February 10, 2015
Bending with the Wind
Prachuap Kiri-Khan, Thailand to Wanakorn National Park - 40 Miles
Bending with the Wind
I envisioned a nice little road along the coast most of the day. I certainly never dreamed a dog would end up leading us through a thick forest. But that’s what happened and to tell you the truth, I’m not all that surprised by anything anymore. This trip has led us on unexpected adventures and, now a dog helping us!
Reluctantly we left Prachuap Kiri-Khan, one of the nicest little towns I know of in Thailand. It has everything one might expect from a laid back seaside town plus everything a vibrant Thai town has to offer as well. Besides the natural beauty of the long sweeping arc of gorgeous white sand beach that continues well beyond the town itself on each end, Prachuap also has food throughout. Wow does Prachuap have food. Everywhere we went there were big restaurants, tiny restaurants, food carts, markets, street vendors, special weekend markets and every night markets. If any town in the United States had as much food happening it would be written up in every magazine and most newspapers in the country. It would be known as the food capital of the nation. But here in Thailand the scene in Prachuap wouldn’t be considered out of the ordinary by any Thai. We wanted to stay longer just to try more food. Because it’s also a fishing community there are many traditional fish dishes that were new to us since we just arrived in the south where all the seafood is fresh.
After stuffing ourselves for three days we rode south out of town directly through an air force base, “Wing 5”, of the Royal Thai Air Force. They allow anyone to use their road which crosses two airplane runways, passes lots of 1960’s style housing, a golf course and two beautiful beaches. All we needed to do before riding through the base was sign in.
The air force guys are nice enough about letting anyone drive through their base but don’t try to sunbathe or swim at either of their immaculate beaches. On December 8, 1941 the Japanese invaded Thailand on the eastward facing beach. The Thais held them off until some sort of armistice was reached. Typical of the bending-with-the-wind Thais, they allowed the Japanese to cross Thailand but not take total control of it. The Japanese objective was the British and their empire. The independent Thais just wanted self preservation. It’s funny how after 73 years the Thais are still sensitive about that particular stretch of sand. The guys on the base regularly clean it but they sure don’t let anyone on it.
It’s hard to tell exactly where the air force base ends and the beach town of Ao Manao begins but once the beach is littered with umbrellas, beach chairs and litter it’s safe to say the air base’s jurisdiction has ended.
Then the coast line went like this: Gorgeous white sand beach curving half moon-like outlining a protected bay, steep small islands offshore, colorful fishing boats bobbing, blue-green water, coconut palms swaying, a small community mostly feeling very poor, fishy odors, a headland with a temple on top which we skirt at its base and then another curve of beach similar to the last one, desire to go swimming, amazement at the beauty, remembering the same air in Florida during my high school days and on and on. Each small community has it’s own personality, some with more interest in the fishing industry than tourism. Tourism is good but not like in other areas of Thailand where the water is clearer, the waves bigger and the coral reefs better for diving. The lack of major tourism is why we like it on the east coast of Thailand. It feels like a time warp of a ride we are on, like northern Florida circa 1968 in many ways. The time warp is so real feeling that I wonder when you all will get this posting.
We rode around in the humid air with smiles on our faces. We came across an aquarium that felt deserted so we paid our less than a dollar each admission to see what creatures they had confined to murky waters. It too felt like an aquarium from another era. There was a lot of fake coral that looked as if it had been painted by elementary school children in art class. Middle schoolers must have been in charge of the exhibits such as “A Walk Through a Rain Forest”. But maybe the dust and disrepair had something to do with my impression. Because of the life size papier mache´ great white shark hanging over the main entrance area I figured high schoolers designed the building.
Although the cleaning of the glass of the tanks left something to be desired there were however some beautiful fish inside them. Most of the fish in each tank were represented with plaque names. We made up names for the rest; “Clown Face”, “Mr. Marciniak” (my eighth grade math teacher), “Silver Stripe,” “Blue Lightning Brown”, “Panicky” and “Swims-Too-Much”. I remember my brother catching some of the same species of fish when we were on a family vacation in Pompano Beach. He fished from a dock there and I’ve always wondered why he got to fish and I didn’t. The fish he pulled up were as exotic to me then as the fish in the aquarium still are.
The aquarium is a good thing for educating the public. It’s always good for everyone to see what swims in their waters. I wonder, though, just what the group of kids got from the experience as they squirreled through the place. Obviously a lot of money was spent building the complex but definitely more should be spent on maintenance. At 300 kilometers from Bangkok and basically in the middle of nowhere across from a long deserted beach, I question the decision of where to locate the aquarium. However it was a good first attempt and we enjoyed the diversion from the heat.
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Just south of the aquarium the road along the beach ended. We looked at the map and thought it would be no big deal to wend our way on roads not far from the beach and eventually come back to roads right along the beach. We quickly learned that what looked like a full fledged road on google maps was in reality anything from non-existent to at best a dirt/sand track. There were few houses and all seemed to have coconut palm plantations. There was a definite down and out feeling with trash surrounding the houses and dogs protecting. For the first time of our long trip we encountered dogs which were serious about making us leave.
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After many dead ends and disappointments of roads that didn’t exist as well as some gorgeous views of deserted beaches we found a paved road. It was as if no one had been on the road in years. We love roads like that. It was heading straight at the ocean and at a big south curve twi dogs acted as though they had been waiting for us. They were probably waiting for their fishermen owners to return from the sea but they acted as though we were just as good. They jumped at the opportunity to escort us.
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The road quickly turned to hard packed dirt and curved west, away from the ocean. Dirt in these parts is made up largely of tiny broken pieces of shells which crackle under taut rubber tires. As we crackled along the dogs ran ahead. We were entering wilderness forest/jungle - Wanakorn National Park.
The road went inland a mile or so and then swung south which meant it was paralleling the beach. It was a pretty solid dirt road so there were no complaints just wondering where it would lead us. We met up with a similar dirt road perpendicular to ours and since it headed towards the ocean, we took it.
The road eventually ended on top of a headland cliff. The views of the ocean and beaches were absolutely spectacular. There was a large area of recently and meticulously swept dirt under the trees, perfect for camping. We hadn’t planned on camping but we were certainly prepared to except for how low we were on water. We figured we would survive just fine and an opportunity to camp in such a spot should not be missed.
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There were two buildings; a toilet and a shack. I walked across the expanse of swept earth to see if there was by chance any water in one of the buildings. I was mostly concerned about the dogs and felt they needed water more than we did. As I passed the door to the shack I was a little bit shocked to see that there was a man lying on a rattan bed inside. It would have been fine if he had jumped up and come out to talk with us but he didn’t stir.
Then a dog, his dog, appeared out of nowhere and viciously attacked our female dog trapping her on the edge of the cliff. That got Andrea and me pretty mad and we threatened the attack dog with sticks and stones until she backed down. Our dog had been so loving and good that it upset us a great deal to see such a mean and aggressive attack. It reflected on the owner who had shifted positions on his bed but still didn’t come out to see what all the commotion was about.
We figured he must live there and be an employee of the park but some representative of a national park!! We were not getting good vibes. It was about the most beautiful place to camp I think I’ve ever found but we couldn’t bring ourselves to risk the unknown - paradise turning to Hell in the middle of the night. We also wanted to protect our dog as much as ourselves. She cowered next to us looking for protection. The guy inside the shack creeped us out so seriously that we decided we had to forego paradise this time.
Disappointed, we went back down the road away from the ocean away from one of the most spectacular campsites I’d ever seen, away from a bad dog and away from a guy who didn’t come out of the shadows. Our female dog continued with us but our male dog decided he’d like to stay and tame that wild thing back there.
When we came upon a dirt track heading south our dog seemed to act as though it was the way we should go. She led the way and seemed more excited to be rid of her male dog companion who was not as fast or in as good shape as she was. She ran fast sniffing briefly in each hole in the ground. Sometimes she would bound into the forest after some little animal. I was able to give up ‘snake watch’ for the first time of our trip which allowed me more time to concentrate on trying to ride on the quickly deteriorating trail. Trees and bushes closed in. Soon we were ducking and dodging. There were wash-outs, gullies and then a sharp downhill to a stream. The dog loved every minute of the adventure but especially the stream where she was finally able to get a drink. She looked happy and relaxed standing in midstream but we were seriously wondering what we had done. We didn’t know if the trail would get even worse or where it would lead us. Maybe it would just end! We didn’t know how far it was to the other side of the park or if there was even a road there. We were in the middle of a major jungle on loaded touring bikes - a little insane! But for some reason I had confidence in that dog. She seemed to be leading us somewhere and I was going with my hunch.
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At times the trail was on sandstone reminiscent of the Hellish sand trail that we rode in Cambodia. But this trail hadn’t been used much at all and the sandstone was still solid stone and hadn’t sloughed off into piles of sand. It was smooth riding.
It seemed as though the dog had adopted us and I thought about all the details of bringing a dog to Portland. I didn’t really want a dog but if she stuck with us through the jungle and then looked at us with big sad dog eyes I would melt and have to take her. I remembered a dog, Moto, in Burma in 2008 who wanted to come with us. He was the sweetest dog on earth and I still feel bad that I didn’t take Moto home. Was I in for yet another Moto experience? I could do it but I wondered if our cat would ever forgive us.
Eventually the trail got wider and then turned into a dirt road that had been used a long time ago. Shortly after that we followed the dog as she turned right and suddenly we could see an asphalt road ahead. That’s where the dog stopped. We went on to the asphalt road and looked back. The dog stood there looking at us for a minute and then turned around and slowly started walking back the way we had come. She really had been leading us through the jungle to the other side. It was kind of amazing but I really sensed she had been our guide.
Then I felt bad for her because she was probably going to return to where we had met her which was many miles back. It was both sad to see her go and good to know that she wouldn’t be with us the rest of our trip and then on to Portland. I don’t have to feel bad because she turned back on her own and no big sad dog eyes.
We followed the asphalt road towards the ocean once again and within minutes entered the park headquarters area where there were cabins for rent, tent sites, toilets, showers and even a restaurant! We were saved. We paid our fee of less than a dollar per person to camp and pitched our tent right next to the beach under a grove of pine trees. We swam and had a shower and then ate a nice meal. They even had ice cream. We sat at our picnic table licking Cornettos watching the lights on fishing boats move across the horizon. I wondered who or what guided them on the ocean at night or if they had to continually make adjustments - bending with the wind.
Lovebruce
Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 1,504 miles (2,420 km)
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