1/4/25
We’re never leaving Thailand. We’re going to live here forever we have decided. April fools! Somehow it’s the 1st of April. Time is actually starting to go quicker. Maybe because we’ve been in a hot country. Despite waking up early we were still riding beneath a Sun that was high in the sky. It was only 7:20am. We’d had a sudden change of destination. There’s actually a lot to see if add in a 10km detour.
The first 8km was dual carriageway but then it went single. It was a bit muggy but the Sun was there, warming up. We were riding through farm fields. They’ve been turned over vigorously. Everything was looking very dry.
The 3079 was shite. We tried to avoid the 319 ‘megaroad’ but ended up riding in the gutter on a busy rural road. Fortunately, we turned off after 5km onto a nice quiet road.
We rode along discussing our plans for the future. For some reason it was hard not to want to be at home sometimes. What is home? Why do we want to be there? What is it that makes it feel so stable?
At the end of the road we had to succumb to the 319. We were heading slightly off course, and uphill, to the ancient city of Si Mahasoot. A seventh century town with large trenches to control the rainfall. The old temples and carved ponds still visible today.
After exploring the many ruins we stopped and bought some fried tofu with a deliciously nutty and spicy dressing. It was the second time we had found this delicious delicacy. We also bought some whole battered bananas. Next we nipped down to visit a huge old bodhi tree at a modern temple.
The next attraction were the ‘Buddha’s Footprints’. We didn’t realise at first that they aren’t actually his. They are some kind of tradition where footprints are carved in stone. Obviously with great effort and skill. We were looking at the oldest example inThailand. Made a sometime between the sixth and eighth century. There were people praying there. A hundred metres away was Sa Morakot. An ancient reservoir.
We were back on the 319 and realised we still had another 50km to go. It was going to be a long hot day. Perhaps foolishly, we’d already booked our accommodation. We were committed.
The next 12km were down a single carriageway road. It was an easy ride apart from the headwind and that it was all uphill. At least it was good quality tarmac. At the end of the quiet dusty road was a huge multi lane highway. We couldn’t see or hear it coming. The 304 was massive. There was a small cluster of shops and buildings and then a huge interchange to contend with. We were using the ‘frontage’ road. Set back from the main carriageway for accessing shops and the like.
It didn’t look like we could get onto the huge new concrete overpass and join the 359. We trusted Mapy and kept going. Lo and behold there was an underpass too. We were soon on the next highway. It wasn’t our first choice but we’d bitten off more than we could chew. Gobbling up some miles on here couldn’t be a bad thing. It went on forever. We’d had enough after the first 5km. Loud, wide, and at 1pm it was unforgivably hot. We doubled down and pushed hard.
After an hour of pain, and what felt like an eternity, a 7-eleven appeared. We popped in for cold water. We are just paying for the refrigeration factor. The water is cheap from machines but cold water is a premium product. We had a longan flavoured ice lolly with bits of jelly in it then we braved the outdoors again. Luckily we were turning off. The 4022 was a quieter single carriageway road. We had 16km left. There were lots of shops and residences on the way. Rubber farms too. We were close to a huge reservoir. We didn’t have time to go and take a look.
We were starting to bonk. We hadn’t consumed enough calories for the extended ride and pace. We stopped underneath a tree to share the last piece of battered banana. It was only 5km more but it seemed sensible to try and avert crashing.
We soon arrived at a roundabout, about 700m from the resort, and stopped to buy a watermelon at a cluster of stalls. A young woman told us 35 baht. The young man selling them seemed reluctant to take more than 30, but we pushed it on him.
A few hundred metres up the road Frankie spotted a small black-shelled tortoise in the road. We stopped and pondered the situation. A passing young girl on a scooter U-turned, poked herself in between us and scooped up the tortoise. We tried to suggest leaving it alone. She laughed and was showing it off to her friends across the road moments later. We aren’t sure what happened to the poor little guy.
‘Blakeys resort’ sounded like it was run by an Englishman. When we arrived however, a young Thai man showed us our room. The air conditioning was poor, or we were just stupidly hot. The Sun had probably done a number on us. It was a small room. We cooled off the best we could before wandering next door to a restaurant. We desperately tried to communicate that we wanted a meal without animals. The cook seemed unable to either read, nor understand how to use the translating phone. She giggled a lot. It was very confusing.
We went to the shop and bought instant noodles instead. When we were leaving the shop a man on a scooter arrived. He had a sidecar filled with his family, but also bags of mini cucumbers. He sold us a bag for 20 baht. We went back and ate three packs of noodles, split between us, one by one. They were all different flavours and one was rice noodles. Not wheat. Frankie didn’t like those ones much.
There was a big television. Badly mounted high up on the wall. It was tilting towards the ceiling. It was ‘smart’ though. We watched young sheldon and manifest on netflix. We had mangos and bananas with coconut milk dowsed rise. Ground peanuts, palm dates and sweet, chewy jujube.
Jim came by later and knocked on the window. He’d had a swathe of cycle tourists recently. Probably the same reason we chose to be there: the guy with his bike on google maps who said he’d liked it. Jim was more interesting than us. Our journey was nothing compared to his. He’d been in the military 25 years. Retired. Then moved to Dubai and had something to do with the commission of oil refineries. He was a millionaire. Then lost it all. Oil price crashed and he was overexposed. Now he’s trying to get another million. Some new venture cleaning chemical tainted pipes with high pressure jets.
We locked the bikes outside even though Jim said he’d store them inside. The place was dead. Apart from his kids tinkering with motorbikes outside. He seemed disappointed they like to take everything apart. We went to sleep with the air conditioner whirring. Fridge purring. We really needed sleep.
Surly They Won't Make It 