Is It Bad If Your Hands Are Sunburnt Purple-Orange? Day 4: Biking South From Bangkok

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Day Four: Petchaburi to Cha-Am Beach

This morning we set off early, biking on the main highway and searching for a small side road, shown on our map, that would take us along the ocean. We stopped at a gas station to ask directions and three teenage boys on a motorbike offered to guide us to the correct side road. We followed these boys six miles, about fifteen minutes, back the way we’d come. And yes, they did look funny, all three of them squeezed on a motorbike. The last boy was pretty much holding on with his thighs. But these boys were more than happy to help us and we were once again, stunned by the generosity of strangers. J gave them each a hemp bracelet he’d made, the best we could do to say thank you.

We road along lovely large wheat fields, arriving in a small touristy ocean town thirty minutes later. Eating a second breakfast of a crab and shrimp omelet lacking any visible crab or shrimp, I watched as my kick stand collapsed under the weight of my bike and panniers, crashing it all to the ground. From then on, I had to lean my bike against a tree or a pole or rest it on the ground. We continued on, biking along golden fields, women selling fruit from tiny stands by the roadside. Some of these vendors were dressed to the nines, tight jeans, high-heels, sexy lace tops, for their fruit selling. My guess was that these ladies were hoping to pick up rich tourists driving from Bangkok to their beachside resorts just south of here. Their outfits sure looked funny, out in the middle of nowhere, standing by the side of the road, nothing around but fruit and fields.

After about 35 miles, we reached Cha-Am Beach, a very touristy beach town popular with Thai’s vacationing, just as a holiday weekend was beginning. Accomodation was scarce and expensive. There were many sparkling gorgeous new hotels, available for $100 or $200 a night. We spent a long time searching for a place that was cheap but not a whorehouse, or at least not a dirty one. Our search bore fruit when we found a very clean, brand new room just minutes from the ocean, well priced at 400 baht, just over $13. No place is perfect though, and we did have to carry our bikes up three flights of steep stairs to squeeze them in to our lovely, yet small, windowless room.

It was late afternoon, and Cha-Am Beach was crowded with people vacationing. Loads of expensive cars cruised the main strip, sharing the road with teenagers on rented three-man bicycles. At the beach, some people swam while others relaxed under umbrellas with chairs and tables, nibbling on snacks and drinking beers. Sleazy men walked their horses up and down the beach, trying to sell rides, and a mahout sold carrots to feed his elephant, the little guy strolling adorably and hungrily behind him. Vendors sold kites and blow-up water toys. Giant grilled squid shared beach-side table space with loud, clanky, shined-up seashell wind chimes.

We rented chairs on the beach for a few baht and happily relaxed, watching all the activity. A woman approached us with a styrofoam box full of fried squid for sale. We bought them and enjoyed the juicy sweet creatures as the sun went down over the sea. Soon after, it began to rain and we headed back to our room. This was when we realized we were grossly sunburnt; J’s hands were actually purpley-orange. We both had the imprint of our tank-tops burnt in to us, in a rich pink-red color.

We decided perhaps our SPF 15 was not strong enough for the Thai sun. Also, we had begun taking meloquine, a pill to prevent malaria and known to intensify the rays of the sun, when we left Bangkok. I believe the medicine’s information sheet actually advises users to stay out of the sun while taking the medicine. Uh, yea, right. We were going to be outside, all day, everyday. There was no staying out of the sun. So we simply stopped taking the pills, though J’s bizarrely sunburnt hands lasted two more weeks, and we fortunately, did not get malaria. Unsurprisingly, we fell in to bed here even more tired and sore than the previous nights, when we had thought ourselves to be impossibly weary and aching.

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