Are they chanting ‘death to the cyclists’??

It was 4am in rural Thailand, both our eyes shot open, our bodies went stiff. Low chanting voices had encircled the tent creating a cacophony of noise around us. How many voices were there? It sounded like hundreds, if not thousands, marching round the tent, chanting. We couldn’t tell what they were saying; was it ‘death to the cyclists, death to the cyclists, death to the cyclists’? Surely not.

Had we camped on sacred ground and were about to be offered as human sacrifices to a sacred god? If we were about to be sacrificed, surely we should change out of our pajamas or have a wash first.

Then it came flooding back, the kindly Buddhist monks had let us put our tent up in the temple grounds, but must have failed to tell us about the 4am chanting just a few feet from the tent. Maybe they thought it would be a pleasant change from the James Bond alarm clock we usually wake up to. Or maybe we should have guessed something was afoot when they gave us toilet roll the night before. Never let anyone tell you that Buddhist monks don’t have a sense of humour.

Just look at that prankster’s smile

Aside from the terrifying early morning chanting, Thailand has been one of our favourite countries to cycle through. Stunning scenery, kindness from everyone we meet and great road surfaces.

We started in Chiang Mai in the north where we stayed with a Warm Shower host, Stu, who was a wizard with the bikes. After 12,000km, the bikes were pleading for a little love and Stu obliged by giving us a two day masterclass in bike maintenance with a crash course in Thai thrown in.

As we cycled south we quickly understood why Thailand is called the Land of Smiles. Lots of waving, shouts of hello and bunches of lychees given as gifts to fuel two hungry cyclists.

Fingers crossed he doesn’t snore

Despite the alarming early morning experience of chanting monks, we have continued to camp in Buddhist temples, asking for a peaceful place to sleep with minimal 4am chanting (one morning we were treated to a 5am gong). The Buddhist monks are incredibly friendly, always kindly giving us a bag of goodies for the day of cycling ahead. And one has even taken to messaging Matt every day with Thai proverbs.

After 10 days riding we finally made it to the Thai coast where the lure of the picturesque island of Ko Tao, like a siren in the sea, pulled us in. So we put the bikes on the ferry (or ‘fairy’ as Matt pronounces it) and went for a couple of beach days. Annoyingly, a lot of the beach bars only seem to sell cocktails, so we’ve had to keep hydrated on piña coladas (Harriet claims that soft drinks are available, but Matt seems to have selective vision when looking at the menus). As luck would have it, we met fellow cycle tourists René and Rachel who kindly provided us with accommodation, food and stories of their adventures cycling over 43,000km around the world. Rachel even introduced us to paddleboard yoga, which is just as difficult as it sounds, but a lot of fun.

Life’s a beach

This week's highlights:

• Meeting Stevie and Laura (SteLa) who are attempting the Guinness world record for the fasted circumnavigation of the globe by tandem! It was wonderful to trade stories with them briefly before they left us in the dust. They're aiming to do the 18,000 miles in 180 days(!).

• Cycling through spectacular jungle and rock formations in the north.  At one point it was if we were cycling through Ha Long Bay on dry land!

• Arriving off the night ferry on Koh Tao at 4am and cycling over to the east side of the island in the dark to watch the sun come up. Then watching the sun set that same day on the west side of the island.

Island sunrise

This week's lowlights:

• Accidentally being knocked off our bicycles by a motorbike with a sidecar who must have underestimated how wide he was. No real harm done but we were slightly perplexed by his, albeit nervous, laughter.

• After nearly 6 months of being off the beaten track (and certainly not having seen any westerners for a few months) we suddenly arrived onto the tourist trail with a bang. One can of imported beer for the usual cost of a day's budget? OK 🥲

• We often give small gifts to the Buddhist monks when we stay with them (chocolate, fruit, biscuits etc.) but oddly they won't take anything directly from Harriet. They either make her place it onto a peice of cloth before they handle it, or she has to give it to Matt who is free to hand it over. That's one we hadn't come across before.

Our next leg takes us down the east coast of Malaysia to Singapore. We hope to have more beaches to explore on the way and maybe a couple more of those piña coladas.

Hay, wait for me!

Happy cycle tourists

Thanks for reading and we’ll catch up with you from Singapore! If you can’t wait until then, feel free to dot watch us on Polarsteps.