Surin to Prachathipat

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Geo: 14.8667, 101.7

Leaving Surin I was stopped by a guy on a moped for a photo,turns out he's a big cycling fan and loved my courage at cycling through Thailand, the road is still pretty busy on leaving but comes and goes the same as other days. I enjoy my many stop offs and touring on the way into Bangkok and first stop from Surin is Buri Ram as I'm still trying to keep the kilometers down.


I love all the interaction on the road, from the guys on the building sites (unharnessed and up a number of stories) all shouting and waving with their big straw hats and balaclavas, to the ladies on their mopeds waving,their beautiful big smiles and thumbs up on the way past, to the kids piled onto bikes on the way back and forth to school, to the millions of toots and shouts from passing vehicles, every jeep seems to be stacked full of people or cargo in the back, and I get so many waves and shouts it's quite overwhelming,what a place!


Buri Ram has a lake with lovely views and seems a really nice city, I chatted away (well partly in sign language) to the owner of a bike shop with all his colorful bikes which was across from a shopping mall and night market which I visited in the evening. You would think Buri Ram never has western visitors passing through with the response I get, every till I approach causes giggles and laughter and pushing of other cashiers out to serve me which I can only laugh about, they're too shy and unsure of me to feel at ease serving me, thankfully it doesn't bother me in fact I find it quite sweet really.


Leaving the city I was surprised to see 'Thunder Castle', a huge football stadium and pictures of the Buri Ram team, I hadn't come across this in any neighboring countries but here you find the kids are out playing football and it's obviously big business same as home. In fact I saw a TV ad, advertising the arrival of Chelsea football team so I guess its definitely up and coming in Thailand.


Sitting on top of a nearby hill was a huge Buddha statue so on passing I decided to pop in and visit, climbing steps the whole way up, in fact racing some local boys up them which was funny (I did manage to beat one of them but the other 4 got ahead), the views look out over the city and is actually an old volcano that I'm up. Some of the gateways have great sculptures engraved into them, again very like the Angkor temples and I enjoy my quick stop off which seems to be my way, and how I fill my days with visiting and exploring places on the way past.


I head south to the Prakhon Chai District before a tough climb up to the top of one of the volcano's that takes me to Phnom Rung Temple– now this is something else. Sitting on the top of the volcano it has a fabulous outlook for miles and miles and the temple is really impressive, honestly I could be back at Angkor! The police advised me where to leave my bike to go and visit and kept an eye on it for me which was lovely, I walked a long walkway before climbing many steps which took me into the main area which had many buildings, carvings,artwork, the craftsmanship involved is unbelievable and really is an onslaught to the senses. Outside is filled with tourist stalls, temples and food stalls, I love the cowboy hats and I'm sorely tempted to buy one for the road!

When leaving, the road down to Nang Rong was a twisting and turning, steep in places, downhill…yeeha. I passed one cyclist heading up and I felt his pain, this had been my first climb in a long time. From here I traveled via Chok Chai, Pak Chong, Saraburi, Nong Khae, Wang Noi and onto Prachathipat north of Bangkok.

With the last of my temples visited I just took in the road, the scenery and locals on the way but the traffic gets more like being on a motorway which I try to get off as much as possible. One area was full of corn plantations with stalls upon stalls on the roadside with fresh steamed corn for sale which is one of my favorite, they also sold juice which was actually tasty enough although I didn't fancy it much initially, a lot of the scenery has limestone mountains off to the left which I find impressive, a real unique landscape. There's huge dinosaurs as road art which is funny and big prawns made out of tyres. In another area there was lots of pots, garden centers but all the stalls had whiskey, honey and breads... interesting.


One of my favorite sites was on my way into Bangkok, one of the fields had three men working tractors churning up and smoothing the rice paddies, it almost looked like they were surfing on the back of the machinery towed by their mini tractors, it was unbelievable to watch and I was delighted by the waves and shouts I got off them for photos. The field was also full of big grey and black storks and often I found them flying along beside me which was an incredible experience, seeing the grace of their flight right alongside… wow.


My journey into Bangkok ended up a bit fraught, not only with the traffic building up but by the thunder storm I ended up soaked in the middle of, the burst tyre and exhaustion of my efforts meant I actually walked the last 2-3 kms to my warm showers 'host' Nawin and his family. So touchdown… but it wasn't quite that straightforward, it turns out that I'm not staying with my hosts but in a nearby condo, thankfully I grab a quick shower while waiting on them getting in from work but I can't take Lucy Lou with me which means I have a 20-30 walk back to their home the next day to fix punctures and get some jobs done however, trying and find my bearings again meant it actually took me over an hour to find my way back to their home again.


That being said, the ‘condo' gave me my own space, they were very lovely kind family taking me for dinner and giving me lots of advice on places to visit and directions in English and Thai, they even took me out to Ayuttaya which was the ancient capital of Thailand on their day off and spent. So thank you Nawin for being a keen cyclist and putting me up, maybe I can repay the hospitality one day in Scotland.


If you've not heard about ‘Warm showers' by not check it out here, this is a fabulous tool for cycle tourist which I hope to use in the future and certainly on my way down through Thailand.

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Photos

Traditionally painted truck
Another beauty :)

Road art
Friendly Dino, I love the wee lady sitting underneath in the shade :)

Local transport
I love this photograph, it's got to be my favorite to date

Fellow cyclist
This guy stopped me for a photo - fellow cyclist apparently who was fascinated by my bike and set up (not surprised really I am a bit of a one off around here).

Stairs up to the temple
I can never let an opportunity pass me to climb steps...