Day 8: Day of Rest, around Khao Lak
[Tommy]
Well It happened. I finally done got hella sick. We cancled our plans to roll out this morning and paid for another night at the guesthouse cause I woke up this morning with some debilitating cramping squirts. Yeah, I eat all the street cart food, and drink the local water and don’t bitch when I get ice cubes in my water, cause you know that’s how I roll. And now, it’s caught up with me. I ate a breakfast of a handful of all my over-the-counter poop-stoppers to no avail. (The Thai anti-dhiarreal pills are sold under the brand name “Tedium,” ha ha). At about noon I was still in terrible pain and I seriously considered downing my stash of Azithromycin. After a long nap and some electrolyte drink that went right through, I was able to walk again and spent the afternoon recovering down on the beach until a gorgeous sunset. I guess I picked a pretty nice place to get sick and spend an extra day recovering.
Khao Lak is a cute little beach town that was hit hard by the Tsunami, and things have not quite recovered. There are not many touristas here, a refreshing change from Phuket with it’s throngs of rude haoles, all of whom seem to share a contempt and disrespect for thier Thai hosts. People up this way (especially in the rural parts) do not speak as much English, but as I have learned through the years, learning how to say “hello” and “thank you” in the local language combined with a big smile can get you pretty far. We have also learned how to say “bicycle” of couse, which seems to tickle the Thai people we meet. I have been struck by how stoked ordinary Thais are to see a couple of farang riding loaded bicycles through the countryside.
Everytime I have toured by bicycle I notice how disarming a person on a bike can be. You immediately have something in common with everyone that has ever ridden a bicycle, and that shared experience make you as a traveler much more apporachable. Everywhere we stop it seems like people approach us to ask about the bikes, where are we headed, where did we get our bicycles and how much did they cost, which was an interesting but common question. I tell them about 30,000 baht, but only because I know how to build bikes. One talkative guy we hung out with at a roadside iced tea stand said, “bicycle good for body, good for world.” You said it dude. People on the road are also very supportive. My arm was getting tired waving back at all the people shouting “hello” in English from the roadside and on the road. Most people immediately get a big smile when they see us on the highway, and some just stare open-mouthed in amazement. Of all the people we have seen the kids are the most fired up to see us on bikes, sometimes chasingus down the road laughing and yelling.
By the way, for those any of you who have not had a chance to check out my rig before I left, I an now rolling with a hideous Velocity Deep-V wheelset: metallic blue front rims and neon green back, which I got for a bargain-basement steal courtesy of Pedal Revolution in SF (look for photos soon). I had originally wanted to make my bike look less flashy and thus less of a target for theft, but the new (used) wheels have the opposite effect.
You may also be wondering why there have not been many photos on the blog. The memory card in our Cannon Powershot died on the third day and we are only able to take pictures with Sally’s phone, which we can only upload with wifi. Wifi is not easy to come by in this part of the country so it may be a while before we can get you guys some more pictures.
2 years ago