Thailand Journey | Guy + Carolyn: Solo Motorcycle Trip, Krabi, and Nakhon Si Thammarat

Carolyn decided pretty early in our trip that she wanted to take advantage of the famed spiritual programs of Thailand by doing a yoga or meditation retreat of some sort. After a good deal of research she decided to enroll in a ten day meditation retreat in the south of Thailand, just a few miles away from Surat Thani, or a couple of hours northeast of the Krabi/Phuket area. This was a fully silent retreat with an intense, highly regimented daily schedule that consisted of hours of meditation from before dawn to dusk.

While I fully supported her decision, I wasn't really sure if a meditation camp like this was something that I wanted to partake in. Initially my hesitancy seemed to me a fearful reaction, a rationalization of my emotions urging me to back away from what would have been a great challenge, but after pondering the choice for a few weeks I began to realize that traveling on my own would be its own challenge; not necessarily a greater challenge, but quite possibly a challenge more applicable to my everyday life back home. The prospect of finding my own individual path in a foreign country -as well as meeting travel companions on my own- frightened me a bit.

After much thought, I decided to rent a motorcycle and take a solo trip up the northwest coast of Thailand in an attempt to visit some of the uninhabited islands of the north. This is a photo journal of that trip.

Here's a rough map of my path over those ten days, shown in pink. All the ground covered on the west coast was done via motorcycle. The trip to Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani was by bus.

Day One, Oct 29: The Trip to Khura Buri

I set off from Krabi with my trusty Honda Wave scooter, fully prepared for a five hour ride up to the little town of Khura Buri. The trip got off to a bit of a rough start though, because after taking a wrong turn I ended up doing a full 40 minute loop straight back to Krabi. Feeling like an idiot, but with no diminished enthusiasm, I took off once again. Once I made it out of the somewhat convoluted streets of Krabi and out onto the main road I began to see a major change of scenery, from flat farmland to areas of impressive limestone peaks covered in hearty shrubs and vines.

The drive was beautiful.

I passed through a handful of charming little farming villages nestled among the mountains.

About an hour and a half into the ride I happened upon an interesting sight as I made my way up through a mountain pass; this shrine, with a mysterious path leading straight through a towering limestone cliff. Just to the right of the shrine (not in the picture) there was a single robed monk surrounded by animals. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there were at least four dogs, three cats, and several monkeys sitting around him. Such a funny sight.

I used sign language to ask if I could pass through the path- he seemed OK with it, so I went on ahead.

This is what I found. What a pleasant surprise! It was a Buddhist nature park of some sort. Several monks lived there and seemed to maintain the paths and feed the animals. If there's one thing I've learned about Thailand so far, its that stray animals love monks.

The path led through a couple of little cave chambers that I believe the monks meditated in.

A look at the dramatic cliffs that surrounded the entire park.

After leaving the park I continued on to Khura Buri. I didn't take very many pictures of the road, but it was a beautiful ride. The roads were very well maintained, there was very little traffic, and I passed through some incredibly beautiful forests and mountains.

Khura Buri was a strange little town that consisted of about 60 shops and a large school located directly on the freeway, completely surrounded by thousands of acres of rubber, palm, and banana farms. This is a picture of the Bungalow I rented for the night. After talking a several locals I found that it was totally cost prohibitive for me to rent a boat out to the islands I wanted to go to. Because almost no one goes there, I would basically cover the cost of the boat myself.

The ruins of what once must have been a really cool home on the river near my bungalow. The slope it rested on was highly eroded, so perhaps it was abandoned because of the danger of it slipping into the river.

Looking up, I noticed that the rafters were totally burnt. Before or after it was abandoned, I don't know.

There were really only two cool things about Khura Buri; the surrounding farmland, and the huge market.

The view from the rear window of my bungalow.

Day Two: Exploring the Farmland Around Khura Buri and the Trip to Bang Muang

Feeling slightly defeated in the morning because of my failure to find a way to the islands I wanted to go to, I decided to make the most of Khura Buri and explore its gorgeous back roads through the surrounding farmland. It was a breathtakingly beautiful ride, with an awesome surprise at the end.

I studied my map and set a route for myself, leading through the mountains all the way to the end of the furthest reaching road I could find. The road extended a little way into the huge national park to the east.

The roads were surprisingly well maintained. I was able to make it all the way to the end of the furthest reaching road, all the way to the edge of the national park...

...And I found a bridge leading over a beautiful river with crystal clear water...

...And a little dam on the other side!

The water above and below the dam was deep and inviting, so I went for a swim.

Cool staircase leading to the little bridge over the dam.

Looking down from the bridge into the deep refreshing water. There were lots of nice sized fish too!

I had all my things with me on the bike, so I grabbed my mask and checked the fish out. Then I dried off on one of the huge rocks at the base of the dam.

A small viewpoint showing the mist rolling off of the mountains. Magical!

After my swim I headed south to Bang Muang, where I hoped to access the islands I had failed to get to from Khura Buri. The ride was a blessed hour and a half rather than five hours, so I got there pretty early in the day. I rode through the town and found this ferry leading to one of the islands I wanted to go to! Score!

I was excited to make my way to the islands, but Bang Muang had some incredible beaches of its own. I found this one while I was trying to find a reasonably priced guesthouse, which proved to be pretty difficult.

After looking for around two hours, I finally found a Thai-style motel for 400 Baht a night (around $14, which was still relatively expensive for thailand) on this back street, a couple of Km from the main town.

I put my stuff away in the room and immediately headed to the beach to watch the sunset.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Dead coral washed up on the beach

A beautiful tidal estuary right off the beach

I was the only one there as far as I could tell!

Day Three: Visiting Koh Ko Kao island

In the morning I took the ferry to the southern-most island I wanted to see, Koh Ko Kao. This island was fairly large, with paved roads and a couple of little resorts and fishing villages. I hoped to ride my scooter to the north of the island and rent a kayak to get to the uninhabited islands to the north. It wasn't a thoroughly researched plan, but I figured that worst case scenario I would just be forced to explore the island with my scooter, and enjoy the local beaches. A win-win situation, as they say.

The ferry was pretty cool, and only cost 60 Baht ($2) for a motorcycle and passenger

I asked the workers at this beachfront restaurant if they knew of a place to rent a kayak. They told me to head north, so I said OK!

Koh Ko Kao is a fairly long island, so it took me about 45 minutes to ride to the far northern end. It was a superb ride with well maintained roads and unique, beautiful coastal marsh and Savannah environs. There was virtually no traffic so I took my helmet off and savored the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair.

Ferns!

I found several of these huge Tsunami evacuation buildings on the island. This was an area that was hit really hard in 2004.

A picture of the unique coastal Savannah in the area.

Marshes too.

I found my way to the northern tip of the island, but unfortunately I wasn't able to rent a kayak. Several locals told me that there was once a resort in the area with kayaks for rent, but it closed several years ago. I wasn't able to find a cost effective way to get to the uninhabited islands, but I really couldn't complain about the beauty and privacy of the beaches on Koh Ko Kao.

I considered the mission a success, regardless of not reaching the uninhabited northern islands.

Once again, I had the beach to myself

I ate lunch at a sleepy little beachfront resort and ended up meeting the manager of the resort, a bad-ass Singaporean ex-pat named Ying Ming who spoke near perfect English. He lived at the resort with his wife and adorable six-month-old daughter. We shared a large Chang lager and talked about Singapore, Thailand, and lots of things in-between. He had some really interesting things to say about the Thai political crisis happening right now. Such a great conversation in an absolutely perfect setting. Good times!

After leaving the beach I explored the most beautiful network of back roads of the entire trip. I've never considered myself a fan of the aesthetics of roads in general, but these were certainly an exception! Incredible!

Several of the roads I followed ended at a beach.

More pictures of the gorgeous scenery surrounding these smaller roads.

One road ended at a really cool pier where the locals hung out and fished

Looking back at the road from the pier.

Day Four: Khao Sok National Park and the Super Player Bungalow

After finding that there was no realistic way for me to get to Ko Pah Thong, I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go. One possibility was to end the motorcycle trip and head back to Krabi to find some friends to travel with, but I felt like I had at least another day of riding in me, so I decided that I would push on to a Khao Sok, a national park that Ying Ming recommended. Khao Sok seemed interesting because it basically consists of a massive reservoir lake surrounded by mountains covered by virgin rain forest. I didn't know much more than that, but it was only about 100km away, so I figured that I'd check it out.

On the way I traveled through several really cool towns. This is my first picture from my favorite town, Bang Sai.

I wish I had taken more time to try to capture the unique charm of Bang Sai's interesting architecture and Chinese influence in my photos. These really don't do the town justice.