Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Day 2 - South Thailand Tour 2016 Songkhla - Ranot

Good morning Songkhla and good morning TJ Motel, the same place we stayed during our previous bicycle tour. We were ready to go after a good rest and for a long haul.
We decided to see a bit of Songkhla before we leave the town and here we were at the Chinatown together with the coolies of the olden time depicting the livelihood of the Chinese at that era.
Those days there were no provision of five footway in the design and later with the influence of the European footway in front of the shops were introduced.
A typical design of a newer shop with verandah.
 As it was still early in the morning, there were not many shops opened for breakfast, we found this Hakka lady born and grown up in this very shop for their clear soup noodle.  
 I like it very much it was simply delicious and something I don't see and taste it in Malaysia.
At the end of Nong Chik Alley is Nang Ngam Street where there were temples under restoration works, I could see that there is effort to beautify this Chinatown maintaining its original look and that is such a wonderful thing to do.
We then headed to Samila Beach as a typical tourist, captured a couple of shots and posing here and there.
The must visit mermaid statue at Samila Beach.
The ever popular coconut ice cream found on mobile vendors, it was yummy and a well deserved dessert after paying the serpent a visit.
A short ferry ride across the opening of Songkhla Lake which is a less than 10 minutes ride and it is free for bicycle.
The heat was too intense, it was like cycling on a hot frying pan I had to put on a long sleeve shirt and a wet towel over my head which I hardly do such thing. The towel had to be wet several times as we pedalled on.
We stooped at Sathing Phra for lunch and a good rest at the beautiful seaside, a place where you get to see the huge wind turbines. GPS : 07.46101, 100.44989
The food was delicious, I enjoyed it very much with the Chang beer and pricing is very reasonable. Of course not forgetting the marvellous sea breeze as I enjoyed the food and drink, I just don't feel like continuing my ride.
Papaya salad Som Thum is popular and most people love it be it the locals or visitors.
More rest and drinking plenty of water is pertinent on a super hot day especially on a long pedalling journey.
We tried to checked in the motel which we stayed the last time in Ranot but it was fully taken up. Fortunately the helpful locals showed us two other options, we decided on this one which was next to the beach, Ranot Beach Motel GPS : 07.78473, 100.36732
The average room rate of such standard is around 400baht - 500baht in most areas in Thailand. This is one of my daily chores as a light tourer on two small wheels.
Despite the hot weather we kept on riding on for a distance of 91km from Songkhla to Ranot.
A clip of Day 2's ride.

No comments: