15 JUNE 2012 DAY 21: HUA HIN - HADYAI (750kms)

We have targeted to reach Danok from Hua Hin for Day 21’s ride. Hadi gave me a task, which is to navigate the way to Hua Hin Floating Market - the biggest floating market in South East Asia. I have asked the locals last night and they told me that it was about 10-15kms from Hua Hin. We went there and it was actually not that far. However, not many shops open at such an early hour.

We continued our ride via route 4. I was quite moody after an incident (which I wouldn’t write here), so I rode as fast as I could. It was a long journey to arrive Danok. The wind was quite strong. However, it was a smooth ride as not many vehicles were on the road. The road condition? It may not be as nice as Malaysian highway, but after riding in Laos and Cambodia, to me, the road condition is ok-lah. When we stopped at a petrol station after Chumphon, I asked Hadi:

Me: If its not too much to ask, is it okey if I ride faster today according to my own pace?

Hadi: Why?

Me: Don’t get me wrong. I just want to arrive Danok before it gets dark.

Hadi: Are you confident to ride solo?

Me: We have passed this route on our way up previously, and I think I can navigate my way. My biggest concern is to arrive before dark. I don’t want to ride at night as my eye sight is bad.

Hadi: Do you think that is all that matters? How if something happen to you or your bike on the way? How if you get a flat tyre? How if your bike break down? Don’t you think about it? Who is going to help you? We are still far to reach our destination.

Me: Gulppp….

So, the conclusion is we will ride together. However, as Hadi always mentioned, when we were on the go (musafir), Allah always give us ‘cash’. Whatever that we said, that is what’s going to happen. I have seen it happen so many times during the past three weeks. Today, it happened again not long after our conversation above. After Hadi stopped by to fuel up his tank by the road side, and he asked me to go first, I came to an intersection, saying Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat to the left, and Thung Son to the right. I took the left road as in my mind, the next big town after Surat is Nakhon Si Thammarat. I knew from the beginning that we actually will only bypass these towns, but at that moment, I don’t know why I suddenly forget about that. It seemed that god had shut down my memory for a while. I took the wrong way for about 2kms, and when my instinct told me that this is not the route, I turned back. The sign post confused me and at that time, I was very grateful that earlier, Hadi had taught me how to determine direction by looking at the sun. So, after checking the position of the sun, I took the south way, and after a while, I found a sign post confirming that I am on the correct route again.

The confusion and the turning back took less than 15minutes, and I was ahead of Hadi when it happened. However, when I fuel up at a petrol station after the intersection, I was told by the staff that Hadi also fuel up at the same place about 20 minutes ago. I rode full throttle all the way to catch up with Hadi again, but I only manage to locate him hours later. I lost him again very soon as he didn’t noticed that I was waiting at the next petrol station to fuel up (as he was overtaking some lorries). In the end, I was riding alone almost all the way from Hua Hin (suiting what I have said earlier during our conversation). I was very exhausted as I only fuel up twice, and I didn’t take any rest or toilet stop at all after I lost Hadi. I must rush before it gets dark. Even though I tried as much as I can, I still have to ride when night already falls. When I stopped at a traffic light about 30kms from Hadyai, Hadi suddenly appeared by my side. I was so relieved. I knew I must have made him worried and I am sorry for that. The ride into Hadyai town was not very difficult as the locals can speak English, and since I have been to this town a few times before. Total ride today is approximately 750kms, about 11 hours.