3/3/25
It was still very warm outside. The day before had been that hot. We made ourselves a cup of coffee and ate a pomelo that we’d bought from the supermarket the previous day. It had yellow flesh and was slightly more bitter but it was no less difficult to get into.
We hit the road at about 6:45am. A mile up the road was a temple that seemed like it should be worth a visit. It wouldn’t be open yet but we could look. As we rounded the corner we could see a beautiful gold building. There was a service playing over a speaker. We stopped to look and get a picture. All the gates were closed.
A monk appeared behind us and seemed to gesture that we should go in. The gate was shut so we hesitated. He walked over and firmly grabbed Jonathan’s wrist. Gestured that we take our shoes off and then slid the gate open. The restored temple had originally been built in 1762 and was full of gold statues as well has having a glittery ceiling.
When we were coming down the stairs from the upper floor a woman in a white robe, rather than orange, came up to tie a colourful skirt round Frankie’s waist. It didn’t seem to matter that Jonathan didn’t even have a top on. She indicated that we should follow the covered walkway which took us in a u-shape past a lying down Buddha and a procession of statues.
It was a lovely atmosphere, the Sun barely having risen yet and casting its rays on the excessive amounts of gold. When we headed back towards the bikes the woman appeared again, took our helmets off us, and gave us some flowers, incense and a little square pack of pieces of paper. She lit the wooden sticks and put them in a sand pot, it seemed like the same ritual as lighting a candle in a church.
Then she showed us that inside the little squares of paper were little squares of gold leaf. We were to spray each Buddha and then stick the gold on. There’s an expression, ‘putting gold on the back of The Buddha’, which essentially means doing a good deed when no one sees you. Finally we had good luck bracelets tied round our wrists. We were glad we’d gone so early in the morning when no one else was there. We got back on the bikes, started cycling, and then Frankie realised we were sans helmets. Almost a big oops.
The second landmark on our itinerary for the morning was the Boon Soong Iron Bridge. Built as shortcut for miners in 1965, it is constructed from scrap metal. It is a tourist attraction but the locals use it as a shortcut though now on scooters.
We were on some back roads on our way to the highway. We were passing some somewhat surprised locals when some dogs started chasing us. Two of them. They were mainly chasing Frankie as she was ahead but then one of them suddenly tried to turn around and their soft body went straight under Jonathan’s front wheel. It was awful. ‘Luckily’ only the front wheel, he turned away so the rear wheel avoided them being squashed a second time. How Jonathan didn’t fall off is a mystery. The dog yelped and ran away. Maybe they’re okay. We felt awful.
We joined the highway. It was pretty bleak. They were making the road into a dual carriageway. So the nice road with trees either side, that we’d spied with street view, was a pipe dream. It was ten whole miles of dusty, exposed road. At least ten bridges or overpasses being cast in concrete too. We were continuously crossing the road as per the signs. The traffic was good to us though.
We needed a break and spotted another temple. It wasn’t as grand as the first one. There were lots of locals around, it looked like a wedding was happening. They gave us coffee and crackers. We said no to the crackers on account of the 1.4% milk powder. We communicated that we were following the ‘Jai’ diet, a Buddhist diet. They generously came back with a little plate of biscuits that resembled mini jammy dodgers. They probably had milk but we couldn’t refuse. When we asked about the gathering they told us it was their Grandma’s funeral. We felt bad for intruding, offered our condolences and left before they offered us anything else.
We got back to highway 4. Finally the road works stopped and the road narrowed. It looked far more like what we’d hoped for. We reached a 7-eleven and opposite was a sign to the Si Phang Nga national park. Which included a waterfall, Tam Nang. The picture on the signpost made it look good. It would be 10 kilometres there and back.
We decided to take the detour to Si Phang Nga. It was nice and flat all the way to the national park. There was a campsite, but very exposed to the Sun, and even bungalows. We’d have to work out how to book such places. We had to pay 100baht each to go in and the bicycles were free to ride down the 1 kilometre more of track. The woman mentioned swimming. We hadn’t even contemplated it. We lent the bicycles against a hut. Grabbed the swimming stuff and the essentials and then hiked the 500m to Tam Nang. There were fines for everything, from littering to making noise and taking flora away.
The waterfall was spectacular. And it wasn’t even the rainy season. It fell from a good height into a pool that was absolutely packed with fish. Large ones. We went in for a dip. The water was fantastically cold. We swam with the fishes, unavoidably grazing them with our hands. After sufficiently cooling down we went back to our starting point, then took another path to a different waterfall called Ton Deng. On the way we saw some bird watchers looking for a blue insect catcher. We were convinced we’d seen it the day before.
Ton Deng was further into the jungle and we had to cross the river 3 or 4 times. It was a lovely jungle march but the waterfall was far less impressive. When we got back out of the jungle, changed and reached the national park headquarters again – they really take them seriously here – we saw another cycle tourist. He was talking to a guy with a motorcycle but the cyclist was the one wearing a Triumph top. It was really confusing. He had an ebike too. Boo!
We saw the rest of his group, they didn’t all have e-bikes, as we were leaving. It was nice to see friendly comrades. Back at the 7-eleven we bought purple Japanese sweet potato, that they microwave for you and a refreshing tamarind drink. We used this extra energy to hammer out the last 20 km of highway. It was too hot and we wanted to stop riding. There was a short, but sharply steep hill to climb, we were dripping in sweat. Then it was nicely downhill for about 8 kilometres.
The place we’d booked from the hostel was reserved for us when we arrived. Thank god we were in the right place. It was nice, clean bungalow. Unbelievable how affordable it was. We almost bought instant noodles in the supermarket next door, there didn’t seem to be any food around for us, but we went to the restaurant over the road at the last minute. It didn’t exist on google. The internet has ruined exploration. Everything was booked and checked in advance. From the quality of the road, to the food and the accommodation. Travel must have been more exciting in the past.
The restaurant was keen to serve us and quickly understood. Probably because one of the women was a good English speaker. We ended up with sticky rice and a unique papaya salad. It had apple, sweetcorn and mushrooms but no shrimp. Delicious. It was so good that we ordered another one afterwards.
We were back in our room soon enough to keep cool. We’d bought an extra serving of rice to eat with our mango and coconut milk. The best Thai dessert. We watched some TV and nibbled nuts and dates too.
Surly They Won't Make It 