Three days ago I got new shoes because I left my old shoes at a waterfall. The next day we were hiking through muddy jungle so the shoes didn’t look new anymore. The brand of my new shoes is Crocs and I like the colour.
Monthly Archives: February 2017
Gross picture. Do not read if you are squeamish.
Rain did not stop us.
Pot holes did not stop us.
Wild dogs did not stop us.
Jungle paths did not stop us.
Broken spokes did not stop us.
Bridges washed away did not stop us.
Head winds did not stop us.
But this has.
We went for a swim yesterday afternoon and Allister stood on something nasty.
I dressed it last night and then reassessed it this morning. There was some pus and signs of infection. I put my Podiatry foot down and have advised on 4 days of rest to allow it to heal. So we have organised transport to Hua Hin to be closer to the Bangkok Hospital if we need it.
We are disappointed that we have missed out on some great coast cycling but it is what it is. We are also running low on our visas so we are planning on going to the Hua Hin immigation office on Monday to apply for an extension.
Day 41- Ban Krut to Ban Khlong Wan
Big day in so many ways today. Earliest start so far, at 6:30am, to beat the sea breeze. You can see the sunrise over the Ban Krut temple in the background below.
I used MapsMe for the first time to help with the trip planning because it was indicating that we could stay close to the coast and avoid riding on a major highway. Below is the first interesting track it took us on through a coconut plantation.
The amazing thing was that each time MapsMe took us down a dodgy path we had an interesting meeting with other people. The first was after the coconut plantation where it joined up with a normal road, we came across a couple of cyclists – Paul and John. After chatting for a minute, I realised I already knew Paul via WarmShowers and his amazing reputation. Paul is probably the best known person in Thailand for hosting and helping people on cycle tours. In Penang when staying at another WarmShowers, Matteo(another cyclist guest) said he had been in contact with Paul and Paul had given him map bookmarks and routes of Thailand, so he forwarded them to us because we were heading to Thailand. We have been using Paul’s map info ever since, so it is great to say thanks in person and put a face to a name.
The trail though the Hatwanakorn Nation Park was pretty rough and Paul said he had done it before so we thought we would give it a go to avoid riding on a major highway. The first obstacle was a large muddy puddle crossing the track. Patrick and I managed to cross it without getting our feet wet, but the water went up to our hubs, so Julie decided best get Robert to push their bike through it.
The track got us half way through the national park, so after crossing the main tourist road we continued down the track. However, this side was not as well maintained and the track slowly got more and more overgrown until we needed a machete to keep going. I decided to scout out the path and found out why it was so overgrown. The bridge across the river had been washed away, so the track was no longer being maintained. Just after turning the bikes around another pair of cyclists appear asking if they can get though. They were also using MapsMe. After our meeting, we cycled with Klaas Jan and Franciose to lunch and learnt all about their travels. They started in Iceland July last year and plan on cycling until September this year – pretty much cycling around the world.
The final MapsMe adventure also involved another washed out bridge and a chance meeting with a German couple, Hillo and Eric, we meet in Ban Krut yesterday. For more details on that adventure see Robert’s, Patrick’s and Julie’s posts.
On top of all of that we still road over 70kms and had a headwind since 8:30am. You could say we really have our cycling legs now and could give my sister Helen(cycling legend) a run for her money.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/868176439/
Two bridges
Today we literally left our hotel at the crack of dawn to make the most of the calm morning. Yesterday’s head winds took a lot out of us. We watched the sun rise over the gulf of Thailand as we cycled along. It was a beautiful way to start what turned out to be a day of challenges.
We bumped into two groups of touring cyclists today. The first group was two guys who had a lot of local information about the area.
They told us that there was a national park ahead of us that we could cycle through even though the maps indicated that you couldn’t.
They were wrong!
Due to the huge rains and flash flooding in Thailand this monsoon season the bridge had been swept away. The problem was there were no warning signs so we pushed the bikes for 3km through thick jungle to discover that the bridge was gone.
When we turned our bikes around we were all really disappointed because we hate to backtrack. Amazingly, about 2 minutes back down the path we met up with two other cyclists. They had also been told that you could get through. When we describe the state of the bridge to them they also turned around.
We ended up cycling with them for a while and stopped for lunch together. At the lunch stop the boys were a great hit. You can’t see it from the photo but the lady behind Patrick had bright lipstick on. Both boys left the restaurant with lipstick kisses on their cheeks.
We cycled on thinking we only had a few more kilometres to go before we would reach a town with a hotel. Little did we know that the national park bridge was not the only one affected by the flash flooding.
Read Robert’s blog for more details but basically we were determined to not have to back track again. We carried everything across the water bit by bit.
We made it. I would also like to say that I am so proud of the boys and how they coped with today’s challenges. They were both amazing.
God Dog!
When we started the day, we thought it was going to be easy to get to the hotel. It wasn’t, we had to back track through the jungle and lift the bike over a train track. It was very hard.
When we finally thought it was over, we had to cross over a bridge that was not there. We were so up set it was gone! So we started looking for a way across. Then we noticed that there was a dog on an island. When it saw us it, was so scared of us that it ran on water to the other side if the river. That meant that we could wade our way across. We new what to do!
Science park
Today we were cycling past an abandoned science park and there was lots of things to do but most of them were broken. Mum wants the perpetual motion machine for our front yard.
Spaghetti
Today I had spaghetti for the first time in a month. It wasn’t very good but I ate it anyway. It wasn’t very good because the pasta sauce was very sweet.
The Beach!
Today we went to the beach, it was a lot of fun. We played in the waves for a while. First Patrick got tired and got out of the water and sat with mum. So dad and I went a little further out the back. Then we came back in as well.
In Asia the water is a lot warmer than back home. I reckon it is better warm, so does my family. In the town we are staying in, a lot of people ride bikes like us. It is cool to see everyone riding bikes. There is also a lot of tourists where we are staying. I reckon it is because we are so close to a city called Hua Hin.
Day 40 – Pak Klang to Ban Krut
Another long day. The day started off promising with no wind to speak of, but by mid-morning the sea breeze had come in. It was no way as bad as yesterday, but it was constant.
In the afternoon we made the mistake of picking the coastal road and our average speed dropped to below 10kph. However, we did bump into a couple of cyclists riding with the wind, so it made for a welcome break and conversation.
None of the accommodation was in our price range where we planned to stop, so we made the decision to ride an extra 12kms via an inland road and return back to the beach at Ban Krut. It was worth it. The boys and I had a good swim 20 metres from our accommodation(~$30) and good choice of restaurants for dinner.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/866948529/
Head wind hell!
We left our homestay this morning with high hopes that the wind had died. The homestay was tucked away in a palm plantation so it was very protected but not even the tops of the palms were moving when we left. As we got out on the road we realised the wind had not stopped.
Riding into the wind feels like you are going up hill all day. If you then have to go uphill as well, it feels like someone tied a brick to your bike and you are dragging it along.
Without too much nashing of teeth, we reached our 55km that we had set ourselves. We started looking for an hotel but because we had reached a beach side tourist strip, we could not find one at a reasonable price. In the end we cycled 70km before we found a guesthouse with a room available at a reasonable price. The only downside is we are going to have to share one kingsize bed between the four of us. I think we are all so tired after 70km riding into strong headwinds, we could be sleeping in a single bed together and we would all still sleep well.
The boys did have enough energy to brave the choppy ocean. Both boys got dumped, they loved it.
