Had Yai – Nakhon Si Thammerat (Day 8)

Fang Tanawok-Ban Nang Phraya, 43km.

To Nakhon Si Thammerat, but not quite.

Towards Nakhon Si Thammerat. Wonderful ride today. First a short stop in Pak Phanang, an interesting little town with a local market down at the river. Crossed the river on a ferry, had coffee there while waiting until a thunderstorm past by. From then on it was plantation country, endless gravel roads, beautiful scenery, lots of birds, cows, and a few annoying dogs. Arrived at a pretty resort along a river, a few kilometers outside of town, and called it a day. Great place to relax after a fun day in the saddle. 😍

I had toyed with the idea to do a day trip to Cape Talumphuk, perhaps 40-50 clicks return. There supposedly were a few restaurants out there, and I’m sure I would have liked the stormy, lonely, windy beach out there. On the other hand it was questionable if any of the restaurants would be open, plus it would be a rather boring ride as there’s just one road in and out. That’s probably no biggie for the touring guys, going at 20km/h average even loaded down like a freight truck. Me? Little shade, trundling at 14km/h, boring all straight road, desperately looking for a reason to stop after 15 minutes? Not so much. Therefore I decided to keep this day trip for another tour and throw in a stop on the way to Nakhon Si Thammerat instead.

Woke up to another beautiful, sunny morning. I got the bike ready and checked out, but not before chatting a while with the friendly care taker and taking a few selfies together. The road to Pak Phanang was another quiet country lane, parallel to the one I had used yesterday to get to the sea and avoiding the main roads. It followed a creek called Phraek Sai and yes, first I had to detour South to get there. Absolutely worthwhile, beautiful, quiet morning ride.

In town I picked another detour, passing the fairly large stadium there and then following another canal to the Pak Phanang River. Along the river I finally headed towards the town center with its busy and interesting market. Indeed there was a ferry crossing here as I had spotted it on Google Earth. I hopped over to the other side, just in time before a massive downpour began. Time for some coffee and a bowl of noodles at the ferry pier.

About an hour later I was back on the road. It was light rain a drizzle until mid afternoon from now on. However, I tremendously enjoyed this rather wet ride as I got on farm once again. Gravel and dirt, one lane, single lane, pure nature. A few dogs chasing me when passing isolated farms, some quite mean ones among them. I observed birds hunting over a pond. Some kind of swallow perhaps, darting in and out low over the pond snapping up insects.

Later in the afternoon the sun broke through the clouds again and I continued my through this peaceful, green countryside. The occasional farm workers I encountered were all smiles and I nodded back when passing by. I stopped several times, took photographs or just relaxed a bit, taking in the surroundings.

I could have easily gone all the way into Nakhon Si Thammerat today, but decided to check out a resort along a Khlong I had found on Google Maps. The place was open, and the room I got was actually an old shipping container, complete with bathroom, rooftop terrace, and right along the river. A small swimming pool plus a coffee shop and restaurant next to the river completed this little resort. Perfect stay for the night, and soon happy me was sitting in another bamboo sala, waiting for the food and drinks I had ordered. What a great day it was!