It felt really good to be back in the saddle today! The departure from Koh Lipe went absolutely smoothly. Our bikes were carried into a long tail boat, to the pontoon, then onto the ferry where they got the best spot on the boat: right up front. The boat ride was very easygoing with a pancake flat sea, and 2 hours later we "landed" safely on mainland Thailand in Pak Bara. All the bags and bicycles were offloaded again, we changed into cycling clothes (well prepared!), visited the toilet and there we went on our bikes again!
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| All ready to go, waiting on the beach in Koh Lipe for a long tail boat |
Not for long though, because it was about noon, we were already hungry and cycling with a hungry stomach is not a good idea. So we took a quick lunch beside the beach, waited for the rain to subside and were on our way! It was a short ride today, because we only started in the afternoon and it gets dark here just past 6 already. We ended up in a small town with 1 "hotel": the kind of hotel that is open 24 hours and can be rented per hour. Condom included... but all in all, the place is not too bad, it's clean, we even have aircon.
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| Best spot on the boat |
It was a nice ride today. We had a few rain showers, which also meant that it was not so hot at all. A good road, places with 4 lanes and a divider, yet hardly any traffic. The first impressions? Well, this is a very remote corner of Thailand, so they are definitely not representative for Thailand entirely. People are extremely friendly, we had many enthusiastic "hello's" on our way today. In fact, they often seemed very surprised to see foreigners on bicycles, really looking like "where on earth did these strangers come from???". It's all quite slow and peaceful here, and cars drive slowly despite the 4-lane road.
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| Colourful Ellen on wet Thai roads |
Scenery was very different from Malaysia as well. The biggest difference is perhaps, that there are no huge plantations as you have them in Malaysia all the time. A patch of rubber, a patch of palm. Then a field of banana trees, some aquaculture farms, some vegetables (and fields with chilli, of course!), some overgrown lots. Most of the time, there are some buildings around, mostly small housing, some commercial lots as well. So it is much more patched, a lot of variation, all agriculture on a much smaller scale than in Malaysia. Also a bit more messy and less organised (yes, less organised than Malaysia!). Throughout the landscape, beautiful rock formations, limestone rock as we know it from places like Krabi, or around Ipoh, or even Halong Bay. They're impressive heaps of rock with lush vegetation on them, strewn over the landscape. It makes it an interesting environment to cycle, because of the variation. So first ride in Thailand: we like!
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| Good roads, broad shoulder to ride, very light and slow traffic. Nice! |
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| At lunch, waiting for the rain shower to pass |