Had Yai – Nakhon Si Thammerat (Day 3)

Songkhla-Had Maharat, 54km.

It was raining cats and dogs in the morning so couldn’t leave until 11:00. From there on it was light rain or a drizzle all the way, pleasant cool ride. Mostly small concrete country roads today and then later on following the coast. Quiet, wet, no traffic. Finally it stopped raining just before I arrived at a small local resort, a quick shower, and off to one of the small beach restaurants for dinner. Just perfect. Windy, and cool, right on the beach, what a magnificent way to end the day.

The rain hammering against the windows woke me up early in the morning. It was still dark outside, so no reason to worry. It sure would stop soon, as those heavy showers and thunderstorms in the tropics usually do. I slept again, then woke up past six o’clock in the morning. It was still raining, and quite heavily. I slowly got busy, checking my mail and messages, downloading and backing up my photos, taking a shower, packing the bags, and getting the bike ready. Yes, it was still raining. Time to check the weather charts at the website of the Thai Meteorological Institute. Yup, there it was, a nice, big low pressure just North-East of the coast of Songkhla. So this could take longer, and it would likely last for a while.

By ten o’clock it was still gloomy and dark, but the rain had slowed down to a point where riding would be all right. I finally left, glad that I had a fairly short distance to cover today. First it was down to the car ferry and across the strait. The rain was down to a drizzle now and the short ferry trip offered some good views of the Yabal Niah Mosque and the fishing community there. Despite being late I decided to detour around the headland South of the pier. This was a good decision, great ride there through the small villages along the coast, next to no traffic, a very narrow road at times.

After crossing highway 408 I headed North-East first and cruised through the now more rural hinterland. Soon it was mostly fruit plantations and grassland, with small villages in between.

Crossing the highway once more at Ching Kho I headed for the seaside. The rain got stronger again and to top it off I had a puncture just before I got to the sea. A seawall with plenty of small concrete salas protected the low lying inland from the sea here. There’s wasn’t much going on here, everything seemed to be closed, be it because of COVID or the bad weather. I repaired my puncture in one of the salas, got another one just a few hundred meters down the road and settled in another sala for more repair work.

From here on I followed the beach whenever possible. I had to stop a few times when the rain got too heavy – one of the disadvantages wearing glasses, couldn’t see a thing with all the rain drops on the lenses. Nope, taking off the glasses wouldn’t be good idea, that would be like flying blind. At Muang Ngam Beach I had a late lunch. One of the several small restaurants there had quite a few cars parked outside and looked rather busy. Rightfully so, their food was excellent. I had two plates, one being Som Tam with crunchy little dried fish – one of the best papaya salads I had in a long time!

Just a few kilometers left to Maharat beach after this food stop, following the sea. At fissrt I checked out Sunshine Homestay, a pleasant little place, but their two standard rooms were full. They had a large house for rent as well, complete with kitchen, veranda and several bedrooms, but they wouldn’t rent out just one room there. The friendly staff pointed me towards another homestay, just a few hundred meters down the road, with just a simple sign along the road, all in Thai. Their bungalows were quite all right, the friendly owners a bit surprised to have a foreign visitor, but conversation worked out fine, using basic Thai language skills.

After a clean-up I cycled a bit further North, for a dinner along the beach. There were several restaurants here, the usual small shops with a few bamboo tables right on the beach. I checked out several but decided to go back to the first one, most cars parked there. As it wasn’t raining for the time being I picked one of the beach tables. Yam Pla Muek was my main course, delicious! The squid was cooked to perfection, soft but with just a bit of a bite, without being rubbery. Later on another rain cloud approached the beach, but it move in slowly and slightly further up North, so my dinner on the beach remained dry. The first drops fell after dark, when I rode back to the resort. A wet day, a few punctures, but overall this quiet yet wild mood made up for it and I really enjoyed this day.