February 12, 2015
Two Routes to Ban Krut
Two Routes to Ban Krut
February 11, 2015
Maybe we could have continued on the dirt road right along the beach heading south out of Wanakorn National Park but squinting into its distance it looked as though it petered out. Fresh in our memories of having been led through wilderness by a dog the day before, we chose to play it safe. On our Pocket Earth map we could clearly see a road along the beach eventually but first we needed to go out to big Highway 4 to skirt the many dead end roads to the ocean. We rode out to Highway 4 on the main road through Wanakorn National Park. As we waved to the man at the gate and exited the park we noticed the confused look on his face. Nope, he hadn't seen us enter the park the day before but we clearly had spent the night and were leaving. We got to thinking that with a look like that on his face there must have been an entrance fee we avoided.
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Highway 4 is impersonal, noisy, busy, straight and frankly boring. It's the main highway in that part of Thailand, the narrow Isthmus of Kra, the only way by land for big buses and trucks. The good thing was that we were only going to have to be on it for a few miles.
In those few miles we came upon a restaurant, (truck/bus stop), featuring many pots and trays of delicious looking Thai curries, my favorite food. While eating we waved in a couple of passing bikers who were pulling their little boy in a trailer. Of course they were French. The French win all prizes when it comes to traveling in rough, third-world countries with young kids. I've always found the French to be true adventurers, passionate about living their lives to the fullest while on the road. We chatted a bit about our common destination for the day, Ban Krut. They were going to take the busy highway and we were going to search for small roads closer to the ocean. Comparing notes we learned they had traveled twice as far as we had in the same number of months. Searching for roads less traveled has been more interesting to us. Highway 4 was a perfect example right in front of us as we strained to hear each other. Without having to say a word Andrea and I wondered together what they had seen in their three months. We especially wondered what the three-year-old was getting out of it. A lot of busy (and dangerous) highways for sure and lots of miles and/or kilometers. But they all seemed very happy, so, who am I to judge what roads they should take? I've always tried to climb into other people's shoes in order to see more clearly their point of view but to do justice to this blog with its lofty title, I've tried even harder to see both sides. What I've learned in the process is that there are at least two sides to just about everything. In this case - two routes to Ban Krut.
When we turned off Highway 4, heading towards the beach, we hadn't gone more than 50 meters when suddenly we could hear amazing bird songs again. Lovely, mellow, Thai music slid out of shacks and seeped onto the road where we rode through them, people smiled, waved and greeted us, the breeze rustled palm fronds and my blood pressure lowered. Automatically I slowed our pace so we could absorb as much of the beauty surrounding us as we could. I've always wanted to hear a coconut fall to the ground but it would be pure chance to be in the right place at just the right time.
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In the midst of all this smiling and enjoying we came upon one of the cutest little train stations we've ever seen. We've noticed that most small rural rail stations in Thailand are adorable, maintained by volunteers in the surrounding area. The stations reflect a British sense of cuteness for some reason. They have many nice planters and plantings, little tchotchkes, lots of benches and everything clean and colorfully painted.
Passing the train station we were soon back on a beautiful road adjacent the beach. Again, like so many times on this trip, it felt as if we were a million miles from anywhere but then we would come upon a small community. Now, in the south of Thailand, we came upon a beach community, a pier, gorgeous beaches and a bunch of brightly painted fishing boats. People moved slowly in the heat and humidity but were super friendly as they have been throughout Thailand. The beach road was a delight to ride on and once again a smile was pasted on my face.
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There are a few things I brake for, trays and pots of curries for one, but this time the smell alone made my hands squeeze the brake handles automatically. I knew the aroma; battered, deep fried banana slices. I was at a standstill even before I had laid eyes on them but I knew they were somewhere. The woman frying the bananas saw me stop abruptly and then she must have read my mind because she started laughing. Thais are always quick to understand the joke and quick to laugh. They know human nature and they're also quick to laugh at themselves, all great attributes to possess and greater still that it seems to be attributes the entire society possesses. I saw that she had also been frying yams so I bought a bag of each and we rode out on a nearby pier to sample them while watching fishermen untangle nets. We overheard them speaking and recognized the language as Burmese. That confirmed suspicions we'd had for days that there sure were a lot of young Burmese looking men working in the south. It seems the Burmese are the laborers in Thailand much as Latinos are in the U.S.
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South of the pier, south of our consumption of fried things, there was more lovely riding along amazingly gorgeous beaches. We rode around a headland topped with an enormous Buddha statue and a rather modern and new looking temple, over a waterway and there we entered the beach community of Ban Krut. Every Thai person we'd previously mentioned Ban Krut to had simply said, "Oh, Ban Krut. Very beautiful." The local resort and guest house owners knew it as well and had raised their prices accordingly. Most had no vacancies but we couldn't afford them anyway.
During our search for a place to stay we ran into the French family we'd met out on the big highway. They were surprised we'd arrived in Ban Krut first. I guess they thought the fastest and most direct way would be the highway but as it turned out the highway turned pretty far inland at that point which meant that they had done more miles than we had. Certainly the most scenic was along the ocean. I don't really understand why anyone would ever choose a busy highway if there was a good alternative. And, in such a place on this earth as Thailand, one should never be in a hurry. But it seems that even not in a hurry we somehow arrived before they did. It didn't matter one bit to any of us and we talked about the unavailability of affordable accommodation.
The French couple were eyeing up the temple on the hill as a place to seek some goodwill. We wished them well knowing that most likely they would again be on the road at daybreak. We weren't wanting to breeze through Ban Krut quite so quickly. We eventually found a nice bungalow which was affordable to us if we committed to two nights. Perfect. After only briefly seeing the area I could already tell we would have fun exploring (and swimming) Ban Krut and our rest day would be jam packed.
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We settled into our bungalow at Coconut Garden Bungalows a few hundred meters from the beach (another reason we could afford it). Looking out our windows all we could see were coconut palms curving upwards. I waited for a coconut to fall. Birdsong was again a treat after crashing wavesong the night before.
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We walked leisurely in the waning light and bath-water-temperature-air down our long driveway towards the beach. We found a small, clean restaurant where we ate wonderfully fresh seafood swimming in tantalizing curries. Ubiquitous aromatic Thai jasmine rice was for underneath the seafood. What a life! Many times on this trip I've felt as though I'm living the life of a king. Nibbling on a shrimp I asked Andrea, "Well, Mrs. King, how do you feel about this place?"
lovebruce
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