Only crazy and homeless people...

...walk in Thailand. This is what a petrol station owner, who lived in Melbourne for four years, told us. And I guess he is right. The few Thais who we saw walking and collecting rubbish to get a few Baht from recycling did look rather scruffy and like they had nowhere to go. What about us? Well, we have no permanent place to stay at the moment and you have to be slightly mentally off to walk in a country where you can travel hundreds of kilometers by train for a handful of dollars - climatized and the whole lot. So we fit right in...

Homeless and crazy people...

Anyhow, since we did not find a place to sleep we stopped at the aforementioned fuel station and asked the manager if we could pitch our tent here. He even offered us the 'bungalow' which was put up for the construction workers and no longer in use. We gladly accepted, set up camp (without rain fly) and cooked dinner. Sadly we acquired a high quality product which means that the inner tent alone insulates rather well. There was absoutely no way that we could sleep in that thing with temperatures not dropping below 30 at night. After a few minutes of laying in there we were bathing in our own sweat. The tent had to go. Luckily we are carrying a mosquito net with us which at least did not store any heat and protected us from blood sucking creatures. The night was nonetheless awful - trying to minimize the body - sleeping mat contact surface used up about 70 % of the time. Another 5 % was spent worrying about being buried alive. The rare but gusty wind rattled our shelter precariously and provoked it to sing the strangest of melodies. Rarely have we ever been so glad to get up in the morning after about two hours of sleep...

Our bungalow and a typical picture of the region

Determined to not spend such a night again we walked 33 km straight until we found something - taking a shower and having a fan felt like heaven on earth and there was nothing that could have made us happier. The scarcity of places to sleep is the downside of walking through a farm land dominated part of the country. 

The tent was already threatening again when we stopped at a run down row of shacks going by the dodgy name of 'Sanit Love Inn'. Was this a countryside brothel? With no more appealing options left we chose to stay anyhow. Entering the barrack confirmed our initial thought. A huge picture was hanging on the wall with a busty blonde laying atop a muscular man. Both naked. Besides the towels we received two toothbrushes and condoms. Foot and handprints in most improbable locations on the walls told the stories of acrobatic sexual acts that this room had witnessed in the past. If there was any residual doubt in our minds about the nature of this place it was dispelt as soon as twilight struck. High pitched moaning, screaming and squealing from left and right - in their totality reminiscent of a howling pack of wolves, only interrupted by the occasional low pitched grunting of a wild boar - was our good night soundtrack. After we finally fell asleep a punter vigorously knocked on our door at three in the morning. 'No fucking, just sleeping' was enough to send him next door to add his input to the sonata. Another part of Thai reality experienced...

Top: the infamous poster and on the right side our morning surprise when we got up. Bottom: footprint and toilet in our "room"...

It was a different manager of a petrol station but also tractor business owner and teacher who helped us out a day later. Once again were stranded, nothing in sight and no safe place to camp when he walked up to me and offered his pavillion for the night. Of course for free but we insisted until he uttered a price. Just unbelievable how a solution always pops up in seemingly forlorn situations. We experienced that a few times now. A friend of my dad, the adventurer Louis Palmer, always spoke of it whenever I had the privilege of meeting him. Now I understand.

The most beautiful pavillion in the world and our home for a night

After all of that, a lot of walking, sweat and pain we deserved a day off in Phitsanulok. We thoroughly enjoyed it, machine washed our clothes for the first time (what a luxury!), took advantage of the choice of food and shops and just let our bodies recover. Slowly but surely the blisters are healing and the formation of new ones has declined. Feet, knees, back and shoulders are getting used to the 20 added kg from the backpack. Don't get me wrong, we have not yet had a pain free day of walking. That would be ridiculous. We went from 0 to over a half marathon per day with the extra weight - spiced up by the conditions. So of course it will hurt. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes less. Another two weeks and hopefully these side effects will have disappeared.

Top: our day off with some tourist photos, bottom: one toe nail I lost due to blister formation (a second one is due) and the half rotten looking small toe

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We are walking 5000 km through southeast Asia to raise money for MAG (Mines Advisory Group) to help clear mines in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. If you like this project please share the blog with your friends and colleagues and make a donation via JustGiving. Your help is greatly appreciated! 

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