The end - almost

From Chiang Rai we were going in the direction of Tha Ton. Tha Ton is also located on the Kok river, like Chiang Rai, and there are regular boat services between the two towns. It is supposed to be a fantastic boat journey; it takes about 3 hours downstream from Tha Ton, or 5 hours upstream from Chiang Rai. Initially, we were considering to take that boat option. However, at some point, I checked if there were ways to ride along the river. The most commonly used cycling route from Chiang Rai, over the main roads, goes via Mae Chan more to the north. However, I found out on maps and on some blogs, that you can actually ride along the river. We hesitated, because it looked a bit challenging, but decided to go for it. And wow, wow and wow again, what a great choice that was!!! Definitely one of the nicest days of this trip, if not the very nicest! It started with some easy roads to get out of Chiang Rai, followed by the road along the river. Initially that was still a road in very good condition, with some short (and steep) hills, and very little traffic. We had a nice stop for a coffee after a while, met with a friendly and unusual Thai tour cyclist "Nom" - who lived nearby and was just on a short day ride - and cycled past an elephant camp.

Departure from the beautiful resort in Chiang Rai

When you see this sign, you know there will be a tough climb; the ones on this stretch were always short though

Once you cycle up, you get rewarded with good views however (sometimes) - and a good downhill afterwards

Unexpected coffee stop

Meeting up with Nom, a local touring cyclist who has been to Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Thailand of course - and possibly other places too

Always nice to see these gentle giants (well, usually gentle); this seems to be one of the few places where they still ride the elephants, there is a lot of resistance against that.

Morning traffic on Thai roads

The road continued as a sealed road for a while longer, then became of varying conditions - I think it was after 26-27km or so. There were some very bumpy parts, some very steep parts, some easy parts too (although never flat!), and even a little river crossing which was good fun! There were no restaurants or shops for a long while, but we had come prepared with enough water and (as always) some energy food so that was no problem whatsoever. This was hill tribe territory, and even though we did not see any traditionally dressed villagers (we didn't see many people at all in fact), you could see/feel that it was different. It's probably not that long since most of these villages have become more easily accessible.

Riding through a village

Gravel roads, usually not too bad to ride on, sometimes a bit bumpy and/or dusty

A river crossing! It could be avoided, but that meant extra kms; and why would we!?

Made it...

The panniers did not even touch the water, so no risk for wet stuff

For once, this is me on the bike, on one of the more challenging climbs of the day

And also Ellen made it to the top!

More village views

We were enjoying the scenery so much, that we made an extra stop in the shadow of a little shack a few kms before we would get to the road again (plus we were getting hungry!)

And... more village view

A fantastic day on the road, a good 70km. We arrived in Tha Ton late in the afternoon, after a lunch and a coffee once we were back on the main road. Tha Ton is a pleasant town, and we realized it is just a very short distance from the Myanmar border - about 3km or so. Apparently there are also quite a few Burmese refugees in the area. We stayed at the Legend Homestay, a sympathetic little guesthouse (with only 2 little bungalows), with very friendly owners. The lady had worked with an international organization to support refugees, and spoke very good English, we had some interesting conversations. It was a great stay there, the hosts spoiled us with some local delicacies and a tasty breakfast to prepare us for a good day of cycling.

Once back on the main road, we found this charming restaurant with a great view, and enjoyed a good and loooong lunch

Um, well, ... this village must have thought: if Chiang Rai can have famous Blue and White Temples, we can also do a coloured temple. Inclusive of pink elephants.

At Tha Ton, the jetty where the boats for Chiang Rai leave. There were surprisingly more tourists in Tha Ton than expected (I mean, it's still only a handful), probably those who want to take the boat in the morning.

Our charming homestay

From Tha Ton we planned to cycle all the way to Chiang Dao. Initially we had to ride on the busy road 107, but after a while we managed to stay on small, pleasant cycling byroads. After about 60km there were no more small roads left, and we had no other option than to go on road 107 to pass the mountains. It was very very beautiful and really pleasant, there was nothing really spectacular but all so good. Once we went into the mountains - no serious mountain work this time nevertheless, very manageable - it became even more beautiful. We had been seeing the mountains in the distance most of the day, they had been coming closer and closer, now we could fully enjoy! Surrounded by rugged karst mountains, on a long and gradual Big Smile Downhill, that's just perfect! We reached Chiang Dao after 112km, pretty comfortable riding, the longest day on this trip but didn't feel too tired - just really really hungry. We had made a shortlist of 5 places to stay, and luckily we did so because the first 3 places we checked were... FULL! Again! That's a bit the big surprise of this trip, it happened several times now. Anyway, we found a nice place to stay at the 4th option. For dinner, we had to ride back to town though; not too far, yet on the bike again. The restaurant we wanted to go to, was... closed. There was a night market in town luckily, where we bought some food, and we took it back to the resort to eat comfortably on our balcony. What a long and beautiful day this was!

Early departure from Tha Ton, with mystic mist hanging over the mountains

Buddha is watching over us, again!

Rice fields, ready for planting

They make these cute haystacks in this region

There has to be some offroad riding every day

Riding more in southern direction now, the sun is right in our face

Another special coffee shop on the way up on the mountain

Wonderful views

Wow!

Our room in Chiang Dao, bigger and more comfortable than what we are used to, and very nice - especially after 112km and checking a few places first that were all full

Chiang Dao has a number of interesting attractions, like hot springs and a cave that seems to be well worth a visit, but we decided to continue our way - we'll definitely be back here, possibly even in a few weeks already. We had a relatively short day ahead, so took it a bit easier in the morning. Good thing we did, because it was a misty and cold morning. Our destination: Veni Vana Valley, a fantastic little boutique resort we knew from our Chiang Mai stay last year. That would be more or less the end of our trip; yes, we still have the ride to Chiang Mai to finish, however that is a bit like the last stage of the Tour de France: a formality. We took our time to ride the 54km of the day, made several stops along the way, found the coolest coffee shop of this entire trip (with excellent coffee too) and arrived at the resort around 2pm. We saw 3 other tour cyclists on our way today - that is just one less than how many we have seen in the past 6,5 weeks! Yes, we are back in tourist territory, and it's really weird!

We'll stay here for 3 nights, then finish the ultimate stage... Unless...