January 13, 2017
To Chao Lao Beach: Riding the beautiful coastal roads
I had been told that breakfast, included in my room rate, started at 6:00. I figured I should give them a buffer, and waited until 6:10 to go to the restaurant. The buffet was empty, and as I was checking the pans, someone came to me and said breakfast hadn't started yet. I asked when, and he pointed at the sign that said 6:00. Once we had established that it was past 6, he said "fried egg rice soup" and I said "yes". It took about 15 minutes to get the fried egg, which came with uncooked hot dogs and some other cold meat, and a salad smothered in mayonnaise. I ate the egg, and some toast, and was getting ready to leave, having given up on the rice soup thinking that it had been an "or" question, when he brought the rice soup (jok). It was a huge bowl! I ate about half of it, wondering what he thought about all of the left over food, checked out and hit the road. With the slow breakfast, it was already past 7.
I had a short ride on Sukhumvit Road before I was able to take a service road for a few kilometers, and then a parallel road on the north side. Since Thailand drives on the left, and I'm heading west, the entrance and exit to this road from the divided highway were a little awkward, and I ended up riding the shoulder against the flow of traffic, just like the motorbikes. That seemed the best way to do it, a thought that led to another thought, that maybe I've been in Thailand too long!
As soon as I was able, I headed south to the coast. Away from Sukhumvit Road, the traffic thinned out and slowed down. The scenery improved, and people started waving and shouting "hello" again.
I reached the coast at Laem Sing, which is a resort town. It is patronized primarily by local people. I had considered staying in Laem Sing tonight, but the booking sites showed many of the resorts as full, and the prices were inflated for the weekend for places that weren't full. It didn't seem very busy, and I'm sure I could have gotten a room if I had wanted one, but I had booked one about 15 km further down the road. I did detour off of the main road to look around the town.
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After I crossed the bridge that connects Laem Sing and Bang Kachai, I started looking for some refreshment. There weren't any shops readily apparent, but there were quite a few restaurants. I stopped at one, and the only cold drink they had was a large bottle of Pepsi. That wasn't what I wanted, so I went on to another one. This one had a regular size bottle of sprite, so I had that, and some fried rice with seafood for lunch. I've been in the habit of skipping lunch and having an early dinner, but this was well worth the stop, helping my energy and tasting good, too. The soft drink was listed on the menu as 35 baht, which is highway robbery, but I was only charged 15 baht, and that's with ice.
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There is a park before the next bridge, a natural area that is signposted several times before you reach it. As it came into sight, I was flagged down by another cyclist. It was Lars from Sweden. He is a retired doctor and has been biking in SE Asia for about 2 months, getting ready to fly home next week. He has been camping and eating from Tesco stores, so really doing it inexpensively. He laughed when I told him I had an air conditioned room booked for tonight.
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I'm at the Pleai ta lea Resort, 600 baht, breakfast included. It's fairly new and in good shape. It's about a kilometer from a beach, but close to a fishing pier. It seems to be a good deal.
Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 2,595 km (1,611 miles)
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