Slowing down the pace...
Its our third day in Thailand and having done the hardcore stuff, we wanted to take things rather easy.
First, it was breakfast at the hotel.
Gone were the noisy, foul-mouthed tourists from Hong Kong.
We had a few other tourists for company and decided that it was best to finish up breakfast and head out on a simple ride.
Well, not so simple if you factor in the killer climbs enroute to Lamai beach.
So, we began our 15km ride towards Wat Kunaram to visit the mummified monk and Na Mueang waterfalls.
These places came highly recommended.
About half an hour out of Chaweng, we found ourselves at the first climb to a viewpoint overlooking the coastal resort.
Slowly, we pushed ourselves and reached the highest peak in the climb. The last 300metres, we got down to push the bikes as the gradient was too steep.
Beginning the climb
After the two climbs, it was a fast downhill roll towards Lamai beach.
There, we rode around the area and found some interesting food outlet and plenty of girly bars.
Later, we cycled to Hua Thanon beach. This is the entire Route 4169 that leads to Nathon.
It was a good workout towards Na Mueang.
The first stopover was the Wat Kunaram.
Tourists arrived by the truckloads to visit this temple.
Usually, the Thai temples do not allow visitors in skimpy outfits, but I guess that in Ko Samui, things are 'a little bit' different.
We saw some white folks with bikini tops and hot pants at the place of worship.
Na Mueang falls is about 6km away from Wat Kuranam.
We rode under the hot sun and reached the entrance to the falls.
Its also an elephant sanctuary.
We had to share the road with some modified Toyota Hi-Lux pick up trucks that were ferrying tourists to the falls.
When we reached the main area, there were free parking for cars and rented motorcycles.
We took the chance by pushing the bikes through a roadblock and managed to move on without a hitch.
When we cycle, we hardly leave our bikes behind.
Now, there's much hype about the two waterfalls in this location.
What I am about to say, may be disappointing to prospective visitors.
From the carpark, we pushed our bikes to a dirt track. This is roughly about 1.2km away from the waterfalls entrance.
I decided to look after the bikes while Michelle scout the falls.
Both of us had cameras, so, one would do most of the work.
There was a spectacular view of the island's foliage from the entrance to the falls.
I waited while Michelle did her touristy thing.
Later, she came back and told me that some old fart had slipped and grabbed her to break his fall. As a result, her Canon Powershot S100 camera was damaged.
ELEPHANT SANCTUARY: The Na Mueang falls animal sanctuary is an ideal place to visit if you have the time. The ride is pretty challenging for beginners.