Cycling to Phra Pathom Chedi - 80 km!

I don't think that I've ever felt as tired as I did yesterday... or as sore as I feel today!

Yesterday, I embarked on an epic 80 kilometre (50 mile) bike ride from Bangkok to the Phra Pathom Chedi in neighboring Nakhon Pathom Province.

The early morning was overcast, but confident that it wasn't going to rain, the trip went on as planned.

A very small group met up at an MRT station at the edge of the city where Noi, my friend and trusty tour guide was waiting to drive us to his home. There, he and his family served us a traditional Thai breakfast of patongo (Chinese-Thai fried donuts), rice porridge, sweet sausage, and pickled greens. The meal was meant to give us plenty of energy for our big ride, and of course, it was served with hot coffee.

When I say a small group, I really do mean it! It was just the four of us: Noi, his uncle, an Austrian woman from our meetup group, and me. Of the four, I was the least experienced biker and the only one without any sort of good biking gear. But I was ready to do my best! 

We set out by bike along nice, paved roads. Noi had plotted a route for us that would avoid any city traffic, so our route took us on a winding journey through small villages and past banana fields.

The scenery was lovely, and the weather was nice and cool. Although the route was relatively flat (a few small hills here and there), I was getting worn out after a few hours. By the time we rolled into Nakhon Pathom, my legs were shaky and my muscles screaming for a rest. We had taken a few short stops for water along the way, but as soon as I saw the big chedi rising up above the town, I breathed a sigh of relief.

We were there to see the Phra Pathom Chedi Temple Fair, an annual celebration where a huge market springs up around the ancient temple!

You might also like: the Golden Mount Temple Fair (2019)

As we entered the gates at the temple, we had our temperatures taken. Volunteers were handing out masks, and monks were splashing visitors with holy water and handing out small clay amulets to everyone.

We stopped in for a lunch of hoy tod (Thai fried oyster omlette) and a rest to explore the temple fair's market. We weren't dressed appropriately to go into the temple fair itself, but spent a little over an hour at Phra Pathom Chedi before we were ready to move on.

I was already so tired, but since we were already all the way out there, the only way to get back to BKK was to get back on the bike and give it my all until we were back home.

Finally, a few hours later, we rolled back up to Noi's house, where his sweet old dog came out to greet us. My legs were like jelly, and I could barely walk.

Noi fed us with fruit from his garden, and we took a rest to recover with some homemade lemonade. It had been a very hard ride, but so much fun.

I didn't really know what to expect before setting out. 80 km turned out to be pretty difficult for me. I was ok for the first 60, but the final 20 really did a number on me. But I did it, and that's what matters!

Now I know what I can do, and if there's another big bike ride in the future, I just might sign up to go again.

Bonus Video

Check out how a vendor at the temple fair makes this traditional Thai snack by dripping batter into a hot wok and rolling it up around a spool. Pretty cool!