It was about 4 pm, the day of riding was up, I would now look for a place to stay. That morning I had started out from a resort in the small town of Phan Thong, cycled about 80-100 kms and reached Lake Nong Kham a few kms from the fabled town of Si Racha (of Sriracha sauce fame). There was a nice park around this lake and a private airfield on the other side making it an interesting stop.

This was one of my longest rides in my 1000 km cycle tour of Thailand in early 2019. Naturally, I had road fatigue. The constant exposure to elements always tires me and makes me feel grimy. Sweat, dust, vehicle fumes and so on.

The park had some clean bathrooms and wash area, I made use of them to clean up a little. My typical routine also included pouring water on my head to cool off. Thailand at that time was really hot and humid. As I relaxed in the park, I noticed a few fruit flies flitting around my head. I waved them away. I had noticed these flies during my ride too, maybe the area was full of insects I thought then.

Curious about my route? Here are the details with a map.

The park was quite nice. I was distracted by the fruit flies situation to click any more pictures 🙂

Ideally, I would have relaxed in the park and then searched out a nearby hotel to stay. However, it was not to be. Very soon I realised these fruit flies DIDN’T LEAVE!! I tried flitting them a few times but they persisted. I had another round of washing my hands, legs. Pouring water on the head.  I also flicked some water over my shoes and clothes, making them a little damp, just in case…

But despite all my best efforts they stuck to me.

These weren’t 4-5 fruit flies. There were at least a dozen or so, buzzing over my head or my shoes.

It was creepy. And there was nothing I could do. As a solo cycle tourer, I land up in random places. Sit (or sleep) on benches, temple corners and other areas which may not have been frequented in a while. Or might be a little dirty, though not obviously dirty. So I figured I picked those fruit flies somewhere on some such sit out.

Yikes.

It was a real shock to be honest. I first wondered whether these flies would bite and cause any other trouble. But a quick Google search allayed those worries. They are harmless overall. But I would soon look out for hotels… and imagine how the staff may react when I walk in with a cloud of fruit flies on me. :O

My only hope was that they might be a lot more evident to me than to others, cause fruit flies after all are really small. But still it was a very awkward situation.

The road is full of such adventures. People often ask me whether I face any troubles since I am all alone in new places. Well, yes, I do – sometimes I am attacked by fruit flies.

😀

So, once these fruit flies had pretty much ruined my peaceful end of day… I headed out to find a hotel. I had expected there to be many places near this lake. But I couldn’t find any. I actually circled around in the area a couple of times, asking locals for a “rongraem” meaning hotel. And found them most uncommunicative. Typically I would offer them my phone so they can speak Thai in the language translator. But these locals were afraid of doing that. So I would switch on my language translator mike, and they would blankly stare at it. A very frazzling time.

A stop at a monastery on my search for a hotel where a peacock came strolling by the bike.

Finally, I headed towards Si Racha town and found a quaint hotel in a few kms.

Thankfully it was not too uppity a place to make me feel conscious about the fruit flies. Yes, they were still there.

The hotel was a typical roadside inn on a quiet lane. The rooms had really good decor. At 450 Bahts (800 INR), not bad at all.

As you can imagine, the first thing I did after taking the room, was to have a proper, long bath.

Thankfully the fruit flies weren’t to be seen after that.

Phew.

All’s well that ends well.

😀

Whenever I see fruit flies flitting around the kitchen, I remember this incident.

Had any similarly memorable incidents on your travels?