After a short break in Surat Thani, we headed out at sunrise towards the Ko Samui ferry, aiming to catch the 11am one. It was a stunning quiet ride through palm groves and marshland. A few muddy dirt tracks after the recent rain, but all good. Some of the local dogs chased us a bit, but we’ve found that our super loud horns we picked up in India seem to give them pause, and so far none have gotten anywhere near enough to feel threatening.
Ko Samui
We waffled about whether we should even go to Ko Samui at all because it’s super touristy and more expensive, but we finally decided to give it a few days so we could chill on the beach some more and also we needed to get our visa extended, and Ko Samui has one of the better immigration office to get this done at.
We made great time on our ride and got to the ferry before 10am. We said Ko Samui at the ticket booth, and they rushed us onto a boat (“2 minutes!” they said). Only after we got onboard did we realize it was going to the wrong port on Samui, so we ended up having to cycle 25km more through another rain storm once we arrived. But, we made it and got a decent last-minute deal on a bungalow on the beach and enjoyed some more leisure time.
I probably had too much beer…
More fire shows on the beach.
Busy beach at sunset…
Ran into a friend and her wife on their honeymoon who I met on the AIDS/LifeCycle bicycle ride over 7 years ago! So random and awesome! The love bubble continues worldwide!
It’s that kind of place, I guess. Who washes their feet in the toilet??? Gross!
This kitty is living the island life.
We actually had an amazing hamburger on Samui. I almost always eat local food when I travel, but Samui is so touristy anyway, it’s hard to find the really local stuff, though we did find a food steamed pork bun for breakfast and a decent night food market.
Who wants a rainbow unicorn pool floaty?
Thailand’s visa system is so complicated and always changing. Here’s the latest on the allowed extensions. They walked us through the forms, photos, and passport copies needed.
We also applied for and received our Myanmar e-Visa! It’s much easier crossing from Thailand to Myanmar than from India.
Gulf Coast
After Samui, we cycled north up the Gulf of Thailand coast, roughly following the same route that I rode with an organized ride over two years ago, but stopping to smell the roses much more.
The view from our great homestay in Prachuap Khiri Khan, run by a really friendly and interesting French/Thai couple.
We cycle by temples all day long and decided to check out this reclining Buddha.
This bridge looked impassable until we watched a tuk tuk drive over it. We walked, thank you very much…
Stunningly beautiful teak temple with intricate woodworking.
Can you get tired of cycling by views like this all day?
One of our funky little guesthouses had weird themed table and chairs. Nice cheap bungalows right on the beach but with grumpy staff and stand-offish European guests, though we met four Germans staying there who are doing their own two-week cycle tour along the coast.
I was going to go swimming until I saw this bad boy… I think that skull pattern indicates that this is a box jellyfish, one of the most deadly creatures around, killing swimmers every year. Many of the local hotels have warnings up about jellyfish here. No swimming for me, thanks!
Friendly kitty watching our bikes for us.
I was crazy enough to let Steve rent a scooter so we could drive out to a national park to do some hiking. Scared me to death! I was a horrible back seat driver too… Steve loved it.
It’s quite a hike to this cave, is it worth it?
Sweating like crazy!
Yeah, totally worth it. Damn!! I can’t understand how they built this temple inside this cave. You have to hike over two huge rocky hills (1400ft tall) and then down into this cave, which has no way out except the hole above the temple. So everything was carried in. For scale, you can barely make out a few tourists in the bottom right.
We cheated on the way back and hired a long tail boat to save us the last small climb.
And next we continue north away from the coast and towards the Myanmar border crossing, which we should reach in a couple of weeks.
The how’s and why’s and what were they thinking for the temple in the cave is enough to keep me up nights. How gorgeous.