Day #14 (3/7/2020)
Distance travelled: 198.6 km
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Camping at Laem Pho, Pattani
The air was cool in the tent, making it very comfortable. However, the peace was disturbed by the goats bleating for most of the night. We woke up early to find our rubbish bag scattered all over the ground and the plastic takeaway containers licked clean… cheeky animals! With a cold cup of coffee in hand, we watched a large group of fishermen pack up and leave. A herd of noisy goats kept walking around us. There was one black goat, tied to a cart, who didn’t sound very happy.
We packed everything away, collected our rubbish. and made our way towards the other side of the peninsula. As we passed the mosque, a deceased goat lay in one of the external toilet cubicles. I wondered if he was the one making most of the noise overnight. We followed a path through a casuarina forest, then stepped out onto a golden sandy beach. The sea in front of us was so calm, clear, and inviting that Dimi wasted no time entering the water. Why didn’t I wear my cozzie!? I sat at the shore’s edge, enjoying the peace and quiet (no goats) filming and taking pictures of Dimi climbing and jumping from a lighthouse tower. A group of young locals soon joined me on the beach and set about burying their friend in the sand.
Driving back through the many villages, I noticed numerous locals carrying small bird cages with red-whiskered (crested) bulbuls inside. When we were stationed in Chiang Rai, during the peak of COVID-19, we witnessed two bulbuls building a nest, and we were fortunate enough to see the eggs hatch in a small tree just outside our room. Moving further along the road, we spotted a large macaque travelling on a cart, behind the driver’s back. Dimi wondered if the driver knew the monkey was hitching a ride.
In Hat Yai City
At around midday, we stopped for a quick coffee and cake, and then headed towards Hat Yai. Here commenced our journey travelling back up north to Hua Hin, and we would have long distances to cover every day. As we drove along the motorway, it started to rain like mad, and a loud BANG resounded suddenly, as though lightning had just struck something right by us! We hit major traffic (for the first time during our trip, so not bad at all) just outside of Hat Yai because of a car crash. One of the downfalls of being in a car is not being able to weave in and out through the traffic, like on a good old scooter.
Now the plan was to quickly enter a mall in the city centre, grab a card for Dimi’s laptop, and head for some much-needed food (it was waaaay past lunchtime by this point!). Before entering the mall’s multi-storey car park, every driver was given a plastic card, and each car boot was searched by a security guard. We passed the inspection and proceeded. Because we only had one mask, Dimi entered the mall alone while I waited in the car playing solitaire. About twenty minutes later, Dimi returned with a big smile on his face, as the shop guy ended up giving him the card for free… how kind.
Dimi’s turn to drive now, and again we hit traffic as soon as we came out of the car park, heading out of the city centre. Some of the lights, on major crossroads, were on green for barely half a minute at a time!
Ko Yo Island in Songkhla Lake & Singhanakorn Beach
A small island, Ko Yo, on Songkhla Lake was our next stop, which we reached in about thirty minutes. We found a nice, busy fish restaurant with lovely views of the lake and ordered lunch… the time was 5pm! We left the island in the dark and headed to Singhanakorn Beach to set up camp.
A pack of dogs lay sprawled across the road as we approached the area. We found an opening in the fence and drove onto the beach, crunching litter under the tyres. A few fishermen occupied a small wooden hut on the beach but paid us little attention. So we busied ourselves with making this place our home for the night.
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