Driving away from Patteya is no fun. It is very busy and the traffic lights, which conveniently count down the time, are usually red for 60 or 90 seconds. Standing still with a 100-degree motorcycle between your legs and the sun on your helmet is no fun. The boring motorway brings some relief, but we also get stuck in traffic jams several times.
Fortunately, we leave the highway halfway through the route and we decide to have lunch in a small restaurant in the next village. The ladies who run the place don't speak a word of English, but by pointing to some ingredients in the outdoor kitchen, a delicious Thai noodle soup is in front of us.
Later on the route we suddenly see a gigantic pink elephant rising above the landscape. Of course we go to take a look and in amazement we look at the gigantic Lord Ganesha, the “remover of all obstacles.” This one is worshiped to get the blessing for a smooth new event in life. Just before we drive into the village of our final destination, we see the entrance gate of Khao Yai National Park, where our route for tomorrow will start.
Tonight we will stay in a small pink bungalow and after we have freshened up we will look for dinner. We drive to a small restaurant where we are warmly welcomed with a bottle of beer and fries. When we ask for the menu, however, it turns out that the place is actually closed for a public holiday!
The owners direct us to some street food stalls just down the road at a dam in the woods. We order food with hands and feet and, like other groups of young people, we have to wait in the dark at the dam, where the food is brought to by moped. By the light of a lamppost we enjoy the very spicy food and with numb lips we quietly drive back to our pink bungalow to put out the fire with a can of beer.
