The heat is taking its toll.

 Firstly the photo above proves I can get out of bed early and be on the bike by 6.20am.  We had a long ride today and we knew it was going to be a scorcher.

 The photo above is at 6am as we were riding out of the city of Udon Thani.  I was amazed how big this city was.  It took a good 30 minutes to get to the outskirts and away from the mayhem of idiot drivers.

 We came across this vehicle in town which appeared slightly over loaded with goods.  You have to wander how dangerous this would be if you had to stop in a hurry or swerve to miss a child.

As we rolled out of town we had a good shoulder to ride on for the rest of the day.  Still, at times drivers would want to cut us off or pull straight out in front of us.  This happened time after time all day. 

Today was a constant headwind with rolling undulations the whole 123kms.  Today was also one of the hottest on tour.  The maximum temperature was 46 degrees, with an average temperature of 36.  It was 30 degrees when we left town at 6am.

We stopped many times today to keep our fluids up, and as the day went on we had to stop more often.  Now we've both ridden in Sudan and know exactly what to expect when riding in extreme temperature, but this is different, this has extreme humidity thrown in for good measure.

As we got about 30kms away from Khon Kaen, Len noticed a religious site which looked quite unique.  The photos depicts statues of elephants, big and small, each are facing their God.

 

If you look real closely you can make out a couple of Zebras thrown in for good measure. 

 Even the elephant is bowing to his/her god.

And finally more elephants.  Notice the big elephants in the back of the photo. I think there would have been a couple of thousand elephants on display all pointing in one direction.

After taking the photos we had to get back on the road and get today over with.  We were spending far too long out in the sun and this was not healthy for us.

As we rolled into town and made our way through all the traffic we pulled into the Khon Kaen Hotel.  The hotel is really nice and costs 850 baht for a night.  Once again the room has everything you could possibly need.  Good value for money.

After getting our gear into our rooms and taking a well earned break, it was time to head off again and get as much food into us as possible.  During dinner we discussed our options for the next couple of days.  Seriously to ride in this heat is just stupid.

I'll keep you posted with the changes to the program tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will be taking a well earned rest day.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.