Route: Chaiya to Surat Thani
Distance: 74km

Our legs are strong but our bodies are tired. We have cycled 1,937km and we think we can stop now.

We have travelled farther south than we had originally planned and it’s time to switch things up. Today is Bicycle Liberation Day. For the next two weeks we will explore Khao Sok National Park, possibly skip over to a beachy resort somewhere, then Bangkok—all without bicycles. Our bikes are in the hands of a bicycle shop here in Surat Thani, where they will disassemble and box them up for us.

As we were getting ready to leave the resort this morning, Crazy Dog went for round two on the potted plant. He was not giving up. We tried exercising discipline but he has some behavioural issues. When the plant didn’t work out for him he started gnawing on a discarded work glove he found. All on our door step. As we rolled out Crazy Dog followed us—running through the resort, around the corner and down the road alongside our wheels. In the heat! (it was hot today—are you surprised?) We thought he’d give up, but Crazy Dog just ran faster as we sped up. It got to the point where we were concerned about how far he was from his homeless home that we decided we need to accelerate and outrun him. He finally figured it out—he’s not coming with us.

Back to Liberation Day. After the final drop-off we all stood there looking at our bikes with mixed feelings. We felt like we were saying goodbye to a friend and we wanted to hug the bikes one last time. We also felt liberated and free. We felt appreciative. They have taken us almost two thousand kilometres with no significant mechanical failures. We have had zero flat tires (rather a miracle!). Much credit goes to Randy who diligently checks our bicycle’s well-being daily and makes minor adjustments along the way. These bikes are more than a mode of transportation. They are two-wheeled portals into seeing the world in ways that cannot be replicated.

After we left the bike shop we returned to our hotel with a big giant pool (we made sure of that). We swam our little faces off then went to the night market. Oh, the Night Market….where we can graze on delicious foods to our hearts content (guilt-free, cuz we rode almost 2,000km to get here). Fresh pineapple, strawberries, egg roti with condensed milk, fresh squeezed orange juice, pineapple juice, spiral potato-on-sticks, Chinese donuts, chicken shawarma wrap, fried flat pancakes, and lots of things that we just bought and ate cuz they looked interesting—that’s reason enough!

I think we shall sleep well tonight

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!

Route: Bang Saphan to Chumphon
Distance: 120km
Daytime temperature: absolutely stinkin hot

It’s a holiday weekend here in Thailand. Māgha Pūjā is the second most important Buddhist Festival after Vesak, and is celebrated on the full moon day of the third lunar month.

We actually were aware of this holiday and marked it on our calendars because most business will shut down. We’ve been living an alternate reality—and forgot what holiday weekends really mean. We only planned on riding about 70-80km. Late afternoon we started looking for a room and were shocked to discover they were all full! We moved along to the next little beach town that was bustling with activity. Oh how naïve we were, thinking we could just pick a cute little ocean front resort. We started out picky, then became decidedly unpicky. Then reality slapped us across the forehead—the holiday weekend meant all Thai families were headed to beach resorts for sun sand and swimming. All of them! Sunset was looming and we had no options. We had to summon up strength, guzzle water, install our headlights and ready ourselves to ride in the dark to the next city—to any hotel we could find. Yet another 20km away

So here we are! In Chumphon. We headed to a big fancy hotel and hoped for the best. And here we are. Beside the big fancy hotel. They too had no vacancy, so we are in the itty bitty not-so-grand-but-half-the-price place next door wishing we too had a gorgeous saltwater pool. At least we have a roof over our heads and are grateful.

Earlier in the day (before reality slapped us silly) we sought shade at a highway rest stop with no human to be found (appeared abandoned). From a distance a soi dog noticed Deana open her handlebar bag and came running to see what’s going on. (Soi dogs are “ownerless” dogs. They just live in the streets) Minutes later more soi dogs got the memo and also came. The message spread like wildfire and a whole litter of puppies came bouncing across the empty parking lot too, their tiny tails-a-waggin. We had nothing to share with them—guilt hit us hard—we had to just move along, promising ourselves we’ll pickup some doggy biscuits for future encounters with soi dogs.

Given the intense heat of todays ride, how many buckets of sweat we lost, and the gorgeous pool next door, we have already reserved a room in that resort for tomorrow night. We’ll roll out in the morning for the 50 metre ride down this driveway and up the next. Big day—we better rest up well for it.

Route: Prachuap Khiri Khan to Bang Saphan
Distance: 103km

Miles and miles of deserted beach. Endless. We spent the majority of the day following the coast line, much of that time all by ourselves, not a car or human in sight. We could have just stopped pedalling anywhere and sat on the beach all day alone in paradise!

Dogs and chickens roam free here. We have seen occasional cows lingering in fields. But today we came across a group of cows who had self-organized into a their own little walking group and were making their way down the road. They looked as though they had a route in mind and were quite confident crossing the road to their destination. Cocky cows they were, as we needed to stop pedalling to allow them passage. Suddenly out of nowhere a motorcycle came buzzing up the road behind us—a man was scolding those wayward cows. Well! Those cows reacted like a child caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They pivoted hard and became discombobulated as they quickly turned around to scurry back to their home. We couldn’t help but be amused and laugh.

After completing a particularly long stretch of very isolated beach we noticed a group of younger children playing at the roadside in a tree. They were so excited to see us, they were all laughing and wanted high fives. They scrambled down from the tree and meet us roadside. Cutest little things they were! They were so enthusiastic about being in a photo. Big giant smiles all ‘round!

Today the ride was wonderful. Surrounded by coconut palms, swishing ocean waves and a salty breeze. What more could we want?

We had the most fantastic non-cycling day ever! Business first, we dropped off the bikes at a bike shop to get our drive-trains cleaned. We didn’t want Randy to miss out on beach time so we insisted on the help of a bike shop.

We headed to the beach within walking distance of our hotel and got ourselves massages on the beach. AMAZING! Oweeeee…awwwwww…ooohhhh… didn’t know how much we needed those (wanted those, actually)! All limbered up, we were ready for the plunge into the sea & salt water. Jellyfish shmellyfish, we’re not giving up a single ocean moment due to some little round globular-with-no-brain. There were no beach chairs to be found so we just lay our belongings on the shoreline edge. We were quite literally the only people swimming as far as the eye could see. We floated up & down with the gentle waves thinking nothing could be better!

Better happened! It happened when we decided on a TukTuk ride 6km to another beach, Ao Ma Nao near the air force base. Beach chairs! Beautiful outcroppings of rock (mini mountains)! Beer for Randy! The whole beach scene was there. We couldn’t get our bums into that water fast enough. Pure bliss! Soft sand, little miniature crabs building sand-homes on the sandy beach, and the water was luxuriously warm! We just lay there floating on the salty water’s surface thinking we are in paradise. (Hua Hin…..forget about it! THIS is the place to be!) It was so lovely we couldn’t stop frolicking long enough to even re-apply sunscreen. Randy was so enamoured he totally forgot sunscreen. We all got burned…some worse than others.

At one point while floating, a group of young men all waded & jumped into the sea nearby. One struck up a conversation and we learned they were from the military base. He was super interested in hearing about where we were from (as most Thais seem to be). Then he went off to play with his buddies. We noticed them doing what all young men do with their beach buddies—bury one of their mates alive in the sand. They encased him in sand with some “special features”—like boys tend to do. I’ll leave it at that….(it was funny, we admit—you’ll have to zoom in on the photo for more information)

Burnt & freckled, with salty sticky hair and nothing but happiness glowing all around us, we finally had to extract ourselves from the ocean and nab a TukTuk ride to retrieve our bikes at 5:00. The driver was a real hoot! Despite the language barrier all of us (including her) were laughing our heads off by the time we reached our destination. Laughter is a truly universal language, and we loved that ride! We’ll remember it forever.

We wanted to climb the big humongous stairway to the top of the hill to visit Wat Khao Chong Krachok. Well, two of us anyways….Randy had no interest in sweating buckets to climb high into the sky for a good view. Deana and I however….we were going up! There were monkeys all around the base of the stairs and all the way up—all 397 stairs (estimated, of course). We’d heard we shouldn’t carry any loose items, that they might try to snatch them. So we made ourselves look like we had purpose in our movements and walked right by those monkeys.

We saw the sunset from way up high in the sky, then returned to ground level where Deana got another $4 neck & shoulder massage, and Randy and I foraged for yummy things to eat at the night market.

Trying to decide if we should extend our stay in paradise another day, we decided that despite it being a real treasure, by sticking around we might just miss the next treasure down the unknown road ahead…. We’ll roll out tomorrow.

Route: Hua Hin to Prachuap Khiri Khan
Distance: 133km
Daytime high: 40ish C

We left Hua Hin not knowing how far we might go. Turns out when there’s a tailwind and the scenery is ever-changing gorgeous, we go 133km! Deana’s bike computer registered 40+C but the breeze helped. So did gallons of water and some Coca Cola.

The most popular word today was Woww!!! After blasting out of Hua Hin we couldn’t believe how little traffic there was. In fact, many times it felt like we were in a post-apocalyptic world with no tourists and very few cars. Resort after resort, empty. Beaches were deserted for miles and miles. Restaurants and cafe’s open with workers lingering about hoping to fill empty seats. Much of the time we had the entire road to ourselves. COVID appears to have decimated the tourism industry from our observations.

We passed mountains in epic landscapes, lush green palm forests, unique rocky formations and and pineapple crops. Out in the middle of nowhere we passed a monkey on the road—just waiting for nothing. Of all the areas we have seen in Thailand, this is the most beautiful so far! At the entranceway to a national park we saw an official worker who seemed to be asking something of us. We thought maybe he wanted to see our passports. We asked him to repeat a few times. That sweet man was asking for was permission to take a selfie picture with us! It never ceases to amaze us how the Thais want pictures with us as much as we want pictures with them.

We arrived in Prachuap Khiri Khan. It has a much different vibe than Hua Hin, and more to our liking. We set out to find a lovely little sit-down ocean-front restaurant. We couldn’t resist the Night Market with its street food offerings (which, by the way are always a food grazing extravaganza). By the time we’d reached the other side we’d already nibbled our way to appetite satiation and abandoned the restaurant plan.

Along the sidewalk was a row of chairs all set up for passersby looking for massages. After the big long day we just had, we figured we deserved one. Leg massages, neck & shoulders—we are so in! We planted our smoothie-sipping sore-legged butts down at the waterfront massage service. These massages aren’t piddly little wimpy ones. They are deep-down find your sore spots heavy workout type! One full hour, 30 minutes each leg. A nearby worker noticed a mosquito on my leg (I hadn’t noticed!) and she leaped into action spraying each of our precious legs with some pleasant-smelling repellent. They are such sweet people! The total cost was $4 each for the full hour. $4!!

We have reached our originally planned southern-most destination but have time to spare! So, we will add more distance and venture beyond. We are always wanting to see what lays just beyond the next bend in the road. Such is the nature of bicycle touring.

Route: Hua Hin outskirts to Hua Hin proper, and back again
Distance: 43km

It was a rest day today, but somehow a 43km ride and a 5k walk happened. There’s always just so much to see and do.

Firstly, we (Randy & I) woke up at the crack of dawn to go see if the tide deposited my sunglasses on the beach. Surely I have a greater chance of winning the lottery, but it was still worth a try. It allowed a chance to get a picture of the sun rising and for Randy to rescue a fishy that had been stranded on the sand. I thought Fishy was a lump of something-or-other but when I moved it with my foot it wiggled and flapped. Randy picked Fishy up with a few nearby sticks and returned him to the ocean (where my sunglasses now live). A couple of nearby walkers noticed and applauded Randy for the rescue operation.

We made the mistake of reading about dangers of jellyfish, and honestly it gave us the heebies. We decided to skip the ocean swim here and try a beach about 12km away that had installed “stinger nets” to keep tourists and jellyfish separated. We hopped on bikes and made a number of twists and turns on the way there, stopped at a bike shop, sipped smoothies at Cafe Amazon and somehow just felt tired of it all before reaching our swim destination. So, we just headed back to our own resort, without the ocean-swim component. But on the way we noticed a “mall” for home renos. Curiosity got to us and we went in to do a looky. The design, assortment, quality and choice of products was beyond anything we’ve seen anywhere. Clearly targeting the rich & famous (we were far beyond our pay grade in there). Deana didn’t even know that there existed toilets equipped with motion sensors that will raise the lid as you approach, turn on lights, and provide a number of other “services”. 🤪 Ha! We have been using the Thai squatty things, so we found the concept quite amusing. If you don’t know about Thai squat toilets, give it a Google!

After we returned to our hotel we reasoned it all out…. Millions of people probably swim and don’t lose their lives to a man-eating jellyfish in Thailand. Heck, it’s a big ocean afterall. We ride our bikes on multi-lane divided highways, and risk crazy feral dogs daily….really, what are the chances of making contact with a deadly jellyfish? Missed opportunity—today came and went with no ocean-wave-frolicking. Tomorrow we will abandon our jellyfish fear.

On the food front, Randy is enjoying all the nice hot & spicy green curry dishes here in Thailand. Deana is exploring her wild side too. She’s given crab omelette a go (it wasn’t really a go), and seems to have grown fond of chicken cashew stir fries and basil chicken with rice. I’m being brave and trying unidentified foods from street vendors and finding wonderful surprising tastes everywhere. We had a prawn versus shrimp discussion at dinner while enjoying some wonderfully fried prawn-shrimps (we didn’t resolve what they were actually).

Before dinner we had returned to the beach just one more time for low tide (I’m just not ready to say my final goodbye to those sunglasses). Randy did find a pair of sunglasses but they weren’t mine. Nevermind, I was reminded—I got new ones! Shiny ruby coloured ones now. And we got some nice sunset pictures.

Route: Tha Yang, Phetchaburi to Hua Hin
Distance: 45km

Nice & easy ride today! The closer we got to the touristy area of Cha Am Beach, then Hua Hin, we saw fewer soi dogs (except for the scrappy brave one that decided Randy should NOT be there on the bike path) and the more English signage was around to help us decodify words. We finally got a menu that had some reasonable English translations to help out our wholly inadequate brains. Therefore, we were able to order up a crab omelet, coffee, spring rolls and fries!

Everything looks “slicker” in this beachy touristy section of Thailand—cars are more luxurious, landscaping is all polished & manicured and little communities have security guards gatekeeping to keep the likes of us—grubby-looking bicycle tourists—out. The community feels “far from Thailand” and quite westernized. We already miss those friendly “helloooooos” from Thais that we’ve come to love.

Supposedly tourism is picking up, but we aren’t seeing it anywhere we have been. Mind you, we have veered off the beaten track much of the time. We went to an “outlet” mall carrying mostly name brands you’d expect to see at home and in the massive complex, there were exactly three browsing customers—Randy, Deana, and Me.

We checked into a lovely hotel tonight. We are talking gorgeous! White bathrobes, slippers, a sauna, steam room etc. Hahaha! Like we’re actually going to consider sitting in a sauna after the days we’ve had!! The check-in staffer seemed to anticipate we’d arrive thirsty and greeted us with cold glasses of some sort of fruity drink and facecloths. I’d like to think the facecloths were to just help us feel refreshed but who knows… Perhaps they just wanted us to stop dripping sweat onto their beautiful lobby floor. I asked how to get to the beach and they said it was about a half kilometre away and that we can ride our bicycles there. Or, as they pointed at a big golf cart, they said we can get ride there if we prefer. An even bigger hahahaha—we just rode our bikes 1200+km—we are taking a golf cart to the beach!!!. We went to the beach and acclimatized to the water which took less than 2 seconds cuz the water is that warm. We didn’t go gentle into that water—we barrelled right on into those waves, leaping and frolicking. Body-slamming against every big glorious wave, floating, laughing and marvelling at the size of those big rolly waves. Wave, jump, laugh, repeat. we can’t even begin to describe how much fun it was! And for miles and miles, we couldn’t see another soul swimming! We had the whole coastline to ourselves. Another big giant wave came blasting up behind me and right off my face flew my fancypants favorite sunglasses. Apparently they don’t float, and now I’m out a beauty pair of sunglasses that will probably wash up on shore someday when I’m long gone from here. As we waded toward shore all wave-whipped and happy we noticed the “Beware of Jellyfish” sign. Now we wonder it that’s why nobody else was swimming in the water?

Sunglasses by the way, are essential. It’s what I mount my rear-view mirror to in order to ride safely and know what’s behind me at all times. Therefore, shopping for a replacement will be a top priority.

We debated (albeit briefly) going to a restaurant and doing the menu-battle once again, or just going to the 7-Eleven. The 7 wins. They have pizza! And chocolate milk! (and squid flavoured potato chips, and a big aisle of seaweed snacks! And drinks with weird balls in them.) Not very adventurous to be sure, but rewarding nonetheless. We sat there reflecting on how much we have come to rely on the 7–it’s been a lifeline for all our daily needs (Tiger balm, electrolytes, ice, laundry soap, ham & cheeses, coffee, ice cream). Anything you need—the 7 has it. It’s usually the busiest joint around!

We will spend two nights here. We may even venture out to buy some floaty toys to play on the water with! Now that would be a hoot!

Sunshine, salt water and waves—what more could we want?

Route: Samut Songkhram to Tha Yang, Phetchaburi
Distance: 66km

Today we were excited that we would finally reach the coast! The ride was lovely and the 35C felt so much cooler than other days.

Along the way it had been mentioned that we haven’t seen any monkeys yet. We were counting down kilometres to a bridge that we had pre-determined would be our “arrival” point at the seaside. At the top of the bridge we gazed out and it really felt wonderful to think of how far we’d come—Mountains, ancient ruins, big city traffic and now we were standing on what felt like the top of the world. We have cycled 1,149 kms to get to this point and we were taking it all in.

As we proceeded to descend the other side of the bridge we saw monkeys near the 7-Eleven. Big guys, little guys, chubby ones and skinny monkeys. A number of them were crossing back & forth (and back & forth) on the road. That made our day! One really curious and assertive little guy spotted our bikes parked against the wall of the 7-Eleven and he cautiously but bravely sauntered toward us, until he was about 8ft away. Likely he was hoping to find some treasures he could detach from our bicycles. He just sat there on the pavement and we had a little stare-down. He lost, and decided he best just return to his clan empty-handed.

Every town or city has a wat (temple), but this one was different. It looked Chinese in style, and was stunning both in size, and decor. Shiny, glittery, red & gold. We each stood around in awe of Wat Phet Suwan., a Chinese style Buddhist temple. There appeared to be a monk sitting motionless inside, perched up high, surrounded by all things beautiful.

Then came the big giant flat areas of land with very shallow water. We had a long time to speculate on what was happening because there were water-fields as far as the eye could see and we rode alongside them for what seemed like forever. At first we guessed some sort of seafood farming, but then we started to notice some where the water had evaporated off them, leaving behind a white substance. Then we noticed a field full of white mounds and we realized we were seeing sea salt works. Sea water is filled into large shallow pools then the sun does its work evaporating the water. What’s left behind is sea salt!

We found a little seaside resort and decided we wanted to swim in both the ocean and a pool. Very touristy around the coast and the price of hotel rooms is starting to reflect that. However, we did enjoy hunting for treasurers on the beach at night with a flashlight as the tide came in. Crabs, quick & crawly, and shells, both twisty and turquoisey.

Every day is a new adventure!

Route: Nakhon Pathom to Samut Songkhram
Distance: 90km
Daytime high: 43C (via Deana’s bike computer)

Randy started out this morning with an adventurous bowl of traditional Thai porridge containing donut-shaped thingies that will remain a mystery forever as to what they actually are. He’s far more a food-risker than Deana or I will ever be.

It was a wonderful hotel we had last night, but our rooms were on the second floor and we had to park our bikes in the underground parking. We appreciated that they appreciated that we are very concerned about the safety and well-being of our bicycles so we were grateful when they sectioned off a parking space and put out an orange cone to keep others out. They try so very hard to please us everywhere we go!

By the way, we love Thai food. We love the restaurants and the waiters. But there is one restaurant protocol that we wish was different—Stresses us in fact, and prevents us from enjoying more Thai cuisine—it’s when the waiter brings us a menu that is always in Thai. They hand us ONE menu, then proceed to stand there at the side of the table, expectantly waiting for us to order. No wandering away to let us de-code or try to translate with our apps. We even ask “can you give me 5 minutes” to which they smile their biggest Thai smile, nod “yes” then proceed to stand there. Pressure is on! They are not leaving. We frequently buckle under the pressure and just panic order something. Anything.

As we headed south from Nakhon Pathom and further away from the urban grip of outer Bangkok, the scenery changed. After some fancy road manoeuvres leaving the city we found ourselves on new terrain. We started out with peaceful rice fields waving gently in the sun. Then suddenly very small country roads, with rivers, and reservoirs full of water on both sides. Rows of paddle-wheels were clues to them being shrimp farms. A little while later we were among gigantic palms that towered high into the air and it was all coconut palm farms. Trucks hauled coconuts, farmers pitched coconuts into trucks, coconuts shells lined ditches and mulched forests. Now Deana can see first-hand where her favorite food comes from! Clearly coconuts are an important crop in these parts.

We were standing roadside for a a little sliver of shade when just off in the distance we noticed a pickup truck had stopped and a family of four had assembled on the road to take a look at us three. We noticed them shyly looking, with their newborn in one arm and their other son standing next to them. Kinda like how a family might stand roadside to watch for the Northern Lights, but in this case it was the Northern Tourists. We decided to roll our bikes over to meet them. Their baby was adorable and they looked absolutely thrilled to have us actually speak to them! Once we asked if we could take their photo they lit up! They were excited and wanting to take selfies with us. When we left we could see out of our rear view mirrors that other bystanders were videoing us as we biked away. Now we really feel like we have achieved stardom.

We stopped at a sidestreet for a smoothie. Randy spotted a little reptilian lifeform making itself at home under the steps. Turns out it’s a Baby Asian Water Monitor.

We love whenever we find a Cafe Amazon—it usually means Strawberry Smoothie, nice public toilets, air conditioning, and an adjacent 7-Eleven to re-load with ice and water. Today we rode in anticipation of one for 28km, and when we were all tired, hot, sore-bummed, and stiff-necked we gave up and planted ourselves on the step of a motorcycle dealership to recover a little in the shade. After 45 minutes we dragged our sorry butts up and rolled out and literally 1 minute away we passed a gosh darn Cafe Amazon….Such is the nature of the unknown road ahead.

We didn’t quite make it to the coast today. We are in a little resort with openings & gaps in the walls big enough to let in baby Asian monitor lizards. House geckos are just a given. The surroundings look very jungle-like and sound even more so. As night falls we hear a huge assortment of croaks, squeaks, chirps, & whistles. I’d be pulling the covers up over my head tonight, except that our not-so-upscale resort provides just a single-sized blanket on our queen-sized bed.

Tomorrow we blast out and head to the coast.

Route: Nonthaburi to Nakhon Pathom
Distance: 70km
Daytime high: 43C (in the sun)

We simply couldn’t pass up the pool this morning so we decided to loiter, do handstands in the pool, and just lay there floating till we were required to checkout at noon. We knew it would be tough starting our ride in the intense mid-day heat, but we figured it would be worth every drop of sweat. We take temperature readings from Deana’s bike computer and our bodies already knew—it was hotter than ever. 43C in the blazing sun. We guzzled water, ate potato chips for the salt, burned through electrolytes, and when it became unbearable we planted our sweaty drippy selves inside of a Cafe Amazon for a strawberry smoothie.

We needed to ride west of Bangkok, because yesterday we skirted the city a little too close for comfort. There is no direct route that doesn’t involve mega-highways so Randy plotted out a route that took all the alternatives. The roads here are generally wonderful surfaces to ride on but there were Home-Depot sized speed-bumps on those side roads so we kerplunked and jostled enough to make Deanas banana go airborne and land on the road. A sweet Thai man ran to the banana’s rescue and made sure that Deana and her banana were reunited. (Thais are so sweet) We were far off the beaten path and grew a little more concerned when we started down this teeny tiny rough gravel road not much bigger than a footpath. A few kilometres in it suddenly seemed to bisect someone’s small humble property with furnishings and belongings occupying the space on both sides of the path. The resident dog freaked out and the lady who was having a siesta was startled awake by what must have felt like a weird dream—to suddenly have three strangers on bicycles invading your personal living space. The dog couldn’t get rid of us fast enough.

You never know what you will encounter with every turn in the road. We rounded one bend in the road and right before our eyes lay this big beautiful Wat Bang Phra. Even though we were on a mission to reach our next destination by nightfall, this stopped us in our tracks. It simply required us to stand in admiration. Gorgeous!

Thailand is a colourful place. The trucks that transport goods to and fro are downright wild looking. It seems as though truck drivers compete among each other to bling out their rigs. The mirrors, the wild paint jobs, the Michelin Men and all things shiny—We’ll let the pictures show what we mean!

We don’t usually begin looking for a hotel room until we are a few hours away. Sometimes we stumble across a gem like yesterday, and other times our accommodation has been fairly basic. They are however, always clean and a good value. Sometimes our room cost just 500 bhats and other times we splurge and fork out the big bucks like 1,000 bhats (about $38). Tonight we are living large cuz we just feel like we deserve this!

As we stood outside 7-Eleven tonight we were entertained by people coming & going, and all the ways that humans transport themselves here. It never ceases to amaze us how few wear helmets. Every single day we see entire families of four riding together on a single motorcycle, even with little babies carried in mothers arms. Trucks run down the highway with goods bursting at the seams and still even more people stuffed together and piled high on top, sometimes just riding on the roof.

Everyday is a new adventure for us!