Cycling Chumphon to Khao Sok

From Chumphon we rode directly west the whole width of the country and then when we reached the Myanmar (Burma) border, the road sharply turned south to Ranong. Only mountains on our right stopped us from peering into a country that not many people know about, which may have something to do with not many nationalities being able to obtain a Burmese visa. At times, it was only a river that separated the two countries. This was our longest day. 78.2 miles in one very long day, hill after hill in continuous torrential rain, thunder and lightning. It was the first time we both actually wanted a hot drink during our breaks as opposed to cold. Even though the temperature was still 23 degrees, when soaked to the bone, it got quite chilly. Along the way we saw a beautiful waterfall and passed official viewpoints (that was how high we climbed!).

Soaked, but warming up with hot coffee during break time

Beautiful waterfall right on the switchback of the steep road

As soon as we turned south, the head-scarfs among the girls in the villages along the road became more and more apparent, as did luscious forests, while villages were less frequent. This may be the time to also write about the continuous battle against the dogs in Thailand. There are two kinds of dogs in SE Asia; stray, homeless ones who are very skinny and often have wounds and various other diseases who run away as you cycle towards them. Then there are the dogs who ‘belong’ to people, but are trained as guard dogs and hang around with nothing to do outside their houses. To their delight, when two cyclists amble by, they either see it as a bit of fun to break their boredom or see us as a threat. Either way we have been chased by countless numbers of dogs down the street. Some of them chase for longer than others, and some have actually tried to bite; it is terrifying every time. Unfortunately James was left a little shaken after he was attacked by one vicious canine, but luckily the dog only punctured a hole in his pannier and not his leg, much to his annoyance but my relief.


One of our evening stops was in a place called Suk Samran. We weren’t actually meant to stop here, but our epic day to Ranong the day before had taken it out of us a little. We stayed in a beautifully carved wooden bungalow on stilts. We had a charming room with more windows than wall and all the furniture was made from bamboo including our bed frames. Our host, P.P. was delighted to have us and made us so welcome. What we didn’t realise was the guesthouse and surrounding buildings were work left by US Aid who visited the area after the devastation the Tsunami left Suk Samran in. The guesthouse was a gift and around it was a school and learning centre, a museum and a community bank, all with the aim of educating local people on how to deal with possible future tsunamis. Apparently villages around were given lump sums of money by charities to help rebuild their homes, but normal Thai corruption set in and the money was squandered. Only one village invested the $1 million they were given and now their balance is $3m, hence the community bank who are also trying to educate villagers on the benefits of investment. PP used an interesting analogy; do you give a victim of the tsunami a fish or a fishing rod? The answer is neither if you do also provide them with education on how to cook the fish or fish responsibly with a rod. Interestingly, PP also told us how certain things have prevented the learning centre from being as successful as it should be. Firstly because not many Thai country-folk travel and so do not know the centre exists, and secondly because of religion. PP is Buddist and the surrounding villages have a high Muslim population, so they are reluctant to go because they fear he will not understand. Far from it; PP was so passionate about education that I have no doubt that he couldn’t care whether you were black, white, purple, Muslim, Christian, gay or otherwise, but trying to get people to understand this is another matter in itself. Dinner in the village was Muslim influenced; saffron rice with curried chicken and potato roti, much to James’s delight. For pudding we cracked open a fresh watermelon we bought in the local market. Happy days.

Not so happy days when we were woken up at 5am by the call to prayer by the mosque next door, which we hadn’t actually realised it was there until the loudspeaker felt as though it was in my ear. Still, it was only 30 minutes before our alarms went off!


On we cycled until we reached the mountains of the beautiful landscape in the centre of Thailand just east of Takua Pa. Up and up we climbed, and down and down our sweat poured off our bodies and evaporated instantly on the hot tarmac. It took us 3 hours to ride 26 miles; it was seriously hard going, but we were rewarded by unbelievable views. Remember the film, Jurassic Park? It was as though we had walked on to the set of it, but instead this was Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park…