Heat rash and snake road kill – gotta love it!

What a LONG-ASS DAY. We are whipped. It is extremely hot in Thailand. EXTREMELY HOT. Thank God the road was flat. That was the only thing that was on our side today. Actually I was feeling pretty good up until the very end but I think it was because I drank SO MUCH water all day long. The sun was starting to get to me after awhile and I definitely felt the onset of sunstroke a few times. Kathy and I are both suffering from extreme heat rash, especially on our upper thighs. It is a bright red, raised rash. Luckily when we were seeking shelter from the heat inside a gas station convenience store (literally lying on the floor in front of their fan), I looked up at the shelf and saw Prickly Heat Powder – we both did not hesitate to buy a small container for 12 BAHT (about 25 cents). It contains menthol, camphor, tree tea oil extract, allantoin and calamine – the perfect combination to sooth our heat rash. I guess it’s not uncommon to get what we have here if they sell this stuff. So we’ve powdered up tonight and hopefully that will help.

As for the ride, the first 50 or so km were quite scenic today but then we were on a highway for the rest of the day and that SUCKED! Frequent Coke, Lipton, water, and more Coke breaks at the gas stations were the only way to get through the day.

We are in a very small town tonight that has only one hotel (thankfully one!). It wasn’t in either of our guidebooks so we really lucked out on finding a place to stay. We are actually in the V.I.P. room (says so in big letters on the door) which is pretty hilarious because the place is pretty much a dump – it’s dark and smelly and the shower is only a cold trickle with no soap and only old dish-size towels. I wonder what the other rooms look like!

Many more snake road kill today.

Number of westerners we’ve seen in the past 3 days: 1

Miles biked today: 77.09

Jen and Kathy taking a break from the heat

Add comment October 21st, 2001