February 14th: Nakhon Sawan to Chai Nat – 63.7 km
Day 124
Valentine’s Day! The only romantic fantasy we harbored involved an air-conditioned room and a cold shower. It was around 35°C today. We did make some wise choices which mitigated the heat. We started the day on a busy Highway 32 in the morning and turned off onto Route 1, a pleasant country road. We hope to follow this road and then Route 340 to avoid the famous and infamously busy AH1 which traverses all of Asia from Tokyo to Istanbul.
We didn’t realize that it was Valentine’s Day plus weekend until we tried to check into little hotel in Chai Nat and found that it was full. Apparently Chai Nat is a tourist attraction thanks to the Chai Nat bird park. We went further and found a place with only two rooms available, one for 900 and the other for 600. Looking to find a better deal we sprinted around the corner and found another hotel slightly cheaper but not nearly as convenient. Not bothering to cross the road when we returned to the last room for 600 Baht, we were lucky to secure a room as the love birds flocked in.
