August 29, 2017
Sam Roi Yod to Cha Am: Time for a haircut
Breakfast at the Blue Beach was definitely not going to be served before eight o'clock. The staff made that clear yesterday when I explained that we would prefer an early start to the day. So we had a lie in and were at the breakfast table half an hour early just in case they changed their minds. We spent the time catching up on the email etc because there was no wifi in the room. Once breakfast arrived it was clear it wasn't worth the wait but we scoffed it anyway and were on out bikes at a quarter past eight, about two hours later than we would normally be.
Even with our late start it was difficult to get out of the village because we spied a large flock of Lesser Sand Plovers with a sprinkling of Malaysian plovers roosting on the beach.
The whole of the first half of todays ride was on back roads, mostly route 4020, and was lovely and quiet. About ten kilometers before Hua Hin we had to turn onto the route 4 but, to our pleasant surprise, there was a lovely cycle track on the eastern side of the highway which continued until almost in Hua Hin itself.
The cycle track came to an abrupt end (I am not sure where cyclists were supposed to go at this point) but it was near a 7-11, where we got a cold drink, and a roadside vendor selling fried bananas - perfect second breakfast.
Then it is into the maw of the beast. We had read the horror stories of the Sodom and Gomorrah of the peninsular coast of Gulf of Thailand but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Of course it was far too busy and over-developed but it could have been a tourist monstrosity in one of dozens of other countries. We tried to find the beach area but it was too much of an effort. One of the things we had hoped to do in Hua Hin was to get our hair cut because with it being a tourist and expat town we hoped the hairdressers might be more accustomed to "Western" hairstyles. We spied a place that had a sign saying "For Lady and Gentleman" and we took the opportunity. Final results, for a total of 450 baht for the two of us, wasn't too bad at all.
While Leigh was getting her hair cut, I worked out a route to "The Fancy Carp", our digs for the night that we had booked on booking.com, that would keep us away from Route 4. On this road we found some chicken satays and sticky rice for lunch, which at no extra cost, came with lots of laughter and half-understood conversations with the vendor and other customers about the crazy falangs cycling from Singapore to Saigon.
The proprietor of our digs was somewhat surprised when we arrived because he was expecting us to have darker complexions, being from Africa. This is something we have encountered on numerous occasions throughout South East Asia. The Crazy Carp is a typical Thai motel with a difference. Between the individual parking areas and the doors to the rooms runs a channel filled with colourful carp that follow any human shape that moves hoping to be fed. While we were enjoying a Beer Chang outside the room, the proprietor showed us how to feed the fish with a baby bottle.
Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 5,012 km (3,112 miles)
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