Headed out with about 16 Thai “3T” (Trang Touring Tigers) touring cyclists Sunday for a ride to the “Dam”. ( I’m hoping they’ll tell me how to get one of their blue 3T jerseys). Fortunately for them I never ask where, why, how long or how far, as we’d never get on the road. Past blog followers know the Thai Sunday rides are an all-day event punctuated with frequent meals, and this ride was no exception. This time we made it the City Limits before stopping.  But the real breakfast wasn’t until the first town outside of Trang. Kow Man Kai – Chicken on Rice with Chicken broth was the fare there ($1.10).

Then off again on vacant asphalt roads to the Dam.  For the cyclists reading I can’t emphasize how wonderful it is riding two lane asphalt roads winding thru groves of rubber trees, palm oil trees, villages and along karsts. We can ride two or three abreast, even slide all the way across and take photos from the saddle of the string of cyclists. Of note: only one of the bikes on this ride was a road bike.  Thais in Trang tour on mountain bikes, and generally with various racks &

bags and one even has a full music sound system with horn speaker. The motorcycle-sized battery lasted all day and all the electronics are mounted on the handlebars next to the bell.

It’s pretty different cycling at a leisurely pace on un-trafficed roads with your own sound track.  The only time we’ve seen that is watching the RAAM riders (Ride Across Amercia) coming over Wolf Creek Pass with their RV trailing the rider with speakers blaring his favorite music.

Anytime I hear Dam or Waterfall mentioned as a ride destination you can anticipate some climbing.  Imagine climbing Coal Bank but steeper (they don’t have any 7% rules for roads).  Everyone waits at the top of hills and often someone breaks out a treat like chicken on a stick with sticky rice, or mini corn on the cob (which should never interfere with lunch – I learned).  I just couldn’t even think about food at the lunch stop, however I was up for the bananas mid afternoon and especially the ice cream sandwich which needs a little explanation to go with the photo.  An Ice Cream Sandwich from a three-wheeled motorcycle-cart vendor traveling rurally house to house or village to village is just as popular as the American Ice Cream van playing that noxious jingle.  I’m sure they have various serving media but our group preferred the “sandwich” version,

which is literally a slice of white “Bimbo” bread folded taco-style and filled with five mini scoops of home-made ice cream.  They even include a micro spoon for those that want to save the bread for last. Ugh! two selfies in a row, guess I’m keeping with the current social media trend. Just enlarge that sandwich to get a feeling for the treat.

Think I’ll leave the rest of the ride for a mid-week blog.

ADL’s – Activities of Daily Living.  A term used in health care for a number of activities older people can accomplish each day in their extended care facilities.  We first learned of the concept while cruising, in that we’d try to get in a certain number of ADL’s each day on the boat. It was always the nagging question folks asked about life as a cruising live-aboard sailor, ” What do you do all day?”  For anyone who’s already retired it’s an easy answer:  ADL’s.  I guess for those still working or confused, it’s what people do before and after work: read the paper, check Facebook, watch the news and then they cram in all the chores on the weekends; wash clothes, mow the lawn and clean house.  In the Health Care realm I’m sure they include things like social activities: exercise class, crafts and games.  I know that 5 ADL’s is a good standard and 7 about max.

In Thailand we include eating in the ADL count, because it always includes getting to the dining hall which is exercise, communicating what we want to eat which is social and educational, so that’s three ADL’s all by it’s self.  Since we do hand washing of our clothes each day (cuz we’ve a limited number in our self-imposed bike travel allowance) that’s another.

Some days there are added unexpected experiences such as figuring out how and where to get the flat tire on your scooter repaired. ($4 for the higher in-town price – includes the new tube). Fortunately we have a friend to visit where we get great stories about Thai social and cultural traditions and history.  He’s also great on practical things like explaining how to put minutes on your cell phone or where to replace the wind-shield visor on the scooter helmet ($1.75).

And of course there are the other mandatory ADL’s like blogging, studying Thai, texting back home (iMessage on the iOS system – free, fast and fun) and the occasional FaceTime (Apple’s Skype).  The guesthouse router is right above our porch table and has 6MB ups and down if you want to try it.