It's a long way to Sanghklaburi...or you can't get there from here

We were going to do two photo workshops for a Mon post-10 school in Sanghklaburi, a pretty town tucked in a river valley some 230 kms north of Bangkok, close to Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai/Burma border.  So you'd think it wouldn't be all that far from Mae Sot;  which is even farther north.

But you'd be wrong;  we take the night bus south to Bangkok ( 7 hours ), arriving at 4:30 am and then the 7 am bus back north to Sanghkla ( 7 hours ). Because we wanted to ride bikes to the school, we decided to bring our trusty Giants.  Let me tell you, putting the front wheels back on, loading panniers and backpacks at Mo Chit bus station in the wee hours was not easy.  The place was packed with people coming, going, standing, eating, sleeping.  Finding the ticket booth for Sanghkla felt like trying to get out of Dante's 7th circle of hell!  

4:30 am  Mo Chit bus station, Bangkok

The last 40 kms to the town are on avery steep, windy, narrow road.  A truck has just overturned in the oncoming lane, its trailer half blocking our side of the road... We arrive around 2:30 pm, look for the post office which is a landmark on the way to our guest house.  When we can't find it, we call Allison Rhodes, one of the two teachers at the school who immediately hops on her bike and leads us to the Tea House, which will be our home for the next two weeks.  Fortunately, it is  downhill all the way.

Breakfast and email hang out at guest house

Looking down from veranda to our bungalow (left)

Our laundry outside our bungalow

 The Chuen-Jai Guest House is not on the river but is set at the top of a steep hill looking across what is now (dry season) a dry river bed .  There's an eating, reading, emailing area with pillows and low tables, and a main building with a kitchen and a large room with western tables and chairs.  Ton runs the place like a family home;  if you get up too early, you won't get breakfast until cook comes back from the market.  No worries, the fresh coffee is served with steamed milk.  Wednesday night is homemade pizza night here, made on a BBQ with real cheese, olives, mushrooms, ham, pineapple, etc etc.  It seems like all the ex-pats gather for this!

The mosquito net we love to hate!

The best coffee in Sanghkla and lighter than air banana shakes

We would start the day there, after Nat hauled the bikes up the hill from our bungalow, then pedal off to the Mon Post 10 school for a day of photos and hilarity.

Did I mention that Sanghklaburi is hilly?

After 4 hours of class time and outside shooting assignments, we would head back to town ( only one little bump to get up) where we'd drop off the student images to be printed (no photoshop please!) and head to Graf Cafe for the first  iced coffee of the day.

Dinner at the guest house or Toy's restaurant (up a looong steep hill, until we discovered an easier way), then back to the bungalow to file images, prep for the next day, and fight with the mosquito net.  Also check for wildlife;  one night we had hundreds of tiny little moths, another night we had a frog that decided to take up residence on the bathroom mirror.  On a couple of occasions a tokay lizard ( the ones that say uh-oh ) was singing at maximum strength underneath our floor.  Ah, wilderness!