Had Yai – Nakhon Si Thammerat (Day 1)

Day 1: Hat Yai to Na Thap Beach, 58km.

Arrived with the night train in Hat Yai at 09:30. On the way out of town I stopped at Hat Yai Mountain Bike Shop along Sripadungvithi Road, the main road just a few hundred meters South of the railway station. I bought a small top tube bag for my tools and some spare parts. Friendly owner, good little shop.

Within a few kilometers I was out of town. It was mostly plantation roads and trails from now on. I zig-zagged East first, quite a few rubber tree plantations there. Then I followed the railway line to Sunkhai Golok for quite a bit. This trail South of the railway line ends on Google Maps, but on the satellite images the trail continues for a while until it disappears in the plantations. As the distance wasn’t too far until it reemerged on the other side of the plantations I thought there might be a connection.

At the end it was down to a single trail slightly above the railway line, with good views on the trains – if one passes by that is. I got closer to a stream and the trail turned towards the hillside here, winding deeper into the plantation. Add one point it turned abruptly East once more and there was a steep turn down the ravine to the stream. This part had some concrete poured on the single trail, a sign that it is regularly used by the plantation workers. An easy crossing of the jungle stream here, some great trees along the ravine. On the other other side I rode back towards the railway line, slightly downhill, until I picked up the forest trail once more, heading further East near the railway line.

Next was a small underpass, turn right afterwards and easy sailing back onto agricultural roads marked on Google Maps. Had lunch at Luk Mae’s Noodle Shop in Khlong Pia, a larger village just at a railway crossing. Their soup was delicious, I had two bowls, plus plenty of water.

Fantastic ride so far, but very, very hot now as I had left the forested area. Getting closer to the seaside I was back on paved roads, but very little traffic. Beautiful rural scenery, very green, and lots of birds. Got to the coast and headed up North.

The first cluster of resorts I checked turned out to be some sort of local karaoke/party spot along the beach in Taling Chan. All rooms were full and the beach wasn’t too nice there so I moved on. There was another pleasant looking resort soon thereafter a bit off the beach. It was the Taling Chan Homestay, but nobody around, nobody answered the phone, so on I went. I started running out on options, had just one more spot ahead, at Na Thap Beach a few more kilometers to the North. I passed a park along the beach, with huge trees and some salas. I thought about sleeping there if I couldn’t find anything else, a bench in one of those beach huts would do for a night.

However, the last spot I had marked on the map turned out to be perfect. This was the Na Thap Camping and Resort, right by the beach of the same name. Nice rooms, albeit on the pricey side, and an actually quite pretty beach side restaurant. A quick shower, down to the beach, food, a cold beer, sunset, and a happy rider!