Thailand part 1

Blog South East Asia -Thailand part 1 written on: 01-01-2024

Overview day 397 - 424

4 december 2023 - 1 januari 2024

1316

Km’s Cycled

6840

Altimeters

22

Stages

1

Defect

Thailand part 1

The time flies! It feels like just yesterday that we arrived in Thailand, and now it’s already 2024. That means we’ve already been in Thailand for a month. It’s time for an update, because we’ve certainly been busy in the past month.

13 times 1000

After a relaxing day off in Betong for passport photos, passport copies, SIM cards, and a failed attempt to extend our visa (unfortunately, that couldn’t be done on this day), we cycled on to Yala. The road is beautiful and there are no tourists to be seen. We were so busy enjoying the view that we even missed our 13,000 km milestone. Then we took a photo of the 13,001.5 kilometers. It’s just a number.

Camping

We cycled to a national park. We had heard that you can always camp at national parks. When we arrived, it turned out that the national park actually closes for a month after tonight to let the nature recover. While we were calmly looking at other options, the rangers were already gesturing for us to wait. After a few phone calls, we were told that we could stay overnight, but only without registering, because the park is actually closed. Would we like that? A free night in an empty national park, where we could set up our tent dry under a canopy? That sounded like music to our ears. So let’s go then.

Food

We had our dinner at a street stall we had spotted a few meters back. We don’t speak Thai, and they don’t speak English, and there is no menu. The boy behind the stall looks a bit puzzled. But then some women come running and, even though we don’t speak each other’s languages, they have perfectly figured out that we just want a plate of food. No problem, we can sit down, get some water, and they get to work. 10 minutes later, the table is filled with delicious food. We have no idea what the dishes are called, but we enjoyed them!

Is he real?

In Yala, we try our 2nd visa attempt, but here we are told that we are too early. Then we’ll try in the next city. Third time’s the charm, we hope. From Yala, we go to Songkhla and continue along the coast. Along the way, we come across a beautiful temple complex. While Isabelle is taking a photo from the outside, a garbage collector gestures for us to come onto the grounds. He points in the direction of the beautiful stupa. That’s where we need to be.

A little awkwardly, we walk that way with our bikes. I quickly tied a blouse around my legs so that my knees were covered, but it still didn’t feel very respectful to just walk up to the Stupa, in sweaty cycling clothes with a blouse tied around my legs. Next to the Stupa, a nun is cleaning and I ask her if it’s okay if I go up. She doesn’t speak English, but before I know it, she takes me by the hand, walks towards a kind of shop, picks up a bunch of orange flowers, a candle, and a few incense sticks, and leads me towards the Stupa. I ask her quickly how much it costs, but she waves it away. She does exactly what she has to do. First light the candle, then the incense, bow, and the flowers must go up. Halfway up the stairs, I suddenly see that she is barefoot, so I quickly take off my sandals too. I also still have my helmet on my head, so I quickly take that off too. Oops, nice and chaotic again.

Once upstairs, there is suddenly a monk sitting there, and at first glance, I really doubt whether this man is real or not. He is sitting very still with his eyes open, so I don’t dare to stare at him for too long. Who knows, he might be real and I’m just sitting here in my sweatsuit, studying this man while he’s meditating. The nun indicates that I can put the flowers on a saucer and then we have to do a few bows. Then she takes some photos of us with the monk, of whom I still doubt whether he is real or not, and then we go downstairs. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to take photos, but that doesn’t matter to me. I found the experience itself very special.

A couple of pictures from on the road

mystery solved

A little confused, I come back to Rob who has been waiting downstairs. I still doubt the authenticity of the monk. Another monk walks by and he seems to speak a little English. We ask him if the monk who is sitting upstairs is real: “Yes yes, it’s real”.

After a little bit of research, we found out that it is a wax statue of a revered monk who is now deceased. It was still a special experience, and we are glad that we know the mystery is solved.

Khao Sok

After a few beautiful days in the quiet, non-touristy part of Thailand, we decided to take on a major tourist attraction: Khao Sok National Park. It is a beautiful lake with high cliffs and caves. Because the views and experience can only be experienced from the water, we decided to book a tour with an overnight stay on the water.

The harbor was full of tourists, and we started to doubt our choice. Is this a good idea? Do we want to be here? Fortunately, everything seemed to be well organized, and before we knew it, we were in a boat with 20 people and sailing out into the water. Because the lake is so large, you quickly forget that there are crowds of people in boats on the water, and we can enjoy the beautiful views that the lake has to offer us from the boat.

Caving

That afternoon, we went to a cave. There was not much information given, so we had low expectations. But we were told that the water was high, so we might have to swim. Uhm okay, we’ll experience it. After a walk along a muddy path, we reach the cave. In swimsuits, we walk into the cave and yes, it is climbing, walking through water and even swimming in a beautiful cave with very beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. The experience is much better than we had expected. After visiting the cave, we dive into the delicious water, and as Isabel climbs back up the side, she slips and twists her knee. Unfortunately, it has happened again. Whether she slipped or if a plank was broken and that’s why she fell, that’s the question, but the knee swells up and is unstable.

Unfortunately, cycling is not possible, as the swelling must first subside. The plan was already to go to the Surin islands and stay there for 2 nights, and we decide to stick to that plan. But instead of cycling, we now arrange a pick-up with space for our bikes to take us to the boat.

A piece of paradise

Thailand is known for its many beautiful islands, so we wanted to visit one. After doing some research and a lot of Googling, we think Surin is really for us. It is an island where you can camp, there is not much to do, so there are not many backpackers coming to the island (alcohol is prohibited and most of them do not have a tent) and the water is clear blue and full of fish.

We do groceries for 2 days and take our camping gear and rented snorkels and fins on the boat. We thought we had already brought a lot, but on the boat there is also a Korean with a lot of boxes and bags. It turns out that he is going to stay on Surin islands for a month. A month! That’s a long time. After a boat trip of an hour we arrive at the islands. The clear blue water is even clearer than we could have imagined and the island is even more beautiful than in the pictures. A true paradise. We find a nice spot for our tent and immediately go on a snorkeling tour. Fortunately, snorkeling with one fin works great and so Isabel keeps her one knee resting while she can still enjoy all the beautiful fish and coral in the sea. Our Gopro is the only one that doesn’t like it in the water. It turns out that it is not as waterproof as it should be. So we only have a few underwater images, but it was 100 times better. You’ll just have to take our word for it.

After 2 delicious relaxing days on the island, Isabel’s knee is already a lot thinner and it’s time to head back to the mainland. Time to really extend our visa. That works out well in Ranong. We can stay 30 more days.

Highway Police

We take it easy the first few days to let Isabel’s knee get used to it again, but luckily we see that cycling is going well and the knee seems to be recovering relatively quickly. Now that our visa has been extended, we are in no hurry either. Rob had read somewhere from another cyclist that it is possible to stay overnight at the highway police. They have a room at all the offices and you can use it for free. We decide to try it out. We arrive around noon. At first we don’t see the building right away, so we ask a lady where the highway police is. She points across the street and asks if there is something wrong. We tell her that we are going to sleep there. No, that is not possible, then you have to go back to a resort. After pointing to the building again, she finally understands that we really have to be there.

One, two, three *click

We cross over and are greeted by a group of boys aged 18-21. It turns out that they are students in training at the highway police. One of the boys speaks English fairly well and we ask if we can stay overnight. Of course we can! We are shown the room, we are shown where the toilet is and where we can wash ourselves, and we are asked if we are hungry. We indicate that we have just had lunch, so we don’t need anything. “Are you hungry in an hour?” We clearly can’t get away with it, and we say that we’ll be happy to have something in an hour.

In the meantime, we take the “make yourself at home” very seriously and our bags have already exploded in the room and we are sitting outside going through the photos and reading a book. Punctually an hour later we are provided with delicious Salapao (we know them as bapao buns) from the woman from across the street and even more bottles of water. When the chief also arrives at the office, we are also welcomed by him warmly. The boy who speaks English the best has been baptized by him as a translator since his own English is a bit weaker, but he has a lot to say.

That evening we are provided with a delicious meal, prepared by the boys, and they come curiously to look at the laptop. Isabel shows them our route through Asia and also some photos on our blog. With their 10 they are standing around the laptop watching. They also want to be in the photo and on our blog, well that can be arranged! The chief is also very fond of a photo. No problem of course, so we pose neatly together. 300 photos, poses inside and outside later he is satisfied. It has already been made clear to us that we are not allowed to leave tomorrow without breakfast. Our hosts insist on having breakfast with us.

We had a wonderful time at the highway police station. The boys were so friendly and welcoming, and they made us feel like we were part of their family. We will never forget our stay there.

Thai campsites

We continue our journey north and progress steadily. We return to the east coast of Thailand and notice that we are out of the rainy season. Time to set up our tent again a little more often. There are plenty of opportunities for that. At most resorts or hotels, it is also possible to set up your tent for a small fee. And at the national parks of Thailand, it is even more of a party. Here you can camp in beautiful places for a small price. Right on the beach, overlooking beautiful rocks and small islands and the monkeys in the trees. It’s great! And we are certainly not the only ones who are camping. We don’t see many Western people at the campsites, but the campsites are quite crowded. The nice thing about these campsites is that there are no fixed places. You just put your tent anywhere. So there is always space and no reservation is necessary. Ideal, especially for the holidays. In addition, the fellow campers are also very friendly and we are regularly asked if we would like something to eat or drink. And then it’s not just offering a cup of tea or coffee, or a cookie or something. No, whole plates full of food are presented to us. We are welcome to sit down and fully enjoy the meal. Usually we are already provided with food and can indicate that we are full and provided, but we still find it special how hospitable the people are. And instead of someone stealing something from your tent, we come back to our tent and there are packaged cookies left on our saddle. A gift of kindness.

The trunk of Thailand

After some research on the internet, we found out that you can go on a safari in the trunk of Thailand to spot wild Asian elephants. Of course we wanted to do that! We decided to cycle to the park after we had arranged a place for our tent at a nearby hotel. We were driven into the park in a pickup truck, looking for elephants. Our guide doesn’t speak English, but luckily she knows the names of the animals in English. It’s clear that they know where the elephants are, because we drive quickly. And yes, there, where the other pickup trucks are parked, elephants can be seen in the distance. The pickup trucks with tourists are neatly parked and we are allowed to admire the elephants from a distance. It is still special to be able to see them and we are glad that the elephants are not being chased. A little further on we see another elephant and at the last lookout point we see several elephants walking in the distance.

The next day we cycle on to the next national park, which is located closer to the coast. There is a cave to visit here. In this cave there is a small temple and with the right light the sunlight shines directly on this small temple, which must be a beautiful sight. The next day we start the walk to the cave around half past 10 so that we can be there at prime time between 10 and 11 o’clock, when the sunlight shines on the temple. We are clearly not the only ones and we notice that many people find the stairs very tiring. We are lucky not to have any problems with that. The cave is enormous and everywhere there are beautiful stalagmites and stalactites to be seen. It is a beautiful sight and luckily we are well in time to see the sunlight shine on the temple. A very good start to the day if you ask us.

something for everyone

We are loving it in Thailand. We are out of the rainy season, the nature around us is beautiful, the people are friendly and the food is delicious. And all of that at a very affordable price. To be honest, we were a bit skeptical about Thailand. We were afraid of ending up in a country that was overrun by tourists and backpackers who are looking for themselves and go to the hottest places in elephant pants and infinity tattoos. It’s not that bad, but we try to avoid the really touristy places as much as possible. And cycling here is fantastic! We already thought it was great in Malaysia, but the roads were often a bit busier there and we shared the road with a lot of trucks. In comparison to Thailand, there was also little opportunity for quieter streets through small villages. That is different in Thailand. We almost never cycle on major roads anymore, and when we do, there are wide “shoulders” where we can cycle perfectly. There is almost no truck traffic and we don’t have to worry about food at all. We have plenty of choice!

The only thing we have to get used to a little bit is the new language. Another new language that we don’t understand. Now only comes with the fact that the written language is also completely unknown to us. Where we were able to read something awkwardly from a menu earlier, we are now relying on pointing to pictures, imitating a chicken or making the sound of a mooing cow to indicate that we want that noodle soup with beef. Sometimes it feels like we’ve landed in a permanent game of hints with the entire Thai population. And we like that just fine!

We start 2024 with a few days in Bangkok and then we cycle on to the north of Thailand. Finally back to the mountains. And then we’ll see what 2024 has in store for us. We have plenty of ideas anyway!