Day 137
Even without air-conditioning, we both woke up cold and had to turn off the fan in the early morning. Although by 6am, the low sun was heating up our room and by 7:30 when we finally got on the road it was already hot. We took a gamble and headed out on the back roads today.
We had not only entered a new climatic region, but also new cultural region as well. Passing through some small towns and villages we saw tiny Mosques, and men and women in Muslim dress. We saw a couple of teenage boys wearing long skirts and women wearing the hijab. I even heard the Islamic call to prayer vibrating through the lush vegetation from a distant house. Even though we were technically on the Malay Peninsula when we entered Chumphon, we are only now beginning to notice small cultural differences. This is because the tiny little roads passing right in front of local houses gave us brief glimpses of the people there. Not that we would have missed them, because we received many loud friendly calls and an invitation to get some water and food.
The back road we were following made an abrupt turn to the east which would have taken us 20 km out of the way. In an attempt to stay south, we took a detour on a small paved road. Along this road we had an amazing view of some excellent overhung limestone cliffs, large enough for hundreds of climbing routes.
Our amazement was short-lived as our narrow paved roads eventually turned into impassable dirt tracks, we saw a pick up truck unable to make it through. We back tracked several times in attempt to return to the original back road. We eventually gave up and returned to Highway 41. Still 15 km away from our destination I finished my water.
We stopped early at a set of bungalows not listed on our map and debated whether to stay or keep going. At 500 Baht they were expensive but they were quite nice for the price. Our main concern was that we didn’t have any food. We asked the owner where there was a place to eat and she indicated that she would drive us to the 7-11 down the road. We couldn’t argue and moved in. When we returned from the store the owner gave us 2 more bottles of water, 2 Coca Colas, eating utensils and a hot water heater to use to make our noodles. Her hospitality made our stop here well worth the price. On second thought we came out on top, we always do, as long as we have health to power us and the freedom to travel.
