After leaving the tranquility and beauty of the Sri Phanga National Park, we headed to a town called Khura Buri, which wasn’t too far away and a nice gentle ride with mountains keeping their distance to the right. The road was quiet and it was overcast so very pleasant cycling conditions.
We stayed at Alex Homestay, in Khura Buri and really enjoyed meeting Alex, who looked after us superbly – letting us use the washing machine and supplying a high speed internet cable to our room. He even invited us to join him for dinner…
Leaving Alex, with a late start, we cycled north towards Ranong and stopped to camp in a Rubber Plantation for the night, about half way. In our best broken Thai we managed to ask some passerbys if it was ok, they seemed to think so.
After a nice supper, we sat by the trees in the dark, discussing the concept of soulmates. We’ve both just read a book called Brida by Paulo Coelho (author of The Alchemist), which is about soulmates amongst other things. Very interesting read and got us both thinking…
It rained very heavily overnight, yet was still sauna like in the tent. I kept waking up intermittently to check we weren’t being flooded.
Next morning, with waves and smiles from passing scooter riders, we packed up and set off for Ranong. Ranong is predominantly a place where the backpacker buses go and a good place for visa runs, due to the proximity to the Burmese border (read this article to see why we are using the name Burma rather than Myanmar). Plus there are free hot springs, which has to be a lure for any cyclist! It rained most of the way there and was otherwise uneventful, (besides our rather exciting trip to Tesco).
In Ranong, we stayed at the Kiwi Orchid Guest House, right next to the bus station, where we were greeted and shown a choice of nice rooms with fans. There were a few backpackers staying there, who seemed to have had a rough day, with long bus journeys or were simply weary (of travelling?) – they all seemed a bit gloomy to us! Made us glad to be on the bikes and not at the mercy of buses, boats and tour operators. At the same time I can’t help wondering how people can be so grumpy when they are in such a lovely country, at the end of the day it’s their choice to be there and so many people in the world would never even have the opportunity to travel in this way.
We stayed a couple of days in the end and went to the hot springs and explored the town, enjoying the delights of the Food Market.
We can’t help noticing that there is a great appreciation of food here in Thailand, people take their time to sit and have a coffee and a bowl of noodle soup together. Watching the faces of the people cooking and preparing food, it seems that everyone is happy, content, they take pride in their work. After all, making food for people is quite possibly one of the most important jobs you can do, we all gotta eat!
So we too take our time and sit eating Kow Pad Kai (literally: rice fried chicken) and phad thai with pork ( big soft noodles fried in a peanuty/sweet sauce). Most dishes are served with a small bowl of watery soup, wherever you go, it’s free or included in the price. My dish comes with crunchy beanspouts, spring onions and a slice of lime on the side. We learn the word for ice tea, order two and soak up the atmosphere.
It poured with rain solidly for 2 days and we found our trip to the hot springs quite comical. The sign said you could only soak your feet, so we sat on the edge in our waterproof jackets, with our toes in the water. A Thai man was in the pool completely and then others came and did the same, so we decided to ignore the sign and get in.
A one point a lady arrived on her scooter wearing long trousers and a long sleeved top. After greeting us she proceeded to climb into the hottest pool, fully clothed still wearing her scooter helmet! We both looked at it each other and said ‘Only in Asia!’.
Having made the easy decision to go and explore what was down the road we had now arrived at the entrance to the Sri Phang-nga National Park. A small barrier was now between us and a 246.08 square meters of rain forest. We paid our entrance fee and set up camp. A small fee is also charge for camping. The park has a small restaurant, camping area and bungalows for those that want a slightly more comfortable experience. Despite some of theses modern features we were still surrounded by lush trees and the sound of birds, frogs and monkeys from the forest within. We were the only people staying there, not quite the wilderness I was expecting but the Park had a peaceful feel to it and I felt a sense of belonging here. From what we could gather the park was quiet during the week and busy at the weekends. It would have been fascinating to see how the Thai people experience their National Parks and their way of camping.
Camp set we had some lunch and then set of to find Tamnang waterfall the biggest of the waterfalls in the area at 63 meters high. After a few kms of walking we arrived at the impressive feature carved out by years of erosion yet leaving a magical place for animals and humans alike to enjoy. The pool at the foot of the fall was recommended for swimming, but just before we arrived the heavens had opened and the powerful force of the rain was beating down on us. It seemed wrong not to swim, I was no longer hot and sweaty but I longed to bath in the pool in front of me. I stripped down to my underwear and was about to take my first step in the water when I had a change of heart. The giant swam fish that had made their way up river suddenly seemed rather menacing and they might bite my toes and to top it off, there was a snake lurking at the corner of the pool, probably waiting to bite my bottom.
I observed nature carefully and after 10 minutes decided it was now or never I slowly lowered myself into the pool and let out a few girly noises for good measure. To my delight the snake was still waiting for the fish and the fish were not biting my toes. I was still slightly on edge but as time progressed my confidence grew and I swam to the waterfall to explore and shower beneath the cascade of water. Liz was not so keen to swim with the fish or the snake so she was busy taking photos and laughing at my silliness in and out the water.
Heading back to the campsite we were happy and relaxed, the rain was now a cool drizzle and felt wonderful against our usually hot and tanned skin. We showered and changed into dry clothes and Liz made dinner. The restaurant was now closed and we had the place to ourselves. Forests and mountains have always been a place of peace for me. I am sure that there is something more here than just trees and rocks, the raw spirit of nature, an energy force that keeps giving and quite simply makes me feel good. We retired to the tent and enjoyed a cool nights sleep thanks to the earlier rain storm.
Our carefully chosen camp spot shaded us from the morning sun. We had rice and chicken for breakfast and set off to explore more of the rainforest. We had seen pictures of elephants, monkeys and other exciting animals. Were we going to get to see these? The thought of meeting an elephant in the wild filled me with excitement and fear at the same time. Talking with the park staff we soon found out that the elephants were deep in the forest and it was unlikely that we would meet one. Still as we wondered round the nature trails I contemplated what I would do if an elephant were to appear from behind a tree.
If we had more time we could have taken off into the forest and explored for a few days, for now the nature trails were enough and we explore a couple of the 2-3km trials that followed rivers and wound up the side of the mountains. We were on a mission to see as many different animals as possible. To our delight we encountered two interesting animals that accompanied the birds, spiders, leeches and ants that surrounded us. We have no idea what the first one was but it looked like a giant possum. It was body was broad and flat like a flying squirrel, a long tail and black fur with a white stripe on its back and crawling down the tree. We approached slowly feeling like seasoned explorers, but before we could capture our find on film it vanished into the towering trees above. Excited we walked a little further and stopped still to see if he would come back. No sound but I felt something in my hair. Trying to remain calm I moved back slowly there in front of me was a chameleon (Liz thinks, Chris is not so sure – do comment). He was motionless and rather startled by our presence but was good enough to stay still for a few photos. We continued on and found ourselves back at the main path. From here we joined a different more dense and less trodden trail. We followed the river up looking for the other smaller waterfalls. We rested by the rocks and small waterfalls dipping our feet in the cool water.
One of our goals on this trip was improve our photography; neither of us had spent much time doing this so we experimented with different camera settings before wondering back to the campsite.
