41 km

We started off today with me feeling better after more rest. We’ve heard from friends at home that this virus is going around there as well, and it just takes some time. Patience is all I needed!

We decided to keep to the small roads hugging the coast today even though it meant slower going and no guarantees–our map doesn’t have great detail and often doesn’t show smaller roads. We made the right choice. It was a quiet and beautiful ride, sometimes swinging close to the coast, and other times through tree-lined country roads. Dave and I are able to ride alongside each other and chat, something we don’t usually get to do on the busier roads.

I’m feeling better today, but still tired, so we make it a short day. We get back to the coast and stop at the first bungalows we see: Coffee Beach. They are very nice and new and cost 450 baht with a/c. The two women who show us around don’t speak a single word of English, but they have constant smiles and are patient with us as we try to communicate. It looks like we’re the only customers here, and we confirm that they are serving dinner at the open-air restaurant where we pay for the room. Yes! So, we head to the bungalows and immediately change to go swim. The water is ours, the beach is empty except the dogs who reside here at the bungalows, and they happily splash in after us. Dave and I enjoy cooling down in the water, and feel instantly refreshed. It’s just amazing how that works.

We shower and change back at the bungalow, and as we are ready to head out, the power goes out. No backup generator kicks in, as we have seen happen in other places, so we head to the restaurant with our headlamps to order dinner. There are candles lit, both at the restaurant counter and next door where the family lives. We get a couple of candles for our table and we anxiously await dinner.

We are so happy that Chris Wee sent us the link for Chanchao’s Thai Menu Helper, which has helped us so much when ordering in places with no menu or when we need to make sure we get vegetarian versions of what’s in the kitchen. It works well for us tonight, and we enjoy green curry with vegetables and tofu, and pad thai. As we are finishing up dinner the power comes back on, so we get to make use of our air conditioner to sleep by. We had been worried we’d have to open the windows (with no screens) and then figure out how to put up our mosquito net without a hook overhead. That was the reason we didn’t take the fan room in the first place, because there were no screens or bed net. We each got about fifteen mosquito bites at dinner and are glad we won’t have to get any more.