Thailand off the beaten track
Thailand looked so different from Cambodia. Rich and developed. There were no more naked kids on the streets, no more wooden houses on pillars and no more ladies with pajamas. It was a different world with less charm and cultural subtleties.
Since we re-entered Thailand it felt like the adventurous part of the trip was over as Thailand is an easy country to travel through looking to its developed infrastructure. Now our resting and chilling time was supposed to start as we were planning to move further to the sunny South. But knowing that little time is left until the end of our trip kept us curious and forced us to seek to discover more and not to relax yet. Having this in mind and after servicing the bike in Bangkok (chain, oil, oil filter, rear braking pads were changed) we went off the beaten touristic tracks of Thailand for the last taste of adventure. We just locked our Lonely Planet in the pannier and planned the route ourselves with detailed local maps.
Just 60 km's away from Bangkok we found a cozy Thai town where we got a lot of attention just for being the only tourists around. People were smiling and greeting us. When moving further we discovered beautiful scenery with still no tourists around. This was Thailand we expected to see the first time we were there - wild, natural and tropical. It felt like traveling in a different country as we traveled before. When we ended up on a gravel road going through the rocky hills and covered by the jungle we wouldn't be surprised to spot a dinosaur - so much the scenery reminded us Jurassic Park.
We didn't see dinosaurs, but we found another prehistoric trace - a three thousand years old painting that doesn't see many tourists.
In this wonderful piece of nature we slept in the open air in a raft house floating on a lake. It was a great part of wild Thailand discovery, just the sounds of nature didn't let Milda, a concrete kid, have a good rest. We slept on wooden planks with a very thin straw mat on it, only covered by a mosquito net.
Our Lithuanian Christmas
Since the beginning of our trip Milda was dreaming about sunny and hot Christmas. Everything looked promising as we could enjoy good weather all the time and we planned to celebrate Christmas on the Southern coast of Thailand. But on Christmas day it was raining so much that it felt like celebrating Christmas in Lithuania and not on a tropical beach. The sea was wild, the wind was blowing hard and we couldn't drive much because of constant rainfall.
We had a cozy and nice Christmas eve dinner with Lathoya, Roy and his mother. They became friends with who it was very nice to share our Christmas eve meal far away from home.
And we got a nice Christmas present - an inner tube for our V-Strom. It was more like returning it back to us, as we gave our spare inner tube when Roy got a puncture in Laos.
Agnyte
Our Lithuanian friend Agnyte was one of the biggest fans of our journey so on our way to Malaysia we couldn't miss Koh Samui island where she lives and works as a brilliant manager of one of the best restaurants on the island.
She and her boyfriend Jura welcomed us in their cozy house next to the beach where we felt being at home after a long time of driving.
We came there to spend our last days in Thailand and to relax. We didn't notice how three days on the island passed by spending time together with Agnyte and Jura, tasting good food, swimming, enjoying sun on the beach (except for Johan) and just doing nothing. They took good care of us, Agnyte showed her favorite places on the island and introduced us to her friends.
Thanks, Agnyte and Jura, for the good time we spent together!
Some numbers:
KMs driven in total: 26 250
KMs driven during this period: 2 650
Money spent during this period: 690 Euro
Thailand looked so different from Cambodia. Rich and developed. There were no more naked kids on the streets, no more wooden houses on pillars and no more ladies with pajamas. It was a different world with less charm and cultural subtleties.
Since we re-entered Thailand it felt like the adventurous part of the trip was over as Thailand is an easy country to travel through looking to its developed infrastructure. Now our resting and chilling time was supposed to start as we were planning to move further to the sunny South. But knowing that little time is left until the end of our trip kept us curious and forced us to seek to discover more and not to relax yet. Having this in mind and after servicing the bike in Bangkok (chain, oil, oil filter, rear braking pads were changed) we went off the beaten touristic tracks of Thailand for the last taste of adventure. We just locked our Lonely Planet in the pannier and planned the route ourselves with detailed local maps.
Just 60 km's away from Bangkok we found a cozy Thai town where we got a lot of attention just for being the only tourists around. People were smiling and greeting us. When moving further we discovered beautiful scenery with still no tourists around. This was Thailand we expected to see the first time we were there - wild, natural and tropical. It felt like traveling in a different country as we traveled before. When we ended up on a gravel road going through the rocky hills and covered by the jungle we wouldn't be surprised to spot a dinosaur - so much the scenery reminded us Jurassic Park.
In this wonderful piece of nature we slept in the open air in a raft house floating on a lake. It was a great part of wild Thailand discovery, just the sounds of nature didn't let Milda, a concrete kid, have a good rest. We slept on wooden planks with a very thin straw mat on it, only covered by a mosquito net.
Our Lithuanian Christmas
Since the beginning of our trip Milda was dreaming about sunny and hot Christmas. Everything looked promising as we could enjoy good weather all the time and we planned to celebrate Christmas on the Southern coast of Thailand. But on Christmas day it was raining so much that it felt like celebrating Christmas in Lithuania and not on a tropical beach. The sea was wild, the wind was blowing hard and we couldn't drive much because of constant rainfall.
Agnyte
Our Lithuanian friend Agnyte was one of the biggest fans of our journey so on our way to Malaysia we couldn't miss Koh Samui island where she lives and works as a brilliant manager of one of the best restaurants on the island.
She and her boyfriend Jura welcomed us in their cozy house next to the beach where we felt being at home after a long time of driving.
We came there to spend our last days in Thailand and to relax. We didn't notice how three days on the island passed by spending time together with Agnyte and Jura, tasting good food, swimming, enjoying sun on the beach (except for Johan) and just doing nothing. They took good care of us, Agnyte showed her favorite places on the island and introduced us to her friends.
Thanks, Agnyte and Jura, for the good time we spent together!
Some numbers:
KMs driven in total: 26 250
KMs driven during this period: 2 650
Money spent during this period: 690 Euro
u know there are words of the song - "why do all good things come to the end". i would say the come, because even better are coming :) so guys, enjoy last days there.. bring shiny things what u learned and share, reflect with friends :) happy u did it! :)
ReplyDeleteIt was my pleasure to take care of you during your stay in Samui! Hopefully we will meet in Vilnius next time! Be safe!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Agnyte