Day In The Country

Pui and I woke up early-ish, had breakfast in the diner of a nearby hotel. It was the standard Thai letdown breakfast... but at least there was coffee. We had only eaten about half of the chicken cherry stew from last night, and had the rest in a to-go box to give to the family.

Before heading out to the country, I took a drive around Phetchabun. It really is a nice place. The roads are very twisty and it's easy to get lost. I snapped some photos with the camera that I borrowed from Rick.

We finally drove out to the country, and I stopped to snap some more photos, but inadvertently erased all the photos I had shot previously, when I only meant to delete just one picture. Sheesh.

We drove around to all the farang houses that Pui pointed out, but all of the farangs were out of the country. They must have known that I was coming.

Well, Pui and I gathered up 3 of her friends on another motorcycle and drove on out. Our first stop was the Tat Mok waterfall.

Actually... I had no intention of going to the waterfall, just driving the road up to it. Mr. Pothole Research mentioned in his Phetchabun article that the road there was almost better than the waterfall itself (especially when you factor in the 2-kilometer uphill hike you have to take to the waterfall once the road ends), and me being a lazy bugger, figured that the motorcycle-capable part of the trip was worthwhile.

Boy was it ever. The ride up was about as steep a road as you could ever hope to see, and the 5 of us really abused the carrying capabilities of the 2 underpowered motor scooters in getting up there.

But Jesus what a view. The whole of the Petchabun valley lay about a thousand feet down spread out in front of us.

The ride down actually was much worse. I, of course, had the common sense to put the motorcycle in first gear, and use that to help brake myself (and Pui on back) down the hill. The 3 girls on the other motorcycle (or at least the one driving) thought that it would be a good idea to just coast, and go heavy on the brake. Note: Not "brakes"... as (she failed to mention that) her back brake had long since been rendered ineffective. The trio made it about half a mile before the front brake gave out completely. Fortunately they did manage to stop, flag down a passing flatbed truck, load their motorcycle onto the back, and work their way down the rest of the hill that way.

From there, it was off to the nearby resevoir. It was my intention to have lunch, but the restaurant was just not inviting in any way that I could see, and I requested we move on.

I specifically asked Pui for noodles for lunch, so we drove waaay down the road to a noodle stall. Way out in the wayout, I saw a lone ancient farang, sitting at a cement table by himself nursing a beer. A local resident, I would guess. Dear god, don't let me become that old and isolated in Thailand, 30 miles from the nearest 7-11. I waved from kitty-corner on the intersection, and he waved back, and I drove off.

We went to a noodle shop and had lunch. After that, it was a stop at another out-of-town farang's house. A gay farang, apparently, based on the gaydar-activating Thai boy who was sitting on the front porch.

From there, we grabbed some beer, seeds, and headed off to sit in the shade of a tree in front of a large pond close to Pui's house. So nice. Pui even brought along a plastic stool for me to sit on when I got tired of laying on the reed mat they also carried along. Some local kids were swimming in the water. Pui was constantly concerned that I would be bored... but oh what a nice, peaceful bored it was.