February 5th: Mae On to Chiang Mai – 33.2km
Day 115
Goodbye Jira! When we left, the owners came out to see us off and even woke up early to cook us a meal to travel with. We told them that we would come back and we don’t make this promise lightly. We love to travel and there are very few places we will return to but this was one. For the last 3 weeks our host’s hospitality and generosity have made us feel completely at home; we’ve had amazing climbing, a banquet of home cooked meals both from the homestay restaurant and the local market and all for around 500 baht per day total.
In order to get some bike maintenance done, we arrived in Chiang Mai by noon and stayed at Baan Say La Guest House, which is within walking distance to Jacky’s Bike Shop and Velo City. Jacky’s said they couldn’t true my wheel so we went to Velo City where they have a lot of high-end road bikes and they trued it for 100 baht. With my wheel tried, I could once again align the tracking of my front wheels, which must be accurate within 2mm. Our guest house was kind enough to provide me with a pocket measuring tape, which they said I could keep.
Taking advantage of the big city we decided to visit the international grocery store. We picked up several western delights to be consumed with a bottle of red wine. Loaded with pate, cheese, olives, smoked ham and gherkin spread, and a large fresh-baked baguette we hurried home. We quickly aligned my wheels before treating ourselves to our western fair. We’re not sure what we’re treating ourselves for, but we came up with several rationalizations, the Chinese New Year, a successful climbing trip, more than 100 days on the road. When there is no real work and we reap the benefits of almost every action, every day feels like a reward. It’s hard not to feel guilty about spending a little extra, but hey, we deserve it.
