Thailand has always been a go-to travel destination, and tourists are drawn to its capital, Bangkok. Instead of going that route, Emily Sedgwick and her husband chose to explore the rural parts of Northern Thailand through a cycle tour from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. They enjoyed every part of their guided tour going through hills, riding narrow boats through mighty rivers and visiting local villages. Emily and her husband got to see the best Northern Thailand has to offer like ethical elephant sanctuaries and sumptuous local dishes. Since they were exploring Thailand by bike, they got to observe the local people and their surroundings even more. Through their journey, Emily realized that Thailand has something for everybody, and she shares how you can have an amazing trip to Thailand as well.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Explore Rural Thailand by Bike

Experience Thailand up close and personal by bike!  On this fully guided cycle tour from Bangkok to Chiang Rai, you get to see the REAL Thailand – away from the tourist areas.  Ride along rice paddies and plantations, beaches and vineyards.  Visit exquisite Buddhist wats (temples).  Enjoy outstanding spicey Thai food with ingrediants so fresh, you just passed the farms!  Get to meet locals – your English speaking guide can help with the translations – and have a truly authentic Thai holiday.  Each day you will bike about a half day so you arrive at each night’s destination with energy to explore.  Discover why friendly and welcoming Thai’s earn the title “Land of Smiles”.

When to Visit Northern Thailand

North Thailand: dry season runs from late October until May; June to October is characterised by heavy rainfall. The south-west monsoon generally arrives around May/July. Until July, rain comes mostly in the form of short downpours for an hour or so, clearing the way for clear skies. After July, rain reaches peak levels in August and September.

The farmers often burn their fields after harvest, making the air VERY smokey.  This normally happens late February.

Though the weather can be sometimes quite unpleasant from June to September, there are benefits to this season. The nature comes to life, dry brown grasslands and forests become lush and green, the farmers welcome the season with full productivity and lakes and rivers as well as waterfalls fill up and become stronger than ever.

November – February is the best period to do biking in Northern Thailand, July – mid October is the shoulder period. From March to June, it is hot and dry, with temperatures ranging between 27˚C/80 F and 40˚C/104 F. We still run the tour normally around the summers by providing ample water supply with ice.

Cycling Thailand Tour Overview

 This is the 14 Day/13 Night itinerary from my affiliate, Art of Bicycle Tours.  When you do this Thai bike tour with AOBT, you’ll have a friendly and knowledgable English speaking guide PLUS the tour is van supported, so if you decide you’ve had enough riding for the day, you can enjoy the tour  riding shotgun in the van.

  Your guides know the best places to visit AND eat:)  Emily raves about the food selection she and her husband had on this tour!  Good news, too: Art of Bicycle Trips runs the tour with just a minimum of two people!

 You’ll stay in lovely local inns, often with a pool to relax in at the end of the day.

 Difficulty level is about a 2 or 3 out of five, and you have the option of getting an E-bike which means you can get an electric assist whenever you need to.

Key Places You’ll Visit: 

Bangkok : Explore this bustling capital city before you start your adventure. 

Ayutthaya:  The former capital (after.  Now just remarkable ruins since burned by the Burmese.  UNESCO Heritage Site

Sukhothai:  The original capital of Thailand  UNESCO Heritage Site

Lampang:  Considered by Thai’s to be their lat paradise! 

Chaing Mai: As the landscape heads to the hills, visit the beautiful Chaing Mai, popular with expats.

Chiang Rai:  As you near the Myanmar border, visit a town that is a confluence of Thai, Chinese and Burmese

Recommended North Thailand Cycle Itinerary 

This is the Art of Bicycle Trips 14 day itinerary:

Day 1: Bangkok – Arrival

Arrive in Bangkok and settle into your hotel. Today you can plan your own day visiting some of the classic highlights of Bangkok. Our guide meets you at 17.00pm at your hotel lobby for tour briefing. We convene tonight to celebrate the start of our awesome journey on a bike.

Meals: Dinner

Day 2: Ayutthaya

Our guide meets you at your hotel lobby at 7:30am and we start with a shuttle transfer from Bangkok to Bang Pa-In. Visit the former summer palace of King Chulalongkornand here and then ride along the Chao Phraya River. Explore the stunning Ayutthaya Historical Park by bike and get to visit various Wats.

At night, we can choose to eat at the in-house restaurant, or head to get a taste of local fare. If your palate is new to Thai food, start with the more popular green curry and rice. Be well rested for the next morning, as we start our Thai adventure with a slightly longer day of cycling.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 30km / 18mi

Day 3: Nakhon Sawan

We take a long shuttle transfer in the morning and then go more into the hinterlands of Northern Thailand. The landscape offers amazing insights into hinterlands. As we ride through the bucolic villages, enjoy the sights of chickens, geese, and monitor lizards with paddy fields and plantations in the backdrop.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 70km / 42mi

Day 4: Kamphang Phet

Today expect to see the hinterland whitewashed with bright green hues of paddy and fruit plantations.

It is not uncommon to see water buffaloes ambling in a row making their way to the rice fields.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 80km / 48mi

Day 5: Sukhothai

The paddy fields cling onto the side of the village road for almost the entire way. The ride is largely on flat roads. We also come across several bucolic villages on the way – perfect to get great photographs of the interiors of Thailand. The locals are quite friendly and don’t be surprised if you are invited in a home for a cup of tea (or red Fanta).

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 70km / 42mi*

Day 6: Sukhothai

Today enjoy some of the classic highlights of the original capital of Thailand by bike.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance cycled: ~ 30km / 18mi*

Day 7: Uttaradit

Our ride is through areas replete with vegetation – rice fields, papaya and garlic being the most prominent.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 60km / 36mi

Day 8: Lampang

Brace for an undulating ride today through a rich green valley, unfolding one dramatic scenery after another. Hilltop farming to teak plantations, bamboo huts by the river and elephants lazily relaxing in the river- this is Thailand at its most authentic best! After being submerged in nature, we take the cycles and ride along the river.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 70km / 42mi

Day 9: Chiang Mai

The ride is extremely refreshing as the crisp morning air and clear skies welcome you on the road. We reach Chiang Mai by afternoon.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 70km / 42mi

Day 10: Chiang Mai

Today you can plan your own day visiting some of the classic highlights of Chiang Mai by walk: Wats (temples) like Wat Chedi Luang (entrance fee 40 Baht per person) and Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (entrance fee 50 Baht per person including monorail), Elephant Rescue Park where you can bathe, feed and ride bareback elephants and gentle giants (7.45 – 14.00, entrance fee 2,200 Baht per person), and need to book in advance.

Meals: Breakfast

Day 11: Chiang Dao – forest trail

Head out for a ride to the Chiang Dao, lies on the northern part of the Chiang Mai district. Amidst lush jungles and limestone mountains, Chiang Dao is a heavenly escape from the heat of plains and a popular stop for birders and trekkers. The base of the mountain is a highly venerated wát marking the entrance to one of Thailand’s deepest limestone caverns.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 60km / 36mi

Day 12: Thaton – tropical trail

The day begins with a visit to Tub Tao Caves and temple retreat. Later ride to Fang through hinterland trails dotted with farmlands. The ride from Fang to Thaton traverses across paddy fields. The fields cling onto the side of the village road for almost the entire way. The ride is mostly on flat roads, with occasional dips and climbs, which add to the interest for a cyclist. We also come across several villages on the way – perfect to get great photographs of the interiors of Thailand.

We pace out our journey to Thaton and arrive at this beautiful town at the edge of a River. Thaton is one of the last towns bordering Myanmar in this area. The great part of this is that one gets to see the blend of Burmese, Thai and Chinese influences in language and culture.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 80km / 48mi*

Day 13: Chiang Rai – agriculture trail

We trade our bike with long-tail boat today to arrive at a scenic riverside area. This brings us to our starting point for cycling. Ride past fruit orchards, paddy fields, banana plantations and arrive at Chiang Rai. The region is home to distinct array of food, music, art and lush landscapes.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 50km / 30mi

Day 14: Departure

Travel as per your onward travel plans.

Meals: Breakfast

Related links:

Vietnam and Cambodia by Bike

Mysterious Bhutan

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Cycle Tour Northern Thailand From Bangkok To Chiang Rai with Emily Sedgwick

We’re going to explore rural Thailand by bike. We’re going to start in Bangkok and head north almost to the Myanmar border. It’s an exciting adventure and I can’t wait to share it with you. I want to remind you about the new companion podcast, the Adventure Travel Show Podcast, where you learn the how-tos of adventure travel. Be sure to check it out. Let’s get started with cycling rural Thailand.

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Can you start by introducing yourself and perhaps telling us your age? 

I’m Emily Sedgwick and I’m 67 years old. 

We met because of the Adventure Travel about cycling in Northern Thailand. How did you get involved in Adventure Travel to start with? 

My husband and I have done a lot of trips. We like to do self-guided bicycle trips and we’ve done a lot in Europe, but then we decided we wanted to go to other places more different or more interesting than Europe. In most places, you can’t do self-guided or it’s easier to do guided trips. We’ve been to India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and those type of trips. 

Do you also do hiking or paddling trips or are you basically cyclists? 

My husband and I do cycling. I do hiking with friends because he doesn’t like to hike as much. We don’t do any paddling. We don’t like it that much. 

Was it a change of decision instead of doing the typical touristy kinds of vacations to do these adventure vacations? It is completely different than going and touring Paris versus going out and biking Tuscany. 

I’m happy going anywhere. I love to travel and I’ll go anywhere, but my husband preferred biking in rural areas to go to cities. We started doing this and the first year that we did it was the first year that we’ve got both of our kids to go to sleepaway camp so that we had time in the summer. That was our first trip to France, in the Loire Valley. We liked it and we often combined it with a short final few days in the city which is about right for us. We’d spend a few days in Paris after that. We went to Barcelona after a trip to Spain, things like that. 

That sounds similar to how I do it too because I do want to see some of the iconic sites of the world, but I’m finding more and more that I’d rather be at their national parks. We’re going to be talking about the cycling trip that you did in the rural parts of northern Thailand. What made you choose that?  

We had taken a trip with Art of Bicycle in India. We loved that trip and that organization was good. They had done a good job. We looked for other trips that they were doing and we were interested in Thailand because we’ve been to other areas near Thailand, but we’ve never been there. It seemed like the right trip for us. 

I’ve been to Bangkok and in that area. Bangkok is a huge city being the capital. What struck you most about the landscapes that you’re seeing on your bike trip? 

On the bike trip itself, it was very rural, very agricultural, lots and lots of rice paddies, lots of different vegetables and different things being grown like sugar cane. There were parts where we saw lots of elephants. There was a good mix of different things to see. 

Is it interesting to look at throughout the whole time? 

There seems to be a trend of getting away from the riding of the elephants as a tourist attraction. Click To Tweet

Yes. Even though we liked the bicycling best in the last half of the trip, the first half was very flat. It was nice because there were a lot of nice things to look at, but the bicycling itself was too flat for what we like. As we got farther north, it got hillier and that was more to our liking. 

That’s what I was noticing too from reading the reviews. The scenery will change much more too when you start getting in the hills. I imagine it’s cooler because Thailand can be a little bit warm. You went in December if I’m not mistaken. 

It was a perfect temperature. I don’t remember ever being too hot, but it was plenty warm. It was in the 80s Fahrenheit, I’m not sure. If it had been too hot, I would have remembered that. 

Why don’t you give us a brief overview of the trip and then we’re going to talk about some of the different things that you did along the way? Tell us how long the trip was and some of the highlights and then we’ll dig a little deeper. 

It was two weeks or close to two weeks. We flew into Bangkok. We didn’t get much chance to see Bangkok. We weren’t particularly excited about Bangkok, especially the pollution was bad. We were glad to get out of Bangkok. We drove for two or three hours north to get started. Every day we rode on bicycles quite a bit, 40 miles or so. Usually either at the beginning or the end, we’d be in the van either driving out of a town to get started or driving into a town at the end. We went farther north starting with flat areas and then getting into hillier and more nature areas and finishing in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. 

This was a fully guided trip, right? 

Yes. 

Did you have a guide and a driver? 

Yes, we had a guide and a driver. It was a group trip but we were the only two that signed up for it, which I have no idea why. We were surprised that they would run it for two people. At first, we didn’t like the idea of it being just the two of us and a guide and a driver, but it worked out great because the guide was so personable and he was great to be with. The driver was nice also. The four of us would eat our meals together. We were together a lot of the time. It was fine but it wasn’t our choice to just be the two of us and the guide. It just worked out that way. 

I believe all the bicycle trips have a two-person minimum, which is cool. I booked some trips where I’ve already booked the flights and all that and if they don’t get enough people, I’m stuck. Your first stop was Ayutthaya and this was the second capital of Thailand. Do you have some memories or can you tell us a little bit about that? 

This was the area where we went to a park and saw a lot of Buddhist relics. That was new to us at the time. Later, we saw a lot more. We had been to Myanmar and we’d seen a lot of Buddhist relics there. It was different, just the form of them and the materials they were made out of. These were very nice parks where you could walk around and enjoy the air and the trees and looking at a bunch of different Buddha. That was mainly our experience there. 

From my research, it looks like the Burmese army came and plundered it in about 1767. After they destroyed the capital, that’s when it then moved to Bangkok and they were never rebuilt.  

There were numerous times where things had been stolen from Thailand by Myanmar not in the recent past but in the medieval 18th century time. We’ve heard about that on many different occasions. 

The next place that you went to was Nakhon Sawan, which translates to Heavenly City. You’re in a flat area but it’s up on a hill. One of the key stops that you went to is Sukhothai. That was a UNESCO world heritage historical area. Can you tell us a little bit about that?  

Explore Thailand By Bike: Ayutthaya has these very nice parts where you could just walk around and enjoy.

There were a lot of Buddhist relics and we enjoyed them. It’s not like we’re interested in Buddhism as a religion, but that they were important to the people there and well preserved. We were there on a day when there was some celebration. I’m not sure if it was a local celebration or countrywide. There was a marching band and it was quite something to see the number of people involved in these marching bands, men and women, all kinds of instruments and dancers. That was something to see. 

That town was Thailand’s original capital. The country itself celebrates the birth of it as a nation even though they had some other places beforehand. This is the first town that they have many recordings of. They celebrate this as the founding place of the country. I’m not sure if that’s what you saw there but that’s one of their major celebrations of the year. It’s celebrated throughout the country. 

It was so crowded that we couldn’t ride our bikes. We walked our bike along with the parade. It was something to see.  

That’s cool that you were there at that time. You went to another cool town called Lampang that they call the Horse Carriage City because they still use that for transport to get around. Can you tell us a little bit about that?  

I remember we went to a palace and outside of the palace there were plenty of opportunities for tourists to ride in horse carriages. We didn’t do that, but we saw a lot of people doing it. They would go to the palace and then come out of the palace and ride in a carriage. That’s what I remember about that.  

I got the impression that the locals were still using those as transport.  

I couldn’t tell you. I don’t remember.  

That town is considered by many Thais to be the last paradise of Thailand. That’s one of the local favorite towns. They also have the Elephant Conservation Center there. Did you get a chance to go there? 

Yes, we went to several different places where there were elephant sanctuaries. I’m not sure what towns that they were in, but we saw lots of places where elephants were being taken care of. We saw other places where elephants were used for the tourists but not in an exploitative way. They seemed to be well–treated. The tourist could take rides on them, which we also didn’t do because we’ve done it before. I thought once was enough. 

There seems to be a trend of getting away from the riding of the elephants as a tourist attraction. Let’s talk about some of the other places you’ve visited, in particular Chiang Mai, which is a place I’ve often thought about going to spend the winter there. I’ve heard it was lovely. 

We had a great time in Chiang Mai. I remember going to the market and seeing all kinds of things for sale like flowers, vegetables and also lots of different kinds of things. I bought a winter hat. It seems a little odd because it was so warm. It wasn’t clear what they would ever use a winter hat for, but it was perfect for Boston. I’ve been wearing it in the winter ever since. It’s a nice feeling to the area and lots and lots of things to buy and pleasant to go around looking at. 

You’re starting to get in the hills now, aren’t you? Isn’t Chiang Mai either in the hills or the mountains? 

Yes, they are definitely hills. We never rode on a place that was too hilly for us. There were hills but we don’t mind hills. There was one place where we had gone on a river and spend an hour in the morning going from one place to another on the river. We got to a road that was incredibly steep. We walked up to it and it was about a mile or so of very steep riding. There were a couple of other times when there were very steep ridings that we weren’t necessarily expected to ride. I rode almost all of it and my husband somewhat less. That was taxing but short. The whole thing was over in maybe 45 minutes. 

I noticed too that Art of Bicycle Trips now offers eBikes in Thailand. That’s an option, particularly if people are on different levels of ability to bike. 

It’s important to have a guide, unless you speak Thai, to be able to understand what's going on and to meet people. Click To Tweet

We’ve been hearing much more about that. My husband had considered getting an eBike but had decided against it. We didn’t see a lot of eBikes but I know there were some and they definitely increase in popularity. 

I want to mention one other thing about Chiang Mai. They have a festival in the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar, which in the Western calendar is usually sometime in November called Loy Krathong. Thousands of people make these floating banana leaf containers that they decorated with flowers and candles and they put them in the waterway in mass to worship the goddess of water. They do those lanterns as hot air balloons out of paper that they launch in the air. I bet you that would be spectacular to go. November is a good time a month to go. It’s the beginning of time that you can go to this area. If I do this trip, I’m going to try to time it for that timeframe. 

That would have been nice to see and it would fit with the kind of thing but we never saw anything as elaborate as that. 

It sounds like a cool thing to do. Did you get a lot of interaction with the locals by traveling by bike? 

Yes, one of my best memories of the trip was we stopped in a school playground which at first, we didn’t realize was the school playground. We stopped there for a rest stop. We saw these kids in uniforms and they gradually came over to speak to us. At first, they were looking at us like, “Who are these people?” They came over and started talking to us. We were there with the guide so he can interpret. The coolest thing was they were all studying English and they had their English workbooks with them, even though it was recess. They were practicing their English on us and asking us questions in English that we were answering. They were delightful to us and we were delightful to them. It was a nice encounter to be able to speak to some young kids that were probably eight or nine, third or fourth grade. 

That reminds me of when I was in Bhutan at a festival. Three kids came up and introduced themselves, because they could tell I was a foreigner. They wanted to practice their English and check me out. These local interactions are what make the trips. 

We found that generally, the Thai children were a little bit more reticent than either the children that we had met in Vietnam or in India. They were happy to see us and they’d say hi but it wasn’t like they ran out to greet you the way people in some other countries do. The guide said that was typical of Thais that they are reticent around foreigners, but they are still willing to engage. The other thing that was interesting that I remember, I went back over some pictures and I remembered some things. There are various little rural factories, not exactly factory. For example, there was a place that would take the raw rice and do whatever has to be done to it to make it finished rice that you would buy in the store. 

It looked like something out of the early industrial revolution where there were all of these chutes that they would put the rice through and something would happen to it. It would come out different from the way it went in. They put it to another chute and in the end, it would come out as the rice the way you buy in the store. We saw several examples of that. There were maybe three or four people working there and then another person transporting the rice to wherever it was going for the market. We saw a lot of that, just little agriculture-related but more industrial activities and that was interesting. 

Because you’re touring the rural areas by bike, I imagine you’re going to places where there aren’t many tourists. 

People were surprised. It was not like we were a total oddity, but they hadn’t seen many of us and they weren’t quite sure how to react to us. It’s very authentic. Whatever it was that was going on was what’s going on and not being done for us. There was one time that we stopped and there was a large group of people, mostly men, gathered around a television. We went to know what it was. We stopped and watched for a while and there was a boxing championship in Thailand that everybody was watching. While we went along the road, we saw other people with their TVs on watching this. Apparently, a lot of people bet money on it. It’s a big thing that everybody is engaged in. We stopped and watched for a while with them and people were excited if the person they had bet on is winning. That was pretty cool.  

Did you feel welcomed by the locals?  

Definitely welcomed. Everybody was friendly to us but not overly excited about us. They’re very friendly. 

How about the food? Thais got some great food. 

We loved everything we had. There was only one night that we didn’t eat Thai food. We went on a special expedition to get not American food but not Thai food. That was great too. Every other meal was Thai food. What was interesting was that even though it was all local Thai food, it was all different. It wasn’t like you’re eating the same thing over and over. It was like different sauces, different meats and different vegetable. They would serve us seven or eight different things in one sitting, sometimes more than we wanted. You’d try a little of this and a little of that. It was all delicious and all have that Thai flavoring but in completely different forms. It was great and it was really good. 

Explore Thailand By Bike: Everybody in Thailand seem to watch these boxing championships and apparently, a lot of people bet money on it.

Is the guide selecting the things for you to try or how did all that work? If I look at the menu, I wouldn’t even know what the things are and to even know how to order. 

We might say interesting this and interesting that. He would select the things that he thought we would want. If there were other things we would want, I don’t know what they were, but he made a good selection. He also was very health conscious. I remember there was one local small operation type of restaurant for local people. He took us there, but he said that we get only order certain things there. It wasn’t safe to order things that weren’t hot. If we had soup and things like that, it would be perfectly safe. That’s what we did. He wouldn’t have let us order stuff that he thinks would be not safe. We’ve got the best of both worlds. We got local things that were being made for local people and we didn’t have to worry. Neither of us got sick at all in anyway. That was great to feel like we had the freedom to eat street food without having to worry. 

That’s definitely a big asset to have in a local guide because they do know where it’s okay for you to go and not to go and where are some of the cool places are. You would never even consider a hole–in–the–wall that might be outstanding. Was your guide also able to help translate some of the cultural things that you’d see and give you some background and history and such? 

Yeah, absolutely. He was well–versed on that. Not that we retained a lot of it but it was nice to hear all the history. He talked about local politics too. This was right at the time when they were preparing to have the election. The military had finally said, “Yes, we can have the election,” but they were postponing and postponing. He wasn’t an activist, but he was very aware of things that were going on. He supported the other party, the one that the military had overthrown. He was very open about the situation going on and very disappointed when they postponed the election.  

I’m sure he’s disappointed that the military controlled the elections so that they would get a candidate they wanted. He told us a lot about things that we still don’t quite understand like that the royal family is Hindu. They’re not Buddhist and everybody seems to accept that. He told us that the previous king had been popular and everybody had been very reverent about him, but the present king was not popular. People thought he was a playboy and not taking the office seriously. He told us lots of stuff that was very interesting, the real dirt on what was going on. 

I love learning about the insights of the different cultures of the countries that I visit. He can also help you translate so you can have other interactions with the locals, right? 

Yes, absolutely. When there was somebody that we want to talk to or something that was of interest to us, he would facilitate the conversation. 

Tell us a little bit about the accommodations. 

Everything was great. We stayed in Bangkok in a regular hotel. It was fine. Nothing special but that was just one night. Each night we were in a different accommodation, but they were all special. The one I remember the best was this guy from somewhere in Europe had married a woman from Thailand. He had decided that he wanted to open a very special type of hotel in the rural area of Thailand. They had this beautiful land overlooking rice paddies. The two of them are, according to him but mainly her, had for years built this resort that was only going to have eight rooms or something. It was a very special place with this beautiful pool overlooking the rice paddies.  

They would take you into town if you wanted to go. I can’t remember which town it was. He had a very interesting story about it. He’s given up his life in Europe and was going around Thailand by motorcycle and met this woman. He decided, “Thailand is where I’m going to stay.” That was interesting. The other place that was quite down to earth and cabins that were like the cabins that you’d see here in national parks. It’s a little bit of lower standard but interesting in themselves for being a different type of accommodation, again delicious food. Everything was great and they chose the accommodations well. 

It looked to me that almost all the accommodations had a swimming pool, which might have been nice to relax after a bike ride. 

We are very big on swimming pools. Any tour that we would go on, we’d always ask for places with pools. The place I was just describing did not have a pool but that was fine. It was quite cool around that area, but in every other place that there was a pool, we went into the pool. We liked them. The pools were very well–designed and added to the ambience of the place. That was great for us. 

You talked about seeing elephants. How about other wildlife? 

We saw a rhinoceros and some huge boars that somebody’s whole capital investment was in their boars. I’m not sure what exactly they were going to do with boar. We saw various living animals and we also saw animals that were used as a sacrifice or something. In different Buddhist ceremonies, they seem to have animals that had been sacrificed, which was interesting. We didn’t see tons of wildlife beyond that. 

You have to have a guide who's not just knowledgeable but also good at getting along with people. Click To Tweet

How about birds in the mountain areas? 

We saw lots of birds. We’re not bird people as far as identifying them. There were lots of birds in the mountain. We went to lots of places where there were lily pads in the water and there were lots of fish. There was a temple where there was a pond with lots of fish. You were encouraged to buy these little things for food and throw it into the pond and all the fish would come and eat the food. That was part of the routine at this temple. It’s like a cave temple where you had to go up lots of steps to get into the cave where the Buddha was. There were a lot of other things including fish at this place. 

One thing that makes me a little bit nervous about going on a cycling trip is cycling in traffic and cycling on the roads. Can you tell us a little bit about what the trails were like or the paths or the roads and whether you ever were a little bit nervous? Give us an overview of all that. 

I’ve never felt unsafe at all. When we’re crossing on roads of some kind, sometimes very rural roads where there were almost no cars and other places where there were cars, but not a lot of cars. I’ve never felt at all unsafe riding in a lot of other areas where there are more cars than I’m comfortable with. We never had that problem at all. In the areas where there were cars, there were plenty of shoulders so that you never felt like the cars were a threat. In a lot of places, there weren’t that many cars. It was fine. 

On the interview I did on cycling through Vietnam and Cambodia, they had said that the cars are so used to bicycles versus where I live where you’re the anomaly. They’re on always on the lookout for bikes anyway. They felt safer biking in Vietnam than they did here. 

In Vietnam, there was a lot more traffic. When we were in Vietnam, we were in urban areas. We were in a lot of rural areas but in urban areas, there were many scooters and you have to look out for them. There were scooters in Thailand too. A lot of them but never in a way that I felt unsafe, would pass us and that was fine. I’ve never felt threatened by them at all. 

On a scale of one to five, with five being the most difficult, how would you rank this trip? 

Do you mean in terms of the difficulty? 

Yes, how hard is it? You’re biking between 20 and 50 miles a day. 

It would be between two and three. Part of the reason I say that is whenever we wanted to end the day, they would pick us up in the van. Oftentimes, I ended up cycling with the guide and my husband would get into the van earlier. He’d ride most of the time, but he would be tired maybe ten or fifteen miles before the end. He would get in the van and that was fine. It’s what you want to do. For me, I could have done more but I was happy. I didn’t feel like I wanted to, just I could have done more. It doesn’t mean I necessarily wanted to. It was a good balance because then we’d get to the hotel in time to even take a swim and walk around before dinner. 

I liked that you weren’t utterly exhausted at the end of the day. Did you have enough time to visit some of the villages along the way as well at the end of the day? 

Yeah, that was a priority to do that. It was never like we were cycling all day. We’re always stopping at lunch and spend time visiting before starting again. We never rode late into the afternoon. We’re always done at 3:00, 3:30, something like that. 

Did you feel like you had control over your schedule or was it like the guide said, “We’ve got to move on, it’s time to get going?” 

No, we had control. We wanted to do what he wanted us to do. It was never an issue. There were maybe a couple of times where we had to meet a boat at a certain time. We’ve crossed a number of rivers or went on a number of rivers. We had to be there at certain times, but it was never a problem. We don’t particularly like to get up early and never had to do that. We always had time for a nice breakfast before we start riding. It was very comfortable. 

Explore Thailand By Bike: You never feel unsafe at all, even in very rural roads where there aren’t a lot of cars.

You went on something called a long-tail boat. What is that? 

The boats we went on, I’m not quite sure what that refers to but these were long, narrow, motorized canoes. We went on one quite a distance. Maybe we were on it for an hour or an hour and a half. The drivers have to be skilled because the rivers are low. You have to have exactly the right deep to be in the channel and not hitting rocks. You have to know exactly what you’re doing and where you’re going. There were rapids, not big rapids but small rapids, that if I hadn’t felt confident in the guide who was driving the boat, I would have been very nervous. It was great and it was quite an experience to be in that boat with our bikes, our guide, us and the driver going through these rapids. It was pretty cool. 

What surprised you about the trip? 

In retrospect, I don’t know if it seemed like this to outsiders, but it seemed like people generally were quite happy. We didn’t get the feeling of oppression or feeling of people not knowing how to make a living. We didn’t see people hanging around unemployed. It seemed like everybody was working and people seemed happy with what they were doing. It seemed like a very positive atmosphere. You come home and you read about the military government and things like that. Maybe you were a little bit naive, but it still seemed to us that things were generally going pretty well for people in Thailand. 

Is there any advice you’d give to somebody considering this trip? 

I’d say do it. The time of year that we did it was great. I don’t know about other times of the year. It was nowhere close to hot so you could probably do it months later and still keep cool. It’s a good place to travel. It is important to have a guide, unless you speak Thai, to be able to understand what’s going on and to meet people. The way we did it was a good way. 

According to my notes, the monsoon stops around late October and picks up again in May. Another time you need to be a little bit concerned about is around the end of February when the farmers will burn the fields. The air will be very polluted and very smoky. It seems like the time you went in November and December is a perfect time to go. 

As far as the burning, there was some burning going on while we were there. We could sometimes smell the burning but never close by. That was the thing that we discussed with the guide a lot about the reasons for doing that and how they’re trying to get away from that. It’s not necessary to do it, it’s just easier to do it that way. The government could subsidize people to change the way they do it so that there would be less burning, but it hasn’t happened yet. That is an issue. 

If you’re not sure what we’re talking about here, the farmers will burn the fields after they harvest the crops. The burning of the fields will get rid of all the debris. Whereas where I live, the farmers will simply till under that debris and turn in the organic matter back into the soil. 

Some people do and it’s the poorest farmers that do the burning. They don’t have to do it. Things could be changed but it hasn’t changed yet. 

There are two other towns that we didn’t talk about. One was Chiang Dao. Chiang, you will hear that word a lot in Thailand, that means city. Chiang Dao was called the little Tuscany. It’s full of vineyards. Did you have any memories of that? 

I remember the vineyards and being surprised that it’s not what I expected from Thailand. I remember riding by lots of grape trees or whatever they’re called. That was nice. 

Did you sample any of the wine to see how it tasted? 

I’m not a wine person. I mainly drink beer. My husband had a lot of the wine and I think it was good. 

There's been some movement to Bangkok in particular. A lot of the young people want to do something other than fun. Click To Tweet

You ended up in the town of Thaton. In my research, it sounds like you’re in Myanmar, but it’s right up in the border of Myanmar, Burma area and Laos. There’s a convalescence of the Burmese people, Thai people and the Chinese in that area. That was interesting. 

I remember being there and there’s a lot of concern about people from Myanmar coming over the border. The necessity to check the border carefully to make sure that they weren’t coming over. That’s what I remember about the heightened level of concern in border protection in a different way than we talked about it here in the United States, but still worried that people from Myanmar will come over. That’s what I remember with that. What I remember about Chiang Rai, which was our last city, there was this huge pageant of transgender performers which apparently has always been a big thing in Thailand. Their attitude towards transgender people is advance of the attitude in the United States. You see transgender people around living their lives and it’s an accepted part of Thai culture. We saw these shows that were like evening entertainment. There was a big stage. You would be served, you would be eating your dinner and watching these performances that were very professional and nicely done. That’s a big thing in Chiang Rai. It’s one of the big activities to go see that in the evening. 

Do you have a favorite memory of the place that when you look back and you’d say, “That day was so good or that memory was so good?” 

Different things for different reasons. I liked being in Chiang Mai partly because there was a variety of things to do and we liked our hotel. In a way, it felt like it got better and better, the cycling especially, and being farther in the north. I don’t have one favorite thing. 

You’re well–traveled, Emily. How does this trip compare to some of the other venture trips you’ve taken? 

It was different in that there were just two of us. That is what made the difference. We had never traveled in that area with less than maybe eight or ten people. That’s a different experience. It wasn’t negative, it’s just different. In that situation, you have to have a guide who’s not just very knowledgeable but also good at getting along with people. That’s what made the trip. If we hadn’t had a guide who was so good at his job, maybe it wouldn’t have been such a good trip, but he made a good trip. 

I do a lot of research before every program and looking at the reviews for this trip and in fact, all of Art of Bicycle Trips, the reviews for the guides have been outstanding. I’m pleased to be able to recommend them and to now be affiliated with them. 

It’s funny because they all know each other. When we went to any tourist related thing, our guide will be talking to them. They all know each other, guides who do bicycle trips with the Westerners. That was nice to see. They have an infrastructure of guides that are ready to be able to do more guiding. Our guide didn’t have that many trips. He does another type of guiding which is not on bicycles. He hosts groups of doctors from other countries who as part of their medical training, come to Thailand and do service for a month. He hosts them and raised everything for them. We enjoy doing that too, but probably he does that because he can’t do bike guiding full–time. This isn’t the opportunity for it. They have the infrastructure ready to accommodate more type of riding. 

Did you have any other interactions with Westerners on your trip? 

There are very few. When we saw them, we would say hello. We wouldn’t pretend to not see them. There were lots of tourists from China. There are some from Australia, but generally not the number of tourists that you would see in Vietnam for example. More than in Myanmar but not as many as you would see in some other countries. 

It sounds like you’ve got an authentic experience doing this trip the way that you did going out to the rural countryside. 

It felt that way, just to see the farming and all the different kinds of crops. This was not like agribusiness. This was not tiny farms but farms that are owned by a family. The family does the farming and sells the crops. It was nice to see that is still working. Although the guide told us that a lot of young people don’t want to stay on the farm. There’s been some movement to Bangkok in particular. A lot of people are going to Bangkok. If they had something to do or something to keep them in the rural areas, they would stay there. It’s just that they want to do something other than farming. 

It sounds like you had a great time in this adventure. Would you recommend it? 

Absolutely. 

Explore Thailand By Bike: Chiang Rai have a lot of these huge transgender pageants. Their attitude towards transgender people is very advanced. It’s an accepted part of Thai culture.

What’s next for you and your husband?  

We’re going on a bike trip in Croatia where you stay on a boat. Every day, the boat goes to different islands and you ride your bike on the island. My husband is getting an eBike for that because it’s quite hilly, but that’s supposed to be beautiful. 

Hopefully, we’ll get you back on the show to tell us about that trip when you get back. Any final thoughts or things that you want to share with the audience? 

Put Thailand on your list. Everyone will enjoy it for very many reasons. It’s got something for everybody. 

Thanks for coming on the show, Emily. I appreciate it. The next time I go to Thailand or Southeast Asia, for sure I’m going to do a bicycle trip. I’m so intrigued by what Emily told us. What we learned about biking in Vietnam and Cambodia with Norm and Karen, it sounds like a cool way to see a country and you’re not zooming through everything. You get to see the country and meet the local people far more than you can and get to cover more territory than you do when I do like my walking holidays. I’m getting more and more interested in doing this. In fact, I’d like to plan on doing a trip to India and possibly Vietnam by bike. I’m not hosting it, mind you, but if any of you are interested in joining me, pop me an email at Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com and let’s see if we can put something together. That would be a lot of fun.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of Thailand. I’ve got a lot more information on the website at ActiveTravelAdventure.com. Newsletter subscribers will get the free Travel Planner with all the details you need to plan this cycling holiday should you choose to do so. That comes absolutely free at the beginning of each month for whatever I covered the month ahead of time. Also, subscribers will get any of the handouts that I do for the new podcast, Adventure Travel Show Podcast with the how-tos. I’m packing a lot of punch and absolutely free newsletter. Remember, I do not spam you or sell you emails at all. You get one email a month from me and it usually shows up around the first week of the following month of whatever I covered the previous month. Check out the website, sign up for it there, pop me an email and tell me to hook you up. I’ll be glad to do it that way as well. Until next time, I hope you’ve enjoyed this adventure. Thanks so much for tuning in. I appreciate it and adventure on. 

Important Links:

• Adventure Travel Show Podcast 
• Art of Bicycle 
• Vietnam and Cambodia – previous episode 
• Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com 

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