The furthest so far that I have have ever been on a cycling trip is to Hatyai and much nearer but still in Thailand, Betong and down south, Singapore.
My cycling members from ECC have traveled a number of countries and some even cycled from Bangkok to China. I have always envied about joining them on their adventures and finally decided to go to Chiang Mai with 5 friends on a 5 day cycling trip. Why Chiang Mai, well, it's supposed to be the mountain bike heaven with the mountains and hilly terrain. Well, if all goes well, this may be the first of many more overseas cycling expedition to come.
I have done a rough itinerary for the 5 days but since this is a free and easy trip, we might change the plan as the days go by. Hope we can do as much cycling as we possibly can for the next 5 days.
Chiang Mai, here we come!
Sunday
After checking in hotel and setting up our bikes.i. Visit an ancient temple, Wat Prasing
ii. Visit another temple which is also a museum, Wat Ket Karam Museum
iii. Visit Tribal Museum
Monday
i. Cycle towards Hmong Village, distance 21km. Along the way, visit Umbrella Village and another temple Wat Phra Doi Suthep which is side by side.
ii. Have lunch or bring packed food along and eat at Hmong Village.
ii. After lunch and going around the Hmong Village, we start off road (Yippee!) Smuggler's Trail. 20km of downhill and pure XC trails towards Huai Tueng Thao Reservoir.
Then it's cycling back 13.5km on road to our hotel. This should take all day and estimate to finish around evening. Total cycling distance about 60km.
iv. Cycle and look for good makan and then do some night cycling around town.
Tuesday
Plan A (if we are going to spend all the time cycling and exploring around Chiang Mai town)
i. Cycle north along the river and do a loop coming back on the other side. Distance 60km.
ii. Check out the local bike shops.
iii. Free and easy after dinner. Maybe do some more night cycling.
Plan B (if we are going full cycling expedition)
i. Wake up early for breakfast.
ii. Cycle up north to Chiang Dao town. Distance 71km. All on road.
iii. Stay for the night.
iv. From Chiang Dao, cycle a bit more north and then turn East towards a small town called Phrao. Distance 42km.
v. Eat light lunch at Phrao (if can find because it is a very small town), then continue cycle East for another 24km. From my GPS map, the road looks interesting because of lots of zigzag. Hopefully going downhill!
vi. Cycle into off road trail. From the GPS map, it says 4x4 mountain track. Distance before we reach tarmac road. 61km! I have to highlight the distance because we would have cycled 85km already by now and there is still another 64km before we reach Chiang Mai town again. Total estimate distance would be 150km for the day.
Wednesday
Plan A (continue from Tuesday Plan A)
i. Cycle East 1 big loop. Distance 100km.
ii. or Cycle South and do a loop back.
iii. Finish early and relax the for the day.
iv. Maybe go to Night Baazar to see if there is anything interesting.
Thursday.
i. Shopping and pack bicycles.
ii. Arrange for transport to airport.
iii. Bye-bye Chiang Mai.
