Had Yai – Trang, Day 6

Had Yai – Trang, Day 6 (55km)

First thing this morning was heading up to the pier at Ban Bu Boi, looking for a boat ride across to Ban Tanyong. The first two fishermen I spoke to were heading that way, their boat ready to go. Ten minutes later I was across, courtesy of these friendly folks – they didn’t accept any payment.

I rode around the headland there, a beautiful little road, up and down, around a hilltop, with a few viewpoints. From there on I followed the coast, easy riding with lots of shade as it was rather cloudy today. The thunderstorms were building up much earlier than during the previous days.

As I had plenty of time detoured quite a bit, going into dead ends, and skipping another potential river crossing by boat. No more shortcuts, as I wanted to get back inland and see the more mountainous area there today and tomorrow. It was peaceful riding, the detours well worth it, coupled with a first refreshing thundershower.

Once I got past the mangrove swamps leading inland I realized my planned route lead up a steep hill on a little dirt road. As I had lots if time I decided to go for it and pushed my bike up – and then down the steep single track on the other side. A plantation road leading down a beautiful, quiet valley was the reward.

One more hilltop to climb and another long ride through spread out plantations, with nobody in sight. Traffic count for an hour of riding resulted in the grand total of two motorcycle for the hour. Back on the main road I had an ice coffee at a super friendly coffee shop, before heading along route 416 into Thung Wa, a small town about 3km away.

A second shower made me stop in town, right at the busy market. Everyone was scurrying to cover their market stalls and seek shelter until a short while later the downpour abated. From there on I had just a few kilometres to cover until I reached Thungwa resort, one of the typical local highway motels. The place had moved to a new location a few kilometers outside of town, not bad at all as this would take a few clicks off tomorrow’s somewhat longer ride, with quite a bit of distance along route 416 to cover.

Thungwa itself was quite pleasant, with the market rather busy in the late afternoon, and there were at least two more options to stay overnight, the Captain resort and Beloved Homestay Thungwa. This was maybe not the most exciting day, but there were some truly beautiful spots along the way and it was just so peaceful and easy going – all in all another great day in the saddle! ☺️