Haha, that title rocks, doesn't it?! Well, more about that later.
No post yesterday. That's because there was not that much to say about yesterday. It was a bit a "routine" day. Much of the journey from Khlong Phon to Krabi was on the main road no 4, a big road all the way through the south of Thailand. It's not too busy most of the time luckily, so it's not as bad as some of the highways we had before in Malaysia, but still less enjoyable than the small rural roads. Once closer to Krabi we were able to leave the big road behind us and go into first dirt road, then smaller roads towards Krabi town.
There was one nice surprise however: a few 100m after we left the no 4, we stumbled upon a... elephant hospital! It was open to visitors, so we took a look, really nice to see how they take care of these gentle giants.
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| Taking care of a big guy in the hospital, with a bad infection on the right back lower leg |
We decided to stay in Krabi town rather than any of the very touristy beach resort areas, which was a good decision. Krabi is a pretty nice town, nice to roam around, visit a beautiful temple, enjoy food at a nice outdoor night market (although this night market is definitely a tourist trap, with prices as high as in regular restaurants and nearly only tourists around, surely not an authentic Thai experience...).
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| Limestone towers, palm (on the left) and rubber plantation (on the right); the passing car is also loaded with rubber lumps |
Today was another story however. It was absolutely wonderful again!!! The first 20km were still on a busy 4-lane road, but the scenery was stunning. Still the limestone rocks, but now more of them, and towering much higher. Later the road was smaller and much quieter, and the scenery became even more spectacular - for most of the rest of the ride.
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| A happy cyclist |
Ellen had also found out about a place called - here it comes - Tha Pom Khlong Song Nam. This is "a refreshing dose of natural beauty that’s far off the usual tourist trail" as Travelfish calls it. A super clear stream comes out of the forest and mixes with sea water at high tide, which makes for a special ecosystem with banyan and mangrove trees. Where the waters mix, it becomes a beautiful emerald. Spectacular, impressive, special, magical; we had not seen anything like this before. After a walk on the boardwalk, I jumped in the fresh water in the designated area, and all refreshed we got back on the road.
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| Clear fresh water stream, tempting to dive in! |
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| Wow |
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| Roots and leaves, exposed during low tide, submerged at high tide. |
The road continued to surprise because of the beautiful scenery, and after 84km of mostly great cycling we arrived in the town of Thap Put. Never heard of it? Well, that's perfectly normal, neither had we and there's nothing much here. Still we were able to find a nice guest house, enjoy a short walk around, and had a great dinner. Just a few tables outside, excellent som tam and laab kai, with an ice cold beer - while Thai music was blaring out of the speakers, hundreds of birds were chirping overhead and the traffic roared on the street next to us. And you know what: all this made it really great, because it is authentic and real (and the food was excellent).
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| Pineapple, palm and limestone |
Talking of authentic and real, it's so interesting to experience how people are while you ride these distances. It's well known, but still so noticeable, that people in rural areas are much friendlier than those in busier areas. They spontaneously often say hello, give you a genuinely friendly and happy smile, pay attention to cyclists (!), are in general more relaxed and peaceful. Their counterparts in the busy areas are too stressed I guess, busy making things happen, making money, competing for the sweet tourist dollar? Of course you can't generalise, there are lots of exceptions in both directions, yet it makes you think how the pace and pressure of today's life influences people's behaviour.
OK, enough for today, tomorrow another 80 or so km planned, on small roads and supposedly through great nature!
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| Wildlife in Tha Pom Khlong Song Nam |
Ciao