Dy 58 – Mueang Ubon Ratchathani to Mueang Yasothon
Finally had a good sleep in a decent bed. Woke up at 5 am ready to ride 100 kms. Overall, the riding was very easy today, I think the distances are become easier and easier as I get more fit and continue to lose weight. I would like to weigh myself soon and will have to do that at the next reliable opportunity. I figure that I must be down close to 90 kgs (My height is 187 cms) by now. I will keep you posted.
We got to join Ubon locals on a Saturday ride out to a local market 15kms outside of town. Near the market, we had a coffee break at their usual hang out spot, a well-equipped Sala. I enjoyed 2 soft boiled eggs served in a coffee cup with pepper and soy sauce. It was the first time I can recall that I’ve had eggs this way. I drank down the egg and sauce mixture and found that it was actually very tasty.
We enjoyed a 20 minute break and then headed further out of town towards the free coconut juice drink lady on the side of the road, where we all stopped and gulped down some sweet (perfect level) drinks. I don’t usually enjoy the flavor of coconut juice, it’s either too bitter or something else, but today it was just perfect, a far cry from the crap they sell in boxes.
From here we separated and they rode back to town, making it a 50km day for them. Natt and I continued on to Yasothon. We arrived around 2pm-ish and headed for a hotel we had stayed at before when we last visited Home Hug Orphanage, back during Songkran 2011. It was at this time that Natt and I had helped out the Hands Across the Water charity, doing some work on the orphanage property to help them cut down on their water purchasing costs.
We relaxed in the cool of our room while catching up on business emails. We then started planning what we were going to do for the kids at the orphanage during our visit the following day. We’re hoping they remember us, it has been 15 months since our last visit and we were here only briefly before. We’ve seen recent photos of the orphanage and the children since we visited last, mostly from our friends who are involved with Hands Across the Water. I’m sure we will recognize familiar faces.
We’ve got some maps for the kids to draw on and also a crazy bicycle which we’re hoping they’ll want to go for a ride on. I’m not sure if I can do 50 laps on the bicycle with all these kids, but I might have to. Happy to do it.
We had to repack our bags for our ongoing trip since we’ve collected a few gifts like caps and promotional items from Tourism Authority of Thailand offices. We’ve also whittled down the stuff we need for the rest of our trip, I am hoping we can post another 3-4 kgs home to Bangkok so we don’t have to carry it on the bike anymore. We will see how successful we are when we visit the post office on Monday afternoon.
I put a call out to my friends on facebook to see if anyone wanted to make a donation to the orphanage and I got 2 great responses. An old friend, Laura Henry, was the first to reply, and the second was Zoe Watson (of Bliss Sanctuary for Women in Bali). Combined with our donation we will be able to give approximately $500 (we’ll obviously be making the donation in Thai Baht). Thanks to the help from these wonderful ladies a forgotten orphanage in Northeastern Thailand will get some much needed help.
Unfortunately, many Thais see these HIV+ children as people who have collected bad karma in a past life and therefore do not support them at all. For example, the temple next to the orphanage, rather than helping the orphans, have built a giant 10-foot tall brick wall in order to keep out the ‘bad energy’ that these children are assumed to be carrying.
Anyway time to relax!
