November 22, 2006
To Ao Leuk: Than Bok Khorani NP
We both slept well until about 1 O'clock. Our room does well in keeping noise out, the bathroom door is thick, the shower is open aired and there is a bar on the street behind the hotel that played Reggae type music until very late.
Today is supposed to be a short day so we are in no rush to get going, though we are on the road by 0650, late for us. We make it out of town the road becomes more rolling hills, there is a section with road construction. We have one official rest stop at a small shop and have a sports drink, croissants and cinnamon rolls that we bought at a bakery last night.
The stretch of road about 13 km from Ao Leuk there are many roadside stalls with large cooking ceramic jars and rows of chicken-orange colored chicken-on long spits roasting and turning over a fire--we both say at the same time, Tandoori Chicken!
We get to the Than Bok Khorani National Park Headquarters looking for a hotel that is to be next to it. After asking several people we finally see a man waving to us. We have to lift our bikes over a board about a foot off the ground through a gate. We seem to be entering the hotel area through the back door. Patrick checks out the bungalow and negotiates 50 baht off the 600 baht asking price. We buy two pepsi and are given a water "for the change" of the purchase of the drinks.
The room is nice, big enough to roll the bikes in fully loaded. We quickly shower and change and go to the visitor's center where Patrick gets a map of the park. The entry fee is 200bt (10x what the locals pay) for foreigners. We aren't too happy about that, but can understand the fee needs to be adjusted to what locals can pay.
We see a small portion of the Than Bok Khorani Park, most of the park is seacoast and islands. Near Ao Leuk, the park is a jungle forest between towering cliffs of karst mountains. At the end of the valley is a cave from which a stream flows. There are several small ponds, a stream and lots of pretty waterfalls. We swim in one of the deeper pools, take lots of pictures and visit a cave with a buddha figure and a "footprint" of buddha. We stay maybe an hour, not much for the steep entrance fee!
In the afternoon, Patrick cleans the bikes, we had a section of muddy road construction today and there are red mud clumps hanging off the bikes. We enjoy the AC in our room, the thunderclouds are not building very well today, and it is hot! Later, we discover that some other muzungus on a scooter have moved in and we run into them when returning from dinner. We all go have a beer together. Kirsten and Michael are from Germany, a village near Frankfurt and are in Thailand for three weeks mainly to climb rocks.
Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 1,784 km (1,108 miles)
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