Day 57: Hat Banchuen - Trat - Frankie goes to.....Indochina

March 4, 2018

Day 57: Hat Banchuen - Trat

Routing: #3

Mostly sobering news for me over the last few days:

-Hans, an Austrian guy who spends the winters in Hat Banchuen, told me the roadworks on Hway 3 would continue all the way up to Trat

-Jan had talked in Siem Reap about a ferry that shall have picked up regular service between Pattaya and Hua Hin recently. This would of course be some of the best news ever for me, saving me all the Bangkok related traffic between the two mentioned cities. Plus giving me several days extra on the other side of the Gulf of Thailand while going down to Samui. There is indeed a daily ferry operated by Royal Passenger Liner but their website site says "folding bikes only". No answer when I used their contact form but one of the largest Asian ticketing platforms (12GoAsia) did answer and confirmed that only folding bikes will be taken. I am not sure how to deal with their suggestion "So we would recommend you change to other transportation instead." Like? Walking to Kuala Lumpur? I really have to sit down over the next few days and see whether I want this week of metropolitan madness or whether I do several 100s of kilometers extra by riding a huge hook around the capital.

-Jan again (why do all bad news have to be related to people living in Austria?) submitted the third mood-killer: The Thai Government has generously extended the Songkran period from 3 to 5 days. No way I am going to sit on a bicycle during this "water festival". I am still traumatized from my 2008 experiences. It is such a pest when people on the passing trucks/SUVs throw water bombs at you, often pimped up with ice cubes or water resistant colour. I don´t even want to think about cycling in that again! So I have to be stationary between April 13 - 18 and there is only one place for me to do that over such a long period - on Koh Samui with my Kiwi friend Geoff.

So to bring all of that to a decision: I have to ride my bike from here in Trat to Koh Samui over the next 40 days. The estimated 1500 km are no big deal at all, it´s just going to be a lot of unpleasant days until I will get off Hway 4 south of Hua Hin.

Back to the ride today, which started unpleasant too but fortunately Hans was not entirely right. The roadworks did finish after 35 km on the #3 and the last 20 km I had the typical wide shoulder that you will find on almost any Thai 1-digit Hway. On the way into town I got some more money before I rolled into the first hotel I saw on my left: The S.A. Hotel. Delighted with my ground floor fan room for 250 Baht. Worn but clean and spacious, four windows with fly sheets, excellent wifi, bike in the room without any discussions. One night at the excellent nightmarket here, than more beach and seafood at Laem Sing Beach tomorrow.... Life is good for cyclists in Thailand!

Hway 3 for the first 2 1/2 hours. Nowhere to escape...

....as they dug out the soil next to the very narrow shoulder which would make you drop up to a meter in case of emergency. Extremely demanding!

But then..... This is what #3 will look like all the way down to the Cambodian border soon

That´s one of the things I love most about Thailand. If you wish to have something else other than soups while cycling basically any restaurant will serve you such a perfectly sized portion. This one is called Pad Khapao Taleh (Thai basil with seafood) and is extremely delicious. Mind you anything red is chili. And chili is not used for decoration here...

I think I recently had too much time out in the heat and started hallucinating this afternoon. Silver bikes everywhere...

My room no. 14. Looks pretty much like sleeping in a bus station, doesn´t it? But I am honestly more than happy with my choice of the S.A. Hotel. Fan rooms are more than good enough, aircon ones would have been just 500 but I still try to avoid them as much as I can

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 4,420 km (2,745 miles)

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