Cycling in Thailand is always about seeking new routes or discovering areas you have never been to. On a map, everything looks exciting, but it’s not until you arrive there that you discover the natural serenity of a place.
On this occasion, my wife and I decided to explore Kho Lad E-Tan. We knew of its existence, having been there before, but we wanted to explore more of it.
We decided to drive to the perimeter road of the local Buddha Park and then cycle from there to the place they call Kho Lad E-Tan.
Kho Lad E-Tan is like an island that the Tha Chi River has carved out, as it virtually doubles back on itself.
From the park, we headed West. Nothing much of interest caught our attention, but we were sure that once at Kho Lad E-Tan, we would be delighted by our experience. On reaching the Tha Chi River, we followed its course upstream until we found a suitable crossing.
Now, in Kho Lad E-Tan, we followed the rural road. It was like going back in time. It seemed like nothing had changed there for ages. The road meandered as if keeping check of foliage on each side.
We had tried a wonderful restaurant before, so we cycled in search of it. The restaurant was Medi, and it served fabulous vegetarian cuisine.
The restaurant was on the side of the river and was very relaxing. We took many photographs of this idyllic setting, some of which were from previous visits.
Once we had had our fill, we set off again, this time on a mission to explore more of Kho Lad E-Tan. Because it’s underdeveloped, there is lots of greenery. Durians grew there, and so did cashew nuts, amongst other things. There was plenty of evidence that agriculture mingled nicely with the wilderness there. There were orchard channels where banana and coconut plantations could thrive.
In places, the Ratchapruek flower stalked us up the roadside, giving us abundant colour.
On our journey, we called into a local Buddhist temple complex. We were greeted by a flowering sala tree (Shorea robusta), a tree associated with Buddhism.
Later, we crossed back over the Tha Chi River and headed back to the Buddha Park.
This time, we decided to cycle around the part of the park we had not cycled around on our arrival.
There, we discovered fields full of sunflowers and tourists taking advantage of the splendid occasion, with everything in bloom.
Cycle In Thailand 