Bike Ride to Wat Pa Dara Phirom Part 2

This really should be consolidated into one post. Here's the link to the first part, with the map. Today was the second day of the meeting at the Wat, so I have a couple more pictures. I also failed to say that I was starting out near Chiang Mai University. I just want to add a couple more pictures of the ride. Then I'll do another post with pictures I took at the Wat during meeting breaks. Another post about the meeting itself - what it was all about - is on the pile of to do posts, including more from the Petchabun meeting.

I also want to add that last night I got a ride back - I didn't see riding home in the dark along the highway, even with my blinking light in back, as a desirable option. As it turned out, I got a ride back today too as the meeting got out mid afternoon and there were pickups headed back to the office. It's a lot cooler at 8am than at 3pm and they didn't have to twist my arm too much. It was great getting in a longer-than-my-short-office-ride in - the Wat is about 14 kilometers from home - but I'm not excited about the highway part, even with relatively little traffic.


This is the key picture I didn't get yesterday - the part of the road where there's just this tiny space for a biker, up against the wall. There are three lanes of traffic and there was little traffic, so I never had anything bigger than a motorcycle in the lane next to me, but still, I didn't enjoy it. Where there was a road - paved, but more often not - on the other side of the canal, I took that. On the way home, in the pickup, I saw that the other side of the road has more sidewalk, but it isn't a clear shot - it's got trees and lots of signs as frequent obstacles. Things are like this maybe a kilometer past Huey Road until after the 700 Year Anniversary Sports Stadium.

It would be nice to figure out some other way to get out there - one that used neighborhood roads instead of the highway.  It would take longer, but be more comfortable.  I know J won't want to drive along this stretch.  

Then the 'sidewalk' appears. (See yesterday's post.) It's not perfect, but it gets you a little away from the traffic. And things look really nice. But I've learned that few things are accidental.

Perhaps this is why the highway is so good here.






Now I'm off the main road on this wonderful little road to the Wat. It turns out you can stay on the main road and the Wat isn't far from it either. But this way is so much nicer. Note the bridge in the background.


And today I took this shortcut - the foot bridge into the Wat. It maybe saves 1/2 kilometer, but it was fun too. (No, I wasn't about to put my camera down and do the automatic timer on the bridge. In places like this I make sure the camera string is around my wrist.)  Also, I see that the map is misleading here as the road across the bridge goes back right along the canal.  I started onto the bridge from the road that cut off from the highway and got off the bridge practically in the Wat.