» Koh Lanta to Songkhla
Day 1
We managed to spend our last few days in Koh Lanta with our friend Annie at her 'Banana Garden Home'. We also ended up meeting our friends Richie and Svenja who we worked with in Dahab. They had been travelling around N.Z and Australia and now Asia so we told them that they just had to drop in when we found out that they were staying in Phuket.
So it was a nice farewell to Lanta when we boarded the ferry to Trang. We arrived in the most scenic ferry port of Hat Yao and started our journey into Trang town centre which was an easy 44km. What was really good and which we have been waiting a long time to have happen is that it rained on us. Now for an English girl to say that it felt good to be rained on is saying something about how hot it is to be riding out here in Thailand. The thunder and lightning storm raged on into the evening in Trang.
So our first night in Trang was peaceful and we slept well...that is until at 2.30am I bolted up right from my sleep to wake Richard up and tell him that our stash of money that we had saved to take us on our trip down to Malaysia was with Annie in our Monofin bag that she is waiting to post to us in Koh Lanta!
The next day I was on the first minibus to Koh Lanta to retrieve the money while Richard spent the day in Trang. After lunch with Annie again and another farewell I was going back to Trang. No cycling today!
Day 3
We left Trang and headed East over some very steep hills to Phattalung. It is only a 59km trip but the hills were relentless, steep and long and it was hot work. We arrived in good time and found ourselves a rather unique hotel to stay for our first night. The room I was shown seemed clean enough and I went over to inspect the bathroom when I wondered what the noise and smell was. I looked out the window and saw lots and lots of bats hanging around on the wall outside! It appears that this wall is where the local bats hang out. So I asked for a different room but still you were able to hear them and it was slightly cool to be sharing the hotel with Phattalungs' bat posse.
Day 5
Today we embarked on a very long trip from Phattalung to Songkhla. We estimated that this was our longest stint yet and that we covered approx. 100km. It was very scenic and we took a route that kept us off the main roads and next to the lake. We managed to drink and eat often with many Thai asking us 'where are you going?', 'where you come from?' and always smiling and children laughing at the funny 'farang' on their 'chakayan' (bicycles).
And so today both Richard and I are sitting rather awkwardly on chairs nursing our sore bottoms and stiff muscles and planning our next leg of the journey down towards Malaysia.
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