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Thailand 2020-2022
A new development on Koh Chang requires palm trees. This video shows the proper (without red flag?) way to transport them.
This photo shows this old small truck trying to do the impossible and the wrong way too. The tops should grow back again. Hope the friction on the road doesn’t cause a spark. We passed this truck and waited to take a video of it moving in the village but the truck broke down and needed a tow.
For many hundreds of years Chinese merchants plied the waters around Thailand and left people and markings to indicate their adventures. Here in Koh Chang there is a Chinese temple on the top of one of the hills currently maintained by the descendants of those traders and new Chinese descendants on and around the island.
In general they are very ornate with all different kinds of animals, especially dragons, and are extremely photogenic.
This island, Koh Chang, derives the name from the shape, similar to an elephant. So at the entrance to the temple you see different elephant decorations.
Various decorations Similar to gates were entrances amplify the significance of ocean views and the importance of the ocean to trade.
At the entrance to the main shrines you often find offerings to the spirits or Representations of important people.
Inside the main shrine there are always overwhelming decorations.
On the grounds you find a variety of small tributary images.
Of course there needs to be some firecracker Launching sites.
As you round the Main shrine corner you might be startled by an emerging dragon. And near the entrance the eyes of the dragon or upon you.
Even if just for the bright colors I like visiting these Chinese shrines and temples.
Day 7 – 235km. Day 8 – the rest of the way
In the morning after having a coffee and chat with Tik who i used to work for in the scuba diving business back in the 90s, we went to the locker, storage facility, emptied out all the contents, took what we wanted and thought we could carry back with us on our motorcycles and gave the rest to people in need.
Then we went to look for a coffee, took a short walk on the beach and found everything closed except a Starbucks coffee shop. After sticker shock on seeing the 180 baht price for a small coffee and not being able to find a reasonably priced coffee on the main roads we went off a cul-de-sac i knew from long ago and found a place for a snack and an Inexpensive coffee.
We were contemplating sending the motorcycles back through the post office and then I thought maybe it was just better to drive to Surattani and either approach the post office to send our motorcycles back or to check what the train situation was. With all the expensive food and drink in Patong and not very happy it was pretty much a ghost town we decided to pack up, hop on our motorcycles and spend the day driving to Surattani.
When we got to Surattani we first stopped at the train station. They told us there was a train leaving in an hour and they could accommodate our motorcycles as well. The price was about 855 each for ourselves, the sleeper car, and then another 855 for the motorcycles, all the way to Bangkok. That was an easy decision to make. So we bought the passenger tickets, took the motorcycles to the baggage manager, paid the fare, got some food to eat on the train and hopped on.
The sleepers were very comfortable even though the car we were in suffered a power outage so we had to move to the next car. When we arrived we were a little surprised to see our motorcycles being pulled over to a baggage area. We were warned that the motorcycles might actually have to go on the next train after us. I gave a tip to the baggage fellow not knowing if his request for one would be more of a mandatory request or a request request. You never know what kind of barriers can be set up if you don’t pay certain requests.
We wheeled the motorcycles out of the baggage area and a pickup truck driver called us over and agreed to take us most of the way with the motorcycles on board with us for 3500 baht (30 Baht=US$1). When we reached Chantaburi we got off, rode the rest of the way to the ferry, got on the ferry and then back to Koh Chang.
I will summarize a conclusion in the next blog.
Day 6 – 300 km
The only goals were to get to Patong Beach in Phuket and try to figure out what to do with the stuff in a friend’s locker, the sole purpose for driving 1,400 km to Phuket. I had the key for the locker but without access to the locker area I would have to work with management to get in.
The drive was tough but beautiful. With all the road construction, hazards for motorcycles were prevalent. Caution was the key today.
But we made it to Patong Beach and the storage facility just before closing. All we needed to do was find who was minding the store. After a few calls i found who was supposed to be at the closed facility and we had access to see how much stuff was stored. It wasn’t much so the next day we could sort through everything.
For dinner we stopped to see Kenya, a good friend, at his new restaurant, Honeymoon, and got a description of what are the recent Political and Social goings on in Thailand. The food is great and the service is excellent, as it was with his previous restaurant, Sea Hag.
Day 5 -349 km
Off we go again in the morning with the first waypoint in Chumpon. Once we got there we decided to just haul on and get as close to Phuket as we could and stopped in Ranong for ice coffee. The road was fairly deserted and winding roads were fun.
But we needed a swim so stopped finally, after the long ride and decided to stay at Wasana resort for the pre Thai election stay.
Bo and Wasana were great hosts for beer, Hong Tong and food while we chatted about everything especially staying many years in Thailand. Most of the people in this Laem Son Nnational park area are Muslim so Bo’s experiences are slightly different than ours in Koh Chang. The resort’s link is (Wasanaresort.org). I recommend staying with them.
Day 4 – 31 km
There is nothing magic about monkeys. I just wanted to pull you in.
Our goal was to go to the train station and see if we could put our motorcycles on the train for Suratthani. When we got to the window we were told the 19:30 cargo car might have space for 880 Baht (30 Baht=US$1) but we would have to wait till 18:30 for more definitive information.
Sunan took us to her friend’s coffee house. After coffee i saw a motorcycle shop across the street. I asked if he could put the back luggage rack on top of the grab bar the installers took off when putting in the rack. What I didn’t know is the rack was not made, like others i saw for sale, to fit together with the grab bar.
After hearing some grinding and pounding i got concerned so went to see what was up. He was cutting off parts of the rack and trying to pound it into a different shape. OOPS. The short story is, an hour later he had something that would not work as intended as a replacement for the grab bar but the jury rigged contraption was all usable. Oh well, it is a lesson in knowing first what the request might possibly entail. The fellow should have told me that rack was made to be a replacement for the grab bar.
At 18:45 we went to the train station to be told there was no space in the cargo area. Soooooo. Do we wait for the disfunctional state railway system to give us another answer on cargo space at 21:30 concerning space on the 22:30 train (arriving at 4 am in Suratthani) or do we do something else? We decded to have some beers and stay the night in Pachuap.
Day 3 269 km
We went through Cha Am to Prachuap to visit with Sunan. We passed all the shrimp farms and when we stopped in Prachuap for gas and to call Sunan (Bubbles fame) we heard a very close explosion. There were many monkeys on the power lines. One had shorted the transformer box and exploded himself. The sound was something like a car exploding but with a sharper clap. Electrocuted Monkey! He fell dead to the ground. I don’t want to show that photo. The kind young people at the gas station spent 15 minutes doing compressions to revive the monkey but he would not make it back to the living. Everyone felt so bad for the monkey.
We met up with Sunan, stayed at her and Alain’s new house and woke to fresh coffee. Stay tuned!
Day 2 264 km
Off to Pattaya to pick up my macbook air (fix it shop victim) and broken airpods. Done.
Then off to south Bankgkok area to brave the city traffic, horrible roads and stopped at Samut Sakhon.
Day 1 197 km
Paul got up late so we started late but got the 12:45 ferry from Koh Chang to the mainland.
Once we landed it started to rain; dry season storm. Then harder and harder and harder. Then the wind blew the rain into the shelter. To save documents and electronics we ran for the dock restaurant area. Completely soaked we dried off as best we could, air dry = no dry. We lost an hour.
Then on to Sriracha. But, wait, late start and sun going down means tough driving. I will explain in another blog.
To keep from too much unsafe night driving we stopped in Rayong, 2 hours short of Sriracha. Just driving around i spied a Japanese restaurant with only Japanese signage so i expected good Japanese food. It was good. We met some Japanese customers and Asahi Super Dry beer. I never expected to see Japanese businessmen in Rayong.
After we drove around and found an inexpensive and nice hotel. End of Day 1. Then we woke for Day 2. See the next blog.