While we were traveling through Malaysia we saw plenty of wild monkeys but as soon as we crossed the border into Thailand we have not seen any. The boys have come up with two theories.
They are on the menu at most restaurant in Thailand as “meat” ie Pad Thai with chicken, prawn or meat.
The electrical power lines are so dodgy that as soon as they cross the border and climb a power pole they get electrocuted.
I am not sure if either of these theories is correct but there is a definite lack of wild monkeys.
While we were on Samui we did ride past a monkey training center. We originally thought that the monkeys were being trained to entertain humans, so we avoided the training centre, but we have since discovered that they are trained to work in the coconut plantations. They are kept by the plantation owner as pets like farm dogs in Australia. They are trained to climb up the coconut palm and drop the ripe coconuts down. We saw one working today. If you look closely at the photo you can see him looking back at me.
Lovely ride today on a coastal road. There were many river crossings today and plenty of prawn farms. The boys won’t eat the prawns in asia because someone told them that they are fed human poo. I am not sure about this either but I did remind the boys that pigs eat any poo they can get (human, their siblings or their own) and the boys are both happy to eat pork, ham and bacon.
Back to riding north again. You don’t realise how much more you enjoy riding north than the other points of the compass until we had a few days not riding north. Most of the trip we have been riding north, but the last few days we rode the other directions. Having the sun behind you rather than in your eyes makes a huge difference. Also, having the shade of the trees coming across the road also makes it much cooler.
Main highlights today were the river crossings. See below for an example.
If you look closely at the photo below you will see a monkey amongst the coconuts. In Thailand they train the monkeys to collect fruit high in the trees for their trainers. Just to the right of the boys is a man holding on to a rope that is attached to the monkey. The boys were fascinated by the monkey collecting coconuts and watched for about 10 minutes. I think the man was happy when we left because I think we were distracting the monkey from its work.
A great spot to stay the night. I don’t normally take a picture of our accommodation, but we had a great bungalow in amongst a orchid farm. We got up early and were on the bikes by 7am and Paddy was saying he wanted a jumper it was so cold (25c).
The ride was fast along the highway and we made our destination by 9:30am (our earliest yet). It gave me a chance to try to get my phone to work, by taking it into an official Samsung Service Centre. They were very helpful, but didn’t have the parts, so left the phone with them and hopefully they will send it to Hua Hin when it is fixed.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/860233577
On a trip like this you expect to have ups and downs. I always knew that there would be times when we would not get along. You only hope that the good times out weigh the bad.
What I find the most puzzling is why the boys take it in turns to be naughty. If Robert is giving me grief then Patrick is an angel. If Patrick is being contrary then Robert is behaving like the perfect young man I want him to be.
There is no break from them either. No time out. No friends for them to run off and play with. You have to be a parent but you also have to be a replacement best friend when they need you to be. We cycled past a private school today and it was tempting to drop them off. As much as it is challenging, I feel closer to both of them than I have in a long time.
When we first entered Thailand, me and Patty got some beyblades. They were great fun but they got damaged. So we needed to get some new ones. Today we got some really cool new ones that are really fun and we found the perfect tray to play with them in.
The ride today was split in half by a ferry ride from Ko Samui to Donsak. We were all well rested and feeling good so the ride progressed ahead of time and was relaxed. It was also one of the rare times we back tracked, so we didn’t need a map to return back to the ferry. It gave us a chance to take a picture of a natural tunnel like section of road.
After the ferry ride, the route to our accommodation was via busy road. After an enforced 2 hour break because of the ferry ride Julie and Robert set a cracking pace and we got to the resort in about an hour. The resort had a working orchid farm and restaurant. It was also included a large swing that gave hours of fun and exercise.
The photo below is for my Mum, who loves orchids and her grand children.
There was also a river running around the property. We went down to investigate whether we could swim, but the boys got distracted by the mud. Nothing like watching children play, especially in the natural environment.
After a rest day on Samui we all woke up with a spring in our step. We made it to the ferry at Nathon with plenty of time. The only eventful bit about the morning ride was the 26% gradient on one of the hills. You can see in the photo that the road disappears. The ride on the ferry was smooth. We all get a kick out of riding the bikes onto the large ferry with the cars and motorbikes.
We then had to cycle another 22km to our hotel. We flew. We all have our mojo back after the pork. Our accommodation is gorgeous. It is called Donsak Orchid Resort. It’s a bit more expensive than we usually pay but it was the only place that we could find in the area. The resort grows Orchids and has the most beautiful gardens. The boys had a good time on the huge swing before heading to the river to get muddy. Muddy photos can be found on Patrick’s post.
This story begins when we were halfway through the day. We were passing a house with an old lady sitting outside weaving a basket. The house behind her was on stilts and dogs were playing underneath the house. Until they saw us! They bolted out from underneath the house and sprinted for us. Patrick started swearing his head off and Dad pushed as hard as he could. They flew off in front of us. They left me and Mum for dog meat. So I got out my foot and kicked one of them in the head. They all retreated after that. I thought it was quite fun, but Mum didn’t.
Only had a short ride today, so had a lazy start and didn’t start riding until midday. Scenic ride around the south west corner of the island. With the later start we all felt the heat and the sun seems to have more of a bite on the island.
When we arrived at our accommodation we were very relieved to cool down in the swimming pool.
I booked us into a very highly rated bungalow style accommodation on the southern coast of Samui. It’s hard to know what the surrounding area will be like when you have never been there before but if someone has bothered to build accommodation, you assume it must have something to offer. As we cycled to our accommodation today the roads got quieter and we ended up in a remote place just inland from the coast. The bungalows are ok but the French couple who own them are lovely.
We headed out for dinner thinking we were going to have to cycle a fair way to find a place to eat but just down the road we found a British sports bar. They had a large tv playing the rugby and a free pool table. Not the type of place we would normally choose but tonight it was perfect. Allister wished we had been here a couple of nights ago when the tennis final was on.
