January 17, 2026 to January 18, 2026
Sun is Shining, The Weather is Sweet
Non-stop Reggae at Pranburi Beach
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January 17, 2026 Pranburi Beach, Thailand
Sun is shining, the weather is sweet
Make you want to move your dancing feet
To the rescue, here I am
Want you to know, you all, where I stand
Our room, jah, at Pattawia Resort & Spa, man, it was real, man. Nicest hotel room ever, man. The view, man, Satisfy My Soul. But, Who the Cap Fit, let him wear it. It wasn't us, man. It felt like Miami Beach, man, and not Jamaica. Expensive room too, man. Most expensive room ever since it didn't include breakfast. We opted for not getting the buffet breakfast because there were only a handful of people staying in the 180 room hotel and I was pretty sure the photos of the lavish buffet breakfast could not be reality if there were so few people staying there. We would be Waiting in Vain for that food. We wanted to stay in the Pranburi Beach vicinity for at least another night mostly due to a favorite coffee shop - Chabar Coffee - right next door, man.
Two years ago we hung out in Chabar Coffeeshop for two days catching up mostly on the reggae music they played constantly but also on our journal. We had heard so much reggae music there two years ago that we haven't been able to listen to any since, man. So, we were due to catch up, High Tide or Low Tide.
Before we could move into Chabar Coffeeshop we had to secure a room at another hotel. We walked from the luxurious Pattawia Resort to the very humble 70's hotel on the other side of Chabar Coffee, Ban Haad Pran Hotel, and asked if they had a room. They said they had one but it needed to be cleaned first. But, Don't worry about a thing, 'cos ev'ry little thing s'gonna be alright.
We went back to pack our things at the big expensive hotel and to check out. The same enthusiastic worker who wouldn't let us carry any of our bags up to our room when we checked in was right there to help again as we checked out. Once our bikes were all loaded he asked where we were off to. I completely burst his employment bubble when I said, "Another hotel." He was visibly shaken by that answer because I am pretty sure he thought he worked at the best hotel in the entire Pranburi Beach area. I felt bad so I Give Thanks and Praises but he continued to look stunned.
We rode fully loaded to Chabar Coffee not 50 meters down the road where we were welcomed by Bob Marley tunes once again as if time had stood still for two full years. So Much Trouble in the World but Bob sucked us in, sat us down in the same seats and we ordered the same great iced coffees and it was as if No More Trouble would come our way ever. It was deja vu.
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I think this means we have officially entered a more relaxed bike trip routine which may be referred to as 'vacation'. We have a lot of time left on our trip (46 days!) and we intend to take it a bit easier than the first half. I feel we've been moving fairly quickly and have covered a lot of new territory in Thailand. It has definitely Satisfied My Soul and now we are starting down a more familiar part of Thailand; along the east coast. There is no reason to do long rides each day so we will be slowing down. Even though we will be largely on a route we have experienced before, there are always new roads and new things to see. We are always curious about where we haven't explored. But first, my bike needs to be fixed.
When we were at the big beautiful hotel (& Spa) I couldn't enjoy the luxurious room fully because I was so upset about how my bicycle was working on our way there. I had no confidence that I could fix it and since the only possibility of it being fixed by someone who might know how to fix it was in Bangkok. Therefore thoughts of our trip abruptly ending filled my mind all night, kind of ruining the luxury experience of our nice room.
Today, for some reason, I have a little bit more confidence that I can at least make the bike work better. I have no idea why I have such a feeling because it makes no more sense today than yesterday except we will now have a ground floor, humble, large room that I can easily wheel my bike into and work on. No way could I have done that in the big fancy highrise hotel. No matter how enthusiastic that employee was, he wasn't about to let me take my bike up to our room. That would have been a job ender and he was well aware of that.
I am not mechanically minded. I use logic. The belt was skipping so radically that the bike was unrideable. Logic tells me that the belt is too loose. It doesn't feel that loose but maybe it is and I think I can figure out how to tighten it slightly. If only there was a simple adjustment but there are none that I can see. If it's not the tension of the belt then there might be some sort of damage on either the belt or the cogs the belt fits into. Skipping is skipping and there are logical reasons why. At least that's my opinion, not being very knowledgeable of mechanical things. It's odd that the problem got way way worse when a professional mechanic, Mo, worked on it in Hua Hin! Anyway, we have time and that is a big part of easing my tension over it. And we have reggae, lots of it. Non-stop reggae as long as we are at Chabar Coffee.
Three foreigners, like Three Little Birds, dragged some Chabar chairs and small tables across the street to sit on the sidewalk much closer to the ocean. Maybe they couldn't take the non-stop reggae. At one point one of them came in to talk with us. She was, I guessed by her accent, French and was very nice. She said the three of them were renting an entire house up the beach somewhere and had been there for quite awhile. They were leaving soon to travel to Sri Lanka because there was good wind there! They were kitesurfers. If they have their own equipment I can't imagine hauling it on a plane. They probably can't imagine hauling a bike across the globe, which is no big deal to us, it's the fixing of the bike that is more perplexing.
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When we had finished with coffee and a piece of chocolate cake!, we checked-in next door at our humble hotel, got settled, did some laundry and then went in search of food. We found a great little restaurant with bamboo huts and good food inland a couple of miles. I had one gear that was more or less reliable on my bike. When we left the restaurant it was getting dark. We never ride in the dark so we rushed away, however we took a wrong turn and ended up on a street that suddenly turned to gravel and vicious dogs and a dead end. We got out of that situation by the skin of our teeth and then on another road I was trying to watch for snakes which come out at night. It was hard to see but then there one was. It was definitely moving but it was writhing around in the road having just been hit by a vehicle. As much as I dislike snakes I hated seeing it in agony and doomed to die by the tires of the next vehicle. The writhing is an image I'd like to erase.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
January 18
First thing in the morning I flipped my bike upside down in the middle of our room and loosened the lugs that hold the rear wheel. I loosened a couple of other bolts that looked like they would need to be loosened if the whole thing was going to be able to move back a tiny bit which should, logically, result in tightening the belt. There were also a couple of little screws which are adjustments as to how far the wheel can move back. Once it was all loose I pounded the tire towards the rear with the heel of my hand. I didn't see it move at all but I put it all back together and took it for a spin on the road next to the ocean and it ran almost perfectly! It skipped one time, just one little time. All gears were working! It was like a miracle. Our trip was not going to end abruptly in flames after all (maybe). There's a Natural Mystic, blowing through the air. But Time Will Tell. I just hope for No More Trouble.
We spent another day immersing ourselves in coffee, reggae, a large brownie and more reggae, (couldn't avoid the reggae of course).
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We returned to the same excellent restaurant for dinner where for a second time I observed a high school girl employee who seemed way ahead of the rest of the staff/owners/cooks. It must have been a weekend job for her. She was better educated and probably smarter in addition. She was more capable and organized at what she did, which was dealing with adding up the bills and receiving payments from diners. I mention it because watching her made me remember how I felt in some of my first jobs and I think we all have had similar experiences. We did the jobs for the money but far more important was that we learned we didn't want to do that job beyond high school. There is incentive to have a better career, do something more important and challenging in our lives. Not that the ones doing the cooking at that restaurant were not talented, because the food was delicious, but I think you all know what I mean.
Andrea's Clickstand was not in its normal holder on her bike when we went to the restaurant and that was perplexing to her. When we got back to our hotel she looked and looked but couldn't find it. She figured it had bounced out of the pouch on her bike when we were trying to get away from the vicious dogs the night before. We had just enough time to return to that scene before it got dark so we sped off.
The dogs left us alone and we looked all over for the Clickstand but it wasn't there. A neighbor was standing around and when Andrea told him the story he was concerned and wanted to help. He was a super nice guy. Through Google Translate he and Andrea considered the options. He was going to ask his neighbor if he had found it. Andrea and this man exchanged phone numbers and we were off. It was a long shot but it was the most likely place it had bounced out of the holder on her bike. It was sad because she has used the same Clickstand for all six of our trips. I left a favorite shirt, by mistake, in a guest house a couple of weeks ago. Does this mean we are getting old? I think maybe it does. But I think I may have fixed my bike! So, there's that.
lovebruce, man
Today's ride: 9 miles (14 km)
Total: 1,155 miles (1,859 km)
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