December 2, 2006
To Pranchuap Khiri Than: Brother Monkey
We get up at 5:30, pack, eat our cornflakes and head out. It's still dark but we find our way back up to the main road and back into Bang Saphan.
At the 7-11, we buy a couple of prepackaged croissants and orange cake that end up surprisingly tasting pretty good. We find our way up the coast towards Ban Krut and further North. But somewhere we miss a junction, the road leads us back towards the "main" route 4. When we reach this road, we are still about 20km further South than expected.... this makes today a lot closer to 100km than to the 80's we were expecting.
We are in very good shape today though; we crank down the road up to 25km per hour. Traffic is not too busy; Route 4 has two lanes going each way with a wide median and shoulders. We see signs for "stop and go coffee" and six km further we have a great iced coffee mocha! After that we either have a tailwind, or the caffeine kicks in good!
We arrive in Prachuap K.K. at noon and go directly to the only hotel that seems decent, Hadthong Hotel. A nice room for 675 baht. The seaside rooms cost more so we pass on that. First, we clean up and go in search of the food market. We have another nice pad thai, find an ATM for more funds and do some shopping. It's then time to take advantage of the AC in our room for a while. At about three, we head out again to climb the stairs up to ta temple on a hill North of the city. We see monkey's swimming, even underwater. It's mostly the younger ones that are jumping off the rock and out of the trees into the water. Some of them even swim under water to elude each other. It's a hot climb up to the temple, but the views down the coast make it worthwhile. The temple itself needs some maintenance.
As we walk back people are setting up the night market stalls along the seaside boulevard. We eat some crab-on-a-stick but decide to have a seafood feast at a restaurant near our hotel later. First a nice cool swim at our hotel pool, with ocean views even. Then a meal: mussels, rice and seafood/shrimp and a beer on draught. Rachel goes for a foot massage instead of dessert. Patrick finds internet to answer emails and making plans on how to rendezvous with Krasin in Bangkok.
(Addendum: reading this in 2022 we marvel at how travel has changed...no longer traveler's checks to manage money when ATMs are everywhere. And the instant communication back home with emails. Though we still rely on LP guidebooks that also in the future changes with the internet)
Today's ride: 99 km (61 miles)
Total: 2,431 km (1,510 miles)
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