11/3/25
We had a beautifully early start. The choice to cycle 10 miles at the end of the day before set us in a good state of mind. Sitting around doing nothing was over and we were ready to cycle again. We had two coffees each, with our trademark splash of widely available coconut milk, and we were ready to go.
We needed to be ready because we immediately started climbing. This time of the morning was full of truly special moments. Reciprocating the knowing nods from the locals, everyone gets up this early here. The climb was nothing difficult and arguably quite enjoyable.
Going down was definitely enjoyable, it was fast and windy. Low levels of traffic and gorgeous views over the Kra Buri estuary. This is the river that designates the border with Myanmar. We’d be following it all day, just a stones throw from a currently semi inaccessible country.
We crossed Khlong La Un Bridge and then stopped at the morning market for freshly peeled and de-pithed pomelo. It was worth whatever extra we paid, which wasn’t much, to avoid the hard work. Then we went back for some pandan pudding. It looked a little different and the gelatinous green stuff was with rice. We tucked it away to eat at our next stop.
About half an hour later of uninteresting highway, we did just that. It was a poorly chosen location, densely populated with flies and zero wind. So we danced around Eating our pudding that had some kind of fruit we didn’t know inside it. We panicked that it was fish at first glance but it definitely didn’t taste like it. Plus it had pips.
We rode another hour before taking an unplanned stop to visit Phra Khayang cave. It wasn’t an unheard of place but seemed to be fairly low on visitor numbers. It was only a kilometre down a narrow road and we saw the wide, but unassuming entrance. Once we stepped inside we began to hear a very loud high pitched noise. We soon saw why.
The cave opened up into a huge tower and was home to not hundreds, but likely thousands, of bats. The collective noise of their eeks and fluttering wings was impressive. We felt somewhat intimidated. We ventured as far as we could bear, Frankie then found herself being shat on, and we left.
Another hour later and another stop. This time at the 7-eleven. We bought some water and sweet potato initially and sat munching in the cool, heavily air conditioned, store. We couldn’t lie. It was a welcome relief. Almost a necessity. And it was barely 11am. Before we left we spied a vegan, durian flavoured, ice cream. We had to try it. It was sweet and savoury at the same time, with an undesirable after taste. It didn’t scratch the itch so we still needed to try the real thing.
At the town of Kra Buri we made a stop for some fruit for the evening. Frankie watched the bikes and Jonathan meandered in the market trying to find a fruit stall with visible prices. It’s better than waiting for them to ‘think’ how much it is. We ended up with some sapodilla, yet another mango, and a white fleshed dragonfruit.
The next and final stop of the day was to see a monument to the Isthmus of Kra and the closest point to Myanmar we would be getting. It was a mere 100m across the river from the monument. It just looked different and less developed. How enticing. Apparently there is an impetus to build a Thai canal as an alternative to the Strait of Malacca. As this point was the narrowest point of Thailand, at about 50km, it was a natural choice.
It was the end of the day. Okay it was noon but that’s the end here. We had arrived at our chosen resort, Thabli. It was 650baht at first but when we requested a fridge it was 700. We don’t know why. But the room had a double and a single bed. It was very comfortable and felt modern. We happily lay about in the pleasurable company of the air conditioning.
When we were hungry we headed north to where the ‘restaurants’ were. Except they weren’t restaurants, they were steamed bun (no clams or hams) stalls. Fucking dozens of them. A papaya salad was not happening here. We went a ridiculous distance hoping for something else to no avail. At the bun place opposite the 7-eleven we got some purple sweet bean filled buns.
Then inside the air conditioned store, that says “Hello, welcome” in an American accent to everyone walking either in or out, we bought bamboo shoots, kale tops and kimchi. At another little shop we bought some instant noodles after giving up asking for vegetarian savoury buns.
We prepared our meal and found the spicy noodles to be way too hot to consume. Well Frankie did, Jonathan choked them back anyway. Luckily we had alternative backup packs. We managed to catch up with the apprentice, then white lotus and also started watching rivals. It was a long afternoon with little else to do.
The steamed buns were quite tasty despite their simplicity especially as we had the riders appetite again. We ate lots of banana and peanuts, raisins and rice cakes. Always soaked in a little coconut milk. We decided the appropriate time to sleep was 8pm. And we found it easy to do just that.
Surly They Won't Make It 