| Distance | 121.20 kms | 75.19 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Ride time (hours) | 5.92 | - |
| Avg speed | 20.4 kph | - |
| Distance | 550.80 kms | 342.38 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Ride time (hours) | 29.54 | - |
Wednesday, December 7th, 2016
Get through the urban sprawl that is Hua Hin, with a good wind at my back it shouldn't be too painful. On to monkeys and karst mountains and beaches. Hold the Jägermeister and the massage maybe for when I'm old and broken and can't cycle anymore.
After an over-priced breakfast I'm rolling out of Cha-am, glad to see it go. Just another 50 kilometers of urban ugliness to get through before I can breath again. It goes fast with a strong wind at my back. Thai drivers are really quite respectful, in spite of all this urban riding I've been doing I really haven't had any close calls. You just have to be on the lookout for people traveling the wrong direction on the shoulder.
I book a place online for 10 dollars. I stop for a late lunch confident that I'm not far away from the place so there's no rush. The lunch is excellent, pork in spicy mushroom-pepper sauce, $4. I'm in for a rude shock when I show up at the place the GPS coordinates of the booking site send me to: it's a homestead with a yard full of chickens and water buffalo. I ask around, no one's heard of the guesthouse. I search online but all the sites that mention this place have the same coordinates. Out of options, I start heading back north towards a police station, I used that technique a few times in Taiwan and it worked well. A couple of kilometers up the road I see a sign for the guesthouse pointing down a side street... the sign is facing south so of course I didn't see it when I went by. Phew. The guy who greats me at the guesthouse speaks about 10 words of English, which is 10 times more than my Thai. Hilarity ensues:
Guesthouse guy: "Book Agoda?"
Me: "Yes, I booked through Agoda."
Guesthouse guy: "Book id?"
Me: "Here is the booking id."
Guesthouse guy: "Agoda book?"
Me: "Yes, Agoda book."
Long pause...
Guesthouse guy: "Book Agoda?"
Me: "Yes!"
And on like that for a few more minutes until he finally gives me the key. I start asking about where to eat dinner but quickly realize it will be hopeless. I drop my stuff and head for the beach.
After a shower I ride a few kilometers back south to where I saw a restaurant. I'm an instant hit, all the staff comes out to see me. Not much more English here than at the guesthouse, but I manage to convey that I'm riding from Bangkok to Singapore. The owner offers to buy me a beer, I decline so he buys me a two-liter bottle of water instead. Dinner is stir-fried chicken and vegetables with cashews over rice. Very good, very spicy, and lots of it. Much bowing and thank you's as I leave. Riding back to the guesthouse under the stars I feel satisfied with my evening. I've only found a place to sleep and eat, but when you get those things without the help of a common language and have to resort to gesticulating like a monkey, it is somewhat of an accomplishment.
