Ko Samui to Pa Tong

Nov 15, Krabi, 26.7 Miles, Avg=14.3

We left early at 6am for the 15 mile ride to Nha Thon and a bus to Krabi. You can catch the bus on the island, then the bus takes the ferry to the mainland where you re-board and continue with the trip to Krabi. At the bus stand we met Jeffery from Taiwan. Jerry had met him on Nov 13 while he was motor scootering around the island, I met him myself on Nov 14 while I was scootering around the island. Apparently Jeffery planned to take the bus to Krabi as well, and perhaps was surprised to see that we do in fact have bicycles and not scooters.

A couple days earlier Jerry told me know he was not completely decided on our route to Phuket town from Krabi. He was considering a few options including cycling all the way or taking ferries from Krabi. I mentioned that the ferry option sounded good to me because I wanted see something of the famous Adaman Gulf coastal region. On the bus just outside Krabi Jerry said he wanted to cycle to Phuket Island so I told him I would take the ferry by way of Ko Phi Phi. It seemed suddenly odd to be on my own as Jerry headed to the resort at Ao Nang, but I think Jerry trained me well and perhaps I can see this last few days cycling on my own in Thailand as a kind of graduation project.

As it turned out, Jeffery, who planned to stay in Krabi, decided to join me as far as Ko Phi Phi; so I would not be alone after all. But first, we needed a place to stay in Krabi. Jeffery and I got a double at the Good Dream Guest House backpacker hotel for 250 B each. After unloading our stuff we rode out to Tiger Cave to see the former residence of a famous Buddhist monk and look at the monkeys. You can climb a little more than 1000 steps to the top of a small peak to see a statue of the Buddha but neither Jeffery or I wanted to do that. Roadboy continue to attract attention. At one point a couple posed next to the bike for a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 16, Ko Phi Phi, 3.6 Miles, Avg=5.7mph

We got up early, had breakfast and cycled without difficulty to the passenger pier at Krabi, a few kilometers out of town. The owner of our hotel last night, a Virginian who has been living here for five years, told us that the boat ticket he sold for 300 B included free pickup and transportation to the pier; we didn't need that because of our bikes so he told us we could save 50 B by cycling to the pier and buying directly from the boat company. When we got there the clerk wanted to charge us 400 B. We protested but she wouldn't budge and as no one sold tickets for this boat within a 3 kilometer radius we didn't have time to go back to town and get a 300 B ticket. She knew we were stuck and probably wouldn't postpone our trip over 100 B. I hope she puts her little tip to good use. As we sullenly received our tickets she told us that the boat attendant would charge us for the bikes, she didn't know how much. As with buses it seems like the boat operator has the option to earn a little extra money charging farang (foreigner) for their large baggage, like bikes.

Jeffery and I boarded the boat, secured our bikes on the upper deck, and settled into some soft seats for the 1.5 hour trip to Ko Phi Phi. It turned out that nobody charged us for the bikes. I really enjoyed the trip with its great views of green jungle clad islands rising steeply out of the blue water, most containing one or more small white sandy beaches nestled in between massive outcrops that looked a little like flying buttresses for a natural cathedral.

Ko Phi Phi itself is a tourist populated wasteland of resorts, bars, tattoo shops, massage parlors, restaurants and souvenir vendors. I've never seen a place so thoroughly dominated by the modern tourist culture of party at all costs and shop till you drop. The tiny island is simply awash with people from all over the world, mostly Europeans it seems, walking the narrow lanes between shops and restaurants or laying on the beach working on their skin cancer. Ko Phi Phi does have a very large number of dive operators, along with tour operators for many other activities such as kayaking, beach camping, sunset cruising, fishing, and snorkeling. I can see why people started coming here and continued to come after is was destroyed in the tsunami of 2004. A small island, really two islands joined by a sand bar, it has a beautiful beach and a lovely interior jungle. I only saw the small flat area that joins the two islands and what I could see in a climb up to a local hill top for a view of the two bays formed by the sand bar. Small shops, backpacker hotels, and more luxurious resorts cover the flat area formed by the sand bar from jungle to jungle with shops and hotel resorts. Not a beach person, I like this place the least of any place I have yet visited, perhaps I should have stayed with Jerry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 17, Phuket Town, 3.6 Miles, Avg=4.2mph

Today's report carries my cycle journal style to silliness as I did not in fact cycle more than a trivial amount, from my hotel at Ko Phi Phi to the pier and then from the pier near Phuket Town into town to find a hotel. The express boat ride to Phuket Town from Ko Phi Phi went the same way my previous boat ride to Ko Phi Phi, thankfully uneventful. I suppose I was exposed to somewhat more danger because of the way they stored luggage. Hordes of tourist come and go to Ko Phi Phi everyday so they have to find room for a great many bags on the boat. On the previous boat the attendants directed us to take our bags to the front of the main cabin but in this case they directed people to stack their bags on one side of the cabin, at the rear close to the exit. With so many bags, it didn't take long before the bags had completely blocked one of the exit paths to the rear doors. If the boat had decided to sink for some reason I think not so many of us would have escaped.

Phuket Town is the first place since Bangkok that looks even remotely like the type of towns I visited in 1972. The downtown has that collection of buildings from the 1920's and 30's that seems to merge European architectural structures with some decorative twists of Chinese and Thai heritage. The typical building has three floors, the first for business and the upper two for offices, or housing, or maybe rooms for a hotel. Jeffery and I cycled into town without problem and started looking for a hotel. At first we headed for one of the hotels listed in the Lonely Guide but on the way found a very charming hotel named Phuket Home and Gallery run by a very friendly and helpful young woman and her brother. Jeffery again obtained a discount so we only paid 500 B for an air conditioned room with two beds. He reminds me of my wife who also likes to bargain, I'm the beneficiary in both cases. While modernized and cleaned up, this guest house has some remnants of hotels from 1972. Perhaps my strongest memory of those hotels concerns the walls that did not quite rise to the ceiling. In 1972 the gap between the wall and the ceiling was covered with a wire mesh or maybe bars, allowing neighbors to not only hear what occurred in the next rooms but see inside if they were so inclined as to stand on their bed or a chair. In this hotel the solid walls do not reach the ceiling but the owners have covered the gap with opaque plexiglas panels. This is the first hotel in which I have stayed that showed some of this past, the others were either too new or too expensive or both to show any connection to a less affluent past.

After settling and resting, I went out to find some food. I eventually found the outdoor market and a restaurant typical of the type frequented by local Thai people except that about half the clientele were foreign tourists, three old degenerate looking Euros, not counting me, and a German family with son and daughter. Phuket doesn't have the feel of a tourist center because it doesn't have any beach, the nice beaches reside further north and west of here, so I am surprised to see so many tourists. But, as I walked around I did see a steady trickle of foreign backpackers and assorted others. Again, such a change from my 1972 visit in which my wife and I may go a week without seeing any European looking travelers.

Nov 18, Phuket Town, rest day

Today I rode out to the Phuket Aquarium with Jeffery. Getting out of town on the right road usually presents more difficulty than getting into town. In this case things went smoothly, the only complications stemming from the one way streets typically going in the opposite direction I wanted to go. The trick involves getting directions, asking for confirming directions frequently, and luck. The luck part constituting the most important ingredient. The tendency of informers to agree with you creates quite a bit of trouble. Today I stopped and asked a man standing on the sidewalk if this was the way to the aquarium, pointing down the road in direction in which I was headed. He agreed that "yes, yes" that was the way. But, seemingly uncertain, I asked if it was the opposite direction, this time pointing in the direction in which I had come. He enthusiastically agreed that "yes yes" that was the direction too. I considered asking him if the actual direction was down a narrow alley off to his side but decided that he was making the best of a difficult situation and I shouldn't pester him any further. After all, how might I respond if some alien on a strange machine pedaled up to me and mumbled some incomprehensible gibberish and pointed down the road. I think I might just try to get rid of him as quickly as possible by agreeing to whatever he said.

 

Eventually we found our way after taking the "scenic" route along a very pretty coastline by a bay with numerous sailboats and other craft at anchor. Some of the hills were quite steep and with the emerging sun and constant humidity I was soon soaked in sweat. As I was sort of leading I tried to convince Jeffery that we were on the 'deluxe' tour, but I don't think he completely bought the idea. The aquarium itself is OK, nothing really special. I did see some unusual fish, perhaps the most unusual being the upside down catfish. This apparently normal looking catfish just swims upside down, I have no idea why. When I finished with the aquarium I got my bike and started to get ready for the ride back to town when a small group of Thai tourists insisted on having their picture taken with the funny farang (foreigner) on his strange contraption. Alas, they did not ask for my address so I missed a rare chance to get a picture of myself. I regret not asking Jeffery to take a picture of the whole scene.

I walked over to take a picture of the On On hotel this afternoon. This hotel appeared in the DiCaprio movie "The Beach", as the Thai dive in which the hero learns of the the hidden island. That hotel in the movie had the kind of walls that do not extend to the ceiling, with the gap covered by wire mesh, that I had seen so frequently in 1972. The outside of the hotel looks like the kind of hotel my wife and I stayed in so often, only the large number of European looking guests and the gleaming computer screens in the lobby reveling the passage of time.

Nov 19, Pa tong, 21 Miles, Avg=9.2

It was an easy cycle over to Pa tong I continue to not match my intuition about time and distance with the reality. Even though I know the distances are small I somehow continue to surprise myself at how fast the the day goes. I wish I could say that cycling with Jerry increased my average speed but the cycle computer doesn't lie, only 9.2 mph for today. Jeffery and I got up and ate a leisurely breakfast, then we waited for our breakfast to settle, something Jeffery and my wife think is important (is it an Asian thing?), so we probably got off about 8:30am. We got to Pa tong about 10:30 and by 11:30am had found a place to stay. Pa tong has an abundance of rooms but perhaps even a greater abundance of visitors, we were turned away at our first three attempts before finding Shiela's Guesthouse, unfortunately located on an extension of Bangla Road. We are not in the bar zone but pretty darn close.

Jeffery and I took sort of the long route to Pa tong, first a little south like we were going to the aquarium and then over the hills to Karon and then north up to Pa tong The route has ample shoulders and moderate traffic, with occasional nice views of the coastline and the higher mountains beyond the road. The route has a few very steep sections but never long, indeed I don't think one could put together a really long Rocky Mountain style climb anywhere on this island. At the top of one hill we passed a large number, maybe 100, small shrines. Some were newly placed and others were overgrown with vines and some tumbled down. At first I thought relatives of those killed in auto accidents may have placed them here but I don't see small shrines at the top of other hills or on blind curves so I decided they were placed there for some local spirit.

Karon has a very nice beach, especially the smaller beach just south of town. If I were coming back I would think about staying there, quiet and pretty. All the beaches I have seen on Phuket look much nicer than the beaches at Pattaya or Ko Samui. The sand has a nice quality to it, clean and white, with enough room for some space between the inevitable beach umbrellas and the water. Overall the beaches don't have the crowded feeling I got at Ko Samui and Pattaya.

Just as we cycled into downtown Pa Tong I heard a voice calling out, dimly heard in with the streets sounds. Just about the time the sound caught my active attention and surfaced to my consciousness I spotted Jerry emerging from the crowd on the opposite side of the street. We stopped and had a nice chat with Jerry who had arrived in town earlier that morning. I enjoyed seeing him again and briefly compare notes about our experiences over the past few days.

Nov 20, Pa tong, rest day

I finally went for a swim at a Thai beach. I got up early today, just before sunrise and walked the two blocks to the beach in the early morning light. In the early morning I could see a last few revelers from the night before making their way home with beer bottles in their hand or a somehow fresh looking little Thai lady on their arm. Pa tong looks like the type of resort at which youthful vigor goes on a most flagrant display every night.

The tide was out so I left my bag and shirt on the shore and walked about 20 meters before my feet got wet. I then started walking out in the water, as it slowly slowly became deeper. Finally, nearly 100 meters from the shore and my bag the water was just barely deep enough for swimming, if you didn't reach too far down with your arms. I swam a little in the warm water with occasional cool currents coming up from somewhere, I don't know where. Enough swimming for the day, I went back and dried off, returned to the hotel, showered, ate breakfast and enjoyed a nice little nap.

Refreshed I went for a short bike ride to a scenic overlook of the Andaman Sea. Normally I prefer to ride in the morning but my morning was occupied with swimming. And, it doesn't make a lot of difference here, morning or afternoon. It is a little hotter in the afternoon but the humidity is high at all times so even small exertions bring out drenching sweat, morning or afternoon. Climbing a hill exaggerates the whole situation because my body is generating a lot of heat and going slower so I get less cooling. At least I am motivated at the top of the hill to keep going and get some breeze across the body again. The scenic spot was pretty, like much of the ride getting here. I could see small white sand beaches on the other side of the bay and down the coast, each usually with a small resort just behind. The sea has a beautiful pastel quality that moves into deep blue as the water deepens. Alas, I forgot my camera so no pictures.

I went out around 9pm to see what Bangla Road looks like at the start of party time. I sort of attached myself to an older German couple I met at the hotel so I wouldn't feel so awkward walking this notorious street. The music blasts out of the discos and bars in waves, each bar competing for its sonic space with power and volume rather than quality. The street has all the iconic images one would expect of a notorious resort. The bars are filled with cute girls enticing men to come and spend, the ladyboys strut their artificial femininity seeking customers for their show, and the local peddlers try to sell various trinkets or chances to have a picture with a huge chameleon lizard on your shoulder. None of that surprised me but some things do seem oddly out of place. First, most of the front row tables at the drinking bars are filled with middle aged couples, politely sipping their beers and watching the parade. By 9pm the good seats were taken so I think many have been sitting and drinking for a couple hours to make sure they had a good view of the activity. Many other middle aged couples had not found seats and so were forced to walk the street, holding cameras up in the air to get a shot of the dancing or raucous merriment. The flare of flash bulbs going off and the humid air makes one think an electric storm is on the way but alas the rain never arrives to clear the air of smoke. Most out of place were the occasional Japanese or Korean tour groups following their guide through the street crowded with drunk young men and Thai bar girls returning from an assignation. I could almost hear the "heaay" and "ah so" exclamations of wonderment through the din. I eventually returned to my hotel where I had a window room on our street. The street mostly turns into a parking lot for motorbikes in the evening. For as long as I watched I saw a steady flow of couples heading toward the hotels up the road and single bar girls walking back for their next date. I guess if I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't really quite believe it, maybe because I have never been to Mardi Gras or another festival of pleasure. However, the professionalism of half the partiers here must distinguish this place from the grassroots festivals in New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, and Berlin.

Nov 21, Bangkok, 24.25 Miles, Avg=10.5mph

I tried to rise quietly so Jeffery could sleep but inevitably I woke him as I prepared to leave. In the end he decided to join me on the morning search for breakfast. At 6am we keep well away from the last few tottering drunks from the night before and watched the local Thai cleanup crews arriving for their task. Every morning these crews face the job of clearing the debris from Bangla Road then washing the street down and carrying away the refuse. At the same time trucks arrive to deliver another nights supply of beer and other supplies. Not many tourists see this part of Pa Tong but some besides crazy cyclists do. Yesterday morning and again today I have seen joggers and walkers out early running or walking on the beach. I saw the same thing at Ko Samui and Ko Phi Phi as well. Their presence points out that people have other reasons for coming here besides the partying. Some come to golf, others for the reportedly excellent diving. There is also kayaking to remote beaches and caverns, even overnight camping trips to small outer islands. If I return someday I may be able to do some of those activities. Although the diving is expensive. Lessons and a single dive package appears to sell for around 20,000 Baht, about $600. Of course, regulations in Thailand are pretty relaxed so you can probably get the gear and join a group for less even if you have no experience.

I had little difficulty finding my way to the airport. I did miss the cutoff to Thalang but readily found another so lost little time. My cutoff passed through local farms and small shops, away from the hustle of the main highways. It makes me think there must be more enjoyable roads than the ones I have traveled this trip. Perhaps the north less developed regions of Thailand need exploration.

I arrived at the airport in plenty of time. After a cold drink and some time to soak up the cool air I started disassembling my bike. I had bought a cheap woven bag in Pa tong for this purpose, the kind used by the local people for carrying large quantities of most anything. I put my seat and panniers and the soft less valuable gear in the bag, along with the seat, crank, and boom from my bike. I removed the derailleur and zip tied it to the frame so the hanger would not get bent, twisted the handlebars, deflated the tires and called the bike airplane ready. Apprehensively I approached the check-in station where they accepted it without problem. Alas I was 1 Kg overweight on the bag so had to pay a few dollars and they charged me 560 Baht ($15) for my bike. The whole process absorbed the attention of an elderly Thai man while he waited for his daughter to take care of tickets and other issues for he and his wife. He came over several times to look at the bike and watch me disassemble it with my small tool kit.

At Bangkok International my equipment arrived safely so I headed for the taxi stand. When I first arrived at the airport two weeks ago my bike was even smaller and inside a big bag so I was able to take a regular taxi with no questions raised. Now, seeing the bike, the attendant told me I had to take a bigger taxi, not on the meter, it would cost me 700 Baht instead of about 350. I didn't have the language skills to tell them that I could remove the rear wheel, fender, and rack so it would fit in the trunk of a taxi so in the end I just had to pay the extra fare. It could have been worse.