There is something special, rare even, in watching the sun rise up over water. That it does, means even more to this West coast man.
I don't want to spoil all the locations where the following pictures were taken in hesitation of them loosing there privacy, and at some request. I will say that however beautiful this looks, it's more impressive in person. So, if you find yourself in Thailand, drop me a line and I'll send you the spots =)
"Welcome to Thailand." Indeed. A gracious introduction to what is so far my favorite country.
If mosques and the ever auditory call to prayer are the defining markers of Indonesia and Malaysia (those things that assure one's self that it is is truly a new space), then these large, gigantic statues are Thailand's. You can see them almost everywhere, at least once a day.
The night market we strolled down. Accompanied by our friends Tok and Kabir, owners of the famous Secret Garden cafe, we enjoyed new varieties of street food flavor.
I didn't waste anytime in waiting. Our first night in Thailand was spent in my anticipation for the next day's sunrise. Of course, I am used to waking up at 5:00 am to search for breakfast. Chris and Raj be damned, I wasn't going to miss this. (They eventually woke up with enough time to catch these moments).
The golden mermaid. Kiss her and you'll never leave this place, they tell me. Don't even have to do that, I could stay based off what I've seen alone. Well, one kiss wouldn't hurt...
Eventually we did have to leave. Our new friends are super busy opening a new gym and other entrepreneur enterprises. Our new friend's signature is an idea I'm duplicating; to have our hosts sign my panniers and carry them with me.
Everyone, this is Konji. Say hello. Rice porridge with two eggs, ginger, spice, cilantro, peanuts, and other goodness; I've really had nothing else to eat for breakfast since. It's cheap, it's everywhere.
Out second destination was nowhere. We simply rode for about 130km up the coast until we came to this beach town on the Eastern cape. Cheep beer, good view, what's not to love?
We spent that night, you guessed it, in another outside gazebo. Not sure if this one was owned by an individual or whether this is considered public space. Either way? We set up camp and fell right asleep with food in our bellys and tired legs.
Another long day. Another 140km of riding yet Thailand makes up for it in beautiful ways. Here is the home we are to stay in for a few nights. A couple of Texan girls, Candy and Sarah, live here and teach English professionally. It's nice to meet up with some fellow Americans, though we hardly reminisced about politics or the economy once it was all agreed upon that what everyone really wanted since leaving home was simply a well put together taco.
The beach in front of their home is amazing. Rajiv tells us that for Thailand, we are essentially living in a top resort beach undiscovered by tourism, untapped by hotel industrialists. Lucky for us. I suppose the popular island of Ko Samui directly to the North attracts that unwelcomed crowd.
"If we couldn't see the sun rising off the shore of Thailand..." - JAY Z
Later that day...check out this rainbow around the Sun.
Chris, wondering what fruit to buy.
Not an issue for me - I'll take one pineapple on a stick, please!
This thing is the size of my head! Delicious!
Later later we went lotus hunting with Sarah. Can you spot it?
First Sarah tries to uproot the delicacy
...
Then Raj...eventually pulled it up.
Even though I'm still fasting at this point, it wasn't hard to score some Konji and salad at 6:00am.
Accordingly, because I am still fasting, I missed out on Sarah's fabulous home lunch cooking. Why am I doing this again?
And that was our time with the Texan girls. A few hidden surprises left unturned, I now focused on making our way up the East coast to a small unknown town called Bankok.
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