Tag: #folksytravel

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Day 7 and Day 8 – easy as pie, which I can’t make!

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.

Sleepers before being made up and the single car blackout. We drank illicit substances. No alcohol allowed. J

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.

our train on arriving in Bangkok
more cars attached to our train in Surattani
preparing our luggage for the trip from Bangkok to Koh Chang
in the truck with our bikes to Chantaburi
fully loaded
fully, fully loaded
arriving at Koh Chang

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. 

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Day 6 – Phuket here we come

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. 

USB stick movies for sale
great to chose sugar level

The drive was tough but beautiful. With all the road construction, hazards for motorcycles were prevalent. Caution was the key today. 

deserted streets in patong

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.  

not much stuff
my old house in need of repair

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. 

With Kenya at his new restaurant in Patong
sorry, Paul, your big mac has gone to factory food heaven
not more than a few vehicles in patong
even the lights on the sign’s letters left town.
the whole abandonment seems like an illusion. This used to be Soi Eric but taken over by some monster club of some kind.
with Tik to chat at Andaman House, a great place to stay in Patong
deserted
atong babysitter
philosophy board
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Day 5 – Stop for an Election Celebration

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. 

stopped for coffee
Thai and Falang ET

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. 

Dinner. Fried chicken and squid salad

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. 

Bo and Wasana
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Day 4 – Prachuap Monkey Magic

Day 4 – 31 km

There is nothing magic about monkeys. I just wanted to pull you in. 

monkeys all over the city

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. 

At Sunan’s (and Alain’s) house where we stayed the night

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. 

Sunan’s friend’s coffee house and the “inventive “ motorcycle shop
kids from the local technical college stop by the shop for cake
Paul enjoys coffee

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.

at the pier
thai sushi at the beach market
beautiful Prachuap Kirikan
hotel tv 3 most popular languages?
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Day 3 – Electrocuted Monkey

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!

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Day 1 – Almost Washed Out

Day 1  197 km

Paul got up late so we started late but got the 12:45 ferry from Koh Chang to the mainland. 

good morning!
all packed and ready to go
on the ferry
Cornell royal purple on my bike

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. 

Dry season!
post shower.

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.

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Break time

After successfully passing my Thailand drivers license written test, one for car and one for motorcycle, I have a break for three hours before I take the practical motorcycle driving test so I decided to visit a very demonstrable temple in the area.

This main statue is very prominent along the highway inviting everyone to enter.  Of course the big gold statue was what caught my eye and peaked my interest to come and visit. Something very unusual with this statue, you will notice it has an actual flowing shawl. 

It looks like KANNON (Quan Yin) is beckoning visitors.

All that glitters is also blue and green and many other colors.

And what would a Buddhist temple be without animals?

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Minimalism Imploding

Before leaving Japan in January I had explained to some friends in Europe my plans to get rid of everything I own except for a backpack and a small case with electronics and computer equipment. They seemed very excited at my strive for “minimalism“. My goal was to never have to be in countries on visas, except for tourism, never own a motorcycle or a car again, relying strictly on public transportation, and not ever accumulating stuff.

On March 24, when I was in Thailand to dive with my godson Dennis, the second generation of our bubbles dive team, the country shut down and I was “stuck“ in Thailand.  In order to stay I was required to first extend my stay here for another month to the middle of May. But when May rolled around and I found the Thai government shutting me out of provinces on lockdown into a province with open hotels every foreigner here found themselves under a general amnesty for the COVID-19 crisis so we didn’t have to do anything with immigration, just stay in place and wait.

I made my way eventually to an island near Cambodia called Koh Chang. But since I decided going back to Japan was not an option and certainly entering the US would be a very bad decision since I really don’t want to be there and the Covid situation is very bad, my only option was to either escape Thailand to Europe or to stay here.  But then Europe went back into lockdown and they gave me only one option, to try to get a retirement visa (one year) for Thailand, i went with the flow. That was successful.

In order to stave off boredom and to enable moving around my best bet was to rent a motorcycle, A 125 cc scooter.  But since I expected my retirement visa to be approved the 3,000 baht a month rental for the scooter seem to be an expensive option. It was more economical for me to buy a used motorcycle and then sell it when I leave. So I did that, further imploding my “ minimalism“.

Sometimes I like buying food on the street or getting some things in the store, mixing them together and making my own food with my own herbs and spices that are specifically beneficial to my health. So I decided to ask for someone selling a used microwave. I found one for 500 baht.  (30 Baht=US$1). And of course with a microwave, cooking at home, I needed plates, some cooking container, some refrigeration containers and some utensils.  Minimalism Imploding more. 

What to do when the sun is very bright and shining down on your head out of the water and in the water? The best solution outside of sun cream which is only partially effective is to have hats, long sleeve shirts (very cool ones) and long trousers (again cool ones).  All are very bright and colorful, a slap in the face at conventionalism and “anti minimalism”. 

So I am now a resident of Thailand and back to living longer-term, The opposite of my goals I stated at the beginning of this diatribe.  Don’t misunderstand me. I have no problems being happy on the beach and being in generally beautiful, warm weather.  But at least for now my goal of detaching from governments, personal transportation equipment and things has been postponed.