Friday

So, what would you do? We had been biking for about an hour or so when we encountered this sign. The one-word English translation conjures up all kinds of possibilities. Was a bridge out? Were there bandits on the roads? Perhaps it was high season for man-eating snakes? Ignorance is bliss so we valiantly pedaled on.

The morning started with a 7am departure from Takuapa, breakfast at a roadside stop, a somewhat tentative route (yes, I picked it because it looked like a shortcut – rule #1, Always listen to Caroline), and a tedious 30 minutes or so trying to convince my gears (unsuccessfully) that Yes, there is a third (lower) chain ring. That particular chain ring is welcome on mountain climbs. Stay tuned.

After the bike maintenance interlude, we connected to the road that we were supposed to be on (401), which runs from Tukuapa to Suratthani. It is actually this road that connected the ancient town we visited yesterday to the east coast of the Kra peninsula and made that town an important trading point.  But, I digress a bit.

So, what does the sign actually mean? The full translation is “Hey bikers! Look out! There’s a somewhat challenging climb ahead for maybe 5km or more. It presents two false summits for your added interest before offering a third go at sapping all of your strength. Oh, and yes, Ben, you’ll need that lower set of gears.” At the first false summit, after walking a bit, I manually put the chain on the smallest gear and didn’t shift the front gears until I was certain the rest was downhill. We made it. [It turns out that the cause of the shifting problem was dirt! On Saturday I thoroughly cleaned my front derailleur and didn't have a problem shifting after that.]

About 11am we arrived at the Khao Sok National Park. We had made reservations for tomorrow and Sunday night for a floating cabin. Well, the floating cabins are another 65km down the road and require a 1.5 hour boat ride to get to them. Once there, there isn’t anything else around them. Nice idea, but not what we really wanted. So now we’re in a great place just outside the park entrance. We have a riverside bungalow in a very picturesque setting. After lunch we relaxed on the porch and a nearby swing at the river’s edge.

At 3pm we decided to take a float/tubing trip down the river for an hour or so. We got a guide who helped us navigate a bit and pointed out sights along the way. We passed a family of monkeys who were watching us and playing with each other, swinging through the trees on rope vines. No kidding. We passed some of the karst rock formations that rise vertically for hundreds of feet – very spectacular. Unfortunately, the camera isn’t waterproof and didn’t go with us.

Caroline’s stats:

Time spent riding: 2hr 27min
Distance: 43.5km
Average speed: 17.7km/h
Max. speed: 46.6km/h
Bike shoe tan line rating: 6 (out of 10)
Sore butt index: 0.5 (I stole dad’s cushy seat, muhahaha)
Elephant sightings: 4 on the road + 10 for trekking
Longest leaf balancing act: 2.3km
Pad thais consumed thus far: 6