Chiang Mai -> Ban Thung Yua It was really nice the whole way but the last 5 miles got hot and really steep, especially the final part to Thung Yung Homestay (Ping’s). Woof! 🥵🥵🥵 We had breakfast at a congee place that’s open 24/7. I can’t believe they get that much business to stay open like that. The meal was decent but nothing has come close to our first lunch at Aroy Dee. We tried to go there for dinner last night and it was packed. The first 5 miles to get out of Chiang Mai were quite chaotic and hectic but it got more and more peaceful after about mile 7 or 8. It wasn’t as hot as we thought it would be either which was nice. Plenty of riding in the shade too. We ran into Lawrence from the Netherlands on his way back from doing the loop and had a little chat about his experience before parting ways. Lots of stray dogs that Emily did a lot of talking to. Praising them for not barking at her or running away. 😂 At around mile 35 we had lunch at Jungle de Cafe. A very nice spot on the river with suspended webbing in the deck to be able to look down. At lunch, Emily kindly informed me that I’ve been mispronouncing “Bandok” (the Strava title generator) as “Badonk”. It just sounds better to me. It’s funnier if nothing else so I think I’ll keep using it. I’ll definitely be using it randomly in conversations with her. 😂 Most of the day we were riding next to water but after lunch we were next to what looked like a pretty powerful one when there’s a lot of rain. There were people kayaking and rafting it. It was around this time when there road got rougher. On BIKEPACKINGcom, they had mentioned that many areas were hit badly by the earlier rains and there was plenty of evidence of landslides all the way to our homestay. The closer we got, the steeper the climbing got. The turn to head up into the village where the Ping’s is was probably 15+% And then the turn to go up to the homestay was 25+%. We walked it. Having to go up so much did mean the views from the place are really nice. Worth it? Emily would say yes. I would say maybe if I was riding an e-bike. 🤣 We were surprised by how few insects there are. In the evening, normally you’d see them flying around the lights but there were none. Seemed strange and counterintuitive given how lush and jungle-y it is. Still got bit by a mosquito though. Better than China where I got five bites on the first day (even with repellent).