January 14th 2006
January 14th, 2006
Summary: We took a ferry, met some really nice farangs, almost saw a truck lose a wheel, did not make our destination and ended up in a "no tell hotel" with free porn.
The whole Story:
Today we had every intention of riding the 110km from Songkhla to Hua Sai but the heat in Thailand is much greater than it was in Malaysia and we were pushed inside to seek shelter. In the morning we caught the ferry for a 15 minute ride across the lake and to the highway on the other side. The change in transportation mode saved us about an hour of riding on a busy highway and a causeway. At the terminal we met an Australian (named Graham) and a Kiwi (named Owen). They worked for an oil company that is extracting oil and natural gas from the ocean along the Vietnam border. They were very interesting to talk with, they both lived in Songkhla for quite some time (26 and 14 years) and were out for a mountain bike ride. I wished that I had met them a day earlier so I could ride some trails. On the other side of the lake we had our picture taken by a temple for Graham’s blog (www.cowleysabout.blogspot.com) and we exchanged email and blog addresses. Jodi and I then proceeded to make our way towards Hua Sai. At the mid morning point a truck pulled up along side of us to say hello (as so many do) and we noticed the lug nuts falling off the left rear passenger side of the truck and the wheel to begin to wobble. Jodi and I both hollered loudly for them to stop and they did. We helped them collect all the lug nuts we could find and continued on our way. About midday we passed within 4km of Ranot. I was a bit leery to turn off the main road since our guide book did not have any information about Ranot and Mr. Pumpy had difficulty in finding good accommodations along the route also. I figured it would be best to get to Hua Sai the same as he did since we had some information about the accommodation there. Instead we found a town that doesn’t see farangs very often. None of the businesses including the hotels had any signs in English. Jodi developed a hand signal for accommodations and it worked pretty well. One guy borrowed my pen and piece of paper and sketched a symbol looking like a drop and a box across the street. He handed the paper back and pointed back in the direction we had come. We both misunderstood the distance and stopped short thinking we must not have understood him and found a different hotel but it was closed. At this point I was very worried that we were not going to find accommodation and end up sleeping on the beach of the nearby lake. Jodi had seen a hotel about 6km back so I suggested we ride to it and check it out. Along the way I recognized a sign on a gas station that appeared similar to the symbol on the "map" the guy had given me and behind a strip mall was a hotel that we found with the help a woman who operated a laundry business in the strip.
It was a single story row of rooms with blue tarps separating the parking bays and blue tarp awnings over each porch. Inside was a pretty clean room with tile floors, a good bed, air conditioning but the bath room lacked a lavatory. Despite its short comings we decided to take it and get out of the heat. To me the place looked a bit like a "no tell motel" and my suspicion was confirmed when I turned on the TV and discovered two channels of porn and a condom on top of the bureau. I also found some rather suspicions stains on the sheets. I went to the office to get a new sheet but the manager was not in but she had a stack of sheets behind her desk so I took what I needed and returned to our shelter. We both showered, Jodi did the laundry and we both took a nap until the sun moved lower in the sky.
Tonight we plan on going to bed early so we can awaken at 4:00 am and travel the remaining 100km to Nakhon Si Thammart. After this one push it appears we will be able to make the rides shorter and we will be able to find beach stays along the way...Yippee!
In my past entries I forgot to mention some things that had happened to us on our way to the Thailand border. The ride was really pretty through rice fields and while viewing the scenery we happened upon some guys slaughtering a cow on the side of the road. Jodi joked "Beef! Its what is for dinner" like the beef council commercials. We also happened upon three domesticated elephants feeding in the shade.
At the Malaysia border I saw a kid that I nearly kicked the crap out of for wearing a T-shirt saying "America under attack, September 11, 2001 with a picture of the WTC burning. I find Muslims mostly friendly and his ignorance only helps perpetuate misunderstandings and stereo types.
In Thailand my wife is a bit like a white elephant. She is very rare and all the guys and some small children want their photograph with her. Yesterday after finally discovering the mermaid statue in Songkhla she was approached by several men wanting her picture with them and then one little girl asked her parents to ask Jodi for a photo. We suspect it is because of her red hair.
Summary: We took a ferry, met some really nice farangs, almost saw a truck lose a wheel, did not make our destination and ended up in a "no tell hotel" with free porn.
The whole Story:
Today we had every intention of riding the 110km from Songkhla to Hua Sai but the heat in Thailand is much greater than it was in Malaysia and we were pushed inside to seek shelter. In the morning we caught the ferry for a 15 minute ride across the lake and to the highway on the other side. The change in transportation mode saved us about an hour of riding on a busy highway and a causeway. At the terminal we met an Australian (named Graham) and a Kiwi (named Owen). They worked for an oil company that is extracting oil and natural gas from the ocean along the Vietnam border. They were very interesting to talk with, they both lived in Songkhla for quite some time (26 and 14 years) and were out for a mountain bike ride. I wished that I had met them a day earlier so I could ride some trails. On the other side of the lake we had our picture taken by a temple for Graham’s blog (www.cowleysabout.blogspot.com) and we exchanged email and blog addresses. Jodi and I then proceeded to make our way towards Hua Sai. At the mid morning point a truck pulled up along side of us to say hello (as so many do) and we noticed the lug nuts falling off the left rear passenger side of the truck and the wheel to begin to wobble. Jodi and I both hollered loudly for them to stop and they did. We helped them collect all the lug nuts we could find and continued on our way. About midday we passed within 4km of Ranot. I was a bit leery to turn off the main road since our guide book did not have any information about Ranot and Mr. Pumpy had difficulty in finding good accommodations along the route also. I figured it would be best to get to Hua Sai the same as he did since we had some information about the accommodation there. Instead we found a town that doesn’t see farangs very often. None of the businesses including the hotels had any signs in English. Jodi developed a hand signal for accommodations and it worked pretty well. One guy borrowed my pen and piece of paper and sketched a symbol looking like a drop and a box across the street. He handed the paper back and pointed back in the direction we had come. We both misunderstood the distance and stopped short thinking we must not have understood him and found a different hotel but it was closed. At this point I was very worried that we were not going to find accommodation and end up sleeping on the beach of the nearby lake. Jodi had seen a hotel about 6km back so I suggested we ride to it and check it out. Along the way I recognized a sign on a gas station that appeared similar to the symbol on the "map" the guy had given me and behind a strip mall was a hotel that we found with the help a woman who operated a laundry business in the strip.
It was a single story row of rooms with blue tarps separating the parking bays and blue tarp awnings over each porch. Inside was a pretty clean room with tile floors, a good bed, air conditioning but the bath room lacked a lavatory. Despite its short comings we decided to take it and get out of the heat. To me the place looked a bit like a "no tell motel" and my suspicion was confirmed when I turned on the TV and discovered two channels of porn and a condom on top of the bureau. I also found some rather suspicions stains on the sheets. I went to the office to get a new sheet but the manager was not in but she had a stack of sheets behind her desk so I took what I needed and returned to our shelter. We both showered, Jodi did the laundry and we both took a nap until the sun moved lower in the sky.
Tonight we plan on going to bed early so we can awaken at 4:00 am and travel the remaining 100km to Nakhon Si Thammart. After this one push it appears we will be able to make the rides shorter and we will be able to find beach stays along the way...Yippee!
In my past entries I forgot to mention some things that had happened to us on our way to the Thailand border. The ride was really pretty through rice fields and while viewing the scenery we happened upon some guys slaughtering a cow on the side of the road. Jodi joked "Beef! Its what is for dinner" like the beef council commercials. We also happened upon three domesticated elephants feeding in the shade.
At the Malaysia border I saw a kid that I nearly kicked the crap out of for wearing a T-shirt saying "America under attack, September 11, 2001 with a picture of the WTC burning. I find Muslims mostly friendly and his ignorance only helps perpetuate misunderstandings and stereo types.
In Thailand my wife is a bit like a white elephant. She is very rare and all the guys and some small children want their photograph with her. Yesterday after finally discovering the mermaid statue in Songkhla she was approached by several men wanting her picture with them and then one little girl asked her parents to ask Jodi for a photo. We suspect it is because of her red hair.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 11:54 PM
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