Day 16 Chiangmai to Uttradict

Getting out of town with Monday morning traffic was a bit difficult and slow. We missed one direction early on and found ourselves going the wrong way on an expressway on-ramp.....a bit dicey to say the least.

 Once out of town, the scenery turned beautiful. Morning drives are the best; weather still has a coolness in the air. By afternoon it can get stifling.

 Our morning coffee stop was a quaint shop off the main road. They grow their own organic coffee; roast it and serve it in this little shop/coffee house. It was great.

 We’re South now and we’ll reach the Cambodian border in a few days’ time.

 The Car and the Tally:
First test this morning was a Regularity.

 In past events, we have done well in these Stages, but we seem to have lost our mojo. We were 11 seconds early (our clock had us only 4 seconds early, but the only clock that counts is the Marshall’s clock). This is a lousy time and worst, we don’t know why we’re off by so much.

 The Speed Stage in the afternoon was a different story. We were the 6th fastest in the field which is a really good time, especially with so many cars with big engines in the field.

 Observations:
We were joined in Chiang Mai by four new cars driven by celebrity drivers. These folks are household names in the UK, but I’ve never heard of any of them.

 They are Noel Edwards and his wife Liz, Martin Kemp and his wife, Miquita Oliver and her daughter Andi and Tinchy Stryder.

 They are all driving well-prepared cars, but all have had a tough day. Two cars have completed the day several hours late and the two others have yet to turn up as of the writing at about 9pm local time.

 All of this celebrity driving is for producing four 1-hour TV shows for the BBC. There must be a crew of 10-12 folks following them up and down the countryside. Oh well, I guess this is showbiz.

 One last observation: the Thai government is spending a lot of money. Every road is to be going through an improvement program. The new roads are first class and good. All of Southeast Asia seems to be in a race to catch up with the developed world.