Assurancetourix - Daily life in Thailand and what I see

[Assurancetourix]

Today, I wanted to do some km on red roads ..
 I did 51 km and was happy to shoot some photos in hevea plantations and our beautiful countryside in Issan .

All photos shot today - tuesday 11th of october 2016 -   with my Olympus TG 860

 

 

[Assurancetourix]

 

 

 

Be careful if you like to make an itinerary with Google Map ;

on Google Map, this is a road  for all sort of vehicles ..

 

[Assurancetourix]

 

 

Maybe u need an amphibian car?

 

[Assurancetourix]

 

 

Yes, right, a second " no bridge " 

 

[Assurancetourix]

But with a MTBike we always find a solution

 

 

Rubber trees are behind me; now rice everywhere

 

[Assurancetourix]

Prasat Khom , not far from Sawang Daen Din - 13* century

 

 

On the other side of the red road, this vehicle..

 

[Assurancetourix]

Yesterday, I was on my MTBike for another balade ..

 

Sunrise just outisde my village

 

 

Babies are on holidays all this month so no problems ..

 

 

A beautiful paint truck on road 2280

 

[Assurancetourix]

This man selling thai mattress

 

 

 

80 kilometers - all photos with Olympus TG 860

[Assurancetourix]

 

Today saturday 15 of october 2016

 

My five dogs eating under the sala ; the cat was already " full" and escape ..

 

 

Less than 1 km from my house ..

 

 

On rd 22 , direction Udon Thani

 

[Assurancetourix]

Always on rd 22, but on the wrong lane

 

 

It's not a Michelin doll

 

 

And we had rain

 

[Assurancetourix]

We aren't in Vietnam ...

 

 

Still raining ..

 

 

61 kilometers today - all photos with Olympus TG 860

[Assurancetourix]

Monday 17 of october 2016

 

98 kilometers on rd 22, then 227 & 2021 - all photos with Olympus TG 860

 

Just outside Phangkhon on rd 227

 

 

A Michelin doll with a policeman helmet on this machine

 

 

A pickup, as usual in Thailand

 

[Assurancetourix]

Tuesday 18 of october 2016

 

Farang bababobo I am ! 150 kilometers with my MTBike today;

Went to Udon to see if my new cycle shoes arrived from Bangkok ...

Yes, size 11.5   Not a normal size in Thailand, so ... I must order, phone to Bangkok..

Bo pen yang do ..I shot some photos during my trip

All photos with Olympus TG 860

 

 

Mercedes in Udon Thani , not far from Makro , same side of the rd

 

[Assurancetourix]

A beautiful truck u will discover it when TV will return in colors

 

[Assurancetourix]

It's alone in the countryside

 

 

Tut-tut, bip-bip, ouin-ouin , klaxon concert for this stupa all the day;( don't know if in the night it's the same )

 

 

Next to the stupa, the portal of a big house

 

[Assurancetourix]

 Thursday 20 of october 2016

 

A sunny and hot  day ,

73 km with my MTBike ans a few photos .. All with Olympus TG 860

I like/love my 21 mm !

We, the truck and I , were at a red light on rd 22;

I'm , maybe less than one meter from it

 

 

 

On the route coming back home in a PTT benzine station

 

 

Arriving in my village for lunch, here ... kraphao mou kai dao and a big Coke ( 1,25 l ) for 65 baht .

 

[Assurancetourix]

Yesterday friday 21 of october 2016 , went to Nikhom Nam Un - 103 km on the bike; sunny, too much ..

Drank much water and sodas and shot a few photos

 

A big one, maybe 20 cm long

 

 

Our countryside ... Beautiful , I like it

 

 

A pink/red dragonfly; the first time I can see something like that

 

[Assurancetourix]

 About 2 km before arriving Nikhom Nam Un, a marriage ; and I can say they were drinking not only water ..

( I have read some french newspaper - Ouest France - where they write " it's forbidden to sell alcool to thai people because the death of our King )

 

 

A cyclist I will over past in a few seconds ..

 

 

Another dragonfly, this one is brown

 

 

All photos with Olympus TG 860

[Assurancetourix]

Monday 23 of october 2016

 

Today no bicycle;

Iwent to Udon to buy new shoes for cycling with my MTBike;

 

Exustar size 46 ( french ) 12 ( US men ) 11 ( UK ) and 29,5 ( Japan ) ; why all these different sizes ?

I thought they were more expensive than the price I paid : 2250 baht = 58 euros .

 

Two photos today;

one in Udon downtown , a old, maybe very old Isuzu

 

 

And one on the road to return home ; is that a mobil-home ?

 

 

Olympus TG 860

 

 

 

[Assurancetourix]

Yesterday , tuesday 25 of october 2016 ;

 

I like to watch what Google Map can show to us and sometimes we can have some surprises ..

For example roads , buildings which doesn't exist ...

And so many roads with no number : " rural road no name " ;

 

I cannot understand why they cannot take example , ( not copy but work like Michelin people was working so many years ago ..) 

on Michelin yellow maps 1/200,000 * , where we have all the roads, even those in ground ;

 

So, I wanted to discover  " Our Lady of Miraculous Medal "; it's a catholic church in the countryside, close the big lake Nam Un , not very far from Phangkhon in Sakhon Nakhon province .

 

https://www.google.co.th/maps/@17.2844278,103.722547,18z

 

When on main rd 227 ,I found the rural road to go there

 

 

About 1km on that rd, a beautiful Wat door

 

 

At the end of the rd, The village where is the church, ;

didn't found it but had a beautiful view on Nam Un

 

[Assurancetourix]

Continuing that rural rd ; beautiful one but cannot see on Google Map which one ..

It's strange how they make these maps ...

Just before arriving on rural rd 3032, another Wat door;

I think the Wat is deserted since a long time ..

 

 

Lunch at the beginning of Phangkhon ;

and much rain on the rd 22 coming back home

 

 

110 kilometers; yes, I know, I'm bababobo

[Assurancetourix]

And today, thursday 27 of october 2016 a nice off road MTBike balade ..

89 kilometers , maybe 70 off road on red roads ..

So many rubber trees on the two sides of the red road ...

 

[Assurancetourix]

I'm going on the top of the hill, far away ...

 

 

No bridge here ..

 

 

Another dog who likes my " croquettes "

 

[Assurancetourix]

Going to Tham Phuang Wat

 

 

It's the beginning at 08.25.00 am of a long ascent - 4,800 meters at average 10%

 

 

The end  at 08.59.44 am top of Phupalek National Park ; entrance free

 

[Assurancetourix]

On Google Map there is a second road to come at the top of Phupalek;

I went many times there, never saw the beginning of that second road ..

So today I tried to find it and I had the answer ...

 

 

Don't know where these stairs are going to ...

 

Found another very little (foot)path, it stops about 300 meters far on the house of a monk .

 

 

One of the building of the Wat

 

[Assurancetourix]

Oh ! nice , colors came back ! Thanks a lot Administrators 

 

 

Downhill in a few minutes and took another red road which is going round the National Park

 

 

Road marks are old ...

 

[Assurancetourix]

Another little lake which is invisible on Google map

 

 

Bad red road is beginning

 

 

As I write often ...Be careful when trying to make an itinerary with Google Map ;

many roads are like that; it's , here, nearly impossible to pass with a normal pickup , a 4x2 , and impossible with a sedan car

[Assurancetourix]

On Google Map, it's here the beginning of the second road to go at the top of Phupalek ;

there is no road, only a foot path and after about 400 meters, nothing ...

 

 

If u want to destroy your pickup...

 

 

Another little lake , at the bottom, the wat of the Phupalek National Park , nearly at the top of the hill

 

[Assurancetourix]

Ah ! ah!  The red road is white ..it's sand ...I had to walk for about 300 meters .

 

 

A beautiful dead tree

 

 

And a non beautiful minibus which was burnt somewhere;

now R.I.P in a Wat not far from Phupalek Nat Park

 

[Aladdin]

On 24/10/2016 at 2:16 PM, Assurancetourix said:

Monday 23 of october 2016

 

Today no bicycle;

Iwent to Udon to buy new shoes for cycling with my MTBike;

 

Exustar size 46 ( french ) 12 ( US men ) 11 ( UK ) and 29,5 ( Japan ) ; why all these different sizes ?

I thought they were more expensive than the price I paid : 2250 baht = 58 euros .

 

Two photos today;

one in Udon downtown , a old, maybe very old Isuzu

 

 

And one on the road to return home ; is that a mobil-home ?

 

 

Olympus TG 860

 

 

 

If I'm not wrong it says SELL CHEAP so maybe this can be something to use as a summer house. Buy a piece of land and, viola, we have a summer house. I love the pictures and the area. I never manage to give the landscape any justice with my pictures. Very hard to get a beautiful landscape to look good on pictures. 

 

But you seems to have mastered the art, at least on some of your pictures.

 

Maybe I should buy the summer house, and the truck and we have a camping mobile

 

May I ask you if you ever see any wild life on your trips? Like deer etc.

 

Seems to be a beautiful way to kill the day. But I have never seen much of wild life here in Thailand. An elephant, a few deer and a bear. Of course plenty birds, but mammals? 

Edited October 27, 2016 by Aladdin
I could not help myself, I just had to do it