We decided the visa run was enough for one day. Dave has been doing some contract engineering work while we’ve been here, and he’s happy to work on the technical writing a bit more before we leave.

We took a longtail boat ride to burma, got our passport stamped and a new visa for Thailand, then came back. An easy, three hour process from door to door.

We first took a songtaew (pickup taxi with benches along each side and a canopy covering) to Thai immigration for our exit stamp. Then a motor scooter ride to the boat dock that was included in the price of the longtail boat (400 baht r/t). We walked back to Thai immigration from the dock (15 minutes) and got our passports stamped. Then a songtaew ride back to the guesthouse. We took a truck labeled with route “4” to get there, and the “3” to get back. The driver will let you know when you’re near.

Ditto yesterday.

(We’re feeling better.)

Tomorrow we will probably do a quick visa run to the Burma (Myanmar) border, then head on to the next town to make our way to the East coast.

Sleep, eat, internet. Repeat.

62 km

Today neither of us felt good. I think we must both have a virus, since we share the same symptoms after a full week, and Dave took a course of antibiotics in that time. We must have picked it up on the dive boat, which we shared with about 40 other people for two full days. That, combined with the stress on the sinuses and ears of pressurizing so many times over the 4-day dive course must have cinched it.

There’s not much to say about today, as I was in a mental fog the entire day, tired and grumpy. Bike touring is no fun feeling this way. We are going to take a day or two more off here in Ranong and hopefully kick this.

The owner of the Wassana Guest House in Hat Bang Ben recommended the Suta House in Ranong, and we are glad for the tip. It’s a nice, clean place with a variety of inexpensive air-con rooms.

We decided to stay here a day and catch up with ourselves and try to get rid of these nasty colds. We slept in, read, did various maintenance on bikes and stuff, then walked to the beach to swim. The water was really warm, and soon after getting out to walk back we were just as hot as when we’d left. We had another delicious dinner at the resort and spent the evening reading and writing for the website.

88 km

Today’s ride was easy and flat, though hot and sticky. Along the way we’d planned to ride off the highway to check out Khong Nakha Wildlife Sanctuary. Maybe we could see some wild(ish) animals!

We started seeing signs to the sanctuary & national park several kilometers ahead. When we got to the turn we hoped it wouldn’t be too far off the road, as they never really gave that info and the map can never be trusted.

We rolled through a lovely manicured forest for maybe a couple of kilometers before seeing the entrance. There was no one at the entrance so we rolled on by. There were several neat buildings to the left and to the right, all signed in Thai, but no one was around any of them. Then we saw a building marked in English as well, “Tour Center”. But it, too, was empty–both of people and anything else. Huh. We slowed and looked all around, only seeing one guy at a table under the shade of a maintenance shack or something. He didn’t offer any help, didn’t even look up from whatever he was doing. So we did as anyone else would do in our situation: stop and eat. It makes everything better. After lunch we decided to just ride a bit further, see if we could find the nature trail mentioned on one of the signs on the main road. But at the end of the road there was only a trail that looked like we might need a machete to whack our way through the jungle. There were a couple of bungalows there, probably for people working there. We heard a TV and saw three scooters parked outside, but even with our confused wandering and talking, no one came out to help us. So we left.

We knew to head past Kapoe to Hat Bang Ben near Laem Son National Park this afternoon because of the Dutch woman we met a couple of days ago on the road. She had heard of it because lots of Dutch people stay there, especially cyclists, and it’s run by a Dutch/Thai couple. This is another bit of heaven for cyclists, or anyone, who enjoys nice bungalows in a very friendly environment. It’s quiet here, even though it is high tourist season. This beach is still not “on the map” yet and I guess most people just pass it by. There are only two guest houses here.

After unloading our gear, we cycled out to the jetty. This was one of the areas hit hard by the 2004 Tsunami, and we kept seeing signs warning us that we’re in a Tsunami Hazard Zone, and other signs showing the way to the Tsunami Evacuation Route. Wow. We kept looking at this beautiful place and wondering what it must have been like.

Hat Bang Ben, from the road to the jetty.

We rode back and ate dinner at the resort, a delicious vegetable and seafood curry and an Indonesian vegetarian dish. Later, we looked through the photo album showing the devastating effects and the rebuilding process that our guest house owner had in the restaurant. Evidently, the native trees protected by the near by national park kept this entire village from being completely wiped out.

We started thinking about taking a rest day here tomorrow.