December 31, 2025
Day 120 — Kra Buri to Ranong
Marilee here.
This was our last full day of biking before some planned loafing-on-a-beach time on the island of Koh Phayam. And honestly I was so eager to get to Ranong, where we’d be catching the ferry to Kho Phayam, that this final day is a bit of a blur for me.
Once again we were riding down Highway 4 all day, and once again I felt like this highway has been unfairly maligned. I’ve read other cycling blogs where people complain about the traffic on the 4, to which I say: you think this is something, try highway riding in Japan! I kept asking Tom, where are all the trucks? In Japan, there must be 2 or 3 huge freight trucks on the road for every passenger vehicle. The shoulders are basically nonexistent and the trucks roar by you with inches to spare. Here there’s a shoulder wide enough to do donuts in, and almost no truck traffic.
We’d picked up some breakfast items the evening before, so we ate in our little cabin at the Pannika resort before setting off for the day. Luckily we were able to supplement this rather spartan meal with a stop at roadside coffee bar just down the road where we acquired enough caffeine to actually wake us up. Then it was just a matter of keeping the bikes pointed down the road and the pedals turning around.
At about midday we pulled into the parking area for the Panyaban Waterfall, a nice shady enclave and clearly a popular stopping point for drivers between Ranong and Chumphon. There were lots of families splashing in the pools under the falls and many groups posing for photos by the cascade. There was a 10 baht entry fee for Thais, which jumped to 100 for foreign tourists — but either to make up for this tourist tax, or just because it was New Years Eve, the park staff gave us free bottles of water and bundles of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. Sitting with our feet in the cool water, it made a great snack break.
We were so reluctant to leave this shady rest spot we decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants across the river from the falls. (Full disclosure: the big hill for the day started from the waterfall parking lot, so I was in no hurry to leave.) We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, while keeping one eye on the hill to see if it might shrink a bit in the afternoon heat. No such luck, so eventually we just got back on the bikes and got it over with. It really wasn’t much of a climb at all, but the heat and blazing sun along the unshaded roadside made it extra challenging.
Later that afternoon, on the outskirts of Ranong, we happened across a big temple and stopped in to check it out. I am a sucker for the temples with really big statues and this one delivered: big golden bodhisattvas, dragons, a massive reclining Buddha. Apparently the temple, Wat Wari Banphot, is unique for melding Thai, Chinese and Burmese elements. Apart from a monk who waved as we rode in, we had the place almost to ourselves, which was lucky as we were very disheveled and sweaty, which seems disrespectful when visiting a place of worship, but we really have no other option these days.
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We had some end-of-day adventures getting to our hotel: the divided highway didn’t want to let us go and refused to provide a turnoff to take us to the centre of town. We were considering heaving bikes over the central barrier and dashing across lanes of traffic when we spotted a pedestrian underpass. Saved! Even better, the underpass connected us to a riverside bike path that brought us most of the way into town.
Our hotel (another “resort” collection of tiny bungalows) was in an area of town dotted with upscale hotels (ours was not one of them), bars and restaurants catering to westerners. We were a bit surprised by this as we hadn’t expected Ranong to be very touristy, but the mystery was solved the next day when we got to Kho Phayam and saw the numbers of western tourists there — Ranong is catching everyone on their way to and from the island. It was lucky for us, as right across the street from our hotel we found a wonderful Burmese restaurant with tables set out in a series of gardens and courtyards, lit with candles and fairy lights. It was a lovely setting for a very memorable New Years Eve dinner, where we lost all control and ordered far more delicious food than we could eat (although we spent a very long time trying).
Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 5,397 km (3,352 miles)
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