The cycling journey from Krabi to Phang Nga was tough. It was my first day of cycling after a no-cycling-month due to haze in KL (thanks, Sumatra!). It was also the first time for me to cycle for almost 100 kilometres in one day. Of course, the non-stop rain made it look like an impossible journey. I didn’t know how I managed to do it, though. I focused all my attention on getting into Phang Nga. As soon as we reached Ao Leuk – after 59 kilometres of cycling, Foogie asked me if I would want to stop and call it a day. I refused and decided to keep on pedalling. There’s nothing much to do in this small town, I kept on thinking. I have to reach Phang Nga no matter what! After passing through the lonely, ugly, and damaged road, we managed to get into the town safely. We made the impossible journey possible!! It was unbelievable! As a person who never pushed herself to the limit (in terms of physical activities), I rejoiced. This was one of my biggest achievements! Yep, I deserved a pat on the back 🙂
Cycling for such a long time had some consequences, though. I became very tired – I had no motivation to cycle any further when I reached Phang Nga province. My butt felt so sore and it hurt very bad. Looking at my condition, I did not think I would be fit to cycle the next day. That was why we decided to change our plan and stay in this tiny town for two nights. But being me, of course, I could not stand doing nothing. I had to do something. Lo and behold, we picked the bike the next day and decided to cycle to a nearby town to check out the Phang Nga Bay. The Bay was around 10 km from the town itself. Some people who want to avoid touristy Phuket or Koh Phi Phi would rather come here to tour around the bay. As for me, I was hoping that we could do something exciting at the bay. A good view to enjoy, perhaps? Or a boat ride to explore around? Chillin’ by the beach, if there was any? Well, unfortunately, there was nothing to do at the Phang Nga Bay. The wave and wind were so strong. No tourists could be seen. No beautiful view. It kept on raining and raining. Some locals asked us about a boat, but I wondered… how in the world can you go on that boat with such violent wave?!
It did not take us more than few minutes before we decided to go back to Phang Nga town. I could not bother to take any pictures at all. I was disappointed and I felt like it was a complete waste of time to cycle 20 kilometres to and from the town. What made it worst was the non-stop rain. The sky was gloomy and the activities we wanted to do were rather limited – and mostly indoors. In the end, we decided to do just that – stay indoors and do nothing. I did not expect that monsoon season in Thailand could be THIS bad! This was the third rainy day and there was no sign of stopping at all. I would reconsider visiting Southern Thailand during monsoon season next time!
Foods in Phang Nga
The foods at Phang Nga was not bad at all. In such a small town, we could find some halal foods (albeit limited) being sold at night along the main Phetkasem Road. We found a stall selling delicious roti with condensed milk (aka Thai pancake) nearby a mosque (next to a burger stall). I viewed the roti with scepticism as the lady put an insane amount of sugar and sweet condensed milk. But when I tasted it, OH MY GOD! It melted in my mouth! So delicious and crunchy! By far, this was one of my favourite snacks in Thailand! We tried to find the same stall on our second day but we could not find it. So we ended up eating roti from another stall (which looked nicer) on the opposite road, but it was not as good and crunchy as the other stall.
In the morning, we went to the local wet market, Thetsaban Mueang Phang Nga Market, and found 3 different halal food stalls there. We ate a Malay equivalent of mixed rice/nasi campur with different types of side dish to choose from. It was yummy that we decided to have breakfast here again on our last day. I have to say, Thai foods at local markets never disappointed me!
After three days of rest, it was time to cycle again. Our journey continued as we cycled across the Western part of South Thailand…
