Back-country Roads in Thailand's Flatlands

It didn't start well. The plan was to cycle 19km to a friend's birthday party, stay the night then cycle back in the morning. But just one kilometre after leaving home there was a loud "ping" as my chain snapped. I scooted the bike back home and wondered about either trying to quickly fix it or having a quiet night at home with a lonely beer. Then my old bike that I haven't used for over five years caught my eye. Twenty minutes of pumping and oiling later I was ready to go only to discover that a cable had split so I would basically be stuck in the same gear all the way. It only took a moment to decide: the route is very flat and I wanted a beer with friends so off I went.

Apart from the limited gearing the bike was fine, but by this time I was too late to think about looking at scenery or taking photos. However, I made up for it on the way home the next morning when I stopped so often that those easy 19km took me two and a half hours. This is what I saw.

Our area is dominated by paddy-fields and sugarpalms trees. Most of the fields were harvested weeks ago leaving this unattractive dry, brown stubble, which will stay until irrigation water from the dam is next released probably not for another month or so.

Many of these fields have a few cows grazing whatever they can find worth eating. When the rice crop is growing these cows are left on roadside verges or in cowsheds.

This was the only field I saw that still had unharvested rice on it.

I was led to these ducks by the pleasant chattering noise they were making. With their wing feathers trimmed they cannot fly and are herded around in their thousands to nibble the weeds, snails and spilled grain whilst also fertilising the fields. They particularly love dabbling around when the paddies are flooded and play a very useful role in the local agriculture. The ones here are in a canal.

This old farming tradition was almost killed off during the first bird flu outbreak when it was banned in favour of enclosed poultry-rearing. Fortunately, it survived and has become common again in our area. Once on a rural backroad I even had to stop and wait for several minutes while a waddling flock crossed over. That's the kind of traffic jam I'm happy to wait for.

Perhaps the only blessing of the current hot season is the number of trees in flower. There are many lining the roads often with beautiful carpets of dropped petals to ride over.

Even the introduced water hyacinth that has become a terrible problem by clogging up so many lowland waterways in Thailand is putting on a good show at the moment.

As ever, the lotus flowers are looking fantastic on any still water that hasn't been taken over by the water hyacinth.

My route took me through this very minor tourist attraction. An avenue of sugarpalm trees along a back lane. It only stretches for about 200m but is a good place to get a close look at these trees plus the bamboo poles people still climb up to collect the fruit.

There were a few other signs of agriculture beyond rice, cows and sugarpalms, such as these hatted-heads bobbing around a field of tomatoes and a few very free-range chickens pecking about outside many homesteads.

The next generation of free-range dogs were also on show.

I can never resist old stuff like this rusty corrugated metal and this beautifully weathered roadsign that I hope isn't replaced as it does still do what it is supposed to.

Fortunately, I did not have to use either of these two makeshift bridges over a canal as there was a much sturdier version just 200m away. I think the wooden one is well used by motorcyclists. The one made with concrete poles looks like it was created for four-wheeled vehicles driven by people braver (and more skilled) than me.

My final stop on the way home was at a Buddhist temple I had never been to before. With me looking different to the usual local visitors their dogs annoyingly refused to stop barking at me so I only stayed long enough to admire this wonderful fig tree that has encased the tree that stood there before it plus some splendid cockerels.

This was about the only competition I had on these backroads and it reminds me that I better go and fix my bikes now.