13/3/25
We left on a small beachside road where there were lots of resorts. We could see why, it was a beautiful place. The beach went on for miles. We turned right onto the 3180, a highway with a good hard shoulder. After another small but very well surfaced road we started climbing and after a short steep climb went onto a longer sustained climb. At the top we stopped at the most incredible, but incomplete, reclining Buddha.
After a wonderful descent we landed in a town. We were not only only on an incredibly good cycle path again but there was also a place to get snacks. They seemed to be preparing pack lunches for children. We got some brown sticky rice and some kind of coconut pudding which was the usual fare now. We rode along dodging the millions of millipedes that seemed to be keen to transport themselves across the road. There were also those annoyingly wasteful signs, ‘ending’ and ‘beginning’ the cycle lane every time there was even the smallest road junction.
We decided we preferred that the mopeds drove in the cycle lane, at least then it isn’t full of grit and glass. We got to a junction where the cycle path continued, and though it wasn’t the most direct route, we thought it was worth it rather than heading past the airport. It was probably an extra kilometre or two, but the road was scenic and quiet. A mixture of light woodland and beaches.
We stopped in the beachside seating of a closed restaurant to eat what turned out to be very gunky rice and the soft coconut pudding which had a delicious ball of something, we have no idea what, on top. The road climbed again. It was the highest point of the day. It wasn’t high but it was a little steep and we were sweating buckets. We flew down the other side, relishing the breeze We tried to find somewhere to stop but the breeze disappeared and the flies swarmed. We moved on swiftly.
Recently we’d either read on polarsteps, or heard directly from people, about their cycling. Most seemed to go much further each day than we did for some reason, we weren’t sure if we were just wusses or our bikes were a lot heavier.
We enjoyed some glorious views of the islands in the sea to our right hand side before entering a small town and stopping at the 7-eleven for guaranteed coolness. It never disappoints, the shops are always like fridges. All the 7-elevens are basically a massive franchise operation of the shop that exists in the US, with the rights owned by a company called CP All. Which in turn is owned by Charoen Pokphand. The latter also happens to be the largest producer of feed and shrimp in the world as well as being in the top three for pork and chicken. We couldn’t help but feel a little conflicted shopping here, but it’s impossibly hard for our money not to end up going to animal abusers, apparently.
A German man came in, and after buying a croissant, said hello and introduced himself as Oli. He asked us about our journey and told us about his crazy journeying around SE Asia, on a scooter. He’d also been learning Thai and showed us his idea of a cheat sheet. It made no sense to us whatsoever, his conviction that it did was scary, but it’s probably a really good way to learn.
There was little to no Sun, it was perfectly hidden by clouds. We weren’t complaining in the slightest, it was definitely a little bit cooler. The Royal Coast road took a detour slightly inland. It looked like it was because of some big area of wetlands or something. We didn’t appreciate the extra miles but if we were gonna cycle further today was definitely the day to have a go.
Then came the really steep hill. It went up to an amazing temple with a viewpoint and giant Buddha in the sky. At the same time we arrived, loads of other cyclists were coming up – a lot on e-bikes – closely followed by a van and trailer. It was pretty encouraging to see how much support other people felt they needed.
After a glorious dragonfruit and a fast descent with beautiful views of some isolated karsts, we saw yet another group of cyclists, once again closely tailed by a trailer full of something. It was at this time we passed the famous sand dune that had been promoted for 40 kilometres and was extremely underwhelming.
It was now much hotter even though the Sun wasn’t as direct as usual. We were quite exposed on a long open road. Eventually we got to Bang Boet where we seriously considered staying the night but on further analysis we decided to hoof another 15 kilometres north.
Unfortunately that meant going up again and after a short steepish (we were probably just tired) part there was a beautiful plateau at one point we turned straight into a beautiful headwind. After the final mini ascent we were on the way down. We stopped to get some bananas and ended up with battered banana too.
We took a couple of shortcuts, anything to reduce the time in the Sun. The smaller the roads, the more shade was likely. We started hitting up supermarkets on the way. They weren’t really shops half the time. Often it’s just a tiny set of shelves with random items. The first place that had a bag of peanuts, they were all mouldy. Eventually we found a gem in the tough and bought two mini pineapples, non-mouldy peanuts and a watermelon lolly. The lolly was made by nestle, and we should’ve resisted buying it really.
It was our last choice of place to stay but we ended up at a weird resort called The Uncle. It was super cheap. Had no fridge or kettle but it did have a bed, shower and air conditioning. As a bonus the bikes had their own room downstairs. After our customary, and literal, chilling session we went on our customary hunt for food.
It was slim pickings and we ended up at a seafood restaurant. It was ridiculously difficult to explain that we didn’t want any meat, fish or egg. So difficult that when we said, “No fish” the reply came back, “Fish sauce?”. We did end up with four plates of edible food, but one of them tasted very fishy. When we went to pay, we found it was the most expensive, and worst, meal we’d had in Thailand. It wasn’t even expensive just very expensive for what it wasn’t. They even charged for ice. Still, it wasn’t a lot of money. We paid, smiled and left.
We went back to the hotel sat on the bed and watched rivals, a TV show set in the 80s about journalism, politics and having sex. We were eating the same thing again. Bananas, peanuts, and chocolate compound. But we also had some mango, cashews and raisins.
Surly They Won't Make It 