The sweet spot

     I think I've found my sweet spot for bicycle touring.  My formula is going to a city, renting a bicycle, and heading out.  I did a short trip with Spice Roads through Bangkok and then took a day trip to Ayutthaya that was just brilliant.  Elevated sky train, metro and train got me to Auytthaya for $1.96, bicycle rental was $1.65 and I had the day to explore the ruins of one of the old capitals of Thailand.

Ayutthaya 

     Never too far away from cold water, a mango smoothie or a tasty meal and always in the action, it's just what I like.  And if something happened to the bicycle?  I'd flag a truck down, take it back to the rental place and mutter under my breath, "Fix it, bitch."   Sure, the bike you are on may not fit you properly and probably isn't the most reliable steed, but you avoid a number of hassles - packing/unpacking the bicycle, airline fees (both ways) and here's the big selling point for me:  I get to do the kind of cycle touring I like to do.  I'm not interested in slogging out the miles past the water buffalo, roadside snakes and miles and miles of rice paddies.  They're nice to watch from the train, but not quite as interesting in the oppressive heat as you are clocking 18 kph.

     I took the night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, where I'm currently posted up, bicycle rental safely locked outside the hotel.  The folks sitting across from me on the sleeper train were from Holland, and like me, in their 50's.  It was their first time to Thailand, and they said they had stayed in the young, hip section of Bangkok.  I told them I knew it well, I used to stay there, back when I was young and hip.  Now I like to stay in the old and crotchety part of the city.  Suits me much better.  And the sleeper is a bargain - $26 gets you a 14 hour train trip, a berth (yes, I do like the turn down service at 2100) and cold, cold, cold ac.

A night on the train

     Chiang Mai is a fairly compact city, the Old City is inside the moat and there is plenty to explore outside the confines of the gates and surrounding water, quite accessible on a bicycle.  I took a trip to the West side of the city today and then circled back to the East where I happened on a lovely market where the bananas weren't Cavendish and the root vegetables still had the dirt on them.  At the end of the market was a woman selling well, I'm not sure.  I saw an organ, a tail, and what looked to be like two bags of blood.  You know, if you happen to know what do do with a few bags of fresh blood.  At least it doesn't look like they're wasting any part of the animal.

I think my oxtail soup may have a hair in it...

    And speaking of food in general, I finally broke the news to Gwyne, who would always helpfully point out the Thai restaurants wherever we lived, perhaps hoping for a meal out.  "Honey.  The Thai restaurants.  You know what I really like?  I like the price of the Thai food in Thailand.  Street food.  A good, healthy meal for under $1."   I do enjoy the food, but I have a Kim Davis like aversion to paying $7 -$10 when I know what the True price should be.  25 - 30 Baht.   Eagle eyed readers may have noticed my wife didn't come with me this time.  We're in the process of looking at potential retirement locations and Chiang Mai is on the short list.  I sold her the idea of this trip by saying that she needed a hero to go forward and explore Chiang Mai more thoroughly.  A hero's hero, that's what she was looking for.  Who fits that job description better than I?   My mission is to hang out, explore the neighborhoods, look at apartments,  examine the +'s and -'s and then report back.  She was lukewarm about the idea of Thailand to start with (we've been there twice before) and a bit cooler about me taking off for an undetermined amount of time on a quasi bike tour through Thailand.   It was a hard sell, and in the end, the deal was closed, and here I am.  We have a 14 point metric on an ideal retirement location, and we know we won't hit all of the bullets, but are looking to fill the majority.  If I come back and tell her that Thailand is the place for us, she won't be a happy camper.  There would be years of selling what she doesn't want to buy.  What about the kids?  Skype.  And you can rustle some aluminum foil in the background when you're done talking with them, and blame the connection.  Bonus! What about the language?  Google translate.  Works like a champ.  I thought I had all the answers, but after this trip, I'm going to come back to a hero's welcome when I tell her that Thailand just won't fit the bill.  Win, win, win.  Just how I like it.

David

     David was an odd fellow.  I met him on the beach in Koh Samui, Thailand, way back in once upon a time time, when there was no airport and you had to take a boat to get there.  In the dark days of travel, prior to credit cards, hotel reservations, the internet, e-mail, Facebook, a variety of apps, the distraction of a constant screen in front of you and the even more alienating earbuds, we talked to each other back then, which is how I came to know him.
     He worked 6 months out of the year in the U.S. as a waiter and spent the other 6 months on Koh Samui.  Back then, you could get your own cottage on the beach for $1/day.  Sure, you had to bring your own towel, toiletries, there was no hot water, electricity was spotty and the mosquitoes were plentiful, but you had your own cottage on a beach in Thailand.  We all thought it was a pretty good deal.  David would always stay in the exact same guest house, in the exact same cottage.  If someone else happened to be staying in 'his' cottage, which was truly beachfront, not set back like some of the others, the proprietors would move them to accommodate David.  After all, he was going to be there for the next six months, and they wanted to ensure their goose continued to lay that golden baht.  A sparse breakfast was included in the $1/day rate, either banana pancakes or a mixed fruit plate, but he always ate dinner in the restaurant attached to the guest house.  There were other options for eating, he knew it, as did the owners of the guest house.  After breakfast, he'd walk the length of Chaweng Beach, 3 miles one way, 3 miles the other and then go for a swim.  Then he'd settle down on the porch of his cottage and read the day away until dinner time, which, because he didn't eat lunch, was at exactly 4:30 pm. He'd amble up to the restaurant, book in hand and sit at his table.  If someone else happened to be eating that early, the owners would ensure they weren't sitting at David's table.  They had a fairly varied menu, but he had the same thing.  Every. day.  Yellow chicken curry and rice. For six months.  Yeah, an odd fellow. He was well read and we swapped books and recommendations. I traveled on with friends to Malaysia and Indonesia, but ran into David about 2 years later.  I was going to graduate school in Hawaii, and took a bike ride down to Magic Island and there was David, walking.  It must have been in between breakfast and dinner time, because that was the time he always took his walk.  In surprise, I yelled out, "David!" His response?  "Oh, hi Alan, how are you?"  He seemed completely unsurprised that we'd bump into each other in Hawaii after being acquainted on an island in Thailand.  It was the 6 month work season for David, and he was staying in some nasty apartment, squirreling away the dollars before he could get back to Koh Samui.
     I thought he was odd because he was so committed to his routine, but as I get older, I tend to live within my own self defined lines.  I was just thinking about David because here I am, back in Thailand.  I went to Bumrungrad Hospital for a thorough check up because it's just good preventative practice when you reach the ripe age of 55.  Shit happens, and I'm not fond of shit, so I like to prevent that shit from happening, if I can.  I've been to Bumrungrad before, and there is a certain reassuring feeling of going through the same process, seeing the same doctors, and them having access to your past records.  Today, I saw the dentist I saw in 2012.  She asked about my front tooth and if I had decided to get it fixed.  Yesterday, I saw the same dermatologist I saw before and we talked about the nevus mole on my face as he did a whole body skin cancer check.

     Okay, it's not exactly having the same GP in the same town, but we move around a lot.  I've been going to the same restaurant every day. Routines. The name of the restaurant is Thai food very good and very cheap, and there's always plenty of Thais eating there.  And how can you argue with that advertising brilliance?  They had me at very cheap.  I mix up what I eat, and have yet to have a yellow chicken curry with rice, but still, same restaurant every day.  I'm not to the point of eating at the same time and sitting at the same table but that's the direction I'm headed.

     I'm getting ready to head to Chiang Mai to settle down for a bit and explore the areas of Chiang Mai I haven't seen before on a bike.  I know the Eastern part of Chiang Mai and the Old City pretty well, it's where I first went back in 1984, and every time I've returned, my lizard brain just takes me right back to the same part of town.  I'll start out in the Eastern section and get on a bike for a few days to look for a longer term rental.  I'll be taking a look see at the Western section this time as you can get a decent apartment for just over $200/month. But the smart money should bet on me ending up somewhere in the Old City or the Eastern side of town.  I'll meet a few travellers while there (if the screens of smartphones and tablets can be penetrated) and someone will likely go home and say, "That  Alan, he was an odd fellow."