlier this summer that could get us up to Chiang Khong where we could cross the Mekong into Laos and get a visa on arrival. We’ve done that crossing in both directions several times.
Loading up in the courtyard of the guesthouse a man stood by his motorcycle and said “Oh, very strong!”, in response to me telling him we were heading to Chiang Khong. I felt strong, at least for a while. There was a long gradual uphill out of Nan, with fields and farms and gas stations and dogs sleeping in the morning sunshine after their nights of debauchery.
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It absolutely cannot be nicer weather in northern Thailand right now, far from the floods and super typhoons in parts south and east. Bright blue skies, moderate temperatures, and the lush bright green of the post-rainy season. Just brilliant and enjoyable.
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We rocked on and started noticing that the villages were looking more Mien and Hmong, the music changed, sloping fields grew corn instead of rice. And yes, sure enough, we round a curve and see a very steep uphill ahead.
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I said a naughty word. Bruce replied, “Looks like a walker.” Yep, it was a walker. I hate uphills, hate pushing, hate hate hate.
Thailand doesn’t mess around with these mountain roads, no big hill cuts, just build the road up and down and around. People who enjoy riding on dramatic roads like this go up to the Mae Hong Song loop for their hill-climbing cred. But there are far more of those roads than one might know about, we certainly weren’t thinking we were going to be in for a torture day. But, yep.
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 1 | Link |
1 month ago
The downhills are super steep too which is pretty nerve wracking as you curve down and around and hope the paving is decent and no hot shots are passing each other in their Toyota Hilux pickups into your lane. Blind curves pose a challenge for Thai drivers, in that they don’t seem to acknowledge that they are, indeed, blind.
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1 month ago
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https://botany.dnp.go.th/eflora/floraspecies.html?tdcode=04480
1 month ago
It’s a gorgeous road. The scenes out into the hills are fascinating. As I push my laden bike up the 9% grade I can see those even steeper fields of corn that far tougher people than me planted and are out picking now. Way, way, away up into those hills were people who worked and lived and died on 11% grades and thought nothing of it.
So, yes, it’s humbling. And sadly, the hills just kept coming. We only had about 5 or 6 miles left to go and we were both just losing it. Bruce started watching for a rice shelter or something that we could just stop and sleep in, throw down our sleeping bags. That was sort of an option but we had very little water left, so a very poor option. The afternoon was grinding on and waning and so were we.
Meanwhile, the traffic was going by on that shoulderless road, not steady but in small batches of three or four pickups or large noisy haul trucks. Some motorbikes were not powerful enough to go much faster than we were on those uphills.
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1 month ago
1 month ago
We had stopped for the 90th time to catch our breath and hold the bikes steady when I turned around to see a dark pickup coming up that seemed to have an empty bed. Without thinking or hoping I made the Asian beckoning gesture, which is a downward hand, then flexing the fingers up and in. To my absolute shock the pickup pulled up by Bruce and stopped.
The man set his parking brake, got out and asked us where we were going, and lowered the door of his pickup bed. We hauled our bikes and bags up and in, piled ourselves into the cab, and off he went.
I was doing some silent weeping in relief. The remaining road was just as bad or worse than what we had just done. One terrible slope loomed and I said, “Mai dai” (can’t) and he responded, “Chun” (up). That’s all that needed to be said. He drove well and carefully with our bikes back there.
Finally we were cruising into Ban Luang, with the guesthouse I had previously scoped out on our right, he pulled in, and we unloaded everything, thanked him over and over, and off he went. I don’t believe in angels but apparently they believe in us.
Bruce and I looked at each other.
“Happy Thanksgiving.”
After checking into our darling little guesthouse we walked down to have a khao soi Thanksgiving dinner, still marveling at our luck. Then to the 7-Eleven for an ice cream, where people looked startled but cheerful to see us in their remote town, smiling at us for eating our ice cream right then and there in the 7-Eleven. Even with all of this gratitude, I still felt a little traumatized. If we look like 20 miles of bad road it’s because that’s where we were and that’s who we are.
Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 240 miles (386 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 7 |
1 month ago
So cool that your hand knew what to do when your eyes saw the empty-bedded truck approaching.
I hope you have time there to rest well and shake off the wear and tear of that day.
Cheering for youse from the Silverton Library!
1 month ago
1 month ago
1 month ago
I love it when you meet someone in another country than where you originally met them. That's quite rare but it happens. The other fun thing is to meet someone you met on a different trip. That happened to me once.
1 month ago