Sawadee,

I hope this email finds you all well!   I hope our friends and family in Winnipeg enjoyed an amazing May long weekend despite the snow and that the rest of you around the world are getting up to something fun.

Mike and I have now reached Chiang Rai in the North of Thailand. We are within a days ride of the Laos border but will not ride there until next week. We are really loving Thailand.

Since Singapore we have travelled through Malaysia, cycling along the east coast and then through the jungle, riding over the mountains to cross the country to the West Coast. Malaysia was good to us, the traffic kind and the people welcoming.

Two months in Thailand has been amazing, we were lucky to have many friends come and visit us for awhile and it was so fun to play in the water; snorkelling and diving off of the beautiful Southern Islands.

The biking has been incredible since leaving Singapore. Connecting with the people in small villages and towns is a highlight of being on a bicycle. They are so kind here, waving and yelling hello constantly. Many times we have stopped to buy only a bottle of water and have left with our panniers filled with Mangoes, dozens of bananas, dried fruit, and our hot water bottles filled with ice and water from their 5 gallon jugs. Invited into homes, we have been able to carry on conversations in which we do not vocally understand what each other is saying but we leave with hugs and our hearts full.

In the past couple of weeks we have cycled through the rice fields of Thailand, a dream of mine for a long time. In the dream I am not sure that I ordered the +48 degree Celsius weather or the fact that it is the season for many of the crops to be burning. We would wake up before 6 in the morning and already the sky would be in a haze of smoke and the temperature in the high 30's. The penetrating heat would have us waking up earlier and earlier every day. Since we have met the mountains, the weather has cooled and the rainy season has begun in abundance. We are actually debating on an umbrella. Well.. Mike really likes the idea of one, and I like the fact that it might help to detour the dogs from taking a chunk while I am riding. A constant heart beating fiasco every day.

Thank you so much for being there with us. Together, we have recently celebrated 8 months on the road. It has gone fast, but not too fast and we miss all of our great friends and our amazing family.

This email also goes out to all those who have helped us along this journey by taking us in, feeding us. Showing us what they love most about their Country and their area. This trip would be nothing if it were not for all of the people that we have met.

This past week we have been given a wonderful opportunity to give our time and help out a school for women from the hill tribes of Thailand. Most of the girls are in there late teenage years and they are just beginning classes. Mike and I have enjoyed helping with English and playing. This afternoon we will be showing maps of where we have been and talk about the incredible # of flats Mike has received. (25) Mike is then fixing many of the girls bikes and showing them how to do it, some of them will ride on a flat for weeks before it gets fixed. We have then put together a fun hour of exercises and games. All things they can do with no equipment.

Mike and I have been trying our best to keep up with updates on our website with stories and photos. We have made a new website at www.katandmikebike.com

Also Mike is writing a daily journal more on our route and the cycling,  you can find the link off of our main site.

I just asked Mike his favourite part of the trip so far: "I have really enjoyed camping and the freedom of cooking our own food"

What do you miss the most from home? "I miss hanging out with friends and it will be really hard with the upcoming cottage season"

Me- I am not good at the favourites thing because I have too many categories. I just love it all. Right now at this moment I have to say that I really miss potatoes. There is seriously a lack of french fries in these countries!

Please keep in touch! We love hearing from you!

www.katandmikebike.com

Love Katrina and Mike