Meet them at the door laughing

January 9, 2023

Bang Saphan to Pak Khlong

Dear little friends,

While the constant wind from the northeast has been our friend and pushed us southward with epic and heroic speeds previously unknown to our usual trudging pace, it has also churned up otherwise beautiful beaches into sand-smutty waves and assorted washed up debris fields. The overcast skies weren’t helping us feel the allure of Bang Saphan. We bade farewell to the various cleancut Navy personnel having some sort of conference at our lackluster hotel and cleared out.

On the way to the town of Bang Saphan, where we remembered a wonderful bakery from eight years ago, we passed the other guesthouse I had earmarked and it was garden-y and adorable and I had that oopsie feeling that you get sometimes on a trip. We shoulda stayed there instead. But we didn’t and now we’re leaving but it’s gray and windy and no reason to stick around, let’s go have coffee and breakfast at the Sweet Home Bakery!

Last time we were in Bang Saphan town, it was crawling with western foreigners that all seemed to live there and hang out together at the Sweet Home. It is otherwise a very typical workaday Thai town, and on a cloudy day these towns do not retain much charm. In the tropics even new buildings get black mold on the walls which can be pretty dispiriting even if they are ringed with potted plants and whatnot.

We spotted a farm store with seed packets on display and stopped to check out the offerings. Then on to Sweet Home!

There’s a Sweet Home, Oregon, that is not all that sweet or appealing, unfortunately. And when we landed at the bakery it was half the size it had been last time with only two tables to sit at, both of which were covered in unwelcoming piles of eggs and other items. Glum. So. Moving on. That’s the wonderful thing! We’re on bikes! We can move on!

Since we hadn’t had breakfast yet we stopped at a little tray food restaurant and then headed to the other end of the long, long Bang Saphan beach, where there are tons of resorts. It was going to be a short day, only 12 miles or so. But once again, a cloudy windy day can sort of mess with your mind when your vision was of something more lighthearted and vacation-y.

The government had this project of making civet cat coffee which we scoffed at. Every time we have encountered civet cat coffee the price is sky high. So we scoff at the thought. How would we even know if it was civet cat coffee? Are our taste buds attuned to detect something that is supposed to be the best of the best coffee? No.

Australian pine needles covering the bike lane.

This is a different kind of crab than we featured previously. It's a bigger crab and makes similar sand balls but they are made by scraping the sand. Very different from the tiny crab's technique of sand ball rolling.

There is a sand dune that for some reason the Thais think is something amazing. I guess there are not very many sand dunes in Thailand.

This is the famous sand dune. They even have a light on it at night!

I love this cabin near the beach, especially the stairs leading to it.

The area full of resorts was in complete pandemic regression as far as we could tell. Absolutely deserted and with some pretty funky neighbors. Sometimes there is a painful divide between resorts and the villages where they are situated and this was one of those places. You can post all the slick well-lit photos you want on Google Maps but the whole area seemed dismal to us. We stopped and had two kinds of iced tea to discuss our options. The wind blew disconsolately and rattled the sad beach decor that promised so much fun.

I've always had a weird thing with 11:11 so I thought I'd take a photo of our mileage when we stopped for Thai iced tea.

Bruce was willing to take advice about perking up.

Still fairly perky despite a chilly gray wind wailing down the beach.

Matcha and a Cha Yen, icing the perkiness.

It reminded us of a deserted vacation area on the coast of Vietnam where empty hammocks swung in the pouring rain like a beach hosting unmoored souls of boring dead people. I thought we should at least stop and inquire at the two resorts I’d marked. There was obviously nobody staying there, they couldn’t be charging what Agoda said they would charge. Oh, wait, guess what? They were charging even more and just sneered at our counteroffer. So. Moving on. That’s the wonderful thing! We’re on bikes! We can move on!

Free as birds we moved on down the highway. I had sort of set my mind on a 12 mile day, I’d even stopped my GPS routing at the coffee shop. But I restarted it and rerouted my mindset while I was at it.

The sun was starting to come out of the haze as we rounded another cape and climbed the hill and saw the giant Buddha that was still under construction 8 years ago at Wat Kaeo Prasert. If you’re up for it, it has a great view of some offshore islands but we were on the move and kept going. The Buddha’s now-completed face seemed friendly and forgiving of us just passing him by.

Big Buddha at this temple is looking out to sea.

This is the wat (temple) with the big Buddha.

We turned onto a main road and in a rest structure we were surprised to find three cyclists. We never got their names but we had a wonderful talk with them. The man on the left was from France and the couple were from Belgium. All three of them had ridden from Europe! The couple met the Frenchman in Croatia and then they met him again this very day! They were all in celebration mode as the photo suggests. Wonderful young people always make me feel more alive. They were quite inspiring.

The afternoon was waning, a bit later than I like to be out riding but we had some guesthouses marked. The road outside of Pak Khlong is being widened and the usual red dirt, dust, mud, noise was happening near those two places. There was a little sign showing something else, all in Thai of course but I deciphered “Resort” so we went down the sandy dirt driveway to a lovely collection of buildings shaded by tall oil palms and garden trees.

It was pretty quiet but some guests told us the owners weren’t there, although they called somebody for us and she told us a room would be 800 baht. Fine. We were let into a room, dumped our panniers, let’s go eat.

The driveway to Samit Resort and Homestay which was in the middle of an oil palm plantation. We had never stayed in the middle of oil palms before. Once they are as tall as these were they are beautiful. When they are young they take up all the space with their fronds and the feeling is totally different.

On the grounds of Samit Resort and Homestay.

These are the fruit of the oil palms and where the oil comes from.

The little pods that have fallen out on the ground is where the oil is. They are put in a press and the oil is squeezed out of them.

A nice seafood restaurant called Chomlay was very close by on the beach side of the road so we headed for that. We were met there by a serious man who spoke very little English but asked whether we wanted food or accommodation. Accommodation? There, over to the right, were several sweet cottages on the seaside slope with balconies and remarkable views of the water, the beach, and off in the distance that unbegrudging Buddha head we passed miles before.

Well, we were expected back at the deserted palm oil garden place. We ate some incredible seafood that was also incredibly reasonably priced. We told the owner we might come back tomorrow. He didn’t speak English but was extremely skilled at using his translation app. Sweeping his arm to indicate the scene he spoke into his phone and his phone told us in a congenial woman’s voice, “The atmosphere is very pleasant here.” And indeed it was.

Our first experience of Chomlay Restaurant. What a view! What a place! He doesn't advertise them for some reason but he also had amazing bungalows for rent as seen on the hill behind Andrea.

The owner of Chomlay Restaurant was very particular about pouring beer so that there was no head on it.

Dinner with atmosphere, at Chomlay Restaurant (and surreptitious bungalows).

Rolling back into the palm oil resort we were greeted by a jolly group of women, one of whom laughed and asked, “Where you go?!” We told her Chomloy Restaurant and they all murmured to each other, ah yes, Chomloy. Very good. Good atmosphere.

I liked them and liked this resort but there was a little problem with this place and I hesitate to even mention it because it really was a great place and the people there were so nice. Okay, I’m going to mention it and not keep you hanging. The bed. The bed was the hardest bed of all time and we’ve slept on some pretty hard beds on this trip. So many hard beds. So many that when we stay at a comfy bed hotel I am sure to mention the comfy bed in my review. Holy crap that bed was hard. We pulled out sleeping bags and pillows to aid in our comfy-ness but to no avail, it was awful and I didn’t sleep and the laughing ladies were up very late laughing together and then they left all the outside lights on which the sheer-ish curtains did nothing to dissipate.

See, I’m not going to write a review of this place, I liked it too much so I remain silent but be warned, don’t stay there unless you like sleeping on a slab of wood.

Our room at Samit Resort and Homestay had a very modern bathroom.

Our bed drove us nuts because we kept thinking our charge cords were lying around on it.

Outside our room at Samit Resort and Homestay was this enormous slab wood table. It was very tight grain tropical wood that weighed A LOT. This table must have weighed more than 1000 pounds (455 Kilos).

In the morning I woke up bleary and cranky. Outside the sun lit everything green and vivid, the birds were singing like mad in their shady palm paradise and the road machines hadn’t gotten started yet with their racket and it was a simply gorgeous morning. The group of ladies were in fine form, all wearing matching tie-dye tee shirts and laughing, gesturing at us to come over for breakfast. We had no idea breakfast was included but we sure weren’t going to turn them down after our hard bed night. The owner (also in a tie-dye shirt) pulled in on a motorbike with a bag with two pieces of fried chicken hanging from the handlebars and plopped them down in front of us in the apparent notion that the scads of food on the table wouldn’t possibly feed the hungry cyclists so she’d better roll on into the village and get us two pieces of fried chicken.

The jolly tie-dye crew. The gal with the tan hat is the owner.

We ate at our table and the laughing ladies (maybe a sisters/classmates weekend reunion?) chattered and ate at their table and I turned over one of the huge pieces of chicken to them and it was all merriment and group selfies and I had no hard feelings about the hard bed. So. Moving on. That’s the wonderful thing! We’re on bikes! We can move on!

And so we did. But we didn’t move on very far.

Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 968 miles (1,558 km)

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Karen CullenI had to laugh at the 11:11 reference. Blast from the past!
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1 year ago

Bruce LellmanTo Karen CullenYes, it started in college but 11:11 has followed me all my life in weird ways. I once got a parking ticket and the time the officer put was 11:11. I guess he was a very precise officer. I was with my mother when she died and my eyes happened to glance at the digital clock by her bed. She passed away at 11:11! And there have been lots of other things too. Coincidence? Probably, but a strange coincidence.
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1 year ago