Off we set out of the national park having packed up the sopping wet tent and our damp stuff, hoping to find somewhere the next night to try it all. Luckily we found another 'shag station' hotel to stay in with the drive way and the curtain - identitical to the one outside Bangkok. This was brilliant for us as we put the tent up in the drive and rigged up a big line to dry out sleeping bags and various other things.
A town called Satun in the very southern part of the West coast of Thailand was essentially where we were aiming for. It took us five straight days of cycling to get there from Khao Sok. All throughout Thailand, James and I got into a routine of getting up a 05.30am to be out on the road by 7/7.30am. We would have cracked out the majority of the miles by lunch time which would normally be between midday and 1. During these five cycling days, I really felt the early mornings and the long days on the saddle. Every night I crashed to my pillow and didn't wake up until the horrible alarm went off at this God-awful hour of 5.30am. I don't think I've ever gotten up so early in my life and now here I was doing it every morning, as well as cycling 100km during the day.
There isn't really much to report on these five days. It was just heads down and let's get to Malaysia where we knew beaches were waiting for us to rest on! From Satun we cycled down to the ferry port, had our passports stamped out of Thailand and off we sailed through No-Mans-Sea until we reached the Malay island of Langkawi where we were casually stamped in. We then had to cycle across the island for about 15 miles to the best beaches; Cenang.
I didn't warm to Thailand like I did Cambodia. Although we had wonderful encounters with Thai people in the north around Bangkok, it seemed that southerners kept themselves to themselves. Thai people are obsessed with their cars, blinging them up to the max, so they probably couldn't relate to a pair of white cyclists and in some ways, couldn't really care. No one ever walks anywhere here and we rarely saw anyone on a bicycle. I guess they have the opinion of 'why would you want to when you can easily jump in your 4x4?', especially as petrol is so cheap. They also seem obsessed with their mobile phones, many having 2 and they had their noses stuck to their screens most of the time. Therefore it seemed that many Thais have been completely consumed in the latest technology and have forgotton how to communicate without any form of electronic device!
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