August 18, 2017
Don Sak to Surat Thani: Hey You ! Hello ! Where You Go ?
"Hey You ! Hello ! Where You Go ?". If you hear this being shouted at you in rural Thailand you know that you are lost. We heard it a few times this morning.
The day started without any hitches. We were on the road at about six thirty and took the opportunity of getting off the main road within ten kilometers. We wandered through the country roads stopping to pick up some sticky rice and grilled chicken for breakfast. After stopping at a cross-road to buy a cold drink we carried on for a few kilometers only to hear the lady in my mobile phone blurting out those dreaded words - "recalculating the route". We had obviously missed a turn somewhere. I think we got lost when I stopped to take a picture of a Coppersmith Barbet sitting out in the open. This constant poop-poop-poop call that these birds make is one of the sounds of South East Asia but you normally don't see them because they hide in the greenery of medium sized trees so it was a surprise to see this one on a powerline.
The off-line navigation software in my phone uses Open Street Maps which has poor coverage of southern Thailand and so the lady in the phone now thought we were miles from any real road. Then we started hearing the locals call out to us. When we said "Surat Thani" they either gave us the thumbs up or pointed in the opposite direction. Eventually after about thirty five kilometers we arrived back onto the main road - not really what we wanted to do - and pushed on into the headwind which had been blowing all morning. A quick stop for a piece of watermelon from a mobile vending cart, a detour due to roadworks as we entered Surat Thani and we ended up at our digs with only about six more kilometers traveled than we had envisaged when we started out from Don Sak.
Our digs for the night, Papangkorn House, is hidden in a back street and must survive on its reputation because there is no way that anyone will stumble upon it. At 490 baht it is excellent value - clean, organized and a nice large room. No English spoken but that's no problem.
Later this afternoon we went to have a look at the City Pillar, a white chedi copied from a Wat in Chaiya, which is where we will be tomorrow if all goes to plan.
After that a quick ride around the island park, Koh Lamphu, checking out the city birds - nice views of Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker and Pink-necked Green-Pigeon - before heading to the night market for a nice mix of dishes for supper.
Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 4,424 km (2,747 miles)
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