August 9, 2013, Friday Samut Sangkohn-Bangkok-Pak Chong (Thailand) 55 total 8155km
Today marks a new section of my trip: I’m cycling alone to northern Thailand. Andres has plans to visit Siracha(a pilgramage of sorts, if you know the sauce, you’d understand) And I have a couple friends scattered on the way north whom I want to connect with.
Also, honestly, I simply want to experience cycling alone. I wouldn’t say I’ve been dependent on Andres, Steve or Raj on this trip,but I just can’t help but wonder what it’s like to pull into a city/town/village and fully 100% be self-dependent. Traveling partners are great, but traveling alone provides a plethora of experiences, feelings and emotions I have yet to feel. So, now’s the time to figure out what they might be.
Back to the narrative.
Andres, Raj and I rode out of Samut Sangkohn together along a big dirty freeway, yuck. The landscape made a gradual transition from frequent town to complete urbanity. The roads were certainly congested, but not impossible to navigate, though my scale for traffic/safety/comfort is all way off from common folk’s, so take that with a grain of salt. Or fistful. I had budgeted about an hour to two hours of being lost in Bangkok, but Raj’s gps guided us through the traffic mele to the Train station. Directly. Wow, that was so much different than Andres’ and My experience of doing the stop-and-ask/check phone/read signs/look at maps that we’ve done in every city prior.
The fact that I’m getting on this train marks another significant shift in my trip. Steve is planning on having his bike traverse every inch of road from Indonesia to the UK. I like that idea, no short cuts, no giving up, no cheating. I’d adopted the provision. However, our stretch up the coast took a day or two longer, which would put me at getting to Khao Yai on Sunday afternoon-ish. And thus only one night to reconnect with my friend Leah, whom I’d lived with at Berkeley. I didn’t have any deep internal conflict, or struggle with my cycle-touring values when deciding to take the train. I just looked at it practically, I’m probably going to remember a weekend in a Thai national park with a University friend better than I will a ride out of Bangkok. Flexibility is key.
And, actually being on the train gave me insight into the value of biking. The rice paddies, a blur of light green. The mountains, a blur of dark green. And each town, a brief glimpse of the station. No stopping for pictures, lunch stops or chatting with locals.
The train got into Pak Chong, I unloaded, repacked the bike and road the 12ish km to the hotel. Did you just do a double take? Yeah, I said it. Hotel. Flexibility is key, right? Am I really going to go find a wat and crash there on my own while Leah and her teacher friends stay elsewhere? I’m trying to save money, but I’m not (that) cheap. Plus, I gained perspective again. All the guests were tourists, the food, although authentic, was not dissimilar to what I can find in a market for a third of the price. And the guests were.. treated.. with a Thai style dance while we ate. It was so kitschy I couldn’t take it! I felt like a traitor to myself. What would Chris say about this Chris? But I have to say, I gained perspective. Again. I’ve been able to meet Thai’s, sleep in temples, and practice the language. The one thing that my prior experience has been lacking is a real bed! Ahhhh, first time in a bed since KL. Score. I guesss it’s worth the $8.
August 10, 2013, Saturday Pak Chong-Khao Yai
Leah’s and my plan was to go on a mini bike tour for the weekend, but our early search for a rental bike yielded no results. So we shifted plans to head into Khao Yai and camp. Phil (one of Leah’s fellow teachers) caught up in the afternoon. We went to Tsongtao to the park entrance, hitchhiked to the visitor center, hitched to a campsite and set up camp, walked for a few hours, ate dinner and then chatted with out Thai tent neighbors till bedtime.
August 11, 2013, Sunday, Khao Yai (Thailand)
Some days are a lot of biking. Today was a lot of walking. After breakfast we hitch hiked to the visitors center to inquire about a hike to one of the main waterfalls. We were instructed we had to use a guide. I was reluctant, but we hooked up with a French couple from our campsite and set off. And yeah. More perspective. I’ve heard great things about awesome guides. But ours was a bit lackluster. He was more a babysitter, simply directing the way along a in-my-opinion-navigable path and pointed out a few neat things: an ants nest, bear claw marks, and at the Tiger Balm plant, and some elephant tracks. A couple hours, ten kilometers, and a few words brought us to the waterfall, where we parted with our guide and got lunch/hid from the pouring rain.
One hike is obviously not enough, so once the rain stopped we headed up the next trail to check out the other waterfalls. At the entrance was a sign to not start after 4. it was 3:45. That’s chill, right? We hike along on an empty jungle trail, seeing signs to watch out for crocodiles, but not seeing any signs of them. I made it back to the parking lot first and was stoked to see one last truck nice, a ride! I looked back to check Phil and Leah’s status and when I turned around, the truck was pulling away. Just in time, for it to be the wrong time.. We were the last ones, and the water fall is at the end of the road. Once Leah and Phil made it back, we did what we had to and started walking on the road back, fending off massive mosquito things, making it the other campsite just before dark., but had no luck hitching a ride out. Temporarily defeated, we ate dinner there, and then continued down the road in the dark, and I half wondered if it was a bad idea, and in the last two kilometers we got a ride. Too bad we’d already walked almost 10. Shower and then bed, right away. About 25k today. On foot.
August 12, 2013, Monday, Khao Yai-Pak Chong-Sara Buri (Thailand) 90km 8245km
Packed up and headed out. Hitched a ride to the visitor center, ate breakfast, hitched to the main viewpoint, hitched to the entrance, and connected two hitches to the Hotel, where I got off to get my bike and Leah and Phil continued to catch the train.
I repacked and hit the road for my first true bit on my own! The ride was beautiful, though a bit slow as I was trying to manually navigate to the next turn. Stop-and-ask. Stop-and-ask. Finally found the turn and had a pleasant descent through the foothills, making it to the highway, which was just a big dirty mess. I stopped in Sara Buri, got a refreshment and was scoping out a wifi spot to figure out where I’m going. Alright, first getting into town alone experience. A local came up to me to ask where I was going and luckily his mom’s shop had wifi. I checked out the route, decided to stay in Sara Buri, and Beer(the Thai whom I’d met) directed me the Wat up the street.
I settled into the Wat, showered, did a load of all my laundry(Mud+rain+sweat in Khao Yai made it necessary to happen ASAP, but even more pressing than I can convey) I chatted with Tom, a monk at the temple, and when he headed to meditate, I headed out to meet up with Beer. He showed me his favorite juice and noodle spot. Not too mention a new taste for the flavor palette.
Then a mother’s day fair and back to the Wat, where apparently Beer was a monk for a few weeks of his life. Said goodbye and hit the hay.