Had Yai – Nakhon Si Thammerat (Day 6)

Going inland; Rawa to Phraek Muang, 52km.

Followed the beach for a while but then it came down to a sandy beach path along a sea wall. Next option was the wide, straight and boring highway 408. No thanks, time to head inland! Zig-zagged for the rest of the day along farm roads and quiet rural lanes. Just a few rain showers today, clouds, and some sun. Very pleasant cycling. Headed back to the sea for the overnight stop and found a great restaurant for dinner. 🤩

The weather had cleared up overnight, it was partially ckoudy and sunny this morning. Got my bike ready and left fairly early. The first part lead me North along the cost on a small two lane road. I visited a temple by the sea and passed through several sleepy villages. After Tha Bon highway 408 gets very close to the sea, just ‘one lot’ behind, and swallowed up the quiet little road I was on. I continued on a new kind of a beach road, but not for long. This was a sandy trail on top of a seawall structure build over a long distance here to prevent erosion. Lots of trash, broken construction bits and soft sand here, so riding was neither pretty nor fun. Time to head for one of the inland detours I had traced on Google Earth.

Cris-crossing the countryside on farm roads or following small paved country lanes along some minor canals I slowly headed North further inland. It was rather hot now and every bit of shade was welcome. A short shower or two brought some relief, a slight breeze and a few minutes of rain. Coming from a little side road I reached the point where Highway 408 heads North-East, directly towards Nakhon Si Thammerat. Instead of riding the few hundred meters straight to the beach along the highway I opted for another extra loop to include Phrae Muang Public Beach. I simply crossed the highway and continued North for a bit, towards a large canal ahead.

Along the way I crossed a smaller khlong harbouring a good number of fishing vessels. The small side road featured a huge bridge here, obviously to enable the fishing vessels to pass underneath and enter said khlong. The nearby public beach itself was the usual Thai style park with large shade trees plus a few stalls selling food, coffee or iced soft drinks. From there I trundled back towards the main intersection, looking for accommodation.

The first place I had marked on the map had some nice enough looking concrete bungalows but nobody seemed to be around here. I didn’t try hard to find anyone really as I had another spot marked, right at the intersection. This place, Lalabay Resort (ลัลลาบายรีสอร์ท) looked more interesting, with a sort of wooden skeleton pirate ship on the beach. The rooms were quite nice, too, staff was friendly, and the price right. Settled for the night I took a refreshing shower, it was quite hot today after all.

Finally I headed down the beach, to Hua Sai Seafood Restaurant (หัวไทรซีฟู้ด), just a few hundred meters away. Great choice, the usual bamboo salas right on the beach, good food and cold beer. Had squid in a spicy and sour sauce, delicious! At one point there was another short shower. I didn’t move indoors, got a little wet in the small hut, but the whole rain squall was over within a few minutes and it was back to enjoying the cool breeze and listening to the waves crashing onto the beach. Another peaceful evening right on the beach, fantastico!