Well I am back from my return trip from Chiang Mai to Khon Kaen. Left CM 6.30am Tuesday, no need for cold weather clothing even that time of the morning. Road conditions quiet and even quieter as I went beyond Lampang and on, air still smoky for virtually the whole trip, and some fires on the way, especially in Nam Nao which is jungle, not cultivated and I guess are caused by the lack of rain rather than the farmers.
Saw absolutely no evidence that Songkran was coming at all. The closest I got was one old lady coming out of her front gate with a large bucket overflowing with water, she approached the road and made ready to throw the water, I did the usual things, swore, prayed, slowed down etc, and without a glance in my direction she threw the water all over the pavement outside her gate, I think her regular cooling ritual during this extremely hot weather.
Reached Khon Kaen at 1.45pm and no traffic and no people out and about. Just too hot, seems to be siesta time.
The night before I had a debate with myself about which bike to take, the Honda CBR 250R, which I had cleaned up ready for sale, or the much faster more powerful Yamaha FZ8. I had never taken the Honda on a 1300km round trip. I decided on the Honda just in case there were any incidents with drunk dogs or mad adults with or without large quantities of water and powder and ice. If there was going to be an incident I would rather have it on the lighter, much cheaper to repair bike. I was very suprised how much I enjoyed the journey on the small bike, on the dual carriageways I cruised at 125 or so kph, managed to keep that up on the windy roads as well, dropping to 115 on some of the big hills. On the smaller roads I was able to overtake everything in front of me, even the 250, is faster than the 4 wheeled traffic, apart from the straight dual carriageways.
Today (Wed), left KK, little bit cool at 6.00am, rain forecast, but never happened, light traffic for the first 2 hours, then a few pickups etc loaded with all the household possessions and Grandma as well, only room for drinking water, so no danger of a wetting. Past Chumpae, the new dual carriageway is a wonderful improvement on the old bumpy road that went from Chumpae to the turn off for Loei. Over Nam Nao, no traffic and very cold with only a vented jacket and no liner, also very smoky with some huge areas burning in the jungle. A bit of traffic at fuel stations, but no queues, and light traffic around Den Chai and all the way to Chiang Mai.
On the homeward journey the only time I nearly go wet was by the council lorry spraying water on the tarmac road north of Lamphun, I guess another hot weather anti pollution measure. Home in Chiang Mai at 1.30pm. Again the little Honda performed amazingly well, I have no discomfort , wrists, back, butt or anywhere, and I think it was slightly less tiring than my normal, nearly 1 hour shorter, so faster, solo journeys that I used to make on much faster bikes. Less stressful travelling at easy speeds.
So as far as the approaching Songkran goes, April 9 and 10 did not present a problem with water or drunk drivers. It has not started yet on any of the roads I travelled.
As far as 650km journeys on a 250cc bike go, I am pleased I took the Honda, fuel consumed was about 20 Litres each way. That is about 32Km per litre, or about 3L per 100Km. If I had kept the speed down to 115 or so it would have been even better. The FZ8 would have, gone quicker, it just does that on all the open roads and would have burned about 5.5L per 100km, Additional cost for the return trip about 1300 Baht and of course tire wear on the FZ8 is approximately 1 baht per km, on the 250, about 0.25 baht per km. So an additional 975 baht. Now I ask myself why would I take the bigger bike next time? I think I am getting older and settling for a slower pace of life.
So does anyone want to make me a good offer for a little used Yamaha FZ8, almost showroom condition?!?!?
As others have said, stay safe this Songkran, but hopefully enjoy it as well.
