Peninsula run to Bangkok.
After Surat Thani it’s just the return route straight up the narrow strip of land that I had already traveled. Nothing new to see, I know where to stay, where to eat, and what to do. Travel stress nil.
My first stop was at the town of Chumphon, where I and my biker gang had some really good fish soup. It is a pretty normal mid-sized town with decent travel accommodation. Not a lot of tourist stuff but a decent stop over. Unfortunately my plan for just doing the same thing that I had done before was a bit flawed when the hotel where I stayed and had forgotten charged a rip-off 50 baht fee for foreigners. I remembered it when I walked into the lobby, but my memories were of the tv with full satellite package full of English channels. I am in general a major combatant of getting ripped off, something comparable to the Taliban and the US, but tv seems to trump those feelings. So I had a pleasant stay in Chumphon albeit at a cost of 50baht more. Oh, the hotel I am talking about is the Suriwong Chumphon hotel if you’re interested in staying there and because your soul can be bought for the price of 50 channels.
Heading north again I visited a town that was one of my favorite places in Thailand. Prachuap Khiri Khan was a slightly out of way tourist town that is recommended as a nice multi-day stop over. I took a few photos there and posted them earlier, and it was also one of the few places where I actually did one of my first couple of years requirements of climbing the hills overlooking a city. I planned for a few days layover because of two things. A really nice old Chinese hotel/guesthouse run by a friendly family and a fishing pier that I had checked out before but was not into actually fishing at the time. The Yuttichao hotel was of my favorite style being the old Chinese built hotel worn out from continual scrubbing. It was cheap, had tv although Thai channels only but at night they played English movies (in English) with Thai subtitles. The huge night market that I really enjoyed the last time turned out to have been for a festival or something as this time it was gone and there was just the usual night market. The fishing spot I was looking forward to as I was figuring it would be the last chance that I would get to do any type of fishing. I will post a separate fishing report on my findings.
My prior stop in this region was to the heavily touristic town of Hua Hin. This is the very westernized tourist town full of high rise condominium towers and massive busloads of Thai tourists. Not one of my highlights. There was also the nearby town of Cha-am which was somewhat also a tourist hub but more for Thai tourists. I had by passed it the first time but decided that I would give it a try rather than Hua Hin. For some reason I was expecting another high rise up-scale resort town but found it to be rather scaled back. The tourist scene was pretty much only on the single beach road that ran for a couple of kilometers. It was lined with hotels, eateries, and 7-11’s. The beach was looking rather mundane and over-used, but I figured if I could find a reasonably priced place it would be worth a couple of days layover. I was able to quickly find a reasonably priced little guesthouse with tv as a vacation place has to include tv. Scouting around was pretty easy as there was just the one street and the one side was the beach. While cruising through the fishing boat port area I came across a ton of tourist restaurants filled with aquariums where I am guessing you get to pick your own dinner. Can’t get any fresher than that. While doing some preliminary fishing spot scouting using Google Earth, I had seen a nice jetty somewhere around Cha-am. Since I did not find it I stopped by an internet place with my laptop and saw that I had been close to the jetty, but missed the small side road. Heading back I found the small road and it turned out to be a great spot. (Fishing report to follow). So after a few days of spot fishing, it was time to get moving as these layovers were adding up and my visa was running thin.
Phetchaburi, was another comfortable layover which was also a good fit. This was primarily due to a old and crumbling Chinese hotel. The towns only real site was the Temple mountain which was over run with monkeys. It was a good down time spot as I spent the afternoon on the hill hanging out with the monkeys waiting for the afternoon rains to pass. The hotel was a pretty run down affair run by a family that seemed to be somewhat of the pack rat mentality. The lower level like most guest houses was more of a family area. This family ran what must have been a side business of dried fruits as they had bins of fruits and many others lined out on the floor drying. The old lady had given me a bag of dried apricots which were really good. They also had a bunch of scroungy looking dogs and what I am sure was an Australian dingo. The only other memorable thing was that I lost my Lonely Planet guidebook there. When I went to bed I was reading through the book as I had no tv and my laptop was giving me problems. Just before I went to sleep I stacked my maps and guidebook next to me and went to sleep. Apparently, I knocked the guidebook over during the night and it must have fell to the floor. In the morning I went through my usual bag packing routine and somehow overlooked the book. That is one thing that really irks me because I am very into traveling very efficiently which means I only carry things that are necessary, so when I lose something it is a necessary item. The guidebook was really important as I would be heading north into unchartered territory and with traveling by motorbike, I needed the maps to help get around. Shit.
Leaving Phetchaburi I had to come up with a plan for visiting the north. The north is pretty expansive and there are sights spread out all over. I figured the best way of tackling it would be to do a circular route. The only problem was which direction to go. The path was fairly easy to establish so I looked toward the timing. One of the major factors was the visa issue. As Thailand has implemented a two month visa at embassies and consulates and only two weeks at overland border crossings I decided to do a East to West route as I would be able to get a new two month visa in Vientienne, Laos while going the other direction I would be limited to two weeks at a time. So with a general plan in hand I decided to head to the east. The next major town after Phetchaburi was unfortunately Bangkok which I dreaded to go to so I figured I would take a fishing break and head to the east via another one of my favorite little towns of Sri Racha.
Sri Racha was the little transit town where my place to stay was these rickety old hotels built on piers. My first stays were lackluster as I was not fishing at the time but armed with fishing poles I looked forward to trying out a couple of spots which I had seen on my prior visits. I wasn’t expecting much from the pier hotel as if you remember, you could see the water from the holes in the floor board as well as hearing the splat after the toilet or shower is used. It turned out to be fairly interesting so I’ll throw up a report as well.
My next destination was Ayuthaya the original capital of Thailand. It was just to the north of Bangkok so I figured I would just take one of the outer ring roads bypassing Bangkok and looping around to the north. Bangkok roads suck. They are discriminatory, poorly signed, in a state of disrepair, and not scooter friendly. My first eight hour nightmare when I tried to leave Bangkok at the beginning of the trip were somewhat mirrored in my attempt to not actually go to Bangkok. The main problem occurred while taking the major interstate. I’ll try to explain. When taking the major interstates around Bangkok, on a scooter or motorbike specifically, there are actually three routes in one. The main interstate is actually a raised platform freeway that is a pay for use, no motorcycles allowed. I assume it is a kick ass high speed no stopping warp speed road with beautiful Russian bikini wearing ticket booth operators, but as I am not allowed on it I don’t know. Below the raised platform is the old interstate which is also high speed. I am not sure if motorbikes are allowed on it but I am leaning towards not. This road is pretty packed as most people are not willing to pay the tolls for the high rise and there are more on and off ramps for shorter trips. The third section is the frontage road which I am assuming are leftovers from the ox and cart days. This is where motorbikes and big ass freight haulers fight for dominance. Sure, the thousand ton behemoths would crush a motorbike like a ladybug under the foot of an elephant, but because of the massive potholes and areas where the road has slipped off into the ditches, motorbikes can dart around avoiding the death crush. Did I mention the dust. Yea, when they clear the super highway, the trash gets brushed to the ground then shoved over from the main road to our section of pseudo road which creates a massive wall of continual dust that favors the monster moto crushers.
In regards to directions, I have no clue. There are road signs, but I have no idea what the logic is behind them to even come up with a theory. I am not an idiot and I can figure things out. I do not understand the signing around the Bangkok highways. In short, I looked and looked for a turnoff and much the way I started out my first time, I didn’t find one and ended up in the heart of Bangkok lost. Fuck. Wall to wall traffic, nothing signage wise to help which made a map useless, and so I just flowed with the traffic. Eventually, I ended up on Sukhumvit road which is one of the major thoroughfares through the city. With wall to wall traffic jams, the scooters do kick ass. You find a hole and you zip through it. That basically encompasses the whole experience. It’s a game of inches but in reality it is fun and the more confident you are the safer you feel and the faster you get there. Then I saw them. Traffic cops. There was a traffic checkpoint and it looked like they were targeting bikers. Of course I get pulled over and they do the usual of standing in front of you and blocking your route. I tried a small maneuver to bypass the first officer using the excuse the second cop was waving at me also but the cop grabbed my handle bars and walked me over the side. He already had his ticket book out and was writing a ticket before I could even get my helmet off. He said I was in violation for driving in the second lane. Bullshit. It might me legitimate, but no way realistic. The reason being the only lane that bikers are allowed is also the only lane that buses and taxis are supposed to use. So in front of the hotel just up from the traffic stop, the taxis are parked in the “motorcycle” lane so you have to go in the second lane. Fucking bastards. 200Baht ticket to be paid at the police station. I was pissed and told them they could keep the fucking license. As I was leaving I was now in a quandary at what to do. I had the option of keeping going and saying screw the license and to pick it up when I returned or going to the police station and paying the fine. I also had to decide as it was getting late on whether I should keep going towards my intended goal of Ayuthaya or cutting off and staying the night in Bangkok leaving fresh the next morning. I was still so pissed off and sort of in a daze that I spent the next two hours just driving. I had no idea where I was at, but I was in the zone just weaving through traffic pissed off. Eventually I ended up in the tourist area which I was familiar with and decided to head over to my hotel for a stayover and a cooling off. After cooling off a bit and thinking it through I decided it would be a good idea to have my license as I was going to be covering a lot of ground and it would be a good idea to have some sort of ID. So, I threw on my helmet and made the hour long drive back to the police station where I had to argue with the guy about not doubling the fine because I was a foreigner (I won). And that became the end of my Southern route, back to Bangkok where all this started. It was not all in vane though as I was able to pick up a cheap copy of an old Thailand travel guide from my hotel.
Now I just had to get out of Bangkok, again.
Tags: Thailand
