Phu Chi Fa-Fa?

Welcome back cosy arm chair travellers. It’s that time of year when we ask you to buckle up for a winter adventure with us and our bikes.

Last time we were in Thailand the pandemic had just hit and we were forced to head home early so we were both delighted to get back to Chiang Rai and find one of our favourite (looks like the back of someone’s garage) tiny restaurants still thriving, along with the cat cafe.

Having built the bikes on the balcony of the hotel next door we headed for Chiang Khong and the Thai-Laos border ….obviously us being us we couldn’t head straight there, there are mountains to climb and they are only 30 or 40 kilometres out of our way!

We’re on our way up the biggest hill so far when we are reminded of bike travel rule number three. Are we sure the hotel we’ve booked is 1 real, 2 open and 3 where it says it is. A WhatsApp chat nearing sunset confirms the first two but not the third. Having been made to feel like a pair of rookies it is very unlikely we will forget rule number three ever again, that was a VERY big hill.

The 5 am alarm call the following morning and freezing cold hike to the summit of Phu Chi Fan in the dark make it all worth it… …and of course the ride back down was a beauty.

Gez picked up a hitchhiking leech, standard. The same police car passed us a dozen times along the Singapore Road, just checking up on us or making sure we left their really small patrol area, either way there were big thumbs up each time we saw them and we made it all the way down to the banks of the Mekong just before sunset.

The evening light in Chiang Khong is like warm honey at this time of year and we’re excited at the prospect of cycling into a new country.

Crossing Thailand Laos friendship bridge IV, bikes stuff into the back of a bus.