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.

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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.

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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. 

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Everybody feeling a bit better today, which was lucky because we had a long day and needed to catch a ferry to Ko Sumui by 1:30pm. Having the goal was a good way to keep us focused and plan out our cycle. We broke it down in the 15km blocks and took short breaks at the end of each block.

Not everything went to plan. Like always we tried to keep off the highways, but that sometimes means the road weren’t well maintained. One section was on potholed gravel and Julie’s front tire got stuck in thick gravel and she had a nasty fall. Robert is a master in this situation (it is not the first time and won’t be the last) and jumped off the back of the tandem like a rabbit and didn’t have a scratch to show for the fall.

In another incident further down ride we rode the worst potholed sealed road of the trip so far. It is also the first time we have over taken a car – see below. Although the road was in bad condition on two wheels you could navigate around the potholes. The driver of the car was very cautious and couldn’t avoid the potholes, so was only doing about 15kph.

Anyhow, we got to the ferry terminal in perfect timing and rode to the front of the line. The ticketing lady wasn’t sure how to handle a tandem, but after phoning a friend, just treated the bike like a motorbike with a passenger. The ferry trip was very smooth and gave great views from the bow.

Here’s the less glamourous view of the cargo hold with our bikes.

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Amazing scenery today. Found it tough cycling because I ate dodgy food for the first time last night. Been eating from local road side shops for the last month with no issues, but the touristy Krabi Markets is where I find dodgy food.

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After yesterday’s adventure today’s ride was very uneventful and tame. As we left Emerald Pool we had a great downhill ride back to the highway. One downhill we got to 50kph without pedaling. 

The highway to Krabi was busy and built up the closer we got. The roads are generally in very good condition and the highways have a shoulder wider enough that we can ride side by side. 

We had a break at the entrance of an elephant hospital. 

While riding into Krabi we were searching for a good bike store, because I broke a spoke while pushing the bike through a jungle track yesterday. Saw a couple of bike stores and was about to head off to one after settling in to the guesthouse. However, the Amazing Julie offered to fix it herself. The bicycle maintenance course she completed 15 years ago has paid dividends many times. Within 20 minutes the old spoke was removed and new put in. Wheel back to good as new. See the broken spoke below and pick the new spoke by the shiny end. 

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We had the two extremes in road conditions today from main highway to jungle track and finished off with a swim in Emerald Pool.

As per usual we got off the highway as quickly as possible. The route chosen by Google Maps didn’t look unusual and had been excellent for most of the trip. However, Emerald Pool is more remote than most stops we have chosen.

The first sign the roads weren’t in such great condition was the fact we were riding on a good sealed road that stopped and transformed into a rocky, heavily eroded track.

After a couple of kilometres the track turned back to good sealed road and we enjoyed a good downhill descent. As we were riding down, Patrick noticed that we should have taken a side road, that looked like a goat track. We stopped on the side of the road and had a conference on what to do. Choice one, continue on the road and add 5 to 10 kms. Choice two, go back to the goat track and hope it gets us through. To my surprise, Julie and Robert were bullish and wanted to give the track a go, so Patrick and I were happy to follow their lead.

The track was okay to start with, but as we progressed it became narrower and more eroded. As we rode past the local houses we got very animated responses from the locals, which should have been a sign of what was to come. After about 6 kms we came to a stream with a couple of crossings.

It was a pleasant break and a good way to cool off, but it was unclear which way we should go. There were three different options but after scouting them out we were still unsure. All the options led to a house, but didn’t seem to go any further. The man at the house in the first option didn’t speak, but indicated with his arms crossed together to make an X, that there was no way through. The second option took us to an older couple’s house who were more friendly and wanted to help, but the language barrier was too hard and their property was the end of the road. I did show where we want to go and the man tried to explain how to get there, so we thought we would try option 3.

Option 3, had a sign  (see picture below), but looked very overgrown, but it was our last chance before having to back track. It was way too overgrown to ride so Julie and I pushed the bikes in the hope it would get better. We sent Robert up ahead to scout out the track to to make sure it was passable. After about 500 metres it was only getting worse and I didn’t think it was worth pushing the bikes any further, so Julie and Patrick stayed with the bikes and Robert went ahead to see if it got any better. After another 500 metres we were getting further off the Google Maps track, so I knew we were on the wrong path, so we headed back. When we got back to the bikes we made the decision to turn back.

As we were turning the bikes around the couple from Option 2 appeared with their three dogs out of the jungle. We got into a discussion again about where to go, but still couldn’t get past the language barrier. Robert suggested we ask him to take us, so I indicated to him that we would follow him. He understood so we retraced back to the sign. At that point they indicated we should be able to get through, but he seemed to be indicating Option 1, which seemed to be a dead end. I asked him to take us, which he happily obliged.

After walking back to Option 1 (about 500 metres) we walked past the original house (the Option 1 man no where to be seen) and the man indicated the path through an overgrown wet land of sword grass and scrub. I was pretty sceptical, but because he had been so friendly I thought we should give it a go. According to Google Maps we had about 3 kms to go until we hit another road, so worst case we could push the bikes that distance or turn back.

That 3 kms was a hard slog and we spent most of the time pushing the bikes through an overgrown track and across little streams. The boys were amazing and we all operated as a well oiled team. They scouted ahead and removed dead branches and helped push the bikes up hills. I can’t believe how accurate Google Maps path was because at times there was no visible path or multiple paths to chose from, but by continually checking to see that we were on the correct path we made it back to civilisation.

After a long day we finally made it to Emerald Pool and had a nice relaxing swim and cool off. We didn’t even get into our swimming gear, but just jumped in with what we had been wearing while cycling.

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Back on the bikes again after a rest day island hopping and snorkeling. Very quiet morning on the road. We took a back road, which happened to be a four lane highway with a wide shoulder, but almost no traffic early on a Sunday morning after Chinese New Year. Took a while to find a stop for morning tea. Came across a little shop that had plenty of animals around. If you zoom in on the thatched roof you can see a tenacious chicken searching for bugs.

Took another break to explore a cave via boat. It was pretty tame to start with, where we had to lie back to avoid hitting our heads on the cave roof. Much of the cave had been closed because of flooding and had only been reopened a few days earlier. The guide could tell we were adventurous, so took us out via the Dragon Run. It involved 350 metres of all of us lying on our backs, including the guides. The cave became so narrow and low that the guides used their hands on the roof to guide and propel the boat. At points the stalactites were rubbing on our prone bodies. Luckily the tour has been keeping us trim, because we couldn’t have been any wider. The ride topped any theme park ride for excitement and exhilaration.

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