» From Kota Bharu to Hat Yai then on to Satun
Armed with 1 year Thai visa we entered Thailand through Sungai Kolok with no trouble at all, we cycled through the scooter lane showed the official our pretty visa stamps and off we went. We arrived at the small Sungai Kolok train station and bought train tickets for us and our bikes to Hat Yai. Our bikes were put on the carriage where the armed guards chilled out when not patrolling up and down the rest of the train carriages along with the ticket guard. It was quite surreal travelling by rickety old train with armed guards walking past you packing M14s, M16s and Heckler & Kochs. We felt safe, I think we were more likely to suffer from numb bottoms from sitting on hard train benches than from ever being victims of terrorism.
When we arrived at Hat Yai we promptly fell into our hotel beds and slept, good job we did sleep well, for yesterday we set off to Satun. We planned a nice easy'ish trip down to Satun, this was a 110km journey and we were only one day into wearing our bottoms into the saddle. By 8pm I was just about ready to fall off my bike, even Richard said that he was 'feeling it in his legs'! It had also started raining from around 2.30pm onwards...non stop rain. This meant wet cyclists, very wet cyclists. Not one part of me was left dry, my trainers, my shorts (they chafe when wet as I discovered) I did have on my water proof jacket but then I get wet from the inside as it is so humid and warm.
Part of our trip is actually visible here.
We eventually arrived in Satun to discover that there is not a plethora of hotel accommodation to choose from, it would be either the 'Pinacle Hotel' where a double room costs 1300THB per night or the Satun Thanee Hotel where a double costs 200THB per night. Yes we stayed at the Satun Thanee, not excactly the Ritz but clean and dry, though the only room left was on the 3rd floor and the hotel has no lift. Once in our room and after doing some laundry we both crashed with our legs up the wall, it helps drain our tired muscles. Now we are up and about again feeling refreshed if not a little sore, planning our next stint of the journey. Richard reckons we can get up to Trang in a day, that is a 113km trip, I however need to convince my muscles of this first.
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