Cycling Thailand (Part 6)

Day 204: Koh Phayam to Ban Khlong Phai (34 miles)

After two blissful days on the beach, my legs didn’t want to go this morning. The hills from the beach to the pier were no fun. We caught breakfast near the launching point, put our bikes aboard the ship, and took the two-hour boat ride back to the mainland. I hated leaving; however, we now have our final leg to Phuket to tackle.

Bikes loaded on the boat from Koh Phayam.

The cycling was nothing special. No beach. No lounging. No Bob Dylan concert. Just plain ol’ cycling in plain ol’ mainland Thailand. (If I was reading this aloud to you, I would read it with sarcasm because mostly I LOVE this country.)

Products from the gum trees loaded on the ferry headed for the mainland.

We were the only guests at the Ranong Resort and Laguna Hotel. We had a private chef cook us dinner by the laguna, which was actually dirty kiddie pools with faulty fountains that overflowed and flooded the grass. The place had potential, but totally missed the mark.

Day 205: Ban Khlong Phai to Khura Buri (45 miles)

We got a late start this morning because breakfast was included in the hotel price and they said breakfast started at 8:00. We were reluctant to start this late, but there wasn’t a 7-Eleven around for our usual milk and pastry. We thought it was worth the late start to make sure we got food in our belly.  We were hopeful because dinner last night was pretty decent. We were sadly mistaken. When we arrived to the table next to the spastic leaky fountains, the cook had already prepared our meal.  Unfortunately, it was cold. Who knows how long it has been sitting there before we arrived. We plugged our nose and hesitantly ate the runny eggs, stale toast, and fried hot dogs.  The horrible taste of one of those was better when you took a bite of all three together. The blend of grossness helped mask the unique taste of each individual item.  It was a total breakfast fail.

We pedaled about twenty miles before we found water.  If I knew we were going to have trouble staying hydrated, I wouldn’t have dumped out my extra water yesterday even though my water bottle started to grow orange mold on the rim. At mile 26, we came across a 7-Eleven and stopped to fuel up.  There, we met and talked with another bike tourist.  He was on a road bike with hardly anything in his panniers. He averaged about 150-200 km each day – a bit different goal than ours. Regardless of our differences, it’s always fun to talk to other cyclists.

Lunch and dinner was at the same pad thai restaurant.  Why go somewhere else when you know it works? Between lunch and dinner, the internet was too slow in our hut, so we passed the time swatting mosquitoes. I’m not kidding. They’re EVERYWHERE!

Day 206: Khura Buri to Khao Lak (54 miles)

This morning was cold.  And when I mean cold, it was probably a chilly 70 degrees when we started cycling. I even thought about putting on my wind jacket. I didn’t because it’s ALL the way in the bottom of my pannier and the energy to dig through the bag would have probably warmed me up enough to not need the jacket.  It’s actually winter back at home with rain and snow and temps in the 30s. We’re going to freeze to death when we return if we think 70 degrees while exercising deserves a jacket.

I struggled a bit today.  We’re so close to the end that when I have to muster through a tough hill or the wind changes to create a headwind, it’s easy to want to be done.  It’s easy to want to give up and say, “I did enough.  Why do we have to go further?” While my emotional side thought that, my logical side countered with more positive ideas. “Live in the moment. Don’t wish these precious hours away. You’ve gone this far, what’s a few more? The challenge makes it all worth it. In a few weeks, when it’s all said and done, you’ll wish you were back here.”  It’s funny, these thoughts, how what you say to yourself can make or break you.  The mind can be a terrible thing and a beautiful encouragement.

Cresting the last few hills before Phuket.

Khao Lak is a pretty touristy city.  We’re slowly funneling toward the island of Phuket, a worldwide vacation destination. There’s more signs in English, more pizza joints, and hotels are getting pricier. A long walk on the beach concluded our outside activity for the day.  Each day our skin turns a little browner, a little tanner, a little reminder that we’ve been in this sunny paradise of a country for over a month!

Khao Lak to Khok Kloi (40 miles)

It’s a small world…even on a bike. A few years ago on our USA trip we stayed with Dave from Mitchell South Dakota, a Warmshowers.org host. Last week on FB, I saw that he was in Phuket and we planned to meet up.  He booked a bungalow for us at the place where he was staying.  He was basically our Warmshowers host abroad. When we were a few miles away from the accommodations, Dave met us on the road on his scooter to point us in the right direction. He even had cold beers for us when we arrived.

All three of us spent the next few hours catching up by the pool while we consumed a few Thai beers.  Some of the best parts of this bike trip have been meeting up with people we know. I think we both miss the constant communication with friends, family and co-workers back at home and we crave that connection and relationships that are so important in life.  So, it’s fun on this trip to connect with someone familiar.

Getting hosted by Dave again. What a treat!

After dinner, Dave, Sean and I spent the next few hours in the pool, drinking beer (again) and sharing traveling stories. It was a full moon that night.  It reminded me of summer nights as a teenager, staying up late and swimming under the stars.  Our fingers and toes were white and pruney by the time we got out.

Day 208: Khok Kloi to Phuket (27 miles)

What a better way to spend your 32^nd birthday than riding to an island! I usually don’t drink black coffee, but Dave had Starbucks packets and I couldn’t resist a taste of home. Before heading off, all three of us had breakfast at this super modern café down the street.  It was our first real breakfast with good food at a decent restaurant in a while.  We bid our goodbyes as Dave rode his scooter and we took off in the direction of Phuket.

We made it to Phuket!

It was a short ride to our hotel.  To get off the main road, which has been getting busier and faster by the mile, we took the longer, more scenic route.  That was a huge mistake! The last few miles along the coast were the steepest roads we’ve had.  We’d reach the top of a hill huffing and puffing. The downs were so steep, I was nervous to haul ass downward because of how tired I was from the uphill climb; I left too weak to be in control of a fast bike. The humidity and heat left my clothes completely soaked. After many climbs, beautiful but deadly, I couldn’t bike anymore and resorted to pushing this 70 pound beast instead. Even the pushing was daunting. The afternoon sun was so intense and I was sweating so much that my body wasn’t reacting properly. My ears started to not hear correctly. This is my body’s first warning sign for fainting. I know, from the many times I’ve fainted in my life. I’m a fainter. It’s as if someone was covering my ears and the sound gets muffled. I started crying. That’s what I do. I’m not ashamed of crying. I’m a crier. It’s total relief. All those tears are heavy inside. Sean poured water over my head and back and after cooling down and crying for a few minutes, my hearing normalized and I was ready to ride again. Slowly, ever so slowly. My body wasn’t keeping up with the heat and hills, but eventually we got there.

We booked this hotel months ago. Dream Phuket Hotel and Spa is the fanciest hotel I’ve stayed at outside of Vegas. It’s our reward for making it to Phuket. We wanted to end with a bang. We still have one more day of riding before we meet up with Kenton and have ten days of vacation, but we wanted to have some time to celebrate, to wind down from the high of this trip, to reflect on our 6,000 miles of riding. While riding up to the entrance of Dream, we knew right away that we made the right choice to stay here.

At the reception, we were welcomed with perfectly chilled lychee juice and a Thai flower bracelet. They took our bags to our room and it was then that I was embarrassed by the dirty state of our luggage and I was well away of my sweaty clothes that probably stank. I wish I had a sign that said, “We’re near the end of an 8 month bike trip, so excuse my sweatiness.” A hotel staff member showed us the gadgets in our huge room overlooking the pool area. I was impressed. I felt out of place because we’re accustomed to camping and staying in mosquito ridden bungalows with geckos on the walls without electricity and internet. I’m so happy we’re here. I’m never going to want to leave.

Lunch at the gourmet restaurant included western dishes. I picked a veggie panini with salad. Salad! I haven’t had salad in ages! You would think that my enthralling sounds after each bite of butter lettuce that I was eating decadent cheesecake or sinking my teeth into a juicy piece of steak. No, just salad. It was beautiful.

The after rain was gorgeous from inside the room. It poured buckets. I was perfectly content inside. Our bathroom had a tub. It was so gigantic that I could lay in it. I took a bath! A BATH! With bath salts and everything. I’m used to showers so sketchy that I’ve been showering with flipflops on for nearly our whole trip. This was the best bath I’ve ever taken. Then I lounged around the room in a luxurious bathrobe. A ROBE! I’ve had the same few things to wear for the past three-quarters of a year and now I was wearing a robe! I truly felt like a rags-to-riches story. I felt pampered and clean and I loved every minute of it.

First bath tub in 6 months.

Dinner was at the hotel restaurant again. We both had milk shakes for an appetizer. I order pizza for my main course because apparently, I’m turning ten instead of 32 today. I made sure to steal a few bites of Sean’s mac n’ cheese. We haven’t had many stomach issues on this trip, but let’s just say our tummies hurt after dinner from western food today. Perhaps we need to go easy on the dairy and rich foods as we climatize back into the western way of life.