What an eventful week! We have hit the beautiful roads and we are enjoying the return of hills!
We successfully lounged on our rest day and finished off our books. Cha-am to Prachuap Khiri Khan (PKK) was a flat, nothing remarkable ride although we had a great tailwind helping us maintain a cool 30km/h. PKK is a beautiful sea side town famous for seafood and a cheeky monkey troop guarding a hill-top wat. Again, there were few tourists but we did meet our first bicycle tourers (english, riding aroiund the world and have already done 15,000km). This is the bottle neck part of Thailand and a PKK is a necessary stop of tourers heading north and south. We heard murmerings of another tandem heading south.After stocking up at the morning market, we headed on our last freeway leg (thank goodness!) to Bang Saphan where we would stay for Christmas. Bang Saphan is a tiny coastal town and it took us a while to orientate ourselves and find the awesome beach we had heard about on the grapevine. We must have looked terribly lost as a helpful Thai driver pulled over and pointed us in the right direction. We found gorgeous jungle bungalows and a large expanse of beach which retained the undiscovered Asia feel - ie minimal farangs (whities) and shack like bars on the beach. Without a doubt one of the best things about
bicycle touring is that you are forced to get 'off the beaten track' and are rewarded with real gems. We were relaxing on our balcony and talking to a french man riding round Thailand with his seven year old daughter in a trailer, when the elusive other tandem showed up - a much more streamlined tandem (and people). They turned out to be french so we named them the 'french tandem'.Christmas was brilliant - heaps of food, many cocktails and topped off with a Thai massage. Despite what you may think this massage was not relaxing but as Rowan said "was more painful than when I felll of my downhill mountain bike and skinned my back." This lady with steel fingers and a strong will basically kneads all your sore muscels until your screaming to her pleasure. She obviously was highly trained as my legs have felt new since then but perhaps not something I will do again for a while....
The ride from Bang Saphan to the beach north of Chumpon was excellent - hilly, scenic regional roads through rubber and palm plantations and rural villages. We came across a rather large Thai lady driving a motor bike store ladened with tasty rice treats. Our favourite bicycle fuel of choice is banana rice - banana and sticky rice (sometimes beans) wrapped together in a banana leaf and cooked. We stayed at a beach famous for its kite boarding but to Rowan's dissapointment there was not a breath of wind and his idea of kite surfing lessons was thrown out the window. Instead we swam on the beach and talked to a local Thai bar man with a Cockney accent, who informed us that his mother was a golddigger who went to England with a man but he hated the weather so came back.
Chumphon to Ranong was by far the most challenging ride of the trip so far - 145km of climbing through highland mountain ranges. The whole time we were up or down, there was no flat (exept for a bridge crossing). Despite the hardwork it was spectacular and in this remote part of Thailand, the village people were constantly cheering us on. For half of the ride we were in kissing distance of Burma and there was quite a large Burmese population, distinguishable by a white powdery stuff many of them apply to their face. 20km before Ranong, feeling very exhausted, we stopped at a waterfall and, while enjoying an iced coffee, stared at the range we had to cross to get into town. It ended up taking 9 hours in total, with 7 hours of logged ride time and 2 hours of rests along the way (lunch, coffee, bum rests). Later that evening we were walking around Ranong's lively Sunday market when we ran into the 'French tandem' who casually informed us (in that French kind of way) that their total ride time including breaks was 6.5 hours. Rowan spent the rest of the night murmering "if we had a road bike tandem like theirs ...", "if we had the right wheels", "if we were carrying as little weight as them..." you get the idea.
We opted for a short ride the next day to Laem Son National Park, which turned out to be an
excellent choice (with no French tandem). We stayed in bungalows in a Dutch-Thai families garden, who were extremely friendly and helpful. We rode some terrible Thai bikes around the park but soon returned them and continued on foot through small fishing villages and beaches, which five years ago were heavily affected by the tsunami. The muslim influence is becoming more evident the further south we go. Slowely wats (buddhist temples) are being replaced with mosques and children wear their hijabs to school. We spent the evening with a really nice older German couple who have spent their whole lives bicycle touring (on seperate bikes). They were a wealth of knowledge on touring and we enjoyed hearing all their stories about Asia 20 years ago.We set off from Laem Son after a hearty breakfast with our German friends. We encountered a
number of large colourful (ie poisonous) snakes on the road out of the national park. There are more and more of them as we head south (but mostly run over ones). We eventually split off from the Germans and set a cracking pace up the hills. Another scenic hilly ride which we thoroughly enjoyed. About half way we were blinded by some Germans riding the 'dream tandem'. We cannot believe that we have seen two other tandems so far. This thing was something else, made by a dutch company with everything you could possible want - three sets of brakes, full suspension and all 
the trimmings. We had a nice friendly road side chat with the 'dream tandem' couple who informed us that the 'French tandem' just went past ... Rowan's eyes narrowed and the rest of the ride was carried out with military precision. We arrived in Takuapa in record time, but no sign of the French tandem ...Tomorrow we have a short ride to the hill station in Thailand's largest national park - our new year destination. Although I doubt being in a national park will stem Rowan's newely developed alcoholism - 4 beers per night :P
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.
Rowan:
Grrr... The French tandem... I think i may have over bulit the bike a bit for these conditions, making us slighty slower than certain other tandem teams... but who is racing any way..... not me thats for sure... The roads are so good that we didn't need the front suspension adding a few kgs that almost definitely slow us down a lot and maybe some thinner tyres instead of the indestructable kevlar set we have. Maybe the liquid latex filled tubes, which can resist large punctures, was a little overboard.
I am seeing a big improvement in Katies fittness as occasionally i have to tell he to back off or you will blow out later on, to which she says "im allright, im smashing it!"
Kate:
For the record, Rowan has also filled the paniers with an entire bike shop and mechanical kit which means they are super heavy and I have no space for clothes!
Having said that, the fact that Rowan built he bike himself (ie we got just a frame and he 'pimped it up' mountain bike style with all the other parts) has impressed other tourers!
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