Mountain Bike Mishaps & the Thai Mafia!

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Hello everyone,

Trying to squeeze in a few blogs before we hit south as we probably will not have access to the internet all the time down that way! Today was an interesting day...

First thing this morning we set off on our Mountain Bike Tour (we picked what we thought was an easy one since I havent been on a bike for quite awhile)... And let me tell you... another lesson was learnt... never ever think that doing RPM classes at the gym qualifies you to ride a mountain bike in rough terrain, or even on tarmac for that matter! More on that later.....

The drive out to the spot where we were to begin was eventful... we were driving along when a guy on a motorbike came up along side the driver and motioned for him to pull over.... eventually we pulled over and this tough looking dude, with knife scars all over his arms approaches the vehicle... he starts speaking to the driver in thai and even though we couldnt understand a word, both Trent and I were feeling uncomfortable... the exchange was getting more heated with the motorcyclist taking off his sunglasses and helmut... to reveal some pretty cold eyes... I was at this stage thinking "mate this guy is gonna pull a gun any moment".. Trent later confessed he was thinking the same thing... every now and then the driver would say "who are you?! are you tourist police?!" or "what does TAT stand for?!" ... this guy would say in english "I am the boy".... it was a really weird exchange but I had one hand on the door handle and was getting more uptight by the moment....

We eventually drove off after about 10 mins and I was like "what the hell was that all about?!" Our guide just laughed and said he had never seen the guy before, nor had anything like that happened before. "Apparently" the guy was asking to see his ID or drivers licence, but Lek (our guide) was saying "you show me yours first"... I said "what? Is that the thai mafia?!" to which he laughed and said he didnt know... 'probably just a crazy man'.... yeah no sh*t!!!

Trent and I were constantly looking behind us and I have to say I was pretty freaked out for a good half hour... I had visions of being shot and chopped up into a million pieces in the middle of the Chiang Mai jungle! I tried to sms Heath to ask him to contact me in a couple of hours but I had run out of credit on my phone! Doh!

It was so weird and pretty scary, but we relaxed after awhile and then the mountain biking adventure began... first we were fitted with knee pads, elbow pads and helmets... then off we went.... it started off pretty good on tarmac, then turned to dirt road... after about half an hour we hit a jungle track with was barely wider than the bike itself... Lek said he would go first to break any spider webs... Ahhhh right! Thanks!!

I lasted about 3 minutes on the track to the first downhill part, took one look at the boys tackling it and decided to pike and meet them back out on the road... I left them to it and rode back to the reservoir where the tarmac met the dirt track... there was a beautiful little pavillion overlooking this reservoir where I sat for about 45mins and waited for them to return! chicken I know... but I was having trouble remaining upright on tarmac let alone those tracks!

Trent said the track was heaps of fun... but really hard... I was glad I didnt try to attempt it... we then set off on an easier route along tarmac and dirt roads.... after deciding it was too hot to wear our protective knee pads and elbow bads... this would turn out to be a bad move for one of us!!! About 10-15 minutes before we hit the finish line we were heading down a little hill that had a curve at the bottom... I was doing fine until the curve when I decided to not cut the corner but stick to my side of the road... bad move! I realised that I was not going to make the curve, hit the dirt, started to go into a massive ditch covered with thorny bushes and decided to try avoid the ditch! Hands and knees first into the road! Ouch! I cut my knee up and took some skin off one hand... the other hand is still stinging although all skin remained!!

I know you wont believe us so we took photos to prove it... unfortunately the photos are after we cleaned it all up so it doesnt look half as bad as it did at the point of impact, nor can it describe the pain I am in.... On top of that I have the flu (as of waking up this morning) with runny nose and throat on fire... and about 3 hours ago food poisoning finally got the better of me! Have been to the chemist and taking lots of weird potions! I have to go back when the food poisoning is better to then get stuff for my flu! Feeling pretty crappy now!

Once we got back to the car we headed to a quaint little roadside restaurant/food stall for lunch... it was so yummy... not sure of everything we had but it included sticky rice (which you use your hands to roll into balls then pick up some meat between the rice and your thumb and shove it all in your mouth, we also had Papaya Salad and two pork salad dishes which were divine and some chicken wings on skewers! Yum!

We were dropped back about 2pm and have had a low key afternoon... bought a couple of little trinkets at the Sunday Markets until a bout of stomach cramps attacked me again and it was like "Trent find me a bloody tuktuk and QUICK!" It was honestly the first time I was glad to be ripped off by a tuk tuk driver to get to my toilet!!!!! There were so many other things I wanted to buy but we are soooo packed to the brim already with shopping and I am just hoping that I can find the same stuff somewhere in Phuket or Bangkok near the end of the trip....

Anyway, thats it from us.... our next adventure tomorrow is thai cooking classes and Muay Thai afterwards if we are not too exhausted! We leave Chiang Mai on Tuesday and have a flight to Bangkok followed by a mad dash to the train station to get the overnight train to make our way to Ko Pha-ngan....

Till next time I hope everyone is well and missing us! So close to Phuket and meeting all my wonderful new friends I met through my planning... Love to you all

Reet & Trent xxx

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Photos

Beautiful Scenery
and I thought this part of the track was tough!

Comments

[mum]

jungle
marita I am enjoying your blogs so much I can't wait for the next one. miss you both.Love mum