Day 57 – Mueang Si Sa Ket to Mueang Ubon Ratchathani
We left late today at 7am, which gave us time to eat breakfast at Boonsiri Boutique Hotel. This boutique hotel has very decent rooms for only 450B per night. The hotel is 3 years but it has been kept in really great condition. I will post the GPS co-ordinates because it’s a very nice option with decent rooms.
James met us at the hotel this morning and we rode together to his home/office where we had about 20 more people waiting for us. At this point, we took a lot of photos with everyone and relaxed while we waited for a couple of stragglers to turn up. This gathering was nice, very friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
We rode off towards Ubon with this large group of Thai cyclists slowly dwindling in numbers the further we got from town, with about 6 people making it to the 35km mark and and joining us for second breakfast. We spent an hour eating and chatting and then said our goodbyes to the last of the Si Sa Ket riders who had joined the group from Ubon.
These guys are all serious tourers, one of the guys was sporting a Surley Long Haul Trucker (avid disc brake version) with a Brookes saddle. They all obviously do a lot of kilometres on their bicycles as their legs were like tree trunks and they never broke a sweat as we rode a 23-28 kms per hour pace (with a tailwind).
It was an easy day, only 65kms to Ubon and then another 10kms around town with our local guides who were very friendly indeed. They helped us get to all the locations we needed to visit and then took us to a nice place called Jaboona on the outskirts of town, it was a kind of apartment building that could be rented at a daily or monthly rate.
I don’t think we will do much for the rest of the day, we have just put a load of washing in the machine and we hope to have it dry tonight. Tomorrow we will ride to Yasothon (our 4th day of riding in a row since our last day off), where we plan to stay for 3 nights.
Currently the Candle Festival is happening in Ubon and if you have not seen it before (I have twice) I would recommend a visit during this time of year. The festival only lasts 3-4 days, so make sure you contact the TAT to find out the exact dates before you visit.
