Honda Dreams I. Phang-Nga and Krabi Provinces

16 Feb 2003
Dream Adventures: Honda Dreams, Dirt Roads, Faulty Petrol Gauges, and "The Dry Season."

A friend of mine from the US came to visit in February. This is the result.


So far Mom was my motorbike guinea pig, but I'd never gone more than 7km (to the border) on such a machine..... So, after two days of "too much sun" (hint, this California girl wasn't saying that!), R decides I know what I'm doing (crazy man?!), and we decide to hire a motorbike to go tooling off into the wilds on this relatively unexplored province. After the Swedish-Dutch-German tourist mecca of Ao Nang, this was a welcome change. "Real Thailand." Amazingly, it's easier than expected. The push button electric starter on this newer model Honda Dream is excellent. We venture off. We'd intended to see some caves for which the region is renowned. As we were to learn, the combo of caves + moto-CY (let's get into proper Thai accent here) does not prove well for us.

After about 50km, we pass a couple of cave signs, too late, don't feel like turning around. See a sign up ahead, ok venture off for one cave. Follow the winding paved road, then turns to a dirt road. I have ridden a motorbike all of maybe 5 times by now - R., with his mountain biking expertise, guides me with instructions. We find the cave (without crashing!). The entrance has a rather large Buddhist shrine. Ok, we'll hike round. Hike, hike, never see another entrance. It's all interesting though. Mammoth Caves it's not, but still worthwhile. There are many more caves in the area. Let's find them. Wait, we're hungry. Next town just up ahead: Ao Luk. Though on the main highway between heavily touristed Phuket and Krabi, I think this place is not a usual farang stop over. Now we really see "Real Thailand'. Manage to find a roadside stall and somehow communicated what we wanted (sort of - that's the easy thing here, say a few words and you get SOME dish, and there's a 95% chance it'll be good). The locals in the place were clearly saying "What the H- are these farangs doing HERE?!" Off to another cave. Never find it. Off some more. Still can't find them.... English signs saying "Cave ---" turn to Thai signs. I can speak it a bit but I can't read Thai script. Oh well, it's a good ride. Nice temp, clear blue skies, lovely scenery. After some 90km total, starting to the north end of the bay, we turn back. Try for another cave. No luck. Ok, mai ben lai. Make our way back. 25-30 km, doing fine. Hey, I can handle this motorbike thing!

Pass a bunch of petrol "stations" in the various towns, my tank says >1/4, we're doing fine. ("Stations" = booths with bottles of fuel and a hose). Starts to rain. What happened to the DRY SEASON? Ok, this motorbike thing, I haven't planned for slick roads. Whilst *I* may be the most cautious driver on the road, no one seems to care that we're getting inches of rain building up....cars careen all over the place.... fly by us. My only thought: "Sh*t!!!! I don't like this rain!" I could care less about getting wet, just don't like the road. I imagine spinning out on every curve. Ok, not too bad, we're just getting a little wet. It's not pouring yet. R. shouts over the roar of the engine and pounding of the rain "Fuel!" Ack. Look at the gauge. ACK! Suddenly, in less than 2 km, it's gone from 1/4 to E. And it's raining. Uh-Oh. We pass people sitting in bus shelters. Tempting, but what if we can't start again? A few more km, it's pouring. Buckets of rain. We know where one petrol station is (where we filled up on the way out), we can make it that far....or we can push. Really don't want to push. Rain isn't helping. Every once in awhile the rain stops and I think "Phew! That's over!" Only to have it rain again. Realise that even with my helmet visor, my (prescription) glasses are covered so much I'm better off without them. After more than 30km, and plenty of rain, and numerous nerve-wracking turns, with visions of us being splayed across the slick road or having to walk with the bike (obviously, if we had to choose, the latter is preferable), we find our petrol station. YAY! I'm not sure the attendant realised why we were cheering so much just to see him. Still raining, but that's ok, we're almost back. We see some tourists in a sangthaew. Feeling cocky we both say "Hah! Wussy tourists!" We get wetter (more wet? My English is failing me). I go slower (good thing I am no daredevil). Make it back to Ao Nang, where it's dry. The hire place people look at our soaked clothes. Laugh. "Always an adventure with Cherise" R. says. Little does he know...