Ko Kao Khao – Paradonpab Beach, Ban Fang Daeng (Chumphon)

28^th March 2014              350km     38’C

And the other foot…

In the morning, I woke at sunrise and went down to the sea again for a swim.  I must have floated around for about 4o minutes and was just walking out of the sea when I felt the burning pain on my right foot of a jellyfish sting.   I asked the girls in the kitchen for some vinegar, even showing them the word for vinegar in Thai, but they responded with “me Burmese, not Thai”   So then I spent 10 minutes trying to find the word for vinegar in Burmese, to no avail.  With my foot now swelling up and bright red, I could still feel the stingers popping, I decided to try that supposed old remedy.  On the first attempt, I managed to pee on my shorts. It’s much harder than you think to pee on your own foot!  So I grabbed an empty water bottle, filled that and poured it over my foot.   To my surprise, the stinging pain quickly subsided and a lot of the redness disappeared.  Now leaving me with a string of red dots where the tentacles have been.     No-one ever tells you what to do after you have pee’d on your foot, are you supposed to wash it off?  Leave it there for a period of time?    I decided that I would sit on the veranda for 20 minutes to let the chemical reaction take effect, while I planned the day’s route.   After about 10 minutes I realised my foot was stinging again, looked down to find that a swarm of red ants had taken a liking to my pee covered foot, and were now biting me!  I ran back to the bathroom and showered, riding myself of the ants at the same time.   What an adventure.

With that problem solved, I geared up and said my goodbyes to Nong & Sai and started the sandy ride back to the road, almost dropping the bike in one deep sandy section.
Onto the ferry and then up route 4 towards Ranong and into Chumphon.   Ranong is very much an Islamic province as evidenced by the dress and the number of mosques along the route.

Not far after passing the Ismuth of Kra, and the border to Myanmar, the sky become ominously black, both from a nearby fire and then I noticed the lightning.   The streetlights had all illuminated as it was now so dark, yet it was only 3pm. The temperature dropped from 38’C to 24’C in about 5 minutes and then the skies opened.  I rode on through the torrent of rain for about 5km, before seeking sheltered at a petrol station.

Once the rain stopped it was back on the bike for the short ride into Chumphon and to find a hotel.  I managed to obtain a room for 800 baht including breakfast, by the sea at a very basic place.  Although it did have a good view from the room (of the bike)

The restaurant served up a great green curry and a few cold drinks to finish the day.