Day 11 – Pattani to Hat Yai
Today we left Pattani for the last time on this trip. We were accompanied by a small group of “only” 20 people who met us at the hotel and cycled with us 30kms out of town towards Hat Yai. We’ve said goodbye to this group 3 times at this stage and it was getting a little funny how we keep coming back to them, they are really great people what can I say.
So, after the group departed we finally had the day to ourselves, we hooked up the speakers and iPod again and got some music going, a little Fat Boy Slim to urge on the aching legs. We then headed off at our own pace for the first time in the last 5 days. The road was the same one we’d been on before up until we made it to Sakom, where we split off onto a totally new road.
This was a lovely bit of highway and when ridden in the early morning the traffic was very light, but as the day went on the traffic increased and although it was still beautiful it definitely would have been better without the cars (like most roads). We turned off towards Hat Yai and entered a hilly section, once again I was happy that we posted nearly 4kgs home. Once we cleared the hills we entered into Hat Yai town, at least its ring road freeway.
We used the GPS to take us to the TAT Office on the back roads where a friendly TAT staffer completed our log book and then pointed out the bicycle shops in town. We headed off to the closest one around the corner. Just as we were about to ask the owner of the bicycle shop to fill in our log book Natt noticed someone she thought she recognized from her childhood housing estate in Bangkok, but she was not 100% sure. So she asked, and it was in fact the girl who grew up across the road from Natt. This girl now works as a TCA sales manager for Southern Thailand. It’s a very small world.
TCA is one of the biggest high end bicycle equipment importers in Thailand. Natt and the sales manager had a chat and she offered to put us up for the night in the spare room at the TCA showroom in Hat Yai, where we are sitting right now as I write this.
I had a brief chat with the sales assistant at the shop and looked at the Bianchi, Bike Friday, Fox Shocks, and other bike goodies in the showroom, all expensive and all very nice. It is a pretty swish little showroom that gives you the feeling of being inside a BMW automobile showroom. Once the sales office closes I hope that we have a little time to chat some more and talk about TCA and their plan for Thailand and cycling.
So we traveled 120kms today, it was pretty easy and we arrived in Hat Yai just after mid-day. I think that the distances are getting easier and the muscles are growing. The new seat I installed yesterday needs a little adjustment but since it’s very dense foam it is pretty forgiving and I found that my ass did not complain as much over the last few days.
Tomorrow we make a break for the West coast and Satun, the southern most beach side province facing Phuket Island. I’ve only been near there once before to catch a ferry to Langkawi in Malaysia, so this will be my first visit to the town of Satun itself. I’ve been told it has 3 bicycle shops worth GPSing for BicycleThailand.com, which is what we try and do in every provincial capital when we visit.
