Day 3: CM to elephant camp

Bike travel is the best ever. 

• There's nothing quite like checking into the cheapest guesthouse at 5pm (which then feels like a 5 star hotel), showering, and then eating reading and drinking. 
• You are forced to talk to so many people everyday, asking directions and hanging out in noodle stands, and whatnot.
• You really get a feel for the area, which you lose if you're in a bus. 
• You get to skip the crap of tourist transportation/travel agencies, which really is the worst thing of traveling.

Thailand, like many Asian countries, has a problem w/ plastic bags. Every food item you buy is put in a plastic bag. This and not so good waste management leads to highways like this. Then again, maybe using a small plastic bag is better than using some of the huge food packaging we use back at home.Every highway is marked with kilometer markers. It's pretty convenient. They kind of look like tombstones though.
Coffee shops are another staple of a trip in Thailand. It may be the first Thai word I learned to read. Thailand is the first country that I've spent time in that coffee is grown fresh in -- it's not imported.
On this section, I was treated to nice roads in Lampang with a huge shoulder. 

I found a local organization that does health work for hill tribes, and I'm going to spend the weekend volunteering. Probably setting up huts, teaching some English, doing some open heart surgery, that kind of thing.