5 Day Andaman road trip: Part 2

Day 2’s ride is shorter than we think. The sun, trees and roadside dogs are encouraging us along the way. Reminds me: Immy confessed that yesterday she nearly dozed off at the back of the bike….
Oumbakowatcha?! Can you believe that? How on earth can you doze off on a motorbike? We wear helmets without windshields, allowing the wind to rush straight into your face making your cheeks look silly and once in a while an unidentified insect is crushed on your nose too. And don’t forget the wind rushes right into the ears as well, making the inside of our helmets sound as if airplanes are taking off constantly. And she is dozing off?! What’s next? FC Twente winning the Dutch league? Mwahaha.

I myself experience a different unexplained bike riding effect. While riding, old songs pop into my head that I haven’t heard or thought of for over 20 years, and I hum these whole damned songs in detail too. Where did they come from? Were they secretly stored in Archived memory somewhere? An example is ‘We Are Growing’ the theme song from an ‘80s TV series Shakazulu. And I didn’t even like the song nor the series. Blimey! My scientific explanation for this is that the wind coming in my face enters my head with such force through my nostrils that it stirs up the grey brain cells at the back, making them drift into the upper brain-flaps where the humming organ resides, as you know. I sure don’t hope my short term memory will be pushed to the back now in a sort of FILO (First In Last Out) system. Anyway, what was I talking about?
Right, Immy dozing off. So now besides watching the traffic, dogs and pits in the road, I also check on occasions whether Immy is still sitting behind me, which for everybody’s peace of mind is reported as ‘Affrmative’ for the whole trip.

We arrive at Laem Son National Park again at a lovely bungalow resort for hardly any money, run by a Dutch guy Boudewijn and his Thai wife Wasana, we immediately feel at home here.

Wasana of Wasana bungalows.

The next day we walk through the National Park, which is literally a walk through the park compared to yesterday’s survival combat. Boudewijn sends us on a lonesome trek that leads past a couple of deserted beaches, mangroves and a birdy forest.

Laem Son National Park, not a soul in sight

High tide adds a tiny bit of action to our day

We haven’t had much luck so far in finding waterfalls. For various reasons we never seem to actually reach one. In the bit of daytime we’ve got left, we hop on our bike au direction du waterfall tres beau.

Annoyed I notice we’re nearly out of petrol but eh, no pain no gain. We make it to the indicated waterfall, but it is such a pitiful excuse for a waterfall that we can’t believe this is right. We decide to climb the stream upwards to find the real waterfall. Again annoyed I notice that Immy is gracefully hopping from stone to stone up the stream as if she were a ballerina dancing on stones. I, on the other hand, am staying far behind breaking my neck and ankles on the slippery stones.


Thailand,s gorgeous waterfalls *&^%$!

The picture above is the highest point of yet another waterfall disillusion and we rush back through the stream and forest, as we nearly get stuck in the dark off-the-beaten-track. Under imaginary applause we find our loyal bike waiting just when dusk falls.

Under imaginary woooh’s and boooh’s our loyal bike stops 10 minutes later demanding fresh petrol. This is one of those experiences that show how welcome you feel in Thailand. In 5 minutes time 4 different people stop to see what’s wrong. They all point us to the same house a little further where we get a liter of petrol from a bottle for half a euro, and we happily pay triple.

Next day we’re riding back to Phuket, back into danger zone.


This way please

Again we have 2 missions here in Phuket.
- Mission 1 – catch a flight to Chiang Mai for more action and a dose of culture
- Mission 2 – pick up my beloved camera, DMC TZ7, which I ordered last week here at Power Buy

I’m happy to report Mission 1 succeeds gloriously. Immy will update you all on the Chiang Mai experiences in the next post.
And not surprisingly Mission 2 fails miserably again. Power Buy told me with pride that they expect the camera Wednesday, the day after our flight. Cap un cap* very much.

* ‘Cap un cap’ means Thank you in Thai