Thailand - Chumphon to Hat Wa Ko Beach

This section has us cycling with the sea as an ever constant companion.

Thursday 29 January, 66 miles

A beautiful morning of hazy warm light on mystical canals as we weave away from lovely Villa Varich through rural plantations and irrigation canals to the coast. We dodge lazy dogs lying in the middle of the road, and stop and talk to those who come racing out of properties bearing teeth. It’s all bluster, and once they realise we are not strange wheeled cows but humans they lose interest and trot away.

One bay, two bay, three. Palm trees line up against the blue sky, on the edge of the sand, as if waiting to swim in the sea. Quick stop at Well Coffee, served by a striking silent stoner pirate who takes coffee very seriously. Turning inland we come across an empty local Wat with a huge unfinished concrete reclining Buddha. Guarded by two snaking brilliant white nagas he rests peacefully.

The skies have started to darken, a strange colour we’ve not seen for a while: grey. We duck into a (freezing cold) cafe just as large plops of rain muster into a downpour. Further along the bay we grab vegetable fried rice at Season resort on Pathio beach.

Inland we’re back amongst the coconut palm plantations. We see two large macaque monkeys zipping by on the back of a coconut truck! We realise later, after seeing more of this, that these are Pig-tailed macaques used for harvesting coconuts, particularly for high trees, a practice increasingly condemned for animal cruelty. These monkeys, often poached from the wild as juveniles, are trained through confinement and coercion, with an estimated 1,000–3,000 still working in these conditions.

Up and over a bluff, we catch a glimpse of a gorgeous panorama of a long karst spine and islands on a milky turquoise sea. The downhill on the other side after the long miles was welcome and we were glad to roll into Plakao Koey Sai Campsite.

We were not the only cycle tourers to have found this idyllic spot! Having arrived a little before us, Dave (Calgary) and Uschi (Munich) were setting up their tent. We spent the evening with them, chatting over dinner. They’ve been cycling 22 months, doing a loop starting in Germany, overwintering in Georgia for four months before flying to Bangkok. They’re now heading down to Australia and likely will be on the road for another year at least. We really enjoyed their company and their stories from the road. They’d met in Iceland, Dave - who’s practically lived on a bike all his life being a cycle courier, bike mechanic and toured all over - was touring there and met Uschi in a hostel. Heavily laden both of them - Dave carrying 80kgs (about double my weight), Uschi 50kgs - they travel without mobile phones, using an iPad occasionally to plan their trip.

Friday 30 January, 31 miles

An early morning swim in the sea was wonderful, jumping with the waves. A sad farewell to Dave and Uschi as they head south and we head north. A quick 7-Eleven iced coffee (so cheap, so good), and second breakfast at a roti stall. The majority of the day was spent cycling alongside long stretches of empty coastline on quiet backroads and through coconut plantations. We stopped in Ban Krut, a little beachside town, ending our day idyllically with dinner and a beer at a beach shack, watching people on holiday drift along the pinkening beach with a shining golden wat catching the last rays of sunlight up on the hill over the sea.
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Saturday 31 January, 39 miles

The shiny goldness on the hill had piqued our interest. So first thing, we puffed our way up the steep hill arriving red and sweaty at Wat Thang Sai. The place was like an intricate wedding cake, tier on tier of beguiling artistry. A treasure trove of detailed murals of traditional Thai life (many details we recognised from our cycle through the country), golden statues, stained glass and long serpentine nagas. Out of the windows the sea stretched into pale ocean. As we left we said goodbye to the Yakshas, two mythical giant guardians standing watch at the temple entrance to ward off evil spirits. Depicted with fierce expressions these two had particularly impressive colourful ornate armour, decked out in thousands of glinting mosaic. Under the giant golden Buddha, looking particularly serene, we had a delicious coconut.

Coconut plantations dominated the day, and we saw pigtail macaques being used to get to the tallest coconuts. We also saw huge brown furry piles of coconuts being shredded for their coir. Thailand is a top global exporter of coconuts, alongside Indonesia, with major markets in China, the USA, and the EU.

Our campsite at the end of the day was by the sea, at Hat Wa Ko Beach, down a strange dead end road that housed the ghosts of a yesteryear-science park. An aquarium, dinosaur park, geology exhibit, science centre all looking forlorn and forgotten in a strange educational wasteland. The security guard who checked us in couldn’t have looked after us better. He advised us against sleeping under cover of a shelter worried the rotting roof may fall in, helped us position our tent to catch the sea breezes and gave us some bananas.Read more