Beware of Monkeys and Green Bread Cubes: Day 3 - Biking South From Bangkok

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Day 3: Samut Songkram to Petchaburi

This morning our route brought us back on to 35, the main road, and we decided to try biking against traffic. It was fun seeing the cars coming at us, in case one was going to hit us, we liked the option of being able to see it first, so we could veer out of its path. Luckily, this did not happen and of course we were in the breakdown lane. The breeze we got riding against traffic was refreshing, though after stopping for fresh oranges and green sweet bread cubes, we realized biking against traffic actually created a strong wind that slowed us down. So we switched back to riding with traffic, putting our lives back in to the hands of car and truck drivers. Mostly trucks since Thai people, outside of the big cities, are still involved in farming, and almost anyone with a vehicle has a truck, not a car.

Day 3 and we had decided this trip was a really good idea after all. We got to be outside all day, constantly see new and beautiful places, meet interesting people and eat fabulous garden-fresh food. Each day was a novel adventure that could bring us anywhere and in to contact with anyone! What a way to live!! Sure, we were very sore and the amount of exhaust we were ingesting was somewhat alarming. But the endless possibility we had, combined with the way our basic needs of food and shelter were easily met, allowed us a sense of dreamy freedom rarely felt before.

On this day we passed many stinky dried-fish and fresh fruit vendors. We rode between 13-15 mph, watching beautiful mountains in the distance, which gradually came closer, until we were biking through them. Most Thai Muslims live in the South of Thailand and we passed our first mosque today, shaped so round and different than the A-frame style of Buddhist temples. We biked 29 miles before lunch and felt so proud sitting by the roadside, eating some delicious fried rice with squid and shrimp.

But when we went to get back on to our bikes, the area between our legs screamed with pain. We decided to bike only five more miles, to Petchaburi, a big town with naughty, wild monkeys living on the main street. Signs around town say, “Beware of Monkeys” and the crazy monkeys run along electric wires, and across streets, causing vehicles to swerve to avoid them. The monkeys also stalk you from their roof-top posts, watching you walk along, appearing ready to pounce at any second. They are not cute or sweet like you may want to imagine.

We asked the location of a hotel at a gas station, and a cute, little happy teenage boy walked us three blocks to the Wang Hotel. I believe the Wang is what we would call in the US, “a hooker hotel” for obvious reasons. But the price was right ($8) and the receptionist behind bars was happy to have us bring our bikes in to our room. The little room was a seafoam green, with a soft bed and a tiny TV padlocked to the wall. J was less than delighted about the first manual toilet of the trip. For those of you unfamiliar, a manual toilet has no flush knob, rather, you use a bucket and a pail of water to pour water in to the toilet until the waste goes down. It works the same as a flush toilet really, you just have to do the work of the flushing.

It was here that J told me I smelt like a sour pickle, just before I took a manual shower. Petchaburi boasts a tourist attraction, what appears to be a big hill in the center of town with a special temple and a telescope atop. I can’t be more specific because after gobbling down some BBQ chicken and a hot dog from 7-11 under a bridge while some dogs and a man with a chicken cart strapped to his bike looked on, J and I did nothing here but lay in that aforementioned soft bed and sleep.

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Photos

My Sweet Bike
I'm sorry I didn't take any other photos today.