We rode for 5 days straight out of Bangkok to a town called Chumphon. The first four days were along the only road south of Bangkok which was a rather unpleasant motorway. Getting out of Bangkok was a terrifying experience as there were parts when we were merging on to the Thai equivalent of the M25. There was actually a cycle lane most of the way out but this was blocked by parked cars, food stalls, buses and people in general so this seemed utterly pointless. Luckily, there was a smaller road at the side of the motorway out of the city that ran parallel for about 30 miles so we kept on that until it all merged when we had a nice wide hard shoulder to bomb along while the cars sped past us at at least 70 mph. The motorway ranged from having two lanes on each side to 6 lanes on each side in some places! The road was long, straight and boring but we knew there were smaller roads to ride ahead so again, it was heads down and shed the miles.
Our first night out of Bangkok was hilarious. After the town we were aiming for on the map just disappeared or didn't exist, we sought refuge in a motorway hotel we stumbled upon, again by accident. It was literally on the motorway, but we didn't care as we were knackered from the adrenalin used up to concentrate on the roads out of Bangkok. Once we were in, we then realised that this hotel was more of a, errrm... shag station. Yes, it had a light outside each room, showing white or red, depending on whether it was occupied. It also had a large curtain to cover the little drive where one parked their car to conceal ones identity. The room was equipped with large mirrors on two walls opposite each other, tissues on each bedside table, and yes, there was free porn on the TV. We walked out of our room, the light glowing red, down the hard shoulder of the Thai equivalent of the M4 to the restaurant to get dinner. How romantic.
The next day, we were up and rolling out onto the motorway at 7.30am. We cracked out 60 miles and arrived at the coastal town of Hua Hin at 2.30pm where we found a little hotel on the end of a pier, dumped our stuff and ran down to the beach for a well deserved swim; our reward for cycling that day. The beach was pretty, well kept and this place is the nearest beach resort to Bangkok, so very popular with both Thais and tourists. Tempted to stay, in deed we were, but the next town was also a beach town, so on we cycled the following day another 58 miles to Prachuap Khiri Khan. This was the day my speedometer ticked over to the 2000th mile! Far quieter; an idyllic seaside town where no tuk-tuk man or hawkers bothered us. We stayed in a psychedelic guesthouse painted crazy bright colours with a balcony overlooking the sea and some of the islands. We watched the pretty sun in all its glory come up from behind one of the islands in the morning before having breakfast with the Thai lady owner and her artistic, eccentric Austrian husband who was drinking beer while we were breakfasting at 7am.
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| Celebrating 2000 miles! |
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| Our balcony in the guesthouse at PKK |
The next day, and another 62 miles cracked out and the first time we turned off the main highway. We stayed in a very cute bungalow on stilts in a little jungle, complete with jungle noises of exotic birds, insects and monkeys!
The final day was spent entirely on secondary roads that flirted with the beaches all the way down to Chumphon. The road was fantastic and our first cycle day of seeing proper Thailand other than what you can see from the motorways. Rich and luscious forests, perfectly lined either side of the roads. James spotted all sorts of birds of pretty colours and every now and then we got a glimpse of the sea! It was however, rather continuously hilly so we arrived in Chumphon rather tired!
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| Undulating hills = want sleep at lunchtime |
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| Yucky hills but beautiful scenery. |
We rested for one day in this rather uninspiring and dull town to also catch up on emails and research the route going forward as this is where the road splits down either side of the coast due to the mountains in the middle. We decided on the west coast as this appeared to have more towns and beaches along the way and also made sense as our crossing into Malaysia will be on the west coast too. And off we go!
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