Beasts in Jungle

February 20th: Samut Songkhram to Tha Yang – 65 km

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Day 130

We were off the beaten track today. Our circuitous route took us through several fishing villages where we had glimpses of people going about their day, fixing nets, loading bamboo, or dropping their catch off at roadside fish stalls. We did have some stiff briny breezes, but as our path quickly changed direction, we had equal breezes at the head and tail.

As we headed back onto the main highway, storm clouds began to move in, the wind picked up. Although we expected rain at any second it didn’t come, but it did provide some dramatic scenery with leaves blowing into the road and palms trees bowing in the wind.

Getting away from the crowds is always a good thing. There was much less garbage on the roadside. However, I was happy to get back on the main road where we can always find conveniences of civilization. We found a very clean little hotel right next to a Tesco supermarket. Cher suggested we look around for a cheaper place but I was unwilling to leave an easy source of copious calories. Speaking of which, we have noticed that many Thai are quite plump, and we both think it’s the prevalence of grocery stores. You really do get a lot of calories for your baht. Although spending a similar amount at a Local market will leave your belly full, fresh food just doesn’t have the same caloric density of processed food. Which is why we’ve gone as far as to choose hotels because of their proximity to a Tesco.

February 19th: Bangkok to Samut Songkhram – 74.5 km

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Day 129

We reluctantly got out of our extremely comfortable luxury hotel bed and navigated our way out of Bangkok. Although we heard a lot about the protests, we must have been in the right area at the right time, because we didn’t see one protester. As far as we could see, much of the city was going about its business as usual. Getting across the city was difficult during the morning rush hour, and often required us to cross 3 or 4 lanes of non-stop traffic to access an exit ramp or make a turn. This could have been exceptionally difficult, but as a result of many very considerate Bangkok drivers who stopped traffic and waved us through, we were able to wend our way out of the city with our nerves only mildly frazzled.

One hour later we were free of the city and navigating the highway system, where exit ramps led to overpasses with no shoulders, and the left most lane regularly changed into a u-turn or exit lane. We spent a lot more time on the highway than I was comfortable with, but we made it far enough out of the city and soon we were on salt fields.

During our trip we pass a veritable landfill along the roads. This is especially true around urban areas and even in some rural areas. Much of the trash collects in roadside ditches and streams. We regularly see people fishing or irrigating their fields with this water, which has led us on more than one occasion to avoid eating any local fish. In one of these road side drainage ditches filled with garbage and what smelled like raw sewage, we saw a man taking some small fish out of a net. We were amazed that fish could survive is such sludge and then horrified that they were being consumed. A few kilometers later we saw his roadside stand where he was drying and selling them. We won’t be eating any local fish jerky for sure.

I’m not an environmental activist, but it’s difficult to not be alarmed. We later passed a river with several large-scale shrimp farms, fed by these same ditches. I could continue since these rivers really do go right into the sea, but I’ll stop there for now. It’s an unsettling experience to peddle for 2 months in 4 different countries in feverish heat and to never be able to jump in one river to cool ourselves, never mind filter and drink the water.

February 18th: Visa Run Bangkok to Poipet

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Day 128

Waking up at 3:30am was not hard, when all we had to do today was sitting on our asses all day while we were chauffeured to the Thai/Cambodia border.

As we were passing through the narrow back alleys in Sukhumvit at 4am, the after party had just started. What we thought were abandoned vans parked by the curb during the day turned into mobile bars at night. There were enough boozy tourists to keep the street business going after all the bars were closed.

We made it to Korean Town (Sukhumvit Plaza) at 4:30am and the Bangkok Buddy staff took care of all our paper work. We were on the road at exactly 5am as promised. While we were whisked away in a well-appointed van with reclining captain’s chairs, we indulged in podcasts and before we had a chance to doze off, we were dropped off at the border. Again, the staff took care of everything and we didn’t even need to queue for immigration.

While our passports were being processed we enjoyed a complimentary buffet at the border casino, making this trip even more decadent. The physical distance between the Thai/Cambodia immigration counters creates this grey area for gambling, which is otherwise illegal in both countries. As we were quickly herded into the air-conditioned buffet hall, the glimpses of the Cambodian border provided sharp contrast to the cornucopia of plenty in the casino.

We quickly made this buffet breakfast worth the 2200 baht we paid for the visa run, and at 10am we were back to the Thai side. Before 2pm we were back in the heart of Bangkok, with 2 new 30-day visa stamps. Despite the fact that we normally don’t like being mollycoddled, being led by the hand from door to door, this was a great value and was quite relaxing.

February 17th: Sai Noi District to Bangkok – 52 km

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Day 127

The lack of wi-fi at our expensive love motel put a strain on our traveling today. Having no specific destination to aim for in Bangkok, we felt like we were cycling into the city blindfolded. Ideally we wanted to stay at a place near the visa run bus which departs at 5am, but we didn’t have the foresight to even note down the area. Luckily, thanks to Thai people’s love for coffee and wi-fi, we found a gas station cafe with the wi-fi password written on the menu, before we reached the heart of the city. With the almighty Google Maps back at our finger tips, we quickly planned our route cutting across Bangkok to reach Sukhumvit.

Riding through Bangkok was probably the most scary cycling experience so far. With no shoulders or bike lane, weaving in and out of the heavy traffic while keeping a sense of direction was overwhelming. Surprisingly the Thai drivers were exceptionally patient and we made it to the destination in one piece.

As we were cruising down the narrow streets in Sukhumvit searching for a cheap hotel, the culture backdrops changes even just one alley away. While western tourists found their comfort in Burger King and Starbucks, we peddled through the thick aroma of shisha in the Soi Arab or the Little Middle East, as we headed towards Korean Town. It was hard to remember we were still in the heart of Thailand.

After finding many hotels for more than 1000 baht per night, we located our budget hotel – PB (i.e. Play Boy) Hotel in a back alley. For 800 Baht, we could have a room furnished with a sex chair, a round bed with heart-shaped pillows, mirrored ceiling and carpeted floor, without a window. However, we went for a boring room without any kinks for 860 Baht. We also considered a hostel but even a dormitory style room would have cost 350 per person.

All of our research for a Bangkok visa run directed us to Jack’s Total Golf Tour, which was supposed to be on the 3rd floor in Sukhumvit Plaza. When we arrived at the location, we could not find Jack. Much puzzled, we decided to check off the other items on our Bangkok to do list first. I found my much craved-for fried chicken, and Chopper his burger at a McDonald’s. We were both amazed at how much it cost, which proved that we really are now a couple of country bumpkins.

We later we found out that Jack, the owner of the Jack Total Golf Tour, allegedly gambled his money away and didn’t pay his employees for 2 months and fled to his home country, South Korea. Upon his disappearance, his employees took over the business and carried on under the name of Bangkok Buddy, providing essentially the same services. After a phone call with the now owner Tanya, our visa run trip was booked and we were ready to go.

February 16th: Si Prachan to Sai Noi District – 74 km

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Day 126

Not wanting to wander aimlessly in the intense heat at the end of the day, we researched some hotels and found one at a reasonable price of 500 Baht. However, when we arrived we were quoted twice as much. Maybe it’s the high season or maybe it’s because we were English-speaking tourists. We were in the middle of nowhere, on narrow broken concrete path, next to a drainage ditch, so we decided to keep on pedaling.

I had saved a lone hotel on the outskirts of Bangkok on Google Maps as a backup plan. It’s always a bit of a gamble when there is only one hotel on the map in the area. We have often found that it doesn’t exist and we have to keep going. We were fortunate to find a big “resort” at a dusty barren crossroads. For 580 Baht we got our own little love motel room from the future, from an 80’s perspective. Light pink walls, blue trim, green plastic carpet and a mirrored ceiling, no wi-fi, no window. Apparently this was a strategic location and the hotel was filled despite the high price and shoddy construction.

Later that night we were inundated by mosquitoes and we couldn’t find out how they were getting in. There were no widows and the door was closed. As mosquitoes buzzed in my ears and bit my forehead, I lay staring at the ceiling in the dark, when I noticed light coming in around our light fixtures. Basically we were in an interior room, with a single layer ceiling, under a large barn. This also explained why our room was still hot despite our air-conditioner pumping away at 20 °C. Our ceiling was just a 1/4 sheet of particle board. We lit a mosquito coil and managed to get 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

We would need the sleep because tomorrow we would enter Bangkok and we hadn’t planned on where to go, assuming we would have wi-fi due to the proximity to a big city. We needed to catch a 4:30am bus to do a visa run and that was all we knew. Why do we never learn to plan better?

February 15th: Chai Nat to Si Prachan – 80 km

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Day 125

Our constant struggle over choosing the most direct route or the scenic continues today. I don’t foresee either of the two winning in the end. Direct routes are along major highways where the roads are smooth, the shoulders generous, and hotels numerous. Sounds perfect except the most direct routes also have the most traffic, foul smells, and garbage. On the other hand the scenic routes can be faster although sometimes longer. A variety of scenery can make the distance feel shorter and urge on your tired legs to see what is around the next bend. However, this can also backfire and the scenic road can be so bumpy or narrow that you miss the scenery dodging pot holes or passing vehicles on narrow roads without shoulder.

Today we made the correct decision and were rewarded with vast green fields of rice in various stages of growth. Green paddies tinged with yellow were being drained in preparation for harvest while new vibrant, almost fluorescent green shoots stood in their pools of water. Each field depending on its development revealed a spectrum of greens only a painter could put a name to.

February 14th: Nakhon Sawan to Chai Nat – 63.7 km

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Day 124

Valentine’s Day! The only romantic fantasy we harbored involved an air-conditioned room and a cold shower. It was around 35°C today. We did make some wise choices which mitigated the heat. We started the day on a busy Highway 32 in the morning and turned off onto Route 1, a pleasant country road. We hope to follow this road and then Route 340 to avoid the famous and infamously busy AH1 which traverses all of Asia from Tokyo to Istanbul.

We didn’t realize that it was Valentine’s Day plus weekend until we tried to check into little hotel in Chai Nat and found that it was full. Apparently Chai Nat is a tourist attraction thanks to the Chai Nat bird park. We went further and found a place with only two rooms available, one for 900 and the other for 600. Looking to find a better deal we sprinted around the corner and found another hotel slightly cheaper but not nearly as convenient. Not bothering to cross the road when we returned to the last room for 600 Baht, we were lucky to secure a room as the love birds flocked in.

February 13th: Salok Bat to Nakhon Sawan – 53 km

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Day 123

Flat, humid, and noisy. We arrived before noon and we found that the closer we get to Bangkok the less we get for our money. We were lucky to find the cheap hotel for 380 baht. We are still on the outskirts of the city and everyday the prices get higher.

We have two reasons to go to Bangkok. First we have to make a visa run and second KFC. Cher who has never craved fast food suddenly wants KFC. I told her we would celebrate our arrival in Bangkok with a big meal at KFC. I also suggested that we could go to a restaurant and have a proper meal, but it seems that her heart was set on the colonels secret recipe. Our obsession with food is an unforeseen positive of cycle touring. I was in high school the last time I ate with such ferocity and voracity. Cher who never eats snacks and always shames me with her healthy diet has found a new love of snacks and deep-fried foods. Whether in a car or on a bicycle, fuel is our number one expenditure.

February 12th: Kamphaeng Phet to Salok Bat – 65km

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Day 122

On some roads we feel like an explorer discovering new lands, and on some we’re a commuter going to our 9-5. We are travelling on the latter today. Don’t get me wrong, AH1 has a wonderfully smooth surface, but it’s not the most exotic stretch of road. I took some shot of rice paddies, with the rising sun glinting off the surface but I was careful not to get the power-lines or billboards in the shot. This is why pure cycling tourers choose back roads. We want to see beautiful and awe-inspiring sights, and we want them to be between our climbing destinations to keep us entertained.

After we leave Krabi, we’ll be on a pure cycling trip until we reach Townsville Australia. I’ve contacted a youth center there in the hopes that we can mail our rope, quick-draws and other heavy climbing gear. Then we are planning to travel along the east coast of peninsular Malaysia purely for the sights.

On a side note, I almost wrote that we will pursue the road less taken, but we have only come across 7 other touring cyclists since we left. In our first 2 months we came across one. For the most part we are quite satisfied with our level of adventure, but for those reading this considering taking AH1, it’s fast, convenient, and direct, but it’s also noisy and not very scenic.

February 11th: Tak to Kamphaeng Phet – 70km

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Day 121

I’m not sure what fantasies we nurtured when we started this trip, but living the ascetic detached life of Chris McCandless is mostly boring, mixed with periods of excitement. We’ve read a lot of different blogs on cycle touring and many share their highs and lows, but few share the mid-level monotony. As Cher put it when she was vomiting while cycling in Taiwan during our test trip, “what’s the point, all we’re doing is endlessly pedaling, and we’re going nowhere.” Although now we’re nowhere near Cher’s almost existential crisis, we need other entertainment and have begun listening to podcasts and music while we cycle. We couldn’t have done this in China, where we were regularly dodging trucks and motorcycles. But here in Thailand with our dedicated motorcycle lane, we have plenty of opportunity to expand our minds. I’m renewing my commitment to learning Chinese and Cher has added a collection of science podcasts – including Stuff You Should Know, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Star Talk and our all time favorite – radiolab.

Our new listening habit has many benefits, other than alleviating boredom. When you spend every moment of every day with the same person, eventually you don’t have anything new to talk about. Now we are living our separate intellectual lives and can share what we learned at the end of the day. Also we are learning again, and we can start to dissipate the cloud of mental stagnation that has been creeping in during the long hot days. Mornings are the perfect time for learning. As your heart rate increases, and your cup of coffee kicks in, you’re refreshed and alert.

Today passed quickly with more gentle rises and descents. Even though we were on the road by 6:45am, the majority of the day was over 30°C. Our southern route is leading us into warmer, humid weather. We are seeing coconut palms in greater number and trucks overflowing with mountains of sugarcane. We are growing more accustomed to the heat and with the addition of our new sun hats are prepared for the tropics.

February 10th: Wang Man to Tak – 47.3km

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Day 120

True to our promise, we are in Tak, sitting in our air-conditioned room without beer. Getting here was quite easy as we slide out of the mountains, down what I picture to be a very long series of undulating steps, each one just a bit lower than the other. Eventually we’ll reach a smooth plain in a few days. With the exception of headwinds, it will be smooth sailing. Even when there are mountains, Thailand is a wonderful place to cycle, with wide, smooth shoulders, largely free of debris.

For the last 2 months we’ve stopped in multiple bicycle stores and auto supply shops and have not been able to find a pressure gauge, but today at the Big C, which is similar to Walmart, we found one. I’ve suspected that the gauge on my pump has been malfunctioning but was unable to prove it until today. For 199 baht I bought a digital gauge and found that our tires were running around 45 psi when they should be at 70. 3 days ago I thought that something had to be wrong with my bike when I felt unusually sluggish. But it had been 3 weeks since we had ridden, so maybe I had lost my endurance. Now that our tires are correctly inflated, I can’t explain how excited I am. This has been weighing on me with each kilometer, hill, and pedal stroke for the last 2 months. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight. This couldn’t have come at a better time, now that we have 20 extra pounds of groceries.

We are finding more signs of prosperity. On the downside hotels are more expensive but on the plus side we are encountering large supermarkets on a regular basis. Although we prefer local markets to large corporations, we also like to eat. Local markets are becoming more and more scarce and we’ve given up on many of the roadsides food stalls which serve small, overpriced portions of noodles, fried rice and barbecue to both local and foreign tourists. When we shop at the supermarket, we are assured that we will be well fed for 3 meals a day, with snacks, at an extremely reasonable price. Our staples are oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, noodles and various types of canned fish and vegetables. We supplement this with fresh fruit and veggies whenever possible. The only downside is that we have to carry it, but at least we have the fuel to do so and properly inflated tires.

February 9th: Thoen District, Lampang to Wang Man – 54km,

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Day 119

Finally we are leaving the mountains behind. Just some gently rolling hills to make the riding interesting.

We were tempted to aim for Tak, the next major city 92 kms away but by noon the temperature was already in the upper 30’s and was at least 40°C by 3pm.

We stopped at the first hotel we saw along the road, and opted for a bungalow without air-conditioning and hot shower for 200 baht to save money, and then bought a beer for 60 baht to cool down when it was unbearably hot. We almost bought 2 beers, but decided against it since an air-conditioned room is only 350 baht. Tomorrow we’ll be in Tak, in an air-conditioned room without beer.