Living as a Single Farang in the Jungle – On the road 11: In search of the sources of…..
Just before the start of the rainy season, Lung Addie still wanted to make a new exploration trip in his own region by motorcycle. Not, as the title suggests, looking for the sources of the Nile, because it does not flow through Thailand but to the sources of the Klong Hua Wang.
Lung addie had already asked several people where the Klong Hua Wang, called 'Kings Canal' by the locals, originated somewhere. The answer was always: 'maai ruue', so there was no other option than to look for it yourself. Yes, that innate curiosity.
The canal was built years ago, on the advice of the late King Bhumibol, after the heavy flooding caused by Hurricane Gay in 1989. Previously, the current channel was a river called 'Mae Thatapao'.
So on the motorbike, first to the mouth of the canal as this is not far from the place where Lung addie, the road next to the canal, can enter. The channel naturally flows into the sea before making a fork towards the town of Chumphon. A beautiful two-sided track runs along both sides of the canal that really invites you to bike or cycle.
From the mouth, Lung addie then goes upstream in search of the source. After a few kilometers of driving, he arrives at a beautiful lake. Around the lake a beautifully maintained jogging-walking or cycling path as well as several picnic areas. Festivals are regularly organized here. Now, in the middle of the week, not a soul to be seen, really deserted. Then further upstream. After the lake, the wide channel changes into the former river. The beautiful wide road also changes into a rural road with a few houses here and there. It's heading towards Ta Sae, and Lung Addie has memories of that from his previous hell journey, already described here on the blog. It becomes more and more hilly with mainly durian and coffee plantations. The road also gets worse and worse but still passable with the good old Lady Steed shopper.
After about 30 km my Garmin GPS says that I am coming to the end of the road and tells me to return to the public road. In front of me I see a cave from which the river emerges. This is where it ends for Lung addie. I know that the other side of the cave and hill will no longer be Thailand, but Myanmar and Lung addie has no visa for that. Crossing the border, albeit on foot, could mean the end of my visa because, since I am not leaving Thailand, I have no re-entry. So, even though there is no checkpoint or border crossing here, staying inside Thailand is the message. The cave itself has not been entered by Lung addie. Bearing in mind the troubles with the football players of Tam Luang in Chiang Rai, he wisely decided to turn around and the source of the Klong Hua Wang will remain a question mark as I have not seen it.
But a nice afternoon ride in my own beautiful Thai environment.