59 km

The ride today started out ok, following smaller roads closer to the coast, most of which were not on our map. In one small tourist beach town that looked like it was built completely in the last five years, Dave skidded to a stop because he had seen a couple of St. Bernard dogs lying in the reception of a guest house. One of them was interested in receiving visitors, and got up to meet Dave. They made quick friends before we sadly had to move on sans dog.

We eventually found ourselves on highway 4 again, and it was busy though only a two-lane highway here. One advantage of riding 4 is that our speed was about 50% faster than on the smaller roads, and we flew into town fairly early.

Hua Hin

We followed the recommendations of our Rough Guide, and ended up in Karoon Hut, one of the remaining guest houses built right on the water on one of the former shrimp piers. We had an air-con room with bath for 500 baht (the fan rooms had a tiny window and no ventilation). We could hear the waves roll in underneath our floor. Hua Hin is very touristy, fairly expensive, and busy, but it has a nice vibe at night, and we enjoyed eating street food with some locals and walking around watching people.

Updated Plan

We got out the maps and opened up a calendar on the computer to plan the rest of our trip. We had started out with grand plans of seeing all of Southeast Asia, but then had also wanted to enjoy plenty of beaches and islands and dive along the way. Add to that about a week of being knocked out sick, and we realized we had better cut it down and make a plan.

So we decided to leave for Bangkok by train in the morning. We needed to get visas for Cambodia and Laos, as well as a couple of things for the bikes. After a few days we will take a train out of Bangkok to skip the hassle of the crazy traffic, heading straight to the border near Poipet, Cambodia. From there we’ll ride to Battambang, then get on a boat up the river and across the lake to Siem Reap. There we’ll visit Angkor Wat for a few days before cycling East and up to the border with Laos. Then through Laos to Louang Prabang by bicycle. From there we’ll likely take a boat up the river and over to Chang Rai, then cycle or bus to Chang Mai. We’ll ride the train to Bangkok, and then we’ve scheduled a dive trip on Koh Tao for the last week of our time here in Southeast Asia before flying home.

We realize this puts us in Cambodia and Laos at the absolute hottest time of the year, but if we can ride and enjoy this area, then we’ll surely be able to ride through the Sahara as we plan to in the fall. Our upcoming Africa bike tour is on our minds as the days get hotter, and we’ll make note of how we feel as we ride through the heat. There’s always room for change in our plans.