Yesterday, the plan was clear: get from Huai Yang to Sam Roi Yot and meet up with Ron and Martha, hash friends from KL. They have a house there, are there on holiday (but returning to KL in 2 days) and invited us to stay with them for a few days. And so we happily went, knowing it would be a day of at least 90km. We started by going through Had Wanakon national park - or at least, with that intention. The map showed a clear road through the park, but once we got there, the road was just a dirt road and it was inundated. Never mind, 2 ladies at the park edge showed us another way to cycle through the park, on a nice single track first along the beach, then into the park. It was really nice indeed, yet once we came to the main entrance road going to the headquarters, we had to decide not to continue through the park as the path was becoming too difficult. So we went back onto highway no4 for some kms.
 |
| Getting ready to leave the Pilton, our "resort" for 1 night |
After a little while we were able to turn into smaller roads again, no traffic, fantastic cycling in beautiful scenery, until we came to a bridge - or rather, a gap in the road where there used to be a bridge until a few days ago. The consequences of the storm are definitely still not over! So, another detour, back to highway no4 until the next opportunity to leave it. The highway is not that bad to ride on, but definitely much less preferable than the smaller roads... With this, as a second detour, we knew our day would become at least 100km. Spoiler alert: we did 110km in the end, our longest day so far.
 |
| A bridge too far: still encountering the consequences of the rains |
The rest of the day was absolutely wonderful though. Very quiet roads with hardly any traffic, fantastic scenery, beaches, the ocean calmed down and got back to beautiful blue, pineapple plantations (forgot to make photos of these, huge pineapple fields, never seen that before), palm trees and coconuts, fishing villages - and still a lot of water everywhere but mostly not such ravages anymore.
 |
| Wonderful cycling on rural roads without traffic |
We also cycled through a military base in Ao Manao. The road (3167) passes through the base, and you can go through. We even crossed an airstrip! Weird place. But it's at the coast, with a beautiful beach (Ao Manao), and as I read on another's blog, this must be one of the best military bases in the world to be based at. After Ao Manao we got to Prachuap Khiri Khan, the provincial capital - although it's a small, quiet city. We didn't spend any time in Prachuap, but it felt like an exceptionally nice town, good vibes, at the ocean, surrounded by some pretty hills, pleasant streets and buildings, inviting restaurants and bars, ... It does not happen very often that a Thai town of that size is really appealing. To remember...
 |
| In Prachuap Khiri Khan, we saw strange white-ish things floating on the water. When we saw one such sea monster from closer by, we realised these were heaps of plastics, caught in some kind of plastic catchers! Congratulations Prachuap and hopefully this is an initiative that works, is well followed up, and copied by others! |
 |
| Riding through Sam Roi Yot, with my favourite shortcut of the day |
We continued our long journey, bought a pineapple straight from the field (now that's perfect wrt carbon footprint!) and ate it at the beach (and it was soooooo good!), and then we came to Sam Roi Yot. This is a national park, supposed to protect some mountains and wetland area, but apparently much of the wetlands has been converted (illegally I guess) into shrimp farms. Nevertheless, the area is incredibly beautiful and great to cycle through.
 |
| Almost there, what a stunning scenery! |
 |
| More of that scenery |
 |
| 110km but going strong and happy! |
So, after a long day of mostly great cycling on flat roads with the wind in our back, we arrived at Ron and Martha's place late afternoon, with 110km in our legs but feeling great! We had a great welcome (and wow, that cheese and chorizo, yummy!!!), enjoyed the super company, the swimming pool, the dinner, the full moon, and now the morning coffee at the pool side. Thank you Ron and Martha for having us, it's fantastic!
 |
| Early morning view of Ron and Martha's place... |
 |
| It's a small village, still some flood water, but beautiful blue sky now |