4/3/25
It was a nice quiet night and a good sleep. Though we had to adjust the air conditioning a lot during the night. Otherwise it got too cold. We made coffee and set out as soon as we could. Less than 10 minutes down the road and we in a busy town with some roadside stalls opposite a school. We bought some breakfast, some more panang based pudding and a lotus seed dessert. We were pretty sure they were vegan. We did check multiple times using google translate.
A hundred metres further on we stopped at the market. It was stupidly bustling and barely 8am. We loved that. We had absolutely no idea why it wasn’t a pedestrianised area though. There were cars and scooters driving around the market. There was barely any room for people in the first place. We bought a couple of very green oranges, some orange oranges and a mango. But it was pretty manic so we got out of there quite quickly. By now it was nearly 8am and we’d just started cycling properly.
Still, we had had such a good experience the day before that we soon took a turning to see Suan Mai waterfall. It was only a kilometre off route, but with a steep climb at the end up to the rangers outpost. They really do take it seriously. No cost this time. We secured the bikes, just with the little hiplocks we carry, they avert any potential opportunists but Thailand has felt mega safe so far. Then we walked 200m on a rocky and rooty path to find the falls. It was less impressive than the day before but no less beautiful really. Jonathan went in for a swim, Frankie dangled her feet, the fish attempting to nibble her skin.
When we turned back on the road a little further up, it seemed to have deteriorated quite a lot since we’d turned off earlier. But it soon returned to normal. We still had at least 40 kilometres to go. It seemed like quite a long way even though it was still early. The Sun was pounding down. When you’re in the jungle it makes you think it’s much cooler.
We bumped into a French guy called Kenan. He’s been going for a year and a half and seemed to have gone all over the shop. He’d come through China and was working his way down to Singapore. Kenan seemed keen to finish his trip. Like he’d been going too long. We exchanged contacts and later shared some knowledge with each other over whatsapp.
Unfortunately Frankie’s belly wasn’t feeling so good. So we stopped for some nuts and to glug some water. Jonathan went into a local shop and perused their fridge. Some of it was their own food and not for sale. Ended up with a little bottle of passionfruit juice and some peanut brittle.
The road continued to be up and down in equal measure, occasionally steep occasionally shallow. It wasn’t very interesting. But it wasn’t boring either. There was the odd temple but not much else to see. It was 11:30am and ridiculously hot. The wind was blowing right in our faces and it was sometimes hot and sometimes refreshingly cool but we could never guess where and why.
It was still the same exposed single carriageway. We were completely done for the day. Mentally. But we still had 20 kilometres to go. We hadn’t booked the next place and were relying on google maps being accurate and that there was a ‘resort’.
We can’t over emphasise the fact that it was really hot. Occasionally dogs popped up and just started running at us. We tried to completely ignore them. It seemed to work. Don’t change speed, don’t look. Feign an imperviousness to stimuli. We had one last climb to go just before the end. It was the only climb of the day and hopefully it wouldn’t destroy us.
We passed through a police checkpoint of some kind. They just waved us through smiling. One of the police officers said something, probably some kind of encouragement. They had seemed to find a nice spot of shade though. The hills were relentless. Kenan had said they were bad. It just would not stop going up and down. We would sweat buckets on the way up but going down was nice. The combination of wind and sweat made us feel a smidge cooler.
We stopped at another roadside store. We had been passing some large fish farming pools so they were mainly selling fish related products. Including shellfish. But this woman also had some cashew nuts and some dates. We bought a few bags that we fancied. They weren’t cheap but seemed reasonable enough.
Then we hit the climb. We’d mucked up by being there at 1pm. It was stinking hot. We were drenched with sweat and our bodies protested. It wasn’t even a big climb. A measly 70m. But the air was warm and we had to work extra hard. By the time we were at the top we were extremely enthusiastic about finding an air conditioned hole to lie in.
It was another 5 kilometres or so. Mostly downhill. Our legs weren’t happy when the road even went slightly up. We spotted the resort instantly because we could only read the numbers ‘390’ on the sign. A review had said it cost that much in baht. A boy greeted us. We were getting used to it by now. We gave him the money, he gave us some cold water and then showed us our room.
It was a bit spartan. The mattress was hard but not as bad as Zou hostel had been. There were some ants clearly living in the tiled pedestal the mattress sat on. But there are ants absolutely everywhere here. We showered and let ourselves cool down before venturing to the nearby ‘supermarket’. There was nothing else around unless we were willing to go 2 kilometres which we definitely weren’t.
It was in someone’s house as always. A man was outside shelling coconuts. The store was a couple of long narrow shelves. We managed to find instant noodles without fish in them. That’s a rarity. Also pickles, some dried green peas, and crisps. They even had tomatoes and cucumbers. Only one small bag of each. They were so generous and even gave us a little wrap of rice with jackfruit in it. It’s phenomenal how kind people with so little are. Made us feel a bit sick for the abominable greed that exists at home.
There was no kettle in the room but there was one outside by the reception with some jars of coffee and sugar alongside. We assumed we could use it. We carved up some Chinese leaf we were still carrying and ate it with our fresh instant noodles. The air conditioning made a weird wave like noise but we couldn’t be more grateful for it. We ate some of our cashew nuts and finished Toxic Town and the second series of White Lotus. We went to slept early, intending to make headway as early as possible in the morning.
Surly They Won't Make It 