January 28, 2006
Arunothai Beach: We didn’t really stay at Arunothai, we were a little south at Pak Nam Lang Suan at a beach "resort" called www.99bayresort.com. We stayed two days and nothing much happened but we did manage to get some rest from our 153km ride getting there. We had a nice waiter who spoke English but much too fast for Jodi and I to understand him at times. Much to my irritation he would tell the cooks in the restaurant to tone the food down so it would not be spicy. I told him repeatedly that I wanted it exactly the way the Thais eat it, but he just couldn’t believe a farang could handle the heat. He did give us a package of seashells that he collected on the beach that evening and against my better judgement I will try to get them home (even though I don’t want the added weight).
Chumphon: We left Lang Suan at 5:00am and rode through some desolate country on our way to highway 41 (the main interstate). As we were riding away from our quick stop at the convenience store, we noticed several people with brooms who had spent the night sweeping the streets and commented how clean the streets looked. We rode on and quickly the street lights ended and we were in the pitch black darkness with only our little bike lights to help us see. We were both a little nervous which turned to fear quickly. It seemed every house on this rural road had a dog that we would startle from its slumber and suddenly it was menacingly barking and chasing us at our heels down the road while we frantically pedaling in high gear to escape. We were wishing we had some of those little exploding pop jacks they sell on the 4th of July so we could throw them in their direction to scare them off. At one point I had one about to bite my shoe when Jodi loudly yelled "NO!" and it backed off...thank goodness!
Once we were on the 41 (the main highway to Bangkok) the traffic picked up and the riding became rather uninteresting. As I was thinking "This sucks", I remembered how every Sunday morning at Pole I would sneak down early on Sunday morning to ride Dr. Von Hitlers spin cycle (his real name is Otto and we did not like each other one bit) and I would imagine myself riding down roads. That is when I realized how spoiled I have become with all of our back road riding on this trip. We stopped for breakfast at the Chumphon tourist rest stop thinking we might get a "western breakfast" but we arrived an hour earlier than their opening time of 8:30am. So we pulled out some peanut butter, bananas and cereal bars from our road stash instead. About 20km outside Chumphon I saw a sign that read "Short Cut to Chumphon". In my haste, I misinterpreted what it said and turned about 1km early. Luckily a guy on a scooter was nice enough to lead us through some dirt back roads to the road we needed. We were surprised when the distance to Chumphon shrunk by 10km by just turning right off the main highway.
Chumphon was a town that we found to be rather uninteresting. The central part of the city where the hotels and guesthouses are located was made up of mostly businesses and restaurants that catered to farangs. Only when we ventured into the "local" areas did we find things that interested us. In the evening we went to the night market and found it to be the best yet. We found some new foods including fresh squeezed carrot juice, whole stuffed squid on skewers, coconut pancakes and mussel omelettes. All the new eats were great and we tend to like the desserts best of all, something I never knew about Thai food.
Nong Ai Kaeo(Bang Bird Beach): We didn’t awake at 4:00am as usual because we knew we would be riding some rural roads and we were afraid we would encounter the dog problem of the day before. There is nothing like riding in the dark with a snarling dog chasing behind and we wanted nothing of it (No one needs that much adrenaline that early in the morning!). We stopped at the American Cultural Center (otherwise known as 7Eleven) for breakfast since they are the only thing open at that time in the morning. We ate yogurt and cereal and talked about how the night before the street was crowded with vendors for the night market and now no signs of them remained. No tables, no carts and the streets had been swept clean of the previous nights activities. We were amazed.
We really hoped that we would encounter some accommodation at the 50km point, but unfortunately none could be found. I began to understand how cowboys must have felt crossing the plains on their horses looking for the next town (I was singing cowboy songs as I was riding). The road was quieter than anything I have ever seen and we seldom saw cars, scooters or houses. We did see some of the most beautiful landscapes and coast line with islands dotting the horizon. I could not believe all the white sand beaches and every time we rounded a bend the views would just get better and better. At one point we were on a coastal road that had pine needles piled six inches deep on the shoulder and I began to understand how far "into the sticks" we were. On a stunning stretch of lonely beach, there was a fishing village of some of the poorest people I had ever seen and yet the children and grownups all stopped what they were doing to yell "hello." Looking at their shanty homes and the beauty that surrounded them, I realized how rich these people were and I said a little prayer hoping that their beach remains undeveloped for a long time to come.
At this point we had ridden 80km and I was extremely nervous that we were not going to find a place to sleep and would instead sleep on the beach with only an apple and some peanut butter as food. Another 5km further I saw two scooters heading our way and I was about to flag them down and ask about the location of the nearest accommodation when I noticed they were farangs and I knew something was nearby. Around the next bend we found a row of beach bungalows for every price range but few tourists. It has been the same every where, Bali, Malaysia and Thailand, there are accommodations but not many tourists around to enjoy them, leaving us the pick and the power to negotiate. We found a nice place and settled in for the remainder of the day.
We both took naps, Jodi was in the room and I laid on the beach and later we walked into town for some dinner. I ordered a spicy dish and the waitress warned me that it was pretty spicy and I told her spicy ("pet" in Thai) is good with two thumbs up. She laughed and when she brought my plate she pointed out the chilis that were very hot so I could pick them out. Much to her surprise I ate everything on my plate. I explained to her that I am from the American southwest where we eat hot food. She was impressed and gave me the double thumbs up and said "most Thais won’t even eat those chilis"...I rule!
Ban Krut: Several people in Nong Ai Kaeo asked if we were going to Ban Krut and they all told us it was beautiful and that we would like it. I liked Nong Ai Kaeo and for them to advertise another place seemed like people in Breakenridge saying Copper Mountain is great. We struggled out of bed at 4:30am and if Jodi had said, "Let’s stay" I would have seized the moment. But we are running short of time on our visas and we need to get to Bangkok so we can make it to the other countries on our itinerary. Grudgingly we packed and when we went to use the bathroom before leaving we discovered they shut the water off at night. This made it difficult to flush and between the both of us we somehow managed to clog things up. I spent the next 45 minutes trying to devise a way to clear the pipes without water and a plunger. Nothing worked and I felt terrible that the owners were going to happen upon a terrible mess and smell when they cleaned the place for the next occupants (maybe they will leave the water on and provide a plunger in the future). Sorry guys!
The road was not as lonely as the ride the day before. We saw houses and of course dogs but with the morning light they pay no attention to us. It must be something about the dark and how quiet we move. We stopped in Bang Saphan for some breakfast and I discovered the girl making donuts spoke English. She helped me order some rice porridge with sausage and egg which was something new that we both enjoyed. She also sat with us between customers helping us with our Thai. I wrote everything down in my "*magic book"and I look forward to trying the new sayings.
We rode another 25km and found a beach area that rivals anything we have seen this far. White sand, clear water and great accommodation. It is the Chinese New Year so the place is filled with Thais setting off fire works and having a great time. We ate a huge lunch and settled into a quiet afternoon.
*Note: My magic book is a place I write Thai sayings and the English translations to help me get around. It is getting quite extensive and I need to do some things to make it better organized.
Chumphon: We left Lang Suan at 5:00am and rode through some desolate country on our way to highway 41 (the main interstate). As we were riding away from our quick stop at the convenience store, we noticed several people with brooms who had spent the night sweeping the streets and commented how clean the streets looked. We rode on and quickly the street lights ended and we were in the pitch black darkness with only our little bike lights to help us see. We were both a little nervous which turned to fear quickly. It seemed every house on this rural road had a dog that we would startle from its slumber and suddenly it was menacingly barking and chasing us at our heels down the road while we frantically pedaling in high gear to escape. We were wishing we had some of those little exploding pop jacks they sell on the 4th of July so we could throw them in their direction to scare them off. At one point I had one about to bite my shoe when Jodi loudly yelled "NO!" and it backed off...thank goodness!
Once we were on the 41 (the main highway to Bangkok) the traffic picked up and the riding became rather uninteresting. As I was thinking "This sucks", I remembered how every Sunday morning at Pole I would sneak down early on Sunday morning to ride Dr. Von Hitlers spin cycle (his real name is Otto and we did not like each other one bit) and I would imagine myself riding down roads. That is when I realized how spoiled I have become with all of our back road riding on this trip. We stopped for breakfast at the Chumphon tourist rest stop thinking we might get a "western breakfast" but we arrived an hour earlier than their opening time of 8:30am. So we pulled out some peanut butter, bananas and cereal bars from our road stash instead. About 20km outside Chumphon I saw a sign that read "Short Cut to Chumphon". In my haste, I misinterpreted what it said and turned about 1km early. Luckily a guy on a scooter was nice enough to lead us through some dirt back roads to the road we needed. We were surprised when the distance to Chumphon shrunk by 10km by just turning right off the main highway.
Chumphon was a town that we found to be rather uninteresting. The central part of the city where the hotels and guesthouses are located was made up of mostly businesses and restaurants that catered to farangs. Only when we ventured into the "local" areas did we find things that interested us. In the evening we went to the night market and found it to be the best yet. We found some new foods including fresh squeezed carrot juice, whole stuffed squid on skewers, coconut pancakes and mussel omelettes. All the new eats were great and we tend to like the desserts best of all, something I never knew about Thai food.
Nong Ai Kaeo(Bang Bird Beach): We didn’t awake at 4:00am as usual because we knew we would be riding some rural roads and we were afraid we would encounter the dog problem of the day before. There is nothing like riding in the dark with a snarling dog chasing behind and we wanted nothing of it (No one needs that much adrenaline that early in the morning!). We stopped at the American Cultural Center (otherwise known as 7Eleven) for breakfast since they are the only thing open at that time in the morning. We ate yogurt and cereal and talked about how the night before the street was crowded with vendors for the night market and now no signs of them remained. No tables, no carts and the streets had been swept clean of the previous nights activities. We were amazed.
We really hoped that we would encounter some accommodation at the 50km point, but unfortunately none could be found. I began to understand how cowboys must have felt crossing the plains on their horses looking for the next town (I was singing cowboy songs as I was riding). The road was quieter than anything I have ever seen and we seldom saw cars, scooters or houses. We did see some of the most beautiful landscapes and coast line with islands dotting the horizon. I could not believe all the white sand beaches and every time we rounded a bend the views would just get better and better. At one point we were on a coastal road that had pine needles piled six inches deep on the shoulder and I began to understand how far "into the sticks" we were. On a stunning stretch of lonely beach, there was a fishing village of some of the poorest people I had ever seen and yet the children and grownups all stopped what they were doing to yell "hello." Looking at their shanty homes and the beauty that surrounded them, I realized how rich these people were and I said a little prayer hoping that their beach remains undeveloped for a long time to come.
At this point we had ridden 80km and I was extremely nervous that we were not going to find a place to sleep and would instead sleep on the beach with only an apple and some peanut butter as food. Another 5km further I saw two scooters heading our way and I was about to flag them down and ask about the location of the nearest accommodation when I noticed they were farangs and I knew something was nearby. Around the next bend we found a row of beach bungalows for every price range but few tourists. It has been the same every where, Bali, Malaysia and Thailand, there are accommodations but not many tourists around to enjoy them, leaving us the pick and the power to negotiate. We found a nice place and settled in for the remainder of the day.
We both took naps, Jodi was in the room and I laid on the beach and later we walked into town for some dinner. I ordered a spicy dish and the waitress warned me that it was pretty spicy and I told her spicy ("pet" in Thai) is good with two thumbs up. She laughed and when she brought my plate she pointed out the chilis that were very hot so I could pick them out. Much to her surprise I ate everything on my plate. I explained to her that I am from the American southwest where we eat hot food. She was impressed and gave me the double thumbs up and said "most Thais won’t even eat those chilis"...I rule!
Ban Krut: Several people in Nong Ai Kaeo asked if we were going to Ban Krut and they all told us it was beautiful and that we would like it. I liked Nong Ai Kaeo and for them to advertise another place seemed like people in Breakenridge saying Copper Mountain is great. We struggled out of bed at 4:30am and if Jodi had said, "Let’s stay" I would have seized the moment. But we are running short of time on our visas and we need to get to Bangkok so we can make it to the other countries on our itinerary. Grudgingly we packed and when we went to use the bathroom before leaving we discovered they shut the water off at night. This made it difficult to flush and between the both of us we somehow managed to clog things up. I spent the next 45 minutes trying to devise a way to clear the pipes without water and a plunger. Nothing worked and I felt terrible that the owners were going to happen upon a terrible mess and smell when they cleaned the place for the next occupants (maybe they will leave the water on and provide a plunger in the future). Sorry guys!
The road was not as lonely as the ride the day before. We saw houses and of course dogs but with the morning light they pay no attention to us. It must be something about the dark and how quiet we move. We stopped in Bang Saphan for some breakfast and I discovered the girl making donuts spoke English. She helped me order some rice porridge with sausage and egg which was something new that we both enjoyed. She also sat with us between customers helping us with our Thai. I wrote everything down in my "*magic book"and I look forward to trying the new sayings.
We rode another 25km and found a beach area that rivals anything we have seen this far. White sand, clear water and great accommodation. It is the Chinese New Year so the place is filled with Thais setting off fire works and having a great time. We ate a huge lunch and settled into a quiet afternoon.
*Note: My magic book is a place I write Thai sayings and the English translations to help me get around. It is getting quite extensive and I need to do some things to make it better organized.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 1:17 PM
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