Planalto Cycles

The call for prayer at 5-something (I had not heard one before in Thailand and had not missed it) and my nervousness matched and so I of course was up before the alarm could ring at 5.
I said good-bye to Babtiste who wanted to stay a bit longer at the hotel and who had to wait for the bike shops to open to get new tubes and a new tyre.
My first stop should be after ~40km at the dental clinic of Pam’s dad and first I had said I could be there between 7:30 and 8:30, but after calculating again, I saw that I would need nearly 2,5 hours. So, I tried to be early on the street and had a ride in the dark that soon became dawn. Because of good roads, not to high temperature, sometimes even tailwind and my ambition to be on time, I arrived there at 7:50.
Pam’s mum came first and she had prepared a package with food, fried rice, sticky rice, fruits and cookies ? – and she was speaking English, more than the whole time we had been in Iconsiam!
Then also Pam’s dad arrived and we took some photos

before they cared for their waiting customers and I went on. I hope, that 2020 the family will come to Vienna (Pam and her brother Santo had been there before, 2014).
I only made my (now) usual stops every 25km, first eating up the sticky rice (wrapped in a banana leaf) and an Rose Apple (Chom-Poo)
And at 50km, I had fried rice and two tangerines and cookies ?

no one was there to tell me that the sunscreen is not apllied properly

Later, I bought a small melon and finally the daily pineapple. The shop keeper cut it for me and the taste was clearly another 10/10. Both the melon and the pineapple had been cut bare-handed and I just hope that the water in a pot they used for washing doesn’t cause any problems.

true colors

When I arrived at the hotel, I had no water left and had eaten the fruits instead, but I didn’t want to buy bottled water close to the end of the tour.
At the room, I again used my filter bottle to drink tap water. I had dinner at the hotel (the prices were the same as at a street-food booth) and could refill my bottles at a water station.
Agoda, the booking platform, had a time-consuming “conversation” with me, because the hotel from last night should replace another hotel and Agoda would balance the higher price.
The strange thing was, that they wanted a receipt for the booking although they themselves had made and sent that. But they asked for a receipt from the hotel, which I have not. And I even sent them photos of my bike in and in front of the hotel to show that I was there. But they stereotypically wrote the same things instead answering my emails.
Tomorrow it should rain. Why? Because I had cleaned my bike. Tomorrow it will not rain! Why? Because I expect rain after cleaning my bike. Tomorrow, HE who decides if it will or will not rain will try not to lose this game.
On the way I had seen one special picture of the king that reminded me strongly on a depiction of a queen being burned (and then becoming holy) in a church of Tbilisi. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo at that day.

Sometimes, the Thai sockets don’t keep my plugs. Today, I had to fix this problem with the telephone cable and some weight to tighten it.

glorify and praise him, oh all!

This morning, I had to leave Pam in BKK. (But she and her family will come to Vienna when I am back 😀 ). We took photos

and had a good-bye that was a little less hard than some others, because we know the next meeting is nearly fixed – her family wanted to go to Vienna during my trip but then changed to Italy, so we can see each other in Vienna in 1-2 years.
On the way out, I met some of the cyclists joining the vibes of love-parade.
It was the usual mixture of big and small streets that Mr.G offers.
“One of these lanes became smaller and smaller, at last I had to be very careful with the bags not to bump into something. It opened again to a square, the square was open to a channel and a bridge was open to cross.”
Do you know this??
Yes, it was on the way to BKK (day 137), it was the same bridge, the same trap!
First I only had a strange feeling and when I realized what is going on it was too late. I didn’t want to go back. For sure I didn’t want to go the jetty to the right, like last time. I also didn’t want to explore the jetty to the left. And so, I cumulate all anger and despair and embarrassment to a peak of energy that was enough to carry the bike (except two bags that were to wide for the handrail) over the bridge, mount the bags and go on.
In the end this was 2-3min work.
After 30km, you could say BKK was behind and I made a stop to change shoes and turn on the spot GPS (I now do that only 2-3 times every day). I sat down in a bus station shelter abd saw food there, untouched food.

First, I thought it could be a donation but then I saw that it had been bought 2 days before.

And you know what? I didn’t even try the sticky rice in that package although it was not stinky after 2 days in the heat. So reasonable I can be, sometimes. Ok, I took the donuts in their slightly blown-up packaging…
And after only a few km, I stopped to buy the pineapple of the day. It was a smaller one than I knew before, but very delicious. If it would have been juicier it would have got 10 points, but 9/10 is still good!
The next stop was induced by a car that stopped, a young man waved and asked, “are you Martin?”
…and he is a friend of Pam 😀
Pam had postet our departing selfie with a nice text and so, her friends knew that I am on the road and this friend was also on the way to his and Pam’s hometown!
It would not have been easy to meet 10-20km before, because I was most probably on other roads than he, so it was a nice coincidence ?

My last food stop was to get some of that funny stuff that had been offered on this road also a few times before, it is Ro-ti sai mai, (as Pam knows)

not much later, I saw a young man with is bike turned upside down because of a flat tire. I stopped to talk and, if necessary, to help, but at the same time, an officer or guard of a estate in front of us, came to help. He just grabbed the wheel, put on the tire, inserted the new tube and was unstoppable.

When he was finished, he disappeared for a while and then came back with an electric pump. Then, while Babtiste, the young man, fixed his wheel on the bike, the guard again disappeared and came back with water and soap for Babtiste to clean, it was so nice…
We decided to go together, and I invited Babtiste to my hotel room that was open for two. But after only 100m, his new tube exploded. We stopped and saw that this tube could not be fixed anymore and Babtiste had nothing left for fixing a hole. I had and gave him two, just in case.
He didn’t want to stop me any longer and I had a stomach problem anyway that motivated me to go on. So, we agreed that he would come to the hotel later.
He then came earlier than I had expected because he had had a third flat tire soon after fixing the second and had come by hitchhiking.
He is on tour with a friend and they had started in Kuala Lumpur and just after BKK they had separated, because his friend goes volunteering in a hostel and he on a farm in Cambodia. He has much less stuff with him but much more time for reading, because he is not keeping diary and has only a phone for photos. Keep it simple ?

when i came to the hotel, there was a report of the “Vibes of love” parade on TV. And again, HIS majesty was involved, leading his people even on a bike!

I was shy to take a photo from the front of the lady being bored by everyday promoting things “making everyday extraordinary”

Canto had leave earlier in the morning, and Pam and I met with her parents. Because of the rainy weather they had chosen something indoor and that was a huge newly opened mall, the Iconsiam. In a touristy surrounding, you could see a big variety of nicely presented food at one level,

in other levels were different Thai and international brands, including those expensive flagship stores that you can see everywhere.
We went outside to the ‘Sri Mahasamut Ship’ floating museum at the the Chao Phraya River.

It shows the life on a ship 2-300 years before with additional movies,

Animations

and interactive means.

For me, the visit had two problems, the guide was only talking in Thai and there was not enough time to read all the information boards. Those information boards were also interesting, because Pam had made the Thai-Chinese translations (Assisted by her Chinese language teacher)

Back in the mall,

Iconsiam in the middle

we attended an exhibition called “Lady Dior as seen by” and another one of contemporary Thai artists.
Then we went back to the “food-level” that was even more crowded now, so it took a while to find a seat and then it was difficult to choose only as much as you can eat out of that diversity of tastes, smells, colours, textures…

We made a short stop to visit Pam’s grandparents. Last time in Bangkok, I had been staying with them and it was nice to meet them again and interesting to see which memories had been lively and what I had totally forgotten. Grandma soon will go to Sweden with her daughter and her twins and Swedish husband and she had to prepare well for the Swedish winter.

Pam’s father then drop us at a place for a Thai massage, a totally new experience for me. It was interesting to feel the different muscles being activated and treated and the energy and power of the tiny masseuse bending, stretching, beating and kneading around.
We went home, taking only a little food this time, and had a nice talking-evening spiced up by the “Royal news” on TV, giving me an insight of the unbelievable devotion to that king. You could see ceremonies in the style of ancient times, all the way people falling on their knee or completely on the floor.
But when I think back to Europe or Turkey and see the devotion some people give “their leaders”, be it Erdogan, Orban or, in Austria, Strache & Kurz, the fascination mixes with embarrassment.

Mr.G had a little depression: -10m but he recovered soon 🙂

This was another day for planning and editing and I needed it!
At 12:00 I had to check out from the apartment and went back to Pat’s house were her mother was waiting for me (and serving me home-made food )

Pad-Thai

We also made a “Bürgschaft”-recording, the missing line of the verse that Pat and Robert had done. It should also be a surprise for Pat ?
Then, I got a email from Agoda (a booking platform), that my booking in Chachoengsao had been cancelled and I should choose between two other ones. I did and as I wanted to be updated, I also changed the destination in the route planner to the new place.
But an hour later I got a new email, that there is a problem with this hotel, because they only take cash and then Agoda cannot balance the costs. I again had to change the booking, and again had to change the route. So, I was happy to have had more time, first to read and answer those emails, what stretched over several hours and then to keep the route updated. In earlier days, I thought I have a quite good sense of orientation, but too many errors accumulated, also on this trip, to rely on it, now it is more a back-up if Mr.G becomes “creative”. And now, I focus on having exact routes to every place I go.
In the evening, I left Pat’s mum to move to Pam and her brother Canto, in a “near-by” part of Bangkok, which was a 10km ride. They share a small apartment, also with their sister, but most of the time they are not there all three, so it is not over-crowded most of the time. With me, it was a little bit, because Pam and Canto gave me the biggest room so that I should be separated from Mr.Brown at night ?
We went out for dinner and then just talked a little (ok, we also did some lines of the Bürgschaft-poem) and found out that it suddenly was 1am, time to go to sleep if you want to do something the next morning.

In the morning, Pat came to the apartment house and we went to a local market offering another wide range of products I never had seen before. For breakfast, she bought some mango and sticky rice and other delicious things, and we went to her home.
After breakfast, I went back to “my room” by bike and stayed there until 5 when Pat came home from work. I could update and plan and write a lot and felt relieved…
Later, at her home, Pat helped me with my blog post about the Khao Yai NP with some animal names.
After that, Pat, her mum and I went shopping, she wanted to buy meat to cook for her dog

“Bayern Wiener”?! Viennese sausages in Bavaria style? “Bayern collagen”?!? that can be name for food?

and again we took some food at a market for me to try.

egg white fried to a very hard texture

Then we changed the team, mum stayed at home and Robert came with us for dinner. We had 3 different soups with three different kinds of noodles (and there would have been more to choose from).
At home, I could make another recording of some Bürgschaft (=”The pledge”) lines with Pat and Robert. Robert is from New Zealand with Dutch background and so some German sounds that were hard to produce for Pat, were much easier for him.
The next evening, I would change to Pam but Pat and Robert both would have a long evening, so we would not meet anymore.
It was time to say good-bye…

This makes my trip so intense:
When I am cycling, I see so much nature, but also hear so much traffic noise, have to find my way, for water and food, watch the traffic and so on. Then I come to a place to stay, some a very comfortable, some challenging, and so is the WiFi that I need for uploading what I produce in the evenings. And the next day, it is a similar sequence but different anyway.

And when I stay with friends that I had not seen since they were in Vienna, or in a few cases, since I had visited them 2015, there is this special quality of friendship with people you know only by a few days encounter. And by them I learn and see (and taste) again so much what is new to me and we do something together and talk and so soon it is time to say good-bye again.

In Iran, this was again special, as from one person, Nader, whom I knew from Vienna, an incredible network of family and friends opened up, multiplied by one friend, Arash, who again passed me on from friend to friend (respectively relative).

So, sometimes all those feelings of intensity, friendship, good-byes and nostalgia are too much…

The remaining part to BKK was only a bit more than 40km and Pat and I had made an appointment for 17:00, so I had enough time.
Check-out from the hotel should be down until 12:00 and I set an alarm to 7:30 to make me feel secure. I had been cutting and editing videos until 0:30 and hoped to sleep for a while, and apparently 6:00 is a while.
I won one and a half hour for cutting, happy me ?
In the National Parks, I had filmed much and to make work easier, I had decided to make 4 separate videos, for Kui Buri, for both the caves and for the bike tour between the caves. This was day 134, one video was still to edit. And the days 135/136 had also to be done, so I really started soon after getting up to do that.
At 11:30 all three videos were cut, and I packed my bags to leave.
In the evening, I had again tried to get rid of the “time-loss” indication of Mr.G. I couldn’t restore the original screen, but something close to it.
But now, Mr.G was a bit confused. He showed an elevation of 1100m instead of maybe 20m and an average speed of 22km/h although I at that time had not been faster than 20km/h. But he seemed to recover during the ride….

The first 20km were a 4-lane, crowded main road with only one advantage most of the time: another road or was it the metro, was in the middle as a second layer and provided shadow.
Next, and I think this was now BKK itself, was a strange mixture of those big city roads and very small lanes that would have suited to any village.
One of these lanes became smaller and smaller, at last I had to be very careful with the bags not to bump into something. It opened again to a square, the square was open to a channel and a bridge was open to cross.

At least, if you can carry your bike 4 steps up and then down again and when everything fits in-between the handrail. I was not open for that and also not for putting the bags down, carry the bike, carry the bags and fix them again on the bike.

So, I asked someone where I could find the next bridge and he pointed in the direction where I had been coming from. A woman went in the same direction and showed me the following way. I never would have found that and if I would have, I would not believe that this is right. It was a long jetty over the water, connecting a row of houses.

Several times I feared that it would become too narrow for my bike. It took my 30min to reach a normal road again and then, all the lanes back to the planned route were closed with a barrier

and I had to go on to the next main road. In the end, the “short-cut” over the pedestrian bridge gave me a detour of nearly an hour.
On the way, I passed several military buildings and was confused by the writing “For country, religion, monarchy and people”

At a bike shop, I made a stop to get a new bottle and surprisingly soon after that found the house of Pat. Mr.G again showed realistic indications and I hope he has fully recovered.
PIC
I was an hour too early and wanted to wait somewhere, but Sandy, their dog betrayed me and Pat’s mum came to get me in. Soon also Pat and Robert arrived. She and her mum had brought snacks and so we had an early dinner, because Pat had a special idea, and she had organized everything for that:
At 6pm, we left to the Khao Yai National Park

to stay there overnight and walk on some trails the next day. We stayed in a beautiful bungalow under an incredibly starry sky and the only thing disturbing the feeling of being surrounded by a lot of nature were guests in another bungalow shouting on each other and laughing loudly, obviously supported by alcohol.

In the morning, Pat made with me an excursion to a short, prepared trail and a view point in the middle. When we left, she showed me a pair of wild chicken (called “junglefowl”) near the house.

I wouldn’t have paid the much attention, because I thought they were “normal” domestic chicken.
It was not much after 7a.m. and yet the place was crowded, because people want to enjoy the sunrise there, some with a lot of noise. So, there was little chance to see wild goats that Pat had spotted there before.

We continued to the highest point of the park that is occupied by the air force since the Vietnam war times when US-troops had used that place.
Of course, the view again was great, we also could see the bungalow we had slept in.

And Pat found another of these huge moths she had send me a picture of.

We went back to the bungalow to pack our stuff and together with Robert, we went to the visitor center to have breakfast.
There, a group of photographers aimed their zooms at a tree and Pam helped me to find their “target” a big owl, a fish owl.

Then we prepared to go a trail that Pam is currently planning. I also put on those protective gaiters Pam and Robert had lent me.

On the trail, she showed things I wouldn’t have seen or wouldn’t have understood, like a special oak tree that was not that typical mighty tree we associate with oak

but a thin branch seeking the light.

Have fun to spot the hens running (“Siamese fireback”) through the picture where Pam points to – I saw them in nature, not on the photo…

On the trail, there will be some stations with information charts to nature and history of that area. The top of the hill had also been used by US-troops and before that had been used for agriculture. So, the trail partly leads along the border between pristine and secondary forest.

You could see traces of the street and some concrete remains. But nature will make these traces more and more invisible. Nature is powerful anyway…

On a thin tree, there was a nest of ants. The nest itself was interesting enough, but somehow the ants also had coloured the tree mostly black, only above the nest you could see the original colour.

We came out of the woods to a grassland and you could find the scattered bones of a deer, apparently victim of wild dogs called dholes or Asiatic wild dogs.

finally, the cast

The round ended were it had begun, at a reservoir that at first sight looked like a lake you also could find in other parts of the world.

We returned to the visitor center, seeing pig-tailed macaques eating some human food.

please note the unstable dancing pose of this girl in the background

It is forbidden to feed them, so you can ask if someone ignored that or just had been careless, Robert removed the empty bag.
Our last trail led along the Pha Kluai Mai River

and Haew Suwat waterfall

I wonder how the crocodile

had passed the waterfall to get to the river where it had been spotted a time ago and where it is now. Anyway, we enjoyed there water, lunch and butterflies.

no, this was not meant by crocodile!

.yes , you got it – a Chinese waterdragon!
A little bit unexpected was the Samba deer standing on a traffic island in the middle between cars coming from all over, and enjoying the apparently especially delicious grass there.

We went home, making a stop a “Dairy home”, an organic and social enterprise of Thailand, selling also other organic products and having things in mind like carbon footpring, sustainability and local production.
http://dairyhome.co.th/en/tablet/index.php
The second stop was in Bangkok for dinner in a big shopping mall. There were crowds of people in front of every restaurant and you had to get a number and wait for a free table. So did we at Sizzler. This is an American company with restaurants mainly in Western US and in some east-Asian countries between Thailand and Japan. They have a big salad buffet (extended to soups, fruits and desserts) based on the all-you-can-eat principle. This is a bit dangerous for me, because I want to try everything and then take more of my best choices and soon “all you can eat” turns to “eat more than you can/should eat”.
At least, I still could walk.
We went home and before I could wonder about where I would sleep, Pat explained that she would bring me to a friend’s home, because she wanted to offer me a better place than she can at home.
So, she brought me to an apartment house and I got a big, beautiful room and still I am not sure about this friend or if Pat had rent that room for me…

You know it, I wanted to get up early, and got up earlier….
I lost some time, because I had to open and after leaving lock again the entrance of the hostel. The owner had given me the key of that door and I had to throw the key into the room after leaving.

On my way, I saw another sunrise,

many other temples,

countless rivers some with surprisingly steep bridges , one of those rivers again very beautiful

also the combination of floating temple, bridge and river flowing into the sea

some other dead animals, mostly snakes,

of course street signs (the mistyping on that sign is original)

and at noon, 2 cycling tourists coming from the other direction.
The first one was dressed all in black on a black bike with only very little luggage, seemingly a so-called bike-packer, that is one who reduces weight to the extreme. Or he was a local, making just a small tour?
I don’t know, he made no sign to stop, so did I, and we just waved hello.
The same situation with the second one. He was mostly in yellow, with a British flag at the bike and the general appearance of a perfectionist.
Maybe it was a matter of the heat that we didn’t stop for some minutes or the traffic situation or the feeling to be in a “flow” and not enough motivation to stop?
I just know that at that time of the day, the heat reduces my photo-stops and in general, I am in a special status. Normally, the last 20-40km are to be done and that mobilizes me, while, at the same time, I am exhausted, thirsty and feel the heat (and the saddle).
After 7 hours and 105km, I reached the 2,5-stars-hotel, a big building with a gate-keeper etc. It was the cheapest place around that I could find on those booking-platforms, because of some mysterious reductions.
I was allowed, or they wanted me to take my bike to the room, but I should carry it. Why not…

Later, I made my evening round, which meant to cross a big and busy street to come to the nearest restaurant to get my usual soup with rice. And after that I got my usual craving for sweet stuff after that.
I made a big round, seeing many some restaurants and 2 (kind of) night markets, but I ended up at a 7eleven store, buying pandan filled cakes and soy milk.
On the way back, I passed 4 trucks in the dark.

First, I just noticed a terrible smell, then I could identify it as animal smell mixed with rot smell and only after passing the third truck, I heard and realized that there were thousands of chicken vegetating in flat boxes. Only some moved their heads a bit, more was not possible, and a few made a sound.

Those nearer to the outside had maybe at least enough (hot, humid) air to breathe, but I cannot imagine how the would survive the night without food and water, after whatever terrible day the had had before.
If meat is so cheap that people don’t mind leaving their plates half full, then only, because of this total disrespect and brutality the animals are treated for that.

hm, strange, those long sleeves! there must be some secret purpose for them, just can’t remember which….

Because of a 120km ride lying ahead of me, I wanted to leave early and saw another morning mood at the beach. You just see the bungalow and some reflections…

Mr.G had a new feature to trigger me: He showed the time I was behind some fictive specification for a tour on a racing bike.

Whenever I was slower than 26km/h, (and I was slower most of the time, especially when I made a break), the counter added something to my delay. For me, the average speed was stressful enough, because when it was high, I wanted to keep it and when it was low, I wanted to increase it, and in both cases, it was painful to see the disastrous effect of eating delicious street-food to my average speed ?.
Today, I saw a temple under construction with a naked concrete Buddha.

For me in such cases always is interesting when the raw Buddha-formed mass of concrete becomes holy or adorable.
Similar to that question: Sometimes, I saw monks interacting with people. Sometimes it was a kind of blessing from monk to man or a kind of praying from man to monk today I saw again someone giving food to a monk and thereby taking of the shoes and making a humble bow. For me, most of those monks have the appearance of grumpy men in their midlife crisis, only a few had a kind of charisma.
For breakfast, I made a stop at booth, selling those colourful rice-pudding-pastries. (Now I know the name: Khanom Chan, thank you Pam!).

They suggested to take soja-milk as I didn’t want coffee and later, I got a tee for free. In the tee a lot of different herbs were swimming and I was not sure if I was supposed to eat/swallow them or not. I made a 50:50 solution.
The next stop was earlier than originally planned but I didn’t want to miss the bananas there. The woman didn’t want to sell me those I had chosen, she looked for better ones. And then I saw that she had been cutting a pineapple and asked if she would do that for me. So, I got the best pineapple so far, fresh, juicy, sweet, soft, aromatic. 10/10 points.

I don’t know what could be missing. I was thinking about taking a second one, but I had been eating 10min before and a pineapple is big enough. When I was leaving, the woman came with the bananas I had originally chosen and said “for free!”.
Indeed, I was not hungry for a while and stops where only because of some photos.

Something bike-related:
In the last days, I had noticed that my left wrist hurts more than the right one, and started to compare. So, I found out that I do most of the things with my right hand and during that time, my left hand must uphold double. And now, I take my drinking bottle only with the left hand and this makes a difference! Another unbalance is because of the mirror and concerns my back and my neck. I will not change the mirror from left to right, but I try to lock back sometimes over my right shoulder. These are small changes, but if you some it up over 6 or 7 hours, they have an effect.
My next food-stop was around 80km. I wanted to get a smoothie and was looking for a booth with a mixer or what it is called. I found one, but without any fruits, so I gave them the over ripe bananas and the lady made a banana milk for me.

She also was ok with using my own container (of the “fat-Sunday” cookies from Kuala Lumpur)

The photo has another reason:
There are many trucks with a big collection of mirrors, this one has “only” 8 or so, but I make a check-mark to “truck-mirrors”.
At 100km, I allowed myself a last stop to by fruits and a bottled juice that I had seen at some booths (today I looked up the word “booth” and hopefully use it correctly) before and didn’t want to miss them. The seller let me taste the juice with ice and it was good. The fruits were palmyra (again thank you, Pam!) and I don’t like that taste I am only fascinated by their texture. First it is like lychees but when you bite it, it is much more liquid.

After a first round of editing and uploading I made the usual evening round to see a bit of the town and to get food. Food was around the corner, a soup with something and rice in two plates. I put it on one plate to make the rice juicier. And then, I had the mission to get rid of the last fruits that I couldn’t eat up, so I looked around a bit longer and found two neighbouring shops. One owner said hello and smiled, and I thought she could be the right one. She only could offer strawberry smoothie, so I had a good excuse to hand out my last bananas and palmyras.

She was not totally convinced by that mixture and added some strawberries. The result was good and the problem with the palmyras was solved.

slippery when green!

In the morning, I am not one of those sleepy guys who lurch like Zombies until they get their coffee. So, I didn’t need a cute spider in my slipper to get awake or so.

It was a peaceful one, who looked for another place to stay so I could use those shoes.
It is hard to stay at an (Eastern) beach and not to take photos with sun and water, at least the sunrise was cancelled again.

At 7:15 I left to visit the Phraya Nakhon Cave, a ride of 40min. For the first time on this trip, I mounted the gopro at the helmet for cycling (I once did it in Bulgaria to film the sunrise during swimming). For reaching the cave, you have to climb up and down one hill, then you reach a beach that is otherwise only accessible by boat and then you climb a second hill and finally go down to the cave that actually is not completely a cave as it is open, but that doesn’t reduce the effect at all, in fact, the light enlarges the effect (I read and can imagine how direct sunlight at a certain daytime enlightens the scenery!)

One funny thing was a kind of graffiti at a wall

and first I thought a stupid guy had done that. But then I read it was made by a king and so the tag of an idiot quickly turns into a legacy of a noble man. When there is written “His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej visited (…) on June B.E, 2501”, than it is not science fiction but Thai calendar and it shoud be 1958 if I calculated right.

And to make the cave more noble, on a sign they claim that it is named after the discoverer,

who was of course a king 200 years before and of course mankind had waited with discovering this little hole some thousands of years, so that a king who normally is occupied with other things than discovering caves had to come along and discover this cave. Additionally he did that because he was looking for a shelter during a storm and therefor climbed up and down one hill, ran across a beach climbed up and down a second hill and in the last second, after 30min climbing because of fleeing the daring rain, he found that cave with heavenward holes. They didn’t write if his servant who had forgotten the umbrella was beheaded or not.
I took a photo of a kind of bridge on the “roof” of the cave

and then read on the chart the name “Dead bridge” and somewhere else the explanation that many animals fell into the cave when they tried to cross that bridge.

What I also liked, were the man-made stalagmites for the impatient (1cm ~ 100 years)

My t-shirt was completely wet from sweating, but I hurried to get back because I wanted to visit the Sai cave, that I had missed yesterday, too, before going to Kui Buri Nat. Park. It was about 12km from cave to cave.
A last photo from the way back:

The way to the Sai cave was shorter but still exhausting, because sometimes you had to make big steps and it was also a steep climb of 20min. This cave was nearly dark, and I used a bike light to find my way. Some of the photos show a special effect by that.

I wonder what had happened here:

After this cave, I went back to Sam Phraya Beach to make a short swim before going to Kui Buri National Park. Pat had organized the transport to and the guided tour in the Park. With a pickup van,

we went to the first of 4 view points and saw around 10 elephants. People were busy with enormous zoom lenses

and I went up a building with my ridiculous small camera to make the best out of it.

In the end, all of us will have tons of photos of elephants standing in a grassland and doing what elephant must do most of the time, eating. I load up four of them, the others are not much different. To get more variants, you must wait and select between myriads of photos to find those with graceful trunk posture or cute mother-child interaction. Do you now have such a image in your mind? So, why should I sit for hours in the jungle to repeat it?
One of the rangers now has to work there, because in the last season the elephants came to her plantation and destroyed everything…
The other viewpoints were “empty” but still viewpoints ?

A ranger sitting in the grass with laptop, tablet and other equipment tried to find elephants in the area.

On the way, we saw 3 deer, but they were hidden in the bush and with direct sunlight in the eyes it was hard to get a picture. At least one is acceptable.

One the way back, we made a stop at the first point, because one elephant was much closer this time.

But when we were out of the car and in a position to take a photo, he was in a position to make no photo, except you have a botanical focus, because you saw trees and knew the elephant is behind.
In exchange, a beautiful cow appeared on the scene, for my last photo.

On my way back, I again tried to “catch” a monitor lizard, they are so shy…