Leaving Mairood: It is hard!

I had again such a relaxing time at Mairood, enjoyed the company of Chin, the Thai owner, and Judy, the 'life-survival-artist', that it feels really difficult to say Good Bye! It will not be forever, I am sure.

Mairood is such an  unusual location, a super-scenic 'alternative', small resort like not many on Earth, unspoiled by (mass-) tourism, a true oasis, a little paradise.

The mangroves at Mairood.
Nestled in them are the cheapest accommodations here, no a/c, no comfort, but very original and unique. Built on stilts.

Yaya came to inspect the open-air restaurant. She found it to be acceptable and walked away.

Chin, the owner of Mairood.

I enjoy the animals roaming around, the exotic birds, the ill-tempered gobblers, the proud roosters and their harem, the numerous dogs, three cats, and of course, beautiful Yaya, the little pig. At night there are the sounds of the bigger geckos, their call sounds a bit like 'wussy-wussy', or something like that. At around four in the morning the big diesel engines of the fishing boats wake me up when the fishermen go out to sea.

This morning when I had my early, and last, breakfast at Mairood, Yaya came to check out all of the restaurant area. She wandered around, inspected everything, found it to be in order and walked away.

After getting the bike out of Chin's garage on the mainland, packing everything up, my ride goes first down south again, to the Thai-Cambodian border, a detour which costs me more than 1 hour and a half. I have to try to communicate somehow with the Thai Customs Officers there about the necessary paperwork for exporting the bike. My shipping company gives me such a hard time concerning all this paperwork that I thought it would be a good idea to return to the border post since I am only 30 miuntes away.

As expected, the talk to the officials resulted in nothing new, I have all the necessary forms, I was told; if I could only convince my 'helpful' shipping 'friends' (not) of that. Again, we will see.

The ride north towards Bangkok will be partially on Highway 3 (this is like riding on a German highway, excellent road conditions, everybody follows the rules, people even stop at red lights, in brief: boring!)

I decide to leave No. 3 and follow rural, winding roads up north, following the scenic coastline, with many inlets, bays, and large peninsulas.

 I leave Highway No. 3, 'Sukhumvit' (yes, the one of the same name as the major boulevard in Bangkok), and continue on Rural Highway 3149. This road passes an exuberant Buddha Park, Wat Chak Yai (Wat Buddha Park), with numerous large scales scenes of the life of Buddha, most all of them donated by wealthy families who want 'to do merit', in other words, like to prepare for the next life with some good deeds.

Wat Chak Yai 

Wat Chak Yai 

Holy tree at Wat Chak Yai

This is very, very nice, a Thailand I haven't encountered before. Although this is high season, tourist numbers: 0, or very small. All tourists are Thai, most likely escapees from Bangkok's mayhem!

I stop at a beach hotel near the city of Chantaburi, only some 330 km left to Bangkok!

Towel elephants greet me in the hotel room.

Yes, no tourists, splendid.