Had Yai – Trang, Day 9

Had Yai – Trang, Day 9 (24km)

Relax day. Two trips took me across the island. The Western part is hilly, with a few steep climbs on the costal road near the viewpoint. This part is mostly covered by forest and used for rubber plantations. It’s here were the few beaches and most of the resorts on the island are found, too. Beaches are grey sand and quite shallow, but being close to the mainland and the river estuary there the water isn’t as clear as on islands further out in the sea.

The Eastern part is flat and very rural, with lots of chickens, goats, cows and buffaloes. The villages here are even more laid back than Ban Ko Kaeo at the main pier, which is not really a busy and bustling place either.

There’s very little traffic on the narrow roads, just a few tricycles and motorcycles. Perfect for cycling, and the island is large enough for roaming around for a day. For sunset I was back at Dugong Ko Sukhorn beach bar, the clouds reflecting the colours of the setting sun, first in a golden yellow, then in a burnig red. What a glorious spectacle of nature to watch!

Lights are absolutely necessary to get back at night as there is no such thing as street lighting on the island. Better to go slow, too, as all of a sudden a cow might appear in your light beam, standing smack in the middle of the road, as it happened to me.

Apart from the beach resorts there are several homestays available, mainly in Ban Ko Kaeo, plus a few houses for rent as well. There are no ATM’s on the island and no computer shops, but some resorts and restaurants offer free wifi.

As my Western Digital My Passport Pro hard drive didn’t work as advertised I certainly would have used the services of a computer shop, but alas this would have to wait until I reached the next bigger town. The WIFI functions of the drive worked perfectly fine, but the USB OTG did not. It would not recognize my card reader (nor the camera) and with my memory card almost full finding a computer shop was the priority for the next leg of this trip.