January 17, 2020
The Gong Highway
Khong Chiam to Phibun Mangasahan
The Gong Highway
Just outside of Khong Chiam on Hwy. 2222 hangs the biggest gong I’ve ever seen. It’s at one end of the parking lot of Wat Tham Khuha Sawan but has nothing to do with the temple. It instead denotes the beginning of Thailand's famous Gong Highway. The Gong Highway is a 22 mile stretch which is the main gong making area of Thailand. It’s the cottage industry for the surrounding area for some reason.
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Gongs are made by pounding out the shape and size by hand from sheets of either brass or steel. The sides are then welded on. The steel ones are often painted probably to prevent rust but the brass ones are shiny brass. They are then sold at gong stores along the highway. There are at least 20 such stores where you can buy the gong of your choice.
Just on the other side of the biggest gong I’ve ever seen is an actual rest area that is quite nice with walkways and little bridges over small ponds. We never see such rest areas and it was odd being so close to a sizable town and not on a large highway either. If you are within a mile of the major town in the entire area why would you need a rest area right there? The Thais like the idea of rest areas and are perfectly capable of making the most beautiful rest areas in the world but they don’t seem to understand where they should be located. This one was like a city park only not exactly in the city. But it was behind the biggest gong I’ve ever seen.
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Anyway, we had never ridden the Gong Highway on bikes but we had been to one of the gong stores five years ago in a car. Because we were being driven there by our guest house owner in Khong Chiam we did actually buy a large gong which we immediately shipped home from the post office in Khong Chiam. It’s a good thing we did that when we did because it seemed like the manufacturing of gongs had taken a hit. There just were not any people going to the gong stores and most were even closed. Maybe it’s more of a weekend thing. Or, maybe the saturation point has occurred for gongs. Who knows. It just didn’t seem as vibrant as before although I don’t know the intricacies of gong sales.
The road was nice, not very much traffic and in good shape. It started out going through a beautiful forest with big trees on either side of the road. We had gotten a pretty early start and it was cool in the morning shade of the trees. We’ve felt cool temperatures so few times on our trip that we were really enjoying it. The trees eventually gave way to large black boulders. Eventually the boulders gave way to gong stores. I would be willing to bet no one reading this has ever biked on a road that started with big tall trees that changed to huge black boulders and then to large gongs! I just bet. It was unique for us too and I liked the uniqueness.
We didn’t stop at any of the gong stores since they all looked sort of dead and, remember, we already own a gong and we didn’t need another. If the bottom had fallen out of the gong business I am sad. Hopefully it has not. We love our gong and think everyone should own one.
I could just make out gong making paraphernalia at ramshackle houses set way off the road. I was able to see enough to surmise that the gong making was done by individuals mostly at their homes. Either they were contracted by the gong stores or they simply make whatever style and size gong they want and then try to peddle them to the various stores along the highway.
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The stores were quite spread out along the otherwise kind of boring route. There was some sort of building going on at one point where truck after truck filled with soil was entering the highway and creating a dusty mess but other than that the highway was kind of straight, flat and lackluster.
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We crossed a big bridge over the Mun River and were suddenly in downtown Phibun Mangosahan, a pretty good size town (pretty good size name too). We first went to the central market to find fruit.
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4 years ago
4 years ago
Then we found a guest house down a dog infested side alley. It seemed like we had chosen a bit of a dumpy part of town to stay in but it was all right. We knew we’d be safe. The compound with a few bungalows and row of rooms motel style seemed as though local people were living in them. We were only going to stay one night and our trip was very nearly finished so it seemed like we could tolerate whatever happened in the evening. We were shocked that the bungalow we were offered was the same price as other pristine new places we had previously stayed in many times. But, again, we were winding down and were happy to have a place to sleep.
The only thing we wanted to do in Phibun was go see the grove of dok fai trees in a park we had been to five years earlier. They are the trees that were around with the dinosaurs and lose their leaves in the winter but put on quite a show of bright yellow puffs of flowers instead. We were staying not very far from that park so we rode our bikes over to see them once we had unloaded our stuff in our room.
It’s so dry this winter that the trees had half the flowers as the last time we saw them but they were still interesting to see. The smooth bark trunks come right out of the ground without any sign of roots showing anywhere making them look like big rods that had been stuck in the soil at various angles. Prehistoric looking they were.
Then we rode around until we found a restaurant to eat an early dinner at. There was a man just hanging out at the restaurant who was quite interested in us but only spoke Thai. He kind of exhausted the total accumulation of my Thai words but it’s good to have someone challenge my vocabulary occasionally, especially someone who was kind and accepting of my murdering the tonal language. He also showed us the photo on the wall of a large group of royalty a long time ago. He pointed out the former king at the age of five in the front row and his father in the back. I had never seen that particular photo of the king and I mostly understood what the man was saying. It was a fun accompaniment to our simple but always delicious Thai food.
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4 years ago
So I'll just add that if Andrea can calm dogs, dinosaurs, and Bruces .. just think the effect she'll have on twin grandbabies. Peace and joy will abound!
4 years ago
Back at our very local bungalow the work day was obviously ending and everyone was coming home to our compound. We stayed inside but there was a lot of coming and going and kids and talking and motorbikes etc. But as we figured, by 10PM they were all fast asleep even though it was Friday night. Most Thais work hard and this lot seemed as though they were going to be working on Saturday too. It was a rather rough place but all fine because it was a safe place to sleep and what more did we want. I was looking forward to our splash out splurge luxury accommodation for our final few nights of our trip in Ubon Ratchathani. If one is thinking about an expensive hotel coming up, roughing it a little bit the night before is no big deal at all. Plus, I was able to do yet another little video of plumbing problems with the bathroom sink. Turning adversity into something positive is what I love to do. Laughable plumbing = art.
lovebruce
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4 years ago
Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 1,229 miles (1,978 km)
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4 years ago
4 years ago
(Huh huh huh! I said ....oh, never mind)
4 years ago
4 years ago
4 years ago