Caves, Temples and Tropical Destinations...Life's a Beach, or The Summation of Southern Thailand, or The Second Leg of Our Trip Completed

 We think the title of this blog sums it up, but what the heck, we'll give you details anyways!

Our second leg our the trip included the border crossing into Southern Thailand all the way to Bangkok, along the east coast.  We have cycled just over 2000km to get here and it took just over 3 weeks.  It is a strange anomaly to cycle in a place with police barricades, flooding, beaches, tropical islands, cities and new friends, and feel at the same time that nothing is changing, conforming to repetition even. Wide roads weaving among rubber plantations, small villages, beaches and the occasional limestone cliff while moving along with little or no gradient change.

*****

After the floods in the South, we dried off on Ko Samui, enjoyed a vacation from our vacation, and continued our tour from Sura Thani. The 10 days that it took us to get from Sura Thani to Bangkok has been the best of the trip thus far.  The scenery was beautiful, the beaches clean and the water 'swimmable'.

Alyssa doesn't like monkeys. The road into the national park.

We visited one of Thailand's many national parks, which was no more than shrimp farms rather than the natural beauties it claimed to posses.  It is worth great mention, however, the three very different, but equally exciting/fun caves to explore. Our favorite being a self-guided scramble through a dark cavern with seemingly bottomless drops along the route.

The dark scramble, Alyssa was feeling a bit claustrophobic.

Don't feed the monkeys!

Sunrise in the National Park

Shortly after leaving the park, we encountered a slew of other cycle tourists (numbering in the low 20's). Among them were Richard and Julia, a lovely Kiwi couple we cycled with until Bangkok. Ahhh Bangkok; not the nightmare, crazy city Alyssa expected, but not for the faint hearted.  It served as a great place to get necessary vaccines, a couple cold beers, and an AWESOME locale for ringing in the Chinese New Year.  Happy Year of the Dragon, by the by.

Richard and Julia

Saying good-bye after a fun night with other cycle tourists.

Enjoying a break on a bridge with Richard and Julia.

Our route now takes us north to Chaing Mai, zig-zagging along "B" roads and we hope to be there by the beginning of February.

Hope you wanted to see some more pictures!

Ok, say the same of this edible product slowly with an Asian accent...yeah we thought it was funny too!

mmmmm....street food. Cheap and Delicious.

This is one of the more random stops along the road...

...A large collection of themed bathrooms including Tarzan, Sky view, Underworld, Bird House and Golden Turd

Took a picture of a Buddha, cause we like, never see one of those!

.

Another good flood photo

A tame moment with our local canine companions

Think skinny!! The Narrowest part of Thailand.

Just over 2000km!!! Now only...a lot more to go...

A market outside of Bangkok, what is that next to the produce?

Packing up quickly...

Oh my god! Is that a train!?

Vendors moving aside to let the train pass...strange place for a market.

Beach side Bungalow. Normal accommodation for us.

Salt fields

Buddhas and caves

The Floods: cycling in a "disaster area"

At the beginning of the new year, we celebrated in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.  The first day if the year it rained, very relaxing. But the rain didn't stop for three days.  The amount of rain that fell created so much flooding, the government declared the area a national disaster zone.

Here is a news link associated with the area we were cycling in.

http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=25770

http://www.topix.com/th/nakhon-si-thammarat (link above found on this site)

We didn't realize, and we were on bikes.  At our first break from the rain, a woman told us we should, 'stay in the town, that the flooding could get bad.'  We decided to try our luck.  We read later that the hospital in that small town had flooded, along with many other buildings and roads.  We're glad we left. It was all very exciting at first when you cycle up to your knees in dark, murky water, but the novelty wears off very quickly.  In fact, after crossing roads that were fully submerged, we decided we had tested our luck enough, and bailed about 35 km short of our original destination. It's very hard to put down in words the emotions swirling around in our heads were, but apprehension, excitement, concern and curiosity were among them. In the end, we luckily avoided the worst of the flooding.

With the violence in the southern provinces and flooding just north of them, the first 7-10 days in Thailand have been very interesting. We are lucky to have gotten out of it so safely, others were not so lucky. 

Matt on a road we wished to cross, we bailed immediatley after this photo was taken.

Outside our hotel room, this is a driveway.

Locals affected by the flood, if you look closely, there's a guy in a fishing boat. Short commute to work, eh?

Water under the, just water under the bridge...barely

'Hey, do you smell that?' 'Yeah' 'That's more like it' 'Yeah'



Matt waits patiently on the ferry to leave Malaysia, and arrive in Thailand







On Boxing Day, the ferry into Thailand was short and sweet, barely 5 minutes.  Matt and Alyssa had only a small river to cross and before the morning was over, they both had a new stamp in their passports.  



Matt and Alyssa were stoked when they had a cycle lane for the majority of the ride in Southern Thailand



This is what the road was like, cycle lane and little traffic



 The South East of Thailand includes four provinces that comprise anywhere from 80-95% Muslims, and a low number of Buddhists.  These four provinces have also been in the headlines because of escalated violence including terrorist bombings and heinous acts of violence by police forces. More than 3500 peeple have been killed since the violence surged in 2004.   On the other hand, the area is spectacular, with streches of sandy beaches, lush, tropical forest, good roads and the legendary hospitaltiy and kindness of the Thai people.

One of the many police blockades, Alyssa and Matt were stopped but only for a friendly conversation. 

So, what were we to do?  Torn between a supposedly violent environment and possibly the best cycling of the trip, we had to make a choice: to cycle or not.  After spending hours on the internet, we decided to make the journey up the east coast on bicycle and it proved to be the most memorable part of our trip thus far.



Two Traffic Police were so curious that they stopped Alyssa and Matt not once, but twice for pictures.





The roads are in impeccable condition, and with an extablished cycle lane, we had some of the safest riding of the trip.  Our nerves got a break from the rambling and churning motors of trucks, and our lungs weren't clogged with exhaust.  Wats and temples provide a place to explore during breaks and getting to know the locals is fun and exciting.



Alyssa in front of one of the many Wats





1000km!!!!



We rang in the New Year in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, and although very different from a Western New Year's, it was worth the experience. Alyssa will never forget using the toilet bus, gross. As 2012 begins, we start the year with doing what we do best, living life to the fullest.



How to Prepare for New Year's in Thailand. We woke up at 5:15am and cycled 70km, we needed the Thai Red Bull!











One of the delicious morsels at the night market: Swallow's Eggs!





New Year's Eve Stage. They are crowning 'Miss Countdown'!





Malaysia: Final thoughts, Impressions and Overall Experience

We have now reached Kota Bahru, cycled more than 780 km with about 40 left to go until the border. Our time spent here has been 15 days, with another day off and then we head to the border.We have become well acquainted with the East Coast of Malaysia: it's food, people, attitudes, and religion.

It is a unique place to explore, especially on bike.  We chose the east coast because of the roads; we heard they were top notch.  In that respect, the cycling was great.  Smooth roads, wide shoulders. We didn't have too many moments where we were feeling vulnerable; however, on occasions the shoulder did disappear.  If the quality of the roads of a major plus, the level of traffic was enough to upset the nerves. Although well behaved in general, the traffic was constant and moderate for the entire ride with the exception of a few roads. The traffic was a mix between small tidy cars and massive trucks with seemingly no muffler.  Whenever the shoulder did disappear, many large trucks were sure to pass. Alyssa went to her happy place often.  Rarely, we were blessed with a quite road, through small villages.  These were our favorite moments of the ride.

The scenery. Although beautiful, green, and lush, it was a never ending line of small cities intermingled with forest. This gave us the sensation of never moving forward or gaining any ground. When towns weren't present, it was endless palm oil plantations, sometimes a tropical mangrove, but it was always green.  The beach was never far away.  We could hear the waves, but we almost never saw them. We followed the blog, www.mrpumpy.com; he explained the ride as waves crashing into the shore and palm trees swaying in the light, sea breeze.  We never got that. I think the Malaysians moved hwy 3 around. When we did ride along the coastline, it was spectacular and unique, not developed.  Miles of beach with no buildings, only small farms and, water that was dirty from monsoon run-off, sometimes black.

The Weather. It's monsoon season here. There were flash floods and warnings, but that didn't stop us.  Whose afraid of a little rain, we won't melt. We worked in Fox Glacier for God's sake. We won't freeze, it's hot here. The typical weather pattern is for moderate rainfall throughout the day with brief breaks. Our experience was the opposite and we were told this is quite unusual. We did get wet, but we were very lucky since most of the heavy rains fell at night.  The cycling was great in this weather. The days were mostly cloudy, with brief showers that cooled us down.  But the heavy rainfall was evident in peoples yards; half flooded, with children playing on floaties. 

The cities. They are all very uniform, not much difference from one to the next.  There is always at least one mosque, several shopping outlets and small restaurants.  The buildings are slightly dilapidated due to high moisture, cheap materials and lack of upkeep. The sounds of the city are similar to any city, but there is one unique sound and that is of swallows nesting in the buildings.  And they're not only welcome, but loud speakers pointed out the windows play swallow calls to attract them.  The nests of these birds are essential in the delicacy Bird's Nest Soup. 

The people.  The population of Malay are largely Muslim, with Chinese in the mix. Many of the people speak some English which makes things easier, and they are also reasonably helpful.  But overly hospitable they are not; in fact, they are a shy people in general.  The further north we went, the more conservative the people have become.  In general, most men wear normal street clothes, but very few are in shorts and tank tops and the women, if Muslim, wear headscarves and are fully covered (although sometimes they are in tight clothing or t-shirts).  They seem to lack a certain amount of culture and therefore appear somewhat repressed. 

Lychee, the love affair begins

The overall experience here was nice, but not overly exciting. The east coast of Malaysia was a great place to start the tour as it is flat (good to get cycle-fit), easy to communicate, and very safe.  We ride to the border in anticipation of the unknown.


Matt and Alyssa want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday!!!

Cherating: Religous Beach Bums or Surfer Dudes with a religous conscience?

Two days off in Cherating Beach, Malaysia. Not even a town, just a side road off of Hwy 3 that links up on both ends.  A cool, chilled out place with surfers catching the breakers, long hair/dreadlocks, board shorts and strict Muslims with skin and head coverings (both men and women, but mostly women). In the shops, there are halter tops, sarongs, brightly colored burqas and tie dye.  The accommodation ranges in price but all are close to the beach and many are private chalets with air-con and western toilet (may or may not flush).   Intermingled among shops and chalets are restaurants with open air seating. Only a roof to protect from the monsoon rains. The menus are also presented in English and some restaurants serve western style foods whilst others are strict Muslim meals; No Beer!


We wondered how an old milk carton had gotten on the roof. Cheeky monkeys.


In the morning, bare-foot Rastas carry their boards to the beach, while hard working, Muslim women, sweep out the shops and  prepare food.

What an interesting place where two seemingly opposite views and values converge.  So we ask ourselves, is this place a strict Muslim community with a rowdy hip side? Or, a place with a laid back beach bum attitude and a religious conscience.

Either way, this place is great.  It's the first place we've been with real character.  Every other town on the east coast of Malaysia seems the same, not much variation. Here, it's pleasant change.

Tiny little frogs were everywhere.

For our last night, we'll meet up with some new friends, have dinner and a few beers before we retire to the road tomorrow. We continue to head north on Hwy 3 to Kota Bahru.