Sri Ayuthaya on two wheels

What happens when you put together some guys who haven't outgrown their childhood obsession for bicycles? Answer: A fun-filled day out in the central plain of Thailand among her most-loved icons of history.

For Noah the day started with a 10 kilometer ride from the ark to this skytrain station at victory monument. fatso went up to this platform on the escalator.

Inside the train to On-Nut where the rest of the cyclists were waiting, and there is still room for passengers in the early morning rush.

They motor to Ayuthaya on board this specially modified van that can hold 10 bikes and the same number of people. Here at the roadside by the train station the cyclists gear up for the day's ride.

From Ayuthaya they ride through acres upon acres of rice fields to reach this place - Bang Pa-in...

...where they have lunch in a boat moored on the Chao Phraya river. R-L are representatives form the following countries: Australia, Scotland, UK, New Zealand, Canada and Bisdak (you'll have to google to know what that country is lol).

After lunch they roll on to this aircraft carrier of a ferry to get to the other side of the river.

This photo was actually being done while a DJI Mavic drone was stalking the ferry from above.

At a Catholic convent just outside Ayuthaya they rehearse their parade formation.

After an hour or so of riding, this awesome scene greets the riders

When one realizes the historical events that these spires were witness to, down through the centuries, the sheer force of human strength, ingenuity, survival and devotion is sometimes too deep to comprehend.

This is a shot taken by the drone before she vanished in the wake of a very nasty squall.

The cyclists arrive at the van after 6 hours on their bikes. They're wet but their spirits are undampened. 

The bikes get back on the van and one more stop was done at a 7-11 store where they loaded up on bottles and bottles of beer. The hourlong trip back to Bangkok was a throwback of a bunch of lively teenagers still excited about yet another trip in the near future. Thank you guys for the wonderful day!

Fishing with the Badjao

If you have been to Davao City you may have wondered why there is an unusual presence of sea gypsies (Badjao) begging on the streets and peddling pearl jewelry in resorts and tourist spots. This marginalized minority have not been landlubbers until the last few decades for reasons not quite evident to Noah. He was not clueless for long, because one day a Badjao friend took him out fishing.

the boat was a 16-foot motorized banca and there were 3 Badjao guys led by Lando who lived in a village at the mouth of the Davao river. The method of fishing for this trip is called Plang-ree, which consists of one long nylon rope (not the usual type for fishing) and short smaller ropes tied to it at 1.5 meter intervals with each line holding a #15 fish hook for a total of 248 hooks in Lando's plang-ree.

The bait of choice is a fish called tamban (herring/sardines)and about 10 - 15 kgs of this is needed for one fishing trip. Tamban is caught in a different manner (net) and by other fishermen, hence Lando has to buy his bait a day before going out fishing to be sure that he has bait, because this type of fish isn't caught daily. The cost of the bait + the cost of gasoline for the 16 HP inboard motor could easily top 600 Pesos for one fishing trip.

The fishing lines are dropped in an area that is known to be rocky and is about 30 - 40 meters deep. The Grouper species is the type of fish caught by this method and they are supposed to be large and abundant at this depth. An anchor is tied to each end of the plane-ree and a rope goes up to a buoy for each anchor. The fishermen then motor to a shallower spot where they can do spear fishing or just simply wait out on the boat if the current and wind is too strong for diving. 

After about an hour and a half of waiting the line is pulled up and any fish caught is placed in an icebox and the hooks rebaited and dropped overboard in another area. This would be done 3 times if the fishermen leave early enough, but in this particular trip it was done only twice and in spite of that they were out in the sea for 8 hours.

One thing that was evident for that day was that most of the bait came up untouched. Some had nibble marks or were half-eaten and some were gone, but most of the bait looked as good as when they were thrown into the sea. The photo above will show the bait on the trough beside the boat, and Lando said that they would cook that for dinner. When your bait is untouched it means that no fish or very little fish is found in this area of the seabed. 

Before the sun disappeared over the mt. Apo mountain range the fishermen headed home with the day's catch in a plastic bag. It consisted of 1 large grouper, 2 smaller groupers of the same color and a meter-long extra big trumpet fish - the only product of a tedious, back-breaking job out in the heat of the sun. How much would that be in terms of income? About 1,500 pesos minus 600 pesos for the bait and gasoline and that would leave 300 pesos (6 US$) each. In this particular trip about one third of the line and hooks was left in the bottom of the sea because it got entangled in some rocks presumably when the fish struggled to free itself. To replace that would cost an amount of money and labor. 

Lando said that there are days when they came home empty-handed and some days when they had about 4,000 pesos worth of fish, which was not frequent in the recent years. All told, the saddening truth remains: the fish in our waters is dwindling due to overfishing and the use of indiscriminate fishing methods by big fishing companies. Who are the first to suffer? Sadly, the Badjao and other fishing tribes are the hardest hit and this would account for their shift in money-making activities.

To give a lighter mood to this story here are photos of the fish that they caught for the day:

a butcher's knife will show the

proportionate size of the fish...

...which could easily be about

half of Noah's torso.

To Thailand's highest peak on two wheels

Doi Inthanon stands 2,565 meters tall in the province of Chiang Mai, Thailand (Doi = mountain in Thai). There is a well maintained road that snakes continuously uphill 48 kilometers from the town of Chom Thong to the highest point - a very scenic and daunting challenge to cyclists (Noah included).

Before serious physical changes in his senior years starts to slow him down, Noah ventured out one day on a bicycle to conquer this cloud-shrouded, rainforest-clad behemoth. It didn't matter that the monsoon season had prematurely taken over summer and that the prospects of getting drenched on the road were high, which is the opposite of last years ride to Cambodia in the searing heat at practically the same time of the year. The exhilarating feeling of having conquered one more mountain, striking out one more item in the bucket list and some new cyclist friends added was foremost in his mind (actually it is the thrill-seeking and adventure-loving beast inside him that Noah has to feed every so often).

One thing that was not quite well with the plan was the threat of rain and this was the forecast a week before Noah left for Chiang Mai.

the weather.com showed that Thursday to Sunday 
were the most promising days even if rain

was still a possibility.

Noah decided to gamble on this lull in the rain and hoped that the weatherman would be right this time. He had to do this climb to Doi Inthanon, because it was now or never. A trip to the homeland was fast approaching and this was his only window of opportunity.

Next thing was to get a ticket on the night-sleeper train to the northern city of Chiang Mai where the mountain concerned is located.

D-day dawns and Noah kisses the missus goodbye and with a heart pounding with anticipation starts with what has to be done to get to the foot of the mountain.

At the Thai Railways central terminal

at Hua Lamphong, Bangkok waiting for

the call to board. Imran's backpack
doubles as a bike stand.

Thats the train #13 at the 

platform #6 to depart at 7:35 pm.

the bike goes into the cargo bogey...

...and Noah finds his seat #38 in

the second-class sleeper car...

...which transforms into double-decker

bunks once the trip is underway.

13 hours later Noah is in the

beautiful city of Chiang Mai.

from Chiang Mai railway station 

he pedaled 59 kilometers to Chom Thong -

a sleepy town at the foothills of the Doi

Inthanon national park.

that's the Inthanon Hostel. It is actually

more of an AirBnB that Noah found

online, which he fancied because of

it's location and because of the...

PIZZA!! and the owner - PJ, didn't

disappoint Noah, but immediately set out

to bake the best pizza this side of the world. 

She said that Noah needed all the nutrition

for a long ride in the morning and she threw

in practically every topping available.

breakfast the next day was from

this store where Noah stocked up

on Gatorade, water and other essentials

for the long ride.

The Doi Inthanon road is 39 kilometers from he first checkpoint, which is three times as long as the L'Alpes d'Huez - the French classic race. The average climb is 5.8% with gradients exeeding 23% in some stretches. 

that's the first check point...

 where Noah had to pay 300 Baht (9US$) for
this ticket, which would be checked at
the second check point.

a mandatory stop at Wachirathan falls
for restroom and pictorials including...

...a narcissistic activity.

 this sign says that the peak
is 20 kilometers ahead, but by
this time Noah was already near
breaking point.

 This sign was the sweetest Noah saw
that day and 4 kilometers was not 
far away except that this was the 
steepest portion so far.

 phew, that's the end of the road,
but Noah still needed to climb some
steps to get to...

 This landmark. It was here that a van of 
Buddhist monks and some supporters inquired 
from Noah if he rode the bike from the valley, 
and they got excited when they found out that
he did. what was next was really out of the 
ordinary, because they gave Noah these 
items, which they said was their blessing 
for such an achievement.

yeah, that's it. a bracelet and some cash

 that's the temperature at the peak

and the data that Noah achieved

for that ride to the top

Now for the ride back to Chom Thong

 and this gps shows what transpired. For that
day Noah was practically 8 hours on the saddle.

The next day Noah was stiff and hurting in every inch of the body that he had to scrap the original plan to pedal back to Chiang Mai. It was only good that a songthew driver - below, agreed to take him and the bike.

A relaxing haircut and shave at a police barbershop was unplanned, but Noah couldn't resist the novelty of having his hair cut by a policeman in uniform, complete with badge and pistol.

Yeah... khao soi. When in Chiang Mai never miss this coz you can't find it elsewhere.

Grasshopper biking Adventures was the next stop, which is managed by a good friend and co-cyclist - William Tuffin.

And yes, the most handsome German this side of Thailand makes a trip to Chiang Mai more meaningful. Catching up with him is always a blessing. 

Ralf takes Noah to the railway station for the 5 pm train to Bangkok amidst a heavy downpour. It was like the weather was saying: "Noah, now that your adventure is done, let me get back to my monsoon mood."

Noah boards the train only to discover that he is the only passenger on this car. He had to make sure that this was not the "Train to Busan" before he could sit back and relax. A few stations down the line added more passengers for about 9 for Bangkok.

That same day Noah's son schedules a Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment for his old man. It's the fastest way to recover from fatigue and Noah simply loved it.

Whilst inside the hyperbaric chamber Noah had time to think about the recent adrenaline-charged ride to the peak and with a thankful heart he raised his thoughts to God Almighty - the giver and sustainer of life.

This trip was made possible by Noah's sister - her birthday gift to him on his 61st birthday 2 weeks ago.. Thanks 'tol, you know fairly well what makes Noah tick.