Day 184: Where are we??!
Feb 1st, 2006 by Nuts On Bents
We left Hua Hin, still following the network of coastal roads (not on our map). We had a print-out from a fellow cyclist’s website which had a copy of a local tourist map from Hua Hin to the Sam Roi Yot National Park.
We first cycled through a forest park, with an excellent mangrove nature trail. The trail was circular, and took a half hour on foot to explore. Back on the bicycles, we continued heading along the coast towards the national park… only to find ourselves staring at a big padlocked gate!! Fortunately for us there was no wall on one side of the gate, so we wheeled our bikes around. The dirt track on the other side of the gate lasted for another 50m before disappearing into a sea of sand. Nic ploughed ahead, trailer in tow and soon found himself wadding through soft mud like sand. Sedef followed on taking care to avoid the wetter looking areas, though we both became stuck in the sand and only strenuous pushing managed to get us across to firmer ground some 200 meters away. We washed our mud-caked shoes in the sea at the village fishing harbour and continued on a now tarmac’d road. 1km later the road ran out again, forcing us to backtrack to the shoe washing point. We must have been looking rather lost as a local woman took pity on us and rode with us on her motorbike on the right road out of town. Alas, taking us over the large hill we were trying to avoid!
Again back on the coastal road we managed to make good progress towards the national park… until we ran out of road again! By now light was fading, our energy zapped and only a rough idea of where we were! Thankfully we met a Thai lady called ‘Wee’ who spoke good English and recommended a resort hotel nearby called ‘Kalamona’ - we had a lovely modern bungalow beside the sea. One of the nicest places we stayed in during the trip, with a nice white sand beach in front (deserted).
If only we knew where exactly we were!?!:p (as if we care – hammocks are such hard work… someone has to do it!!)