We are back
in Thailand…We needed a swimming vacation! The Gulf of Thailand is a wonderful
place to swim and just hang out in the water. Beaches are generally sandy and
clean. We are also back on the bikes with a 67 mile day yesterday for our
second day out with our gear.
We started in Chiang Mai as usual with Dentist + Acupuncture appointments. We noticed a few differences that have happened in the two years since we were here last.
The Chinese
have discovered Chiang Mai. There were many more groups moving in mass on the
street and there are many new stores that cater to their preferences for
cosmetics, styles and snacks. Also a few new Chinese restaurants. Noticeably
there are many additions to signs with Chinese lettering where there used to be
English.
There is now a new mass transit bus system, and lots of new Somlongs which are pickup trucks that you ride on seats in the back ( no seat belts ) and their price has tripled from 10 B to 30 batt. So about a dollar a trip on their regular route.
We are moving south going to the Islands where we came to on our first trip. I
t is a hot day on the bike … gratefully the truck drivers are courteous and you just have to be watchful for the motorbike going the wrong way in your outside lane as they don’t want to go to the turn around on the divided streets.
You know we are very conscious of the weight we carry on the bikes.. we buy light bikes , light gear, weigh our shoes and clothes to make sure we have our lightest.
So about 30 miles into our long day we come across an area that has many roadside fruit stands all selling MANGOS the most beautiful perfect fruit you have ever seen. And the sign is 3/100 so we thought we would get some. It turns out that was 3 kilo for 100 batt or over 6 lbs of wonderful mangos to add to the back of my bike for the day. We are still enjoying them.
We passed many old almost deserted strip malls that were built with stores on the bottom and housing above. These are looking very deserted. We soon came across the Makro a big box food store like Sams club for restaurant style buying and then a Tesco Lotus Mall again a big box Walmart concept and Big C the big food grocery store. I believe these have created the change in buying habits..
It is good to see that they no longer give out plastic bags and straws in the big stores. We are having to always remember to bring them along. I believe it has made a difference in what is littered in the country side.. It is not clean yet but the trash looks old like it has been there for years.
Food in the south is different. The green coconut curry today was a lime green color and rather thin with only chicken and eggplant instead of the variety of vegetables we are accustomed to. Bruce’s panang curry was bright yellow and had potatoes and chicken only …Both were good just different.
Mango and
Sticky rice seems just wonderful every where.
A New day... we have traveled another 62 kms going south, it is getting hotter earlier and the roads we are taking are secondary roads with not much traffic. They are also not on google maps and Siri can not find the suggested destination we are headed to. It is just like the old days when we only had maps, now you can not buy a detailed map.
This beach is almost deserted, just wonderful!! We had dinner with a German long distance biker who talked for an hour… he must have not had any one to talk to for a few days.
There are a few fishing boats in the bay and we can see the lights on the water at night when they are fishing..
The bus station was a welcome buzz after the busy week in Chiang Mai. Bright Blue plastic seats filled with as many tourists as local Thais and their military. Smaller sized young men who look as hard as steel and very serious Back packs accompany most... tourists with their 300$ Patagonia packs and wearing 3$ elephant print baggy pants and Thais with 3# bright colored and often cartoon themed packs.Children run and play with out parents worrying if someone will try to carry them away.
The Healthy Foods Stand is serving fried chicken, fried pastry, sugar coated fruit and soft drinks all in bright unnatural colors. The other stands are selling cold drinks, noodles, and a large variety of cane sugar candies and shrimp and seafood flavored chips.
Our bus was a 2 level air conditioned beauty. The seats lay almost all the way back, with a footrest that can come up, and the massage function works on your back and butt while you can watch one of the English language movies on the private screen on the seat back in front of you. The pink uniformed stewartess hands out dinner boxes, water,earbuds and later snacks. The 13 hours past much easier than on our plane ride.
Chiang Mai had been filled with dentist appointments, acupuncture sessions, getting eyeglasses and planing our next few moves. Now on the Beach in Hua Hin . We had a perfect Thai day. The sun was bright behind a light cloud cover, after coffee an hour of laps and treading in the 25 meter pool we went for an exploratory ride south, had lunch and checked out the local beach there. Then back to our beach for a long walk and bobbing in the ocean. Happy Hour was back at the hotel in the pool and noodles at a small local stand for dinner.
