6/3/25
It was a delight not to worry about being up early. We still started stirring at around 6am. We’d got in the habit. But we had a leisurely start, a couple of coffees and a pomelo.
We sent a whatsapp message to Tai Kak Pier, which rather than just a pier seemed to be the name of the ferry company, to confirm the passage of the bicycles. They shot back a simple message that it would be 100 baht per bicycle. At around half 8 we left the hotel and started the 8 kilometre ride. It was a bleak ride, on busy roads, surrounded by cars, scooters and trucks. On the way we stopped at a 7-eleven to get coconut milk and coffee. We were anticipating higher island prices.
The road towards the pier was a long, straight and monotonous dual carriageway. Taxi-buses passed us frequently. When they were carrying Thai people they were invariably crammed to the brim. After a bit the road turned left and then became bumpy and poorly maintained. We were passing industrial fish processing places, and an ice factory. Ice is huge business in Thailand that’s for sure. It was being churned out into the backs of large trucks.
An even bumpier track led us down the last 50m to the pier. We were swiftly reminded of the fee for the bikes, took our pink ticket, and sat on the benches in front of the boat. It was a bit of a spectacle. We were watching the ‘dock workers’, for lack of a better description, piling the bottom floor of the boat full of goods. It was all being slid down a wooden ramp into the hold. They were clearly being pushed quite hard to work quickly, dripping with sweat, moving hundreds of kilos of ice, fuel canisters, water and food. We were going to an unsustainable place that was for sure.
They tried to grab hold of our bikes, not to go down the lower ramp but to get them across onto the passenger deck via a narrow metal plank. We resisted so we could it ourselves. They weren’t likely to take much care, and we didn’t blame them. They did have to help though, because the boat moved when Jonathan’s pedal caught the plank and they panicked.
The boat left at least 15 minutes late. There were a small number of tourists, most with backpacks, on board this ‘slow boat’. There are lots of speedboats that many people use instead, but it costs twice as much. There were many fishing boats out to sea, a nice view of the many islands too, and we could see Myanmar. Another tourist came up front and told us that apparently one of the engines was broken so that’s why we were going extra slow. No matter. As long as we weren’t sinking.
We arrived at the pier on Ko Phayam an hour late, and at an angle due to the one engine. The ramp was much steeper so we had to take a couple of panniers of the black Surly first and then carried the bikes down. The workers had a pool table to unload. It took about 15 of them. The whole thing is crazy.
Down the pier we rode, past all the motorbike rental shops, and headed for the place we’d booked. There were a huge number of hotels on the island and that was pretty much it. We’d been recommended to come here by a few cyclists, it seemed like a good place to rest. We went up a steep hill on the concrete road, then following a sign to P.P. Land, took a track, then a narrow path clearly frequented by scooters.
We were staying on the east of the island. The beaches weren’t meant to be as good but it was a highly rated accommodation. We approached the reception, there were a couple of travellers sitting around, but one of them asked if we needed help. Turns out Paul had arrived 20 years ago from Belgium, and never left. He chatted about his journey, comparing it to ours, though he’d used a car. He proudly showed off his banks of lithium batteries and solar panels.
Our bungalow was very pretty. We had a view of the sea, a hammock but no air conditioning. Which we’d expected. Well there was an air conditioner but we told it was another 600 baht a night. We’d already paid 1750 per night and felt that it was a bit cheeky especially as it was powered by solar. Paul owned another resort on the island too. It was going to be another weird place.
After a few hours of enduring the sweaty heat we went out to find some food. We walked about a kilometre to a place run by a woman called Supranee. She cooked fresh vegetarian food from her garden, and had moved here 9 years ago to escape her lifestyle of gambling. It was nice food but expensive and the portions were small. Tourist island life would take getting used to again.
On the way back we stopped at a shop and Frankie finally found ‘chocolate’. It was called ‘compound’ and was 51% sugar and 14% cocoa powder. Chocolate it was not, but we hadn’t really seen anything but milk chocolate bars since we’d arrived. We bought some cheap soya milk too. That had been hard to find too.
We also stopped at a vegan ice cream shop. Coconut, sweet potato and chocolate flavours, but it all tasted the same really. Not that it wasn’t tasty. We were sweating again by the time we arrived home and took a dip in the pool. Except it seemed to be chlorinated salt water. Bit unusual. It was refreshing and stopped the mosquitoes biting us anyhow.
We lay on our bed, fan blasting, to watch the first episode of White Lotus season 3. Ate some mango, cashew nuts and coconut milk. We didn’t have any rice this time. A banana and some peanuts too. We were glad we’d bought nuts before we arrived, they were twice the price here. It was a very peaceful place and with the lights off it was pitch black. That’s a real rarity.
Surly They Won't Make It 