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Thailand

Mar
2004-09-14 16:16:21

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to postpone our diving for at least a week, bad weather anyway at Koh Tao, and continue to Surat Thani instead of Chumphon. We arrive in Surat Thani at 10:00 and we’re still stiff from the wooden seats of yesterday. Raymond is already at the cargo wagon taking our bicycles off, while René hands over the 15 panniers through the window of the train to me on the platform.

To satisfy our stomachs we decide to have a ‘small’ snack before we head off to Khao Sok National Park. During our Chinese snack, existing out of rice and vegetables we see dark clouds coming into our direction. At the time we are ready to pay the check its really pouring down like a local dam has been broken. Luckily after 15 minutes the rain stops and we hit the road, while the water on the road is evaporating by the shining sun and brings the humidity to an uncomfortable level for the next half-hour. After 70km cycling (at 16:00) the sky gets dark again and we hide in a bus passenger shelter in the small town of Phanom. The town is the ‘district’ town and should have some accommodation. While the dam is broken again and we weather gods try to repair it we are eating some krupuk on the benches next to the waiting bus passengers. At least Raymond doesn’t need to worry anymore about the water penetrating into his panniers, due to his new waterproof Ortlieb panniers. We ask for the nearest guesthouse, which seems to be 5 km back(!). Unfortunately there are still two hours of sunlight left and we are tired from the couple of hills (and the lazy life in Bangkok). Khao Sok NP is another 40km, but with this weather and road condition it’s not much fun to go for it. So we decide to go for the nearest guesthouse, not after some discussion about logging these kilometres in the logbook (would give the wrong indication for other cyclists). Khao Sok NP is a primary rain forest where several hikes are possible. The road from Phanom to Khao Sok provides some beautiful scenery of several ...