Day 72 Sichon to Nakorn Sri Thammarat. Rain

after70km/4hrs

Flat 401 road all the way with places for food and water. Racer would be more effective on these roads in central and south Thailand.

Woke late due to phone alarm not working. Wanted to stay the day but the pile driver dissuaded me. I wanted to decide over breakfast which facilitated the decision. A kathoey (lady boy) walked up with the menu with an excessive swing of the hips and said,’ where you froom’. ‘Fried rice with pork’ I replied not in the mood to be chatted up before breakfast. He swung off and sat with the cook for a while and she then wandered off towards the kitchen. She returned after 10 minutes with a piece of meat in each hand asking staff to smell it. I left.

 

More mosques, jilbabs (head covering) and Malay faces as I go south.

I stopped at a 7/11 to demonstrate how to eat 4 choc bars in 2 min while dripping all over the floor. Then came a Tesco Lotus where I stocked up with porridge. As I walked in covered in mud, dripping with squelching shoes land saw a girl cleaning the floor. I smiled at the situation but she did not see the humour. I had lunch and wondered at the lack anything that was real in the store except the food that was once alive and some of the customers who seemed to be vaguely living.

Thai Hotel, Nakorn Sri Thammart 350B for fan room is good hotel with staff who let one put ones bike in the hotel office. No town looks good in the rain and this one is no exception. I found chicken soup to help my cold and went back through a dripping town.

it didn’t play. just opened up and let it all fall

now seeing a lot of mosques.

monks in was opposite my hotel

view from hotel window

 

 

 

Day 17 Bueng Kan to Phon Phisai

91km 5.4 hrs
Started on small road next to Mekong but went back to 212 as looked as if going to be potholed and sandy.
Plenty of resorts on the way identified by the predominance of pink and also ’24’ on the sign meaning open 24 hours. Most just square concrete bungalows often painted pink. Resorts come in various forms form the ones that supply sex workers to ones that allow women to be brought in but only over 18 years old and cater mostly for ‘normal’ guests. One owner told me that they refused a senior police officer with a 15 year old girl.
As going north the roads getting busier, houses better and concrete instead of wood, restaurants instead of thatched roof places, more falangs so I am less of novelty. Smiles and hospitality still there though. 90% of cars are SUVs so must be some money around.
Seems to be pineapple season. Also stopped for an ice cream and in answer told the woman that I was cycling to Nong Khai (136km). It was easier than trying it.
Phon Phisai bigger than expected (Tesco lotus full size and a 7/11) with few places to stay but strangely nothing with views of Mekong.
As I cycled along the Mekong looking for somewhere to stay an old white man called out for me to join them. I did. He was one of the most boring people I have ever met and told me all about his stroke, imminent marriage, life in the British army and plans for fitting fans and AC in his house. In order to box me he wanted to know where I came from and then talked about animosity between Cardiff and Swansea but that not all people from Cardiff were bad. They expected me to represent a city I left when 4 years old but seemed to need information to categorize me. The fact that I did not live anywhere also caused them problems.  He told me he was bi polar on a high at the time. He then tried to organize a hotel for me and gave me directions that left me lost for quite a while. Young Tom teaches English and specialized in poor sexual jokes. I did not return. A lot of expats do fall into the drunken, whoring stereo type. Usually not particularly well educated or with many interests they continue as they did at home when not working but with the opportunity to do it to greater access.
Stayed in EXO special hotel which is not special for 350B but surprisingly does have Al Jazeera on TV.
Dogs: Seem to be bigger ones and pedigree ones here which is worrying. I am not fond of dogs. My idea would be to have most dogs culled and sent in refrigerated containers to North Korea to improve food security and reduce the risk of war. Others should be muzzled, chained up and most sterilized. Thais love cuddly animals so this is very unlikely. Unfortunately they have less interest in the larger animal which is left to roam and terrorize innocent cyclists. It is thus up to the cyclist to prevent and deal with dog attacks. First dogs are usually a threat until sunset. They have had a busy night shagging, fighting and keeping people awake with barking so they are tired during the day and lacking energy to chaise bikes. However, it is best not to surprise them or they go into instinct mode and attack. Cycling behind a sleeping dog and ringing ones bell is not a good idea unless one is going down a steep hill and able to out run the dog in which case it can be quite rewarding. If a dog does react there are various levels of response dependent on the perceived threat level. If a dog looks as if it is about to bark pointing ones finger at it and saying,’shut up!’ firmly can confuse the dog. If it runs after you a blast of a dog dazer can work and if it doesn’t a pepper or CS gas spray will work but check the wind direction. If one does not have these handy then leaning back, looking at the dogs and shouting or growling can work. The old stand by is of course throwing rocks. Cyclists have told me that they just out run the dogs. At the speed I can manage the dogs would be able to pass me and have a rest and a bite to eat while waiting for me to arrive.

Day 15 Ban Phaeug to Bueng Kan

84km  4.5 hrs. first 45km in 2hrs. 212 all the way. storm later

So much for early starts. Left 10.30 without breakfast but just up the road was a nice lady with BBQ chicken, sticky rice and a great chilli source. Her husband in hospital with 3 to 6 months to live with cancer. She has two children. ‘ Life is just money. Only work money for food’ she said. I guess that can be said for most people in the world and most it is just to live not for luxury items. We do not seem to generally to have advanced much.

Few resorts on the way as usual. Most not on google maps. I nearly stopped at one when could see storm coming but it was too pink.

I could see the dark clouds ahead. Then the temperature dropped and wind picked up. Only 9km to go so speeded up to get there before the storm hit. I failed. The storm was coming at me. Two km from destination I could see it ahead and dived into a food stall just in time to the surprise of the owner. As usual the main part of the storm hit with very heavy rain followed by lighter rain as it passed over. I sat in silence with the owner waiting for it to finish. Twenty minutes and all over. One can not cycle in the middle of the storm. It is like a 100 fools throwing water in ones face shouting, ‘Happy!’.

Just before the turning right into town is a Tesco Lotus store. Biggest store since BKK. I needed new gloves and sun block. This time bought gardening gloves for 55B as they cover the wrist and also bought factor 110 sun block for 495B. Expensive and it hurt but the factor 50 is not strong enough and it is cheaper than skin cancer. I convinced myself.

Tip:

• put hydration powder in all your water
• do not buy cherry hydration powder. Its horrible.
• use a nappy pin to fix a pannier. (I wondered why I had been carrying it for years).

Seem to be more westerners or to be mores specific more old western men drinking sitting around. I asked then about hotels and was interrogated by a blotchy faced man from Birmingham about where I was from. Maenam Hotel costs 450B for a room with a great view of the Mekong on 400B for a room with a view of a wall. Nice Chinese restaurant next door.

Steve, from an ice cream selling family in Coventry, found me enthusiastically. His girlfriend who he met in a bar in Pattyia spoke very little English which was ok as he talked enough for both of them. He wanted to get her a visa for the UK which I think she understood. She is 21 and from a small village. Should be interesting. We celebrated our meeting with drinks in the evening. He likes his girlfriend as she cooks and cleans and likes to stay home. She said, ‘He happy, I happy’.

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  broken pannier before nappy pin

  

  Important cycling equipment

  

  I thought i would be roughing it

  

  Stone smashers. Women.

  

  

  sheltered here from storm

  

  

  view from hotel window of Mekong