Across the Isthmus: The Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Siam

Paknam Laung Suan Beach Road

Struggling to control my breathing as in came out in ragged gasps while straining every muscle in my leg working the pedals I tried to focus my mind on the descent that lay after the climb. It didn't work. I'm not sure which caved in first my mind, my lumber region or my thighs. Mentally screaming at myself for being so weak I nearly sobbed leaning on my handle bar. Several trucks lumbered past on low gear honking their encouragement. I could only smile faintly and wave weakly back. One truck even stopped by my bicycle and made signs to me to hang on for a free lift to the top but I didn't fancy the thought of breathing in all the fumes that trailed behind. Thankfully I felt better as my breathing stabilized and I reminded myself once again this was good training for the high mountain passes I might one day take. I started peddling again but with the wind blowing straight at me, I was nearly knocked off my cycle while shifting one gear lower. I had to stop again. It was my 3rd pass as I didn't seem to be getting any stronger. Watching Cedric bob away around another curve at apparent ease didn't help. I knew he'd be waiting again at the top of the pass for a good while. Maybe it was the stress of the moment but just the though of it irritated me. I have to confess I had been snapping at him quite a bit lately. We hadn't agreed entirely on the Ranong crossing idea but I finally conceded and even got excited by the time we started towards the town. But the general sordidness of the pier on both shores along with the disappointing let down of not being even able to ride our bicycles around Ranong got to me and I hadn't been in the most agreeable mood for a while. It is something I have to watch out for. With the long road ahead tempers flaring unnecessarily is something to be avoided. For now it was peddle a 100 meters, stop to reason with self and peddle again. By the time the pass came in view I wasn't even nodding my acknowledgment to the thumbs up and honks from passing cars.

This part of Southern Thailand maybe the narrowest stretch of the peninsula but it's far from flat. Low lying undulating hills mark the area between the two seas and we seemed to be the highest road of the region - the highway connecting Ranong with the eastern town of Luang Suan where we were headed. Luckily for me there was only one pass but once crossed the road refused to run flat. All too short descents gave just about enough momentum to climb halfway up the next ascent after which it was grit teeth and peddle painfully till tipping over the next slope. At least I had a view of the lay of the land from the vehicles that zoomed past to disappear down one slope only to reappear again in the distant horizon. This went on for hours. By the time we finally reached flat land that promised no further surprises we had clocked 98 kms. We decided to skip the main town and instead head to the Paknam Lang Suan Beach town that lay another 14 km away. It turned out to be a good decision as we were welcomed by a lovely relaxed town with a really pretty sea face. To top it the place was throughly devoid of "firangs" and the locals seemed quite happy to welcome us. We stopped by a store cum stop-for-a-drink place by the beach to celebrate my first 112.8km run across the Istmus from the Andaman Sea to The gulf of Siam with a beer. Thais love being outside and almost every home and shop has a sit out with benches and tables outside where you'll normally find the entire family and/or customers chilling out with drinks and food. The store owner also rented out the showers for beach visitors to use and thought it was a lovely idea to string up our hammocks and camp by the beach for the night. After a quick dip in the shallow blue sea (which had a rather muddy floor thanks to run off from the estuary nearby but lovely none the less) and a shower after we headed off to find food and settle for the night.

After a lovely night's rest and a beautiful morning view of the sea from our hammocks we started the trip back towards Chumphon though this time by the narrow local coast roads.

Shrimpfisher struck by dawn

As we didn't have a detailed map for this region we just stuck as close as we could to the sea. We made several dead end turns and took some false roads but it was worth the beautiful coconut plantations and coastal farms and villages they led through. At one point after reaching another dead end that led to a fishing port by the bay we decided to take a short cut through the lovely Royal Prince of Chumphon College of Fishery campus only to find the gate on the opposite end locked. Not wanting to waste time we simply unloaded our bags and hoisted bags and cycles over the ten foot high gates while campus staff waved and looked on lazily from a distance. I'm constantly amazed at how genial thais can be. I guess they didn't have the keys either or else they would have sure come with it.

Sawi Estuary

Ban Bo Kha Village

The ride took us along the Ao Sawi Bay (Ao being bau in Thai) and along the estuary that meets the Sawi river. Another missed turn took us down to yet another picturesque fishing village, Ban Bo Kha before we settled on the country road that led all the way to Chumphon. 23 kms out of Chumphon we rejoined the highway only to scoot off after two minutes of blearing truck engines and assorted highway traffic zooming past us.The highway route may be the shortest but definitely the most painful.

Beware of crossing cows

We hit a dirt track parallel to the single track railroad that led through more winding country roads and friendly smiles from locals before finally pulling in Chumphon tired but happy after our 98.43 km ride that took us through some of the lesser visited parts of South Thailand. From Chumphon we clambered onto a North Bound Train that will lead us to Nakon Pathom near Bangkok from where we'll take the roads that lead to Chiang Mai. Further North and Further East!