Wharfing It

January 20, 2026

Sam Roi You Beach to Ban Bangpu

January 20, 2026

Wharfing It

Sam Roi Yod Beach to Ban Bangpu where the trail to Phraya Nakhon Cave starts.

We were very relaxed about leaving this morning because we only had a few miles to ride. Our plan was to get close to a cave we have wanted to see for many years. The trail to the cave begins on a headland and one river south of the beach we were on, meaning, we didn't want to get up early, ride the few miles to the trailhead, leave our bikes (which is no big deal), hike to the cave and ride our bikes back to where we started. I mean it could have been done and we might have done just that had we been able to stay one more night at the Blue Beach Resort . But they were full.

Our room/bungalow at Blue Beach Resort. Sam Roi Yod Beach

Instead, we took our time checking out from Blue Beach. We walked to the beach and had a lovely meal right on it. The nice woman who made our food had the most humble little shack. It looked filthy so we tried to not look at it. It's times like these when I think of my sister and how there is no way she would eat anything cooked in a place like that. But, the thing is, we never get sick from food in Thailand. I can't even remember the last time I got sick in Thailand from food. It's been at least 20 years. The Thais have figured it out. They always use bottled water to wash vegetables which means even salads will most likely be safe to eat. It's almost to the point where we try the trashiest looking street food and still we never get sick.

The little restaurant's kitchen where our breakfast was cooked.

Our view while we ate breakfast. The air was soft.

After we finished eating our breakfast I realized there was a dog sleeping on the shelf under the table the entire time.

So, we had a great breakfast on the beach and lollygagged around after that. We had coffee mix in the dining area of Blue Beach Resort too. Most accommodations now give free little packets of various kinds of coffee mix. We have grown accustomed to them and some of the brands are actually pretty good. Others we stash away in a plastic bag dedicated to holding our coffee mix packets to take back home where we can jazz them up with cream or something which makes them taste a little better. But some brands of coffee mix we covet and fight over. Well, we rarely fight because there are always two free packets. But one time there were three. Why, why, why three? Did they want us to fight?

This happens all the time in Thailand. The bike lanes are completely ignored.

Even when it says, "Beware" of bicycles the bike lanes get blocked.

Eventually we packed up, looked in wonder at the enormous and scary bee hive again and wheeled out the long driveway to the road along the beach. Shortly it curved inland and connected to a larger road where we found some small papayas for sale at a fruit stand. I had to wake the woman up in order to pay her. We are finding that there is a definite 'Beach Time' thing going on down here. It's hotter, more humid and everyone seems to move more slowly. I've had to wake up several people lately.

This hive, completely covered by big bees, is more than a meter wide!

The few miles we rode were close to spectacular jagged karst hills but the land that was flat (where we were riding) was incredibly desolate. It was full of existing fish farms and former fish farms which means there were huge pits in the ground. Fish farms always have a lot of fish farm paraphernalia and trash scattered all over the place. In short, it's not all that fun or interesting to ride through an area of a lot of fish farms. If there were no fish farms in the area we were riding it would have been just plain desolate with scrubby plants. I guess the thing to do is keep your eyes trained on the majestic karst hills, kind of like at breakfast when it was best to keep our eyes on the food we were eating and not where it was cooked.

But it was just a few miles and we turned back towards the ocean. We had no idea where we were going to stay. The two guest houses on Google Maps were too expensive for us. The town was a tiny fishing village that seemed very down and out or just plain poor. Fishing is a hard way to make a living. One of the places on Google looked like it might be affordable for us. We turned up a little cement lane to where it dead ended at the guest house. Right where the cement ended was a dark, zoned out man sitting very upright on the cement in the lotus position staring straight ahead. I gave him a friendly Sa Wat Dee and he didn't respond. The only other Thai who acted that same exact way was The Zombie. This guy had a very similar appearance! Just beyond where he was sitting motionless was a padlocked gate to the guest house. The guest house consisted of four rooms in a row but there was nobody there and no way in. We guessed we had to call on the phone to get someone to come deal with us. Even if the possible Zombie wasn't sitting there right near the gate the guest house did not look appealing at all. It was a dead end in more ways than one.

In an attempt to take your mind off the Zombie and to show you some colorful pots I'll switch the subject. The mascot for Ban Bangpu School is a sand crab. I went to Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach and our mascot was a sand crab! I felt so at home!

I can't believe the school used so many of these enormous clay pots just to outline the schoolyard. They might be wondering why there are so many mosquitoes in the school all the time.

These pots are really huge. They are normally used to collect rain water off people's roofs.

We rode past the motionless Zombie and immediately decided we had to find another place to sleep. We rode through the entire little town, turned around and on our return we saw a sign that read, "Restaurant and Room." We turned onto that little one block street which headed toward the harbor. The restaurant looked nice and was right on the wharf. Off to one side of the restaurant were four rooms that looked fairly new. A woman showed one to us and it was immaculate and large. She told us the price was $27 but immediately came down to $24. Sold!

We were excited to stay in such a colorful and unique sort of place. The restaurant was obviously a seafood restaurant and was right outside our door! The fishing boats would depart and come in to unload their catch right in front of our room. We've never stayed in such a place and we couldn't believe our good luck. Partly it was because it was a weekday. I'm pretty sure the rooms fill up on weekends and the restaurant too would be quiet on a weekday evening.

Our room is the first door on the left over there. How convenient to have a great restaurant right out the door.

This is a pretty logical escape plan in case of fire at our hotel.

We got settled and then felt we needed to do reconnaissance over to where tickets to the national park were sold and the trail to the cave started. We wanted to know just where things were in the morning because we wanted to get on the trail when it opened at 8AM To get to that area we rode back a few blocks and across a rustic bridge over a small river, through a temple grounds and to a parking area where there were lots of shops selling typical beach-type tourist souvenirs, you know the kind; ala shell wind chimes. We found the ticket booth and the start of the trail. It looked rugged and went straight up! There was a little drinks shop that was placed right in the middle of the parking lot where we got a Thai cha yen and sat for a bit. It was midafternoon and nobody was around except the vendors who were all asleep. We could hear waves on the nearby small beach that was covered in trash from the ocean. There were no resorts or hotels on that small beach which meant that the trash that floated in was never picked up.

Down by the beach - Ban Bangpu. The little shrine/temple pictured is the one inside the cave which we will visit tomorrow.

I guess people get quite dirty visiting the cave and when they return by boat there is a place for them to clean up.

To get to the beach area the road goes right through a temple area. This is yet another crematory, a rather dirty one.

Having now figured out how our morning would go we rode back to our exciting room on the wharf and got an early dinner which was excellent. There really is nothing like fresh off-the-boat seafood. We didn't order anything expensive or involved, just the usual, but with squid and shrimp added. It was great. As we ate, boats docked in the spots where we figured they always parked to unload their catch. When I was a child and my family vacationed in Florida, one of our favorite places was the Inlet Harbor in South Daytona. It was a similar harbor, a bit up a river, protected from the ocean where shrimp boats docked and unloaded their catch. There was a restaurant right next to the docks. The shrimp tasted so good and for Minnesotans it was about as exotic a place as could be both visually and gastronomically. The sound of large inboard engines, the salty air, freshest tasting shrimp and the excitement of seeing what was caught - this place netted reminiscences of my childhood.

lovebruce

Somewhere over that ridge line is the cave we will hike to tomorrow.

A boat heading out to sea for the night. Generally it's squid fishing that takes place at night.

And another boat returning from day fishing.

Today's ride: 10 miles (16 km)
Total: 1,177 miles (1,894 km)

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