Famous Farangs

Route: Chumphon to Lang Suon District
Distance: 101km

Yesterday was a day off and we made good use of the big saltwater pool at the hotel. Floating, sunning, napping, eating. All the things one should do on a day off!

Today we rode all along the coastline that reminded us of the Waterfront Trail at home—we know we are near it because the signs say so, but we didn’t actually see it much. We did however, see a lot of lush green tropical growth. Often there was thick growth of palm trees on one side of us and rubber trees plantations on the other. The heat, as usual, was unrelentingly hot & humid but at least there was occasional shade from trees. And at one point it clouded over and we felt half a micro-drop of rain—or maybe it wasn’t even rain, maybe a bug spit on us or something.

We stopped at a scenic viewpoint today to overlook the seashore from the top of a fairly big climb. A Thai family also arrived around the same time. They couldn’t speak a word of English but as soon as the man saw us he gestured to us that he hoped for a picture with us. He wanted one with himself sandwiched between Deana and a I, another together with his family, and yet another with all three of us and his wife—every possible configuration! Is this what it feels like to be famous? The family was absolutely over-the-moon to get those pictures with us farangs (Farang: A foreigner in Thailand who is of Western ancestry) Gosh it made us feel wonderful!

Even though we have been here for weeks, we are still amazed every single day at how friendly people of Thailand are. We are never-ending recipients of big enthusiastic “Hellooooooo’s” that come from workers who stop what they are doing, individuals on scooters on opposite sides of 4-lane divided highways, shopkeepers, farmers—everyone. We frequently hear them before we even see them (sometimes we don’t even see them). We too are now enthusiastic at delivering greetings to all—when we see people working far away on a coconut plantation we throw our hands up in the air and give a rousing “Sawadeee-kah!!!!” It always elicits big happy smiles, often appreciative laughs, and we feel part of the wonderful human experience here in Thailand.

Each day we depart in the morning never knowing where we will lay our head that night. Reservations? Ha! We scoff at reservations—cuts down on spontaneity. Usually around 3 or 4 we sit or bums down somewhere in some shade and start zooming in on Google Maps, booking.com and Agoda to figure it all out and it usually works out. Tonight we landed in a cute little resort surrounded by tropical flora and a deafening sound of cicadas buzzing in the trees. Coconuts, mangos, bananas—we love it all!

Ordering from Thai restaurants continues to be an experiment. We try to use Google Translate to interpret the menu, but as you can see in the resulting photo below, it doesn’t do a very good job. We did however manage to choose some unidentified but delicious dinner

Living the dream every day here in Thailand!