ANDAMAN RIDE - RANONG & KRABI (1800km)

 

 

This ride was done only about 6 weeks after I came back from my Central Asia Stans Solo Ride. As always, even though the former ride really tired me out, once I felt that I had regained my energy, my palms will be sooo itchy to press the throttle again. So, on the 6^th day of Eid Fitri, I made up my mind to have a ‘Balik Kampung’ ride to Thailand. The destinations I’m covering this time would be Ranong and Krabi.

13th August 2013

I made my way up north in the early morning, around 5.45am. I hardly had gone for 15 minutes when the rain started to fall heavily. I kept on riding slowly, and the rain finally stopped when I had reached Gurun. There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

 

I stopped at Changlun to purchase and renewed my anually Thailand insurance which costed me RM80 (a RM10 increase compared to last year). Border crossing at Bukit Kayu Hitam and Dannok was smooth. Not too many bikers could be seen at the border as it was now Eid Fitri (only crazy person like me will feel bored staying at home during Eid doing nothing). By 9.30pm, DREAM was already rolling its wheels on Thailand road. It was a nice feeling as the last time I rode into Thailand was in February. I missed this country sooo much!!!

 

I took the normal route 4 and 41, until I reached Lang Suan. Then I took a left turning via route 4006 to cross to the western part of the Kra Isthmus. Well, actually, there was another left turning that I could take at Chumphon, but I would waste time and fuel by doing this. Besides, I wanna try the 4006 as this was a rural road and in the map, it showed that I will be riding on winding hilly road. The one in Chumphon was a highway, which will be boring. However, by choosing route 4006, I missed the Kra Isthmus sign board. Never mind. Its just a sign board.

The winding single lane hilly 4006 road ride was fun. There were several road construction parts which I had to ride on gravels. How I had missed offroad ride sooo much. The view was quite nice....but I didnt stop for pics as I had seen much more beautiful view before, so I didnt want to waste my time. Once I reached Ratcha Krut, I made a right turning into route 4 which was a single lane highway and there were quite many vehicles on the road. There was a western overlander guy riding behind me and after a while, I lost him when I need to refuel about 10kms before Ranong.

I finally reached Ranong after riding for 900kms in 13hrs (inclusive border crossing and rests). My new personal best record for longest distance covered in a day.

I continued on and searched for a guest house. I found a nice cheap guest house with free wifi, air conditioned, TV, fridge and drinking water, and I could park DREAM right outside my door.

Only B350....only in Thailand lah...

 14^th August 2013

After checking out in the morning, I rode to the Andaman Club pier to catch a boat to the Andaman Club Resort. The fare was B950 and the ride was merely 23minutes. In my opinion, this was expensive. I had to wait a while for the boat to arrive. While waiting, I chatted with the Austrian overlander whom I noticed yesterday on the road, and happened to be waiting for the same boat. Unfortunately he couldnt speak much English, so our conversations were limited.

Once arrived, I had to stamp my passport as this island (Koh So) was already in the Myanmar region.

The Andaman Club Resort, as the name said, had only the resort and its casino to boast about. I had never been in a casino before, so I spend 20 minutes here alone. After that, I had to rush to see the other part of the resort as the time allowed for visitors was 30 minutes only (if I had known this earlier, I wouldnt hv wasted my money to come here). As I didnt hv much time, I had to forgo the idea of visiting Kawthung, another island attraction further west.

 

 

I took the boat back to Ranong and viewed the famous spa which everyone seemed to be talking about, but I didnt enter as I didnt quite feel like soaking myself in it. I crossed to the other side of the road and enjoyed the ‘teh tarik’ colored river, but still beautiful in its own way....LOL...

After that, as I was getting late (already 2.30pm), I had to do a sprint ride to Krabi via route 4. In the beginning, I had thought that its going to be a two lanes highway, but reality was, its a single lane quite narrow road, winding, and I had to climb up and down a deserted mountain road near Khao Phanom National Park. It took me 5 hours to reach, only stopping twice to check on my GPS. Thank god that I managed to arrive Krabi before it gets dark, and I straight away checked in at PK Mansion Hotel. That night was spent checking for tour prices at the travel kiosks along the beach road.

 

Only B490 per night....a good hotel deal in Krabi, 100m from the beach

Tom yam kung for dinner....

15^th August 2013

I woke up early as I had registered for a Hong Island tour this morning. The price was B700 (after nego). The guide took us all to the awaiting boat at the pier. The boat stopped at few spots for snorkeling. I didnt snorkle this time as I forgot to put on my contact lenses, so I just watched the other snorklers  with envy. The last stop was Hong Island. It was said that UNESCO had recognized this island as the 2^nd most beautiful island in the world. I had to agree with this. There was a Bollywood movie shooting done on the beach. I spent more than an hour watching them and in the end, I felt exhausted. Why? Bcos for a mere 10 seconds singing and dancing scene, they took countless takes under the hot sun. Euwwww....acting definitely is not for me. I dont hv that patience.

Bollywood movie shooting, starring Karan Nath & Natalya



With the actor, Karan Nath

 

After the island tour, I got back to my hotel and rest. The night was spent window shopping and eating my heart out...HAHAHA....


I cant finish, so had to tapau lah...

16^th August 2013

After checking out, I made my way to Emerald Pond @ Pool. Not many people knew about this place. I need to walk about 1km from the entrance to reach the pond. It was indeed a beautiful pond. The waters were as green as the emerald.

After that, I sprint ride to Hadyai. Instead of taking route 4 all the way, for a change, after bypassing Trang, I took the secondary road of 404, 416 and 406.The ride, especially at 406 was fun as there were some ascending & descending winding road. However, there were some constructions going on, and quite a number of vehicles to overtake which slowed me down. I finally arrived Hadyai around 4pm. The night was spent on massage and eat, eat, eat :)

17^th August 2013

After checking out, I sprint ride again all the way as I had to attend my friend’s reception for her son’s wedding. It had been sprinting in, and sprinting out ride for me...and thank god, I arrived home safely...