Days 7-10 cycling: From Ryan's Resort to Khon Kaen. 4 days of cycling 20, 66, 30 and 70 miles respectively.

Route map - days 7 to 10 

We set off from Ryan's Resort down some lovely country lanes. Today's ride was only about 20 miles so we intended to make it a very leisurely pace all the way to Surin. We were even pretty relaxed about where the route would take us, particularly as we had already noticed that the roads in Thailand (even the side roads) seemed to be much better quality than those in Cambodia. 

So when the route continued in this vein for quite some time we were happy to go with the flow. We even went off road for a short while and Max was happy to get the chance to test the tandem on some gravel path too (me much less so 🫣). As well as helping us to avoid the worst of the sun's heat, one of the advantages of the early starts is that we get to see all the beautiful sunrises. I keep trying to capture them on camera but it's not as easy as it might sound. It's lovely to experience though and seeing everything and everyone slowly coming to life. There's usually an amusing moment where we pass someone who's still half asleep, they casually glance our way and then do a double take as they take in the tandem 😉 🤣.

This temple courtyard was a hive of activity 

Max looks happy 😀

Exploring off road

The early morning sun - a beautiful sight 

I decided against getting too close to that bull! 

It was a really lovely ride and such a nice feeling knowing that, when we reached Surin around 10am, we still had the day ahead of us and we (well me!) weren't absolutely exhausted for a change! As we turned into the hotel drive the first thing we saw was a cyclist coming towards us. It turned out to be a lady and her young son - who was seated at the front of the bike in what looked to be a variation on a tandem for parent and child. We were very intrigued! 

 

Knowing that we couldn't check-in until 2pm we left the bike and our luggage at the hotel and then wandered out again to find somewhere nice for breakfast. We soon stumbled on a nice little cafe which seemed to get very good reviews. A fab latte and chunky bread toast with blueberry jam for me 😋. Max opted for sticky rice with some sort chestnut paste as gluten free options were fairly limited. He made a mental note that their ice-cream looked good though - one for later 😉

We still had quite abit of time to kill so our next task was to buy some sim cards to use for the rest of our time in Thailand. This worked well for us in Cambodia - there was a kiosk at the airport and it was all done for us in a matter of minutes - costing about £8 for a month's worth of data. The process proved to be abit more convoluted in Thailand but we got there and settled on a 7 day sim card for the grand sum of £1. A bargain which seemed almost too good to be true! If it worked though we'd top up again in a week's time 😉

We managed to kill abit more time and found another place for a light lunch before heading back to the hotel to check in. Another £12 a night hotel which had 2 large beds, well stocked toiletries and a huge TV screen! What more could we ask for?? 

We ventured out once more in the evening - we'd found a Vietnamese restaurant on trip advisor that we wanted to try. It didn't disappoint - the food was fab and the restaurant had a lovely vibe with lots of great artwork everywhere - we definitely over ordered though and came away very full indeed 😋. We made our way back to the hotel and had a little wander around the night market before calling it a day. Tomorrow's ride was 66 miles so another early start to try and escape the heat. 

Vietnamese feast - way too much food but it was delicious 😋 

Max still found room for ice-cream though! 

Exploring the night market in Surin 

Next morning we set off around 6am - it was barely light but relatively cool. How long would that last I wondered 🤔 

This ride did turn out to be both hot and hard and to add to the challenge we went wrong at one point and ended up doing 73 miles instead of 66! It was a nice route though and we cycled through lots of small villages and settlements giving a real insight into what local life is like. Finding a suitable pitstop was challenging and when we eventually settled on a little roadside "cafe" we had to settle for a strawberry iced drink. It did the trick anyway and helped us to cool down a little. 

We arrived at our Butlins style resort around 3pm very tired and hungry. The cleaning ladies who showed us to our room were very friendly and welcoming but didn't speak a word of English. We were trying to establish our food options and they seemed to be telling us that everywhere was closed 😩. In the end we decided to head towards a small cafe mentioned on Google maps in the hope that it was open. Our luck was in and before long we were tucking into rice and pork and a papaya salad. Another occasion where, although not a gourmet meal, we were very grateful and relieved to be eating anything at all 🙏🙏

The only food option in town that night - we dived in as if we hadn't eaten for a week 😂

Dara resort - some buddhists were on holiday here too 😉

Another early morning departure 

The next morning when we set off around 7am it was a chilly 16 degrees - I even added an extra layer! It wouldn't be long before that was peeled off but I was certainly very glad of it in that moment. Today's ride was only 30 miles and relatively easy. We arrived at our hotel in Roi Et around 10 am and with no chance of an early check-in we had plenty of time to kill. We found a lovely little cafe about 15 mins walk away. It was a really pretty setting and we thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast there - so much so that we tentatively decided to head back there for dinner later 😋 

Fab food and charming service at this cafe. 

We lingered as long as possible in the cafe but still had a couple of hours to kill and so we decided to look for a spa treatment to help ease our tired muscles. As luck would have it there was one literally over the road from the cafe which seemed to get the best reviews on trip advisor. So we headed straight over there and after a quick scan of the menu we each settled on a 2 hour treatment which only cost us £10 each!! It was a beautiful spa and my treatment was absolutely amazing 🤩. Max said his hurt (he does always ask for firm which I would never dream of doing when it comes to Thai massages 😳) and he seemed to take this as a good sign 🤣🤣.

Wow, that spa treatment worked wonders 🤩

We checked into the hotel and spent the afternoon just chilling. We ventured out again in the evening to wander round a night food festival just outside the hotel. It was very lively, with really loud music and incredibly popular. The food looked very good but we were just looking as we felt too tired to eat on the hoof. It did look very appetising with lots to choose from and the locals seemed to be loading up with bag fulls of food which was a pretty good sign!! Once we'd explored all the festival had to offer we headed back to the same cafe we'd visited earlier for breakfast. They were very welcoming and we had a couple of really tasty Thai dishes. They also gave us a couple of home made brownies to take away ❤️

Exploring the food festival in Roi Et 

I thought this was such a lovely gesture 🥰

What a delicious Thai meal that was 😋

Mango and sticky rice for dessert 😋

The next day was another big ride - 70 miles to Khon Kaen where we we'd be staying for 3 nights over Christmas 🎄.  I was abit apprehensive about how I'd cope with another big ride but in actual fact it wasn't too bad. I think we were helped by a drop in temperature (it was only about 16 degrees again when we set off) and the fact that we're getting a tad stronger with each ride. Thank goodness 🙏. 

So we arrived at our hotel around 2pm and in reasonably good shape. I'll sum up our overall experience of Christmas in Khon Kaen in the next episode 😀

A roadside pitstop just outside Khon Kaen