New Year's Day

January 1, 2026

Dan Chang to Nong Prue, Thailand

New Year's Day

Of course we were asleep when the New Year arrived but there was an eruption of fireworks from all around not just our crazy compound. We were worried about our colorful compound because the people who had arrived late in the afternoon to spend the night there seemed like the type of people who had their trucks packed with fireworks. They sat around in the parking areas waiting for midnight and I had the feeling they were really going to blow the place up. As it turned out, when midnight arrived, they were not that bad. The booms and crackles came from far and wide. It lasted for a little while and then, like kids who just had to blow off some steam and when they had they were obedient kids and all was quiet again. That is so different in the States where the booms continue sporadically almost all night.

We were the first ones in the dining area at precisely 7AM for our breakfast. As we were approaching we heard the invisible kitchen staff say, "Farang!" Was that like a warning signal that the foreigners were on their way? So strange that they couldn't just say something like, "The first ones for breakfast are here." No, just "Farang!" I know it isn't a mean thing Thais are saying when they say 'farang'. They simply don't realize that in our way of thinking it's a little bit rude. We hear 'farang' too much. We hear people say it as we pass on our bikes; again feeling like a warning call. We hear people say farang all the time. It's no big deal to me though. I try to make light of it whenever I can.

The huge dining area at our colorful guest house.

This was also in the dining area. There was a stage and Christmas music. It was very odd.

The other day we had just arrived at a guest house and were checking in. A woman was going to show us a room. I don't know if she was a maid or someone more like management. As I was parking my bike I noticed two older foreigners walking across the parking lot and I said, in a voice loud enough for the Thai woman to hear but not loud enough for the foreigners to hear, "Oh, farang!" I said it to see the expression on the Thai woman's face and I definitely got what I was after. She had a look of surprise combined with amazement that I had said that but also combined with a look of slight embarrassment, as if I shouldn't be saying such a thing! But the look that won out on her face was that she thought it was really funny. It was like a gotcha moment. I got exactly the reaction I thought I might. It was fun and the Thais love to have fun like that. Simple stuff but they love to laugh.

Anyway, we ate our almost raw eggs, the variety of sausages, a bowl of jok and a cup of terrible Nescafe coffee and were out of there in a matter of minutes. We wanted to get on the road as early as possible.

As we were leaving our colorful guest house.

I really liked staying at this guest house.

Once on the road a very strange thing happened to both of us. Yes, we had taken a day off and often to get back on the bikes is harder after that day off. So, there was a little of that but something way worse too. It was as if our tires were mired in glue or were nearly flat. We couldn't get going faster than 5 or 6 miles per hour. It was so frustrating. I stopped and checked my tires but they were fine. Andrea was feeling the same lethargy. It was as if our bikes were lethargic, not us. The road was smooth so it wasn't that. And the road looked like it was either level or even downhill but we had to pedal hard even when it looked like downhill. I've had such a thing happen before but only for a short distance. I think that sometimes there is a definite optical illusion with the road looking like it's a downhill but in reality somehow it's slightly uphill. This optical illusion was the longest lasting ever for us. We couldn't get up to speed for 15 miles! It was terrible. It was putting me in a terrible mood too. At one point I said to Andrea, "I hate this road."

Right off the bat there is a crematory to photograph.

These signs along the road are telling people to not field burn. These are the first signs like this we have ever seen. There is hope. However, after riding nearly 900 miles in Thailand these are the first field burning signs we had seen. And will there be any enforcement?

Dreaming of the day we ate a whole chicken.

No idea what this is all about. Some big shindig at a temple maybe.

I stopped to photograph some of these cute huts that a guy was making and selling. He came running out and encouraged me to take more photos and then he took my phone and wanted to take a photo of me. He also gave us two bottles of water. He was a very nice person.

Still dreaming of that day we ate an entire chicken in minutes.

This was a big deal. It seemed like the entire town had turned out to see some spires being hoisted up onto this new gate. Monks were chanting and there were speeches by the major and other important people. We didn't stick around to see the spires craned up there.

The other thing was that the road we were on was a very good road and was straight as an arrow for miles and miles. The traffic was worse than I thought it would be and whenever the road is a long straightaway the Thais drive way too fast. There was a lot of passing which puts oncoming cars going way too fast right next to us. For some reason it is way more unsettling when they are coming in our direction. There was also a slight headwind at times that didn't help anything. And, I scared a snake back into the ditch. Snakes can move really fast and I'm really glad he didn't decide to cross the road right in front of me. Also, I saw a pretty good size one that had tried to cross the road and failed. It was a fresh squashed snake and it was number 100 on my squashed snake count. Somehow it was kind of odd to see snake 100 and a live one on New Year's Day.

Then there was a big hilly section where we had to push our bikes. At that section there was no shoulder and the road curved a few times. It was very dangerous and I kept thinking that it was insane what we were doing especially on New Year's Day when there might be some groggy drivers or even still drunk drivers. Fortunately the steep curves didn't last long and then there was a long glorious downhill when suddenly everything felt right again. It was the first time of the day when the bikes didn't feel like their tires were attached to the pavement.

The other side and everything was good again.

So, there must have been a slight uphill all the way to the top of the big hill and we didn't really know it. I was too mad to know it. There were too many factors to make me mad. I was angry at myself for going out on a road like that on New Year's Day. But the rest of the day was fine because we were either on level road or going downhill. Something was all right again, that's for sure. The shoulder returned but that headwind got worse. It was hard going, hard enough that when we came to a tiny coffee shop by the side of the road we were ready for a Thai cha yen - Thai iced tea. It was a coffee shop chain that we had only used once. The chain of coffee shops is curiously called "Hop Chafé." I suspect the originator of the chain didn't know what he was doing in terms of spelling but in terms of creating a franchise I think he knew quite a lot because we see those little shops everywhere. "Put a Hop in Your Day," is their slogan. And it is the cheapest coffee or tea or any number of other drinks. Sixty cents will get you a pretty amazing cold drink. We call those coffee shops, "Chafe," just the way it looks. Sometimes I put a French flair to it and add the accent, "Chafé."

While we were waiting for our cha yens to be made an adorable little boy drove up behind the little coffee shop on his tiny tricycle. He parked his tricycle a bit away. He had to live not too far away. He climbed up onto the rear of the little deck where we were waiting for our cha yens. He was a very serious little boy and very poised. He waited to order. When we got our drinks from the woman who made them he pointed at a couple of pictures of what he needed . Then he waited patiently on a stool. He was quite small but very sure of himself. I noticed some Baht bills in his fist.

If you zoom in, just above the pink plastic chair you can see a little bit of the boy's tricycle.

He had ordered two drinks and when they were ready the woman handed them to him and he gave her the money and then it looked too precarious for him to get down off of his stool with two large drinks so Andrea helped him by taking the drinks from the woman. The boy climbed down off the stool and also down off the edge of the deck. Once safely on solid ground Andrea handed him his drinks and he went on his way. We had forgotten he had arrived by tricycle. When he got to his tricycle he picked it up and put it under his free arm and trudged off around a building and was gone. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen!! He looked like an old farmer, like my squat little Swedish grandfather. I could see him doing the same thing while walking back from the barn up the driveway, if he saw something that needed to come up to the house he'd tuck it under his free arm for sure. After all, he WAS going that way. It is hard to describe how cute it was. The woman who had made us our cha yens also thought the little boy was adorable. She had photographed him as she handed him his drinks and as he paid her. And she was watching the boy when he picked up his tricycle. We three laughed together. It was the cutest thing ever. What a poised little boy. He couldn't have been more than five or six years old.

Then, there was another slight hill that was no big deal and a beautiful curve downhill around a brand new dam. More straightaway and headwind and we found a guest house in the middle of nowhere. There was a menu inside our room that you could call in. We had the owner call in an order for us and our food was delivered in no time with a delivery charge of nearly nothing. One reason we ordered food instead of getting back on our bikes and going to look for a restaurant was because the owner of the guest house didn't have a key to our room. When we had asked for a key she just went off speaking Thai a mile a minute and we had no idea what she was saying. She was acting like who needs a key anyway? What's wrong with you farang? She was a bit rough and when we had shown her the menu it was apparent she couldn't read and again had said all sorts of stuff to us that confused us a great deal but we kept saying what we wanted to eat. Andrea could read some of the Thai and she knew what we were ordering was on that menu. It's always interesting to do things here when you are a farang. We get by surprisingly well, actually.

We already had our cha yens in our bike pouches when we saw this interesting place. We didn't go in however.

I don't think we have ever had sliding glass doors to the bathroom!

We knew they delivered because it was one of two words in English on this menu in our room. We also knew it was a menu.

Even though it was a tough day in a lot of ways that little boy unknowingly showed us how wonderful things really are. You have one free arm, just pick up the thing that brought you and go on your way. No problem. Happy New Year!

lovebruce

Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 910 miles (1,465 km)

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Don NewnhamBruce and Andrea,
I've been an avid reader of the Journals for 6 or 7 years.
In all that time I have only left one comment. That was to Scott, expressing my appreciation of his writing and incredible photography.
I feel compelled to tell the two of you just how much I enjoy your journals. They are thoughtful and thought-provoking. I always feel better off for having read them.
So, thanks.
Thanks alot.
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3 weeks ago

Andrea BrownTo Don NewnhamThat is high praise, Don. Thank you.
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3 weeks ago

Bruce LellmanTo Don NewnhamThank you so much, Don. Your comment means a lot to us.
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3 weeks ago

Jen RahnFrom my nook at the Silverton Library, a call to celebrate the magic of that boy unknowingly brightening your day, and the day of the Hop Chafé woman, and my day .. a few days later and some thousands of miles away!
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2 weeks ago