We’d been told that the national park south of us wasn’t even a hill by some fellow tandemers, who shall remain nameless, so after a lovely couple of days relaxing for my Birthday, we merrily tried to cycle up an 18% “not-a-hill” and did what a Corporation would call, “an involuntary dismount” or as a football crowd would much more honestly chant “He fell over!”
We were fine going down the not-a-hill before the up bit, but that was too steep, too soon and I failed to get the right gear quickly enough and we went over sideways and missed the concrete crash barrier by a millimeter. Ironically I’d have really cracked my head if I had a helmet on, but was absolutely unscathed without. Take that Evangelical Helmetologists… 😉
Linda on the other hand had a nasty cut to her hand and knee and a large lump appeared too. We broke out the ice from the fridge – see …always have a fridge on a tandem – and the swelling vanished surprisingly quickly and we were able to plod on.
We fall off every 20,000km it would appear, and its usually to do with a hill and the wrong gear. There’s two options, practice on hills more – which got zero votes in our poll – and find a flatter route – which won in a landslide. Though in both cases of Involuntary dismounts the hill was so steep we couldn’t have pedaled up it anyway so it’s probably more to do with not recognising a Get off and push moment than the wrong gear.
We know we are wimps on hills but reassuringly this year we met one of the fittest tandem guys we’ve ever met – think stick on steroids with the looks of a supermodel, voice as smooth as honey and a charm that melts (all Linda’s words) and he said “Anything over 8% is a get off and push” He’s my hero now.
Anyway, after Tilly’s topple, we stopped at a wonderful cafe for coffee and cake and time to recover, purely medicinal you understand. Most coffee shops don’t do food for some reason, just drinks, so this was a nice treat and we then had a gorgeous track and back lane cycle through some quiet almost deserted palm oil plantations until we arrived at a town that seemed to be made up entirely of schools and a temple. It was break time so every child who saw us waved and shouted Hello and we thoroughly enjoyed cycling through such a happy bunch of children. But not actually through them you understand..!
The weather had, at least according to the forecast, taken a turn for the worse and we had wall to wall rain forecast for the next 10 days. So, we made an early start to allow for numerous stops to hide from the rain but in true weather forecast failure that happens everywhere, apart from a couple of showers, the weather turned out to be fine for the first few days.
We have had some fabulous cycles on tracks and dirt roads along with tiny country lanes and it’s been glorious. No cars, just us and the birds for hundred of Kms. We pass people who all shout “Hello” and the odd moped crawls along with often a bewildered toothless pensioner grinning at us. It’s heavenly.
We stopped at Nakhon for a night to buy a replacement mirror for our one that got broken in the Keel Over, which immediately fell to bits the moment we put it on and this actually sums up a lot of Thailand. Almost all the hotel rooms we’ve stayed in are really nice and many are quite modern. But they all seem to have been bought at Ali Express or eBay. The taps always turn around full circle in the sinks, the sinks leak, the smell traps leak. The showers leak. The windows never ever fit properly and furniture is often damaged and falling to bits. But the Aircon always works and the bed, when it’s not a slab of concrete is always comfy and clean which is the main thing.
They’re not unpleasant, in fact they’re quite nice and perfectly ok to stay in. It’s just they are so cheaply done.
Nakhon had an Indian restaurant that got rave reviews so in the evening we headed out from our ‘Boutique Hotel’ – which Linda said was more like a prison cell and found the restaurant closed.
This is another constant problem here. People seem to open a cafe in their front room or garden, it goes on Google, then they cease trading. So when we pick cafes to stop at en route about half the time they’re gone.
There’s plenty of places to get coffee and a drink in the road side shacks but we like to aim for somewhere with air con to just cool down a bit. It’s getting so hot that it’s almost essential to do this. If you can’t you just seem to get hotter and hotter.
I cannot believe how much I sweat and Linda doesn’t even ‘perspire’.. I drip constantly 2 or 3 times a second, just like a Thai Plumbers handywork and at the end of the day I am so thirsty and drinking is just sensationally good!
Anyway, back to the Indian that was closed. We had a plan B – you need a plan B and often plan C too – and headed to ‘Rice’ a strangely named Italian restaurant that served one of the best pizzas I’ve had anywhere. Amazingly good in a classy sophisticated restaurant that wouldn’t have been out of place in the west end.
When we moved on the next day we were surrounded by dark threatening clouds but managed to get back to the coast hiding in shelters very occasionally to avoid the showers. We even had to put sunny on! Glad to see the forecast here is as reliable as the UK!
I’ve actually been struggling over the last few rides and by the time we got to our hotel on the beach I was totally knackered. Sometimes you just need a day off, but I think in hindsight it wasnt that at all. On my birthday I got savaged by an ant – some of the little buggers aren’t very little – and I somehow got one trapped under my arm and he went to town on me leaving me with about 50 bites on my arm and chest. They’ve not been too bad, but they have coincided with my exhaustion and as they’ve healed I’ve begun to get my mojo back. Coincidence? Who knows, but probably best to avoid being savaged by an ant in future.
This is also an area where the scouts do a lot of walking and we’ve passed lots of scouts (boys and girls) walking with sticks like pilgrims who wave and cheer us as we glide by. We even passed the same lot the following day and one young fellow gave us a very loud and boisterous welcome complete with dance!
Finally we made it to Songkhla dry but that’s where our luck ran out! Songkhla has an old town and we decided – very fortuitously as it turned out – to cycle around it when we arrived in town, stopping at some of the street art and shops to have a look about and obviously enjoy a cake and a coffee.
Our hotel was a strange one. The bathroom with it’s blingy gold tiles and roll top slipper bath could have come from the Ritz and the bedroom was a standard plain but functional one.
We went back into town for dinner and had very big smug looks on our faces when we chose to sit inside (air con and no mossies) while others sat in the lovely garden when the heavens opened and within seconds they were drenched… obviously we’ve sussed the weather pattern here more than they had!
We left Songkhla the next morning in a very brief window of dark cloud and no rain and got about 10km of a short 30km day and again it tipped it down. We sat in a bus shelter for a couple of hours watching the cars crawl past and very brave souls on mopeds splash though the puddles whilst carrying an umbrella and were mightily glad we’d invested in some 30p plastic kagools from 7-Eleven. We’ve brought our top quality waterproofs with us, but they’re pointless as you sweat more in them than it keeps you dry and our cheapy Kagools seem to work better.. In the end it took us 6 hours to do a less than 2 hour cycle, with the rest of the time in various shelters and cafes.
With similar weather forecast for the next day we decided to hole up in Hat Yai and it rained all day with the odd 5 minute dry spell to get everyone back out on the street so the weather could soak them once more. Sneaky bugger that weather, but we did manage to dash across the street to the self service laundry which our daily self washed clothes were very grateful of.
And then on a drier morning, we pedaled onto the border town of Pedang Besar and approached the border quite glad to be leaving. We really enjoyed Thailand but feeling ready for a change…. as a veggie (fussy veggie too) the food has been difficult if you don’t want fried rice or Pad Thai and you get fed up looking at menu after menu trying to find somewhere that does something else. Meat and fish are huge in Thailand and veggies are a rare breed, though there are a few veggie restaurants that we have enjoyed.
The people, the sights and countryside have been absolutely fabulous, the cycling gorgeous and the accomodation good too. So overall it’s been an excellent 2 months.
Finally at the border we met a fellow tourer coming the other way. He told us he hated Malaysia, the roads, the noise, the lack of wild camping and the heat and humidity.
Oh dear, that’s where we head next…
The “off” doesn’t sound much fun. Like the description of Captain failing to hit the right gear quickly enough. Hope all now fully repaired. Not good about the giant ant either.