Day 13 Hat Yai – Satun 94 kms of rolling roads
Today we left with B and her boyfriend from TCA Showroom in Hat Yai at 6am. They rode with us for 10kms until we reached highway 4, this is the same highway that passes our old place back in Cha-am, Petchaburi. It’s the major freeway that traverses the length of the Thai peninsula.
The road was shady, with rolling hills and 2 lanes in either direction. I was a little worried about it being thin and busy but this was not the case. Traffic was low and the road wide, the impression from Google maps was a road with hills on both sides snaking it’s way through a mountain range, but after riding it and noting the total elevation we did today made me realize that we actually did more hills yesterday than today.
Arriving in Satun was uneventful, it was a Sunday and everything was closed or at least looked very closed as we headed to the local bicycle shop (Azan Mountain Bike). This bike shop was the one that B had told us about and we planned to get our book signed there. The folks at the bike shop were now the only signature in our log book for Satun, which is a little dismal but in this little town of 20,000 people there is no Tourism Authority of Thailand office.
It looked to me that Satun was a lot less Muslim than the previous 4 provinces we had just visited, with more girls wearing short pants and many of them without head dresses. Both Natt and I noticed today that people here have been more touchy-feely than in other provinces, with a man massaging my leg at one of our water stops as he was telling me it must be strong, another man grabbing my hand to shake it as we walked down the road, and finally a University aged girl outside of a 7-11 holding onto my arm as she said hello and then proceeded to tell me that she’s studying tourism somewhere in town. Not that any of that was a problem for us, it was just a little different from previous experiences.
Satun is one of the three Thailand provinces that border Malaysia (the other two being Yala and Narathiwat). I have been here twice before to catch a ferry directly to Langkawi but never to visit the town itself. I must say it’s not that interesting, or we’ve just missed the good bits. Not that it really matters as we leave here in 2 hours to head towards Trang. Not sure if we’ll make the main city of Trang today because it’s around 140kms away but we’ll head that way until our little legs refuse to pedal anymore. My ass was a little less sore today after the painless day yesterday on the new saddle. I hope that it’s just my butt adjusting.
We’re trying to get back to Hua Hin to leave our bike there and get a bus to Surin for Chris and Gae’s wedding. Chris and Gae are the owners/managers of the Tour de Asia bicycle touring company and their wedding is scheduled for the early morning of the 29th. So that leaves us 17 days to do 1,300kms, I hope we can manage that as we would like somewhere safe to store our bike while we are away for a few days. It’s going to be hard riding to get all of that distance done in just 17 days, and I’m not really sure how hilly the 1,300kms ahead of us are going to be as we’ve never ridden this part of Thailand before, but I’m confident we’ll make it.
8 Provinces and 37 Amphoe (best guess on the Amphoe at this stage)
1. Surat Thani (สุราษฎร์ธานี) – 3
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a) Mueang Surat Thani
b) Kanchanadit
c) Don Sak
2. Nakhon Si Thammarat (นครศรีธรรมราช) – 7
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a) Khanom
b) Sichon
c) Tha Sala
d) Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat
e) Phra Phrom
f) Ron Phibun
g) Cha-uat
3. Phatthalung (พัทลุง) – 2
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a) Khuan Khanun
b) Mueang Phatthalung
4. Songkhla (สงขลา) – 10
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a) Ranot
b) Krasae Sin
c) Sathing Phra
d) Singhanakhon
e) Mueang Songkhla
f) Chana
g) Thepha
h) Na Mom
i) Hat Yai
j) Sadao
5. Pattani (ปัตตานี) – 6
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a) Nong Chik
b) Mueang Pattani
c) Yaring
d) Panare
e) Sai Buri
f) Yarang
6. Narathiwat (นราธิวาส) – 4
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a) Bacho
b) Yi-ngo
c) Mueang Narathiwat
d) Rueso
7. Yala (ยะลา) – 2
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a) Raman
b) Mueang Yala
8. Satun (สตูล) – 3
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a) Khuan Kalong
b) Khuan Don
c) Mueang Satun
