Day 6: Patong Beach to stealth camp under Phuket Airport (36 km / 22 mi)
[ Sally typing ]
We inadvertantly wound up staying in Patong Beach rather than making further progress North. Last night, the sun set quickly and we found ourselves trolling the strip looking for a place to stay.
The strip in Patong is a bit overwhelming at night, all neon and announcements blasting in Thai. Roving pickup trucks with tall stages hoisted up on their beds trumpet Muy Thai boxing matches by having a couple young fighters duking it out with loud thuds and slaps, right there on top of the moving truck! Drunken farangs running across the street dodging non-stop scooter traffic. Folks aren’t used to seeing bikes, and during the day they generally seemed tickled to see us, but at night drivers are simply not visually tuned in to us and it’s a bit scary at times.
We went from one end of the strip to the other without finding our destination, so we pulled over for a map check. A friendly local saw us and told us that we could follow behind his moped for a couple blocks to his friend’s guesthouse and so we did. The guesthouse did the trick — there was a bed, and a sink and toilet, even A/C! But aesthetically it had the feel of a prison compound, all cinderblocks with security guards pacing about.
We woke up early, fairly rested, and hit the pavement, rubber side down (of course). We knew that heading out of Patong we had a sizeable climb and strategized accordingly. The day before, we had done a major climb during the hottest part of the day and we didn’t want to recreate that mistake. So we had breakfast with fresh juice, and got rolling up the hill while it was still cool — mind you, when I say ‘cool’ it was probably still 90 degrees with high humidity.
We climbed and climbed, and took many water breaks, and climbed. Based on the reactions of the locals, no one had ever ridden these hills on a bicycle before. We got thumbs up, cheers, laughter, smiles, and all sorts of amazed encouragement which really helped us up that hill!
As always, a nice descent followed on the backside of the climb and we caught our breath before a bit more easy, rolling climbing. At this point we were officially out of the tourist area and in real Thailand. From there, we had a hot day but nice country roads.
Some dark clouds developed quickly just west of us and were moving in on us fast. We happened to be rolling through a cute little town and spotted an internet cafe. We secured our bikes under an awning, took off our shoes, greeted the owners and did a little internetting just in time for a major downpour! We dodged getting wet this time, we’ll see if our luck continues.
The storm passed quickly and we were soon on our way again. Some more country roads — it’s really pretty out here! All of the plants are thick and lush, just loving the moisture and sunshine — green and happy. We were off the major highway at this point and taking a nice break from traffic, able to just look around and take in the beauty.
Towards the end of the day, we stopped at a roadside food cart and had our usual dish of soupy noodles or some similar such delicious thing. I know I’ve talked about how good the food is already, but it also hits the friggin’ spot after a long day of riding. After filling up our tanks, we stopped in a little bodega for snacks and drinks and then pedalled into a nearby National Park (can’t remember the name at the moment, but it’s right next to the Phuket Airport on the beach on the west side of Phuket).
Here, we picked a nice spot, waited for the sun to set, and then pitched our tent on the beach…stealth camping!
2 years ago