Pushing On – Chumphon to Cha-am to Lopburi

I had a rest day in Cha-am which was productive as well. Initially I thought that I would have to service the bike at a random workshop since google did not ping up any GPX center. The random one I picked “Kawasaki Motoaholic Hua Hin” turn out to be a GPX authorize service center so all was good. I had to do a run back to the hotel room to bring the service book but that was alright and the bike was oil change nicely at 5000km.

GPX Service Center at Hua Hin 

At the service center I gave a call to mom and she was still emotional and look no better than the day before. But by evening she was more calm .... going though the acceptance phase that the money is not an issue was key in my opinion.

Since I was very near Hua Hin already, I headed to the Market Village shopping center which was a regular stop for me previously and got some lunch and bought a towel which is much needed since I left mine back in Hatyai. I still had plenty of time in hand so with mom in my mind I headed to the Lua Phuar Tat Temple in Hua Hin. Nothing much really, drop a prayer and walk around and deciding thats the end of the rest day, I headed back to Cha-am to rest.

Lua Phuar Tat Temple - Hua Hin 

Lua Phuar Tat Riding a Three Headed Elephant - Hua Hin 

Along the way back, I saw a monk upfront waving his hand to the cars but none stopped. I decided to stop, thinking of giving him a ride to as far as Cha-Am. He ended up asking for water ... but I had no water on me. I offered a ride but he refused .... and he kept saying he has no money to buy water. I open my wallet to gave him 200 baht but he said it was not enaugh. 

A frown came and went very fast on my head but I decided what harm can he do. He asked for 500 baht ... and at this point I was more smiling than angry. It may be a scam, it may be a phony, it may be genuine, it may be a joke .... but I respect the game when I have been hooked. I was probably vulnarable too due to mom’s condition so without much thought I gave him the 500 baht, bade him good journey and left him on his own.

Next day it was the long ride to Lopburi. Skirting close to greater Bangkok took a lot out of my endurance riding. It was not even 400km for the journey but it took me nearly 9 hours. At lopburi and this is a first for this trip as I did not have a hotel booked in advance, I stopped at the first marker previously research on my map. Get Inn ... 350 baht a night. Decent and clean ... but only after I had bath ,,, eat ... and got time to wind down ... that the place feels odd.

Private One Bed Bungolo - Get Inn Lopburi 

Using google lens I translated some notice sticking inside the room ... so its was 200 baht for 3 hours or 350 baht for overnight. The room had a very very hard bed and the bedsheets were very old and rough but still clean ... pillow was crap and they had a huge ass "wall to wall" mirror. I think this is a special motel. 

Next morning I saw some people driving in ... a couple ... yep definately a special motel. What I could not understand thou was why here, coz I was not exzactly in Lopburi downtown ... I was in the middle of nowhere an outskirt .. just a junction with barely anything ... oh well.

Onwards North to Khao Kho .... 

Traveled on: May 2023