The reason we rode to Thap Put yesterday and stayed there, was so we could continue to Khao Sok national park today, it nicely broke the journey in two. This meant 2 days of 80-90km, which is manageable. When we left this morning, it was really cool, but we did have some headwind from the start and the terrain was also a bit undulating. So it was a bit heavier riding than most of the other days so far.
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| A very nice break at Wat Rat Upatham in the early morning |
After less than an hour we reached Wat Rat Upatham, a well known Buddhist temple and definitely worth a stop. So our mid-morning stop today was an early morning stop, but what a nice place this was! There is also another temple with chedi on the hill next to where we were, but we did not feel like doing that extra effort. So we spend some time at the wat, had our coffee and some fresh fruits, and then continued.
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| One of the temple buildings |
The road today was a nice small regional road most of the day, with very light and slow traffic, mountains left and right, greenery everywhere and small villages. It was fantastic cycling, the kind of cycling that you imagine you will be doing when you set off on a cycling trip like ours. We reminded ourselves several times that this is what why we're doing this! So beautiful, green, peaceful, friendly, and challenging but not too hard.
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| One of the steeper parts today, at 8% it becomes really though to get there. But: the only way is up, baby! |
The second part of the ride was on the road towards the national park, and once again we were surrounded by impressive mountains and nature, it seems it is always different, special, and just continues to be fascinating. It was a gray day, the temperature probably staying below 30 the whole day, very pleasant. We did not immediately find lunch today, so we settled for some deep fried chicken and sticky rice from a local market, never mind, it's all nice when you're hungry!
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| Simple lunch at the roadside market: deep fried chicken and sticky rice |
Now, in Khao Sok, we have a nice little chalet in a palm plantation just outside the park, and despite New Year's Eve it's pretty quiet and peaceful here. We'll be staying here for 2 nights and rest a little tomorrow, because since last Monday we have covered a lot of distance (roughly 470km) and we need a "day off". So tomorrow we'll sleep long (meaning: we won't get up at 6am), go for some easy hiking in the park, enjoy the food and just relax!
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| A typical example of today's scenery |
Happy new year to everyone, may 2017 be a great year for you, try to make time for the people that are important to you and for your dreams, and maybe a suggestion for your New Years resolution: what can you do to reduce your impact on the planet? Eat less meat (especially beef)? Use less plastic? Buy local products? Use your bicycle more instead of driving the car? You can find many ideas online, here is just an
example. Good luck finding YOUR contribution(s)!
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| And more scenery |