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Thailand - Information and Rides (Road and Mountain)
IntroductionThis page is devoted to cycling in the Pattaya/Rayong area of Thailand. For an excellent general description of cycling in Thailand, check out Grace Newhaven's Thailand Page. Biking Southeast Asia with Mr. Pumpy also has some great general advice and photos. I lived in Ban Chang, Rayong province in 1995 and worked in the nearby Maptaphut industrial complex. Rayong province is about a 2-3 hour drive southeast of Bangkok. The two largest cities in the area are Pattaya to the north and Rayong to the east, although they are only a fraction of the size of Bangkok. MapsThe overview map on the left shows the part of Thailand that I lived in and discuss cycling in.
The thumbnail below shows in detail where I did most of my cycling. Click on the image for a larger, more readable picture.
Before going into the details, it should be mentioned that unlike the U.S., traffic in Thailand uses the left side of the road instead of the right. Road Bike RideThe route highlighted in green shows the loop I used to do on my road bike (about 40 miles). I did this loop in a clockwise direction early on Sunday mornings (my one day off from work) to beat the heat. Leaving my apartment, I'd head west through the small village of Pala Beach. This is the section where kids would use their best English, where I'd be met with cries of "Hello!" and "Yoo! ... Yoo!". The road then went north, paralleling the edge of some government property to the west, home of a small public airport and a military airfield. To the east was an entrance to a modern housing complex, where many of the other expatriates lived. Then it was a left turn onto Highway 3. Highway 3 is the main highway (usually called the Sukhumvit). Although it has two lanes in each direction, the traffic generally isn't too bad, and the shoulders are pretty wide. Generally speaking, drivers are used to dealing with slow moving vehicles on the road, although most of the slow movers are mopeds with two or more people on them. Occasionally you have to watch for wrong-way traffic using the shoulder, but at that hour in the morning it is no big deal. After going pretty much far north as I could on the Sukhumvit before hitting the outskirts of Pattaya, I'd turn right (I forget exactly where) down one of the side streets. This stretch was one where I regretted having 700x23 tires, since it was very bumpy with lots of potholes - but the worst was over in less than a mile.
Then there's an area with a lake, and lots of temples, and then some hills, and more temples on top. This was a great spot to take a break and buy some fruit and water from the street vendors. Then there's another road that takes you to "Buddha Mountain" - a huge buddha carved into the side of a mountain. They were using explosives to blast the mountainside while I was there, and when it was finished a couple of years ago, it actually made it onto a thirty second spot on one of the national news stations! From Buddha Mountain, it's all downhill until getting back to Highway 331. All of the roads in this area have little to no traffic.
By late morning, traffic has started to pick up a little bit going south on 331, and then east on 332, although it's still not a problem. The shoulders aren't as wide as on the Sukhumvit, but they're adequate. At the end of 332, I'd turn left onto the "wrong" side of eastbound Highway 3 (only for a short distance), since I needed to make a right turn back to Pala Beach and Ban Chang. Mountain Bike RidesThe purple shows the areas I went on my mountain bike. Although the off-road terrain was mostly flat and not very technical, there were a lot more interesting things to see when venturing off the pavement. The dirt roads were generally of good enough quality for touring bikes also; although some of the muddier parts during the rainy season are passable on mountain bikes, but touring bikes would have more difficulty.
The purple circled area to the bottom and the right was where I went for night rides after work once or twice a week. I had a combination road/off-road loop, with some minor variations, that would give me an hour's ride. Most of the dirt roads in this area went through farms. There's usually a dirt road paralleling the train tracks - this works out quite well to get under the Sukhumvit (Highway 3) to the other purple circled area, to the top and the left of the map. This area made for good exploring - there were many hidden small villages accessible only from these roads. Many times I would be the first westerner that some of the residents had ever seen. Also, there were dirt roads that linked to the area with the temples that I described above in the road rides section.
One time I rode with a couple friends on a "coastal" route going east. We were trying to make it to Rayong Resort (east of Rayong city) and back in one day. It was a little too far - we had to turn back (it would have been nice to ride to ride there, stay overnight, and then ride back, but most of us were too busy working and didn't have the time). Still it was a good ride. We followed the train tracks through the Maptaphut Industrial Complex (certainly not the best part of the ride), and then followed some little traveled roads along the coast. There was even one rickety rope bridge that we had to walk our bikes across! Also, I still can't forget riding through one part near Rayong city - we called it "the land time forgot" - a community with narrow concrete alleyways (wide enough for two bikes side by side) with dwellings on both sides - real weird! Then once we left the city, I can't believe we didn't get lost riding through some dirt roads we had never traveled before. What an adventure! The major bummer about riding offroad in Thailand is the dogs. There's an overpopulation problem, and many of them are either wild or not very well fed. Often times there are very territorial, and you will have to confront them if you want to ride along a section of dirt road. There are different techniques for dealing with them which have worked with varying success. Sometimes riding by them real slow, not giving them the opportunity to chase was effective. Other times squirting water at them or firmly yelling "No" got them to back off. Last, but not least, was to just plain outrun them! One of these techniques worked for most of the dogs, but there was one stubborn pack of five or six dogs that none of these techniques worked on (there wasn't enough of a straightaway to get enough speed to pass them and hope they didn't catch up). Luckily, there was an alternate route to where I was going. The risk of getting bitten wasn't worth it. WeatherThis applies only to Central Thailand - this varies a bit for the northern and southern parts of the country...
Final AdviceHighway 36 would seem like a great road for cycling: only one lane in each direction, wide shoulders, rural scenery, etc. If I could only give one piece of advice for riding in Thailand, it would be to STAY OFF HIGHWAY 36!! It's too dangerous, even when driving!!! Highway 36 is the main road between Pattaya and Rayong, since it's more direct than the Sukhumvit, and it carries a lot of fast-moving traffic, including the big trucks. The road is not a divided highway - drivers often have to swerve into the shoulder at the last minute to avoid oncoming traffic using the imaginary third lane (riding on the center stripe, that is) as a passing lane. Sometimes, although not as frequent, the shoulder is used to pass slow moving vehicles on the left. There's been many accidents - head-on collisions, as well as mopeds in the shoulder getting hit by drivers trying to avoid a head-on collision. The overly aggressive behavior described above was unique to Highway 36, though. On the other roads (including the main Sukhumvit), motor vehicles were generally accustomed to sharing the road with slow moving vehicles (usually mopeds), so I didn't have any problems. The locals were also very friendly, no matter where I rode. Sign language and gestures worked quite well for communicating simple things. Just be respectful - don't photograph them without their permission, and don't use bottled water for dumping on top of your head to cool you off! The area around Ban Chang and Maptaphut had grown very rapidly since my departure. Highway 3 east of Rayong toward Chantaburi was in the process of being widened from a two lane rural road to a six lane major highway. Growth has cooled off quite considerably during the recent Asian economic crisis, but I'm not sure how much things had grown since I left in early 1996. |
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