ToST III - Part 3

Checking out the Great Lake...

We woke up at 05:00am, set out towards Thale Noi's village square.
It was early in the morning and we had our lights mounted, keeping in mind that it was the first day of the Songkran festival.
Not too far into the distance, Sin spotted a few stalls serving breakfast.
We wasted no time by parking our rides there and worked on our very important meal of the day.
The rest had pork porridge (20 baht a bowl) while I worked out a good appetite by having a plate of rice with salted fish curry and pork slices.
It was relief to know that food is available on the first day of the Thai New Year and our confidence level grew as we past by more shops in the area.
We parked our bikes and locked it at the Ranger's office and made our way to the jetty.
The boat ride has been arranged prior to our arrival and we were quite stocked with the prospect of rounding the Thale Noi lake.

Daybreak at the lakeside

Salted fish, pork and rice.. 

Our porridge breakfast..

Awesome is the word.. 

Our boatman prompted us to board his vessel and when we were seated on the longboat, a guy came and snapped some photos. These were framed and sold at 120 baht each. 
I don't have any reservations about it because this helps supplement the local economy.
The boat took us on a one and a-half hour loop around the lake and it was simply amazing to see a whole sea of red lotus in full bloom. 
There were also some interesting migratory birds at the lake and to our surprise, the waterway traffic was pretty heavy, even on Songkran.

Lotuses in full bloom

A fine specimen

Tourists at the boat ride...

So, to sum it up, the boat ride was awesome.
This was a thousand times better than tasik Chini or Bera in Pahang.
We alighted from the boat and made our way back to the village square.
This time round, another breakfast session at a noodle and chicken rice shop next to the Ranger's office.
There, we sat down and chilled out.
Later, back at the resort, we had a few beers and decided to head back to the village to experience Songkran in rural Thailand.

Late breakfast: soup noodles..

A splashing time!

No one is spared.. 

The gang at Thale Noi

The Songkran experience..

I found that rural folks in Thailand are polite and hospitable.
We rode past some water stations and the kids there politely asked if they could bless us with water which we gladly obliged.
Some of the waterguns were added with colouring and most of us were soaked with food dye and the ones that were riding up front were splashed.
The trick was to ride in between reloads! hahahah!
We had lunch at the lakeside and chilled out till mid day before returning back to the resort.
I had an idea about using a shortcut back to our accommodation, but it's Songkran, there's people waiting at every corner to ambush you.. 

Riding out to dinner

A decent makan place in Thale Noi

Later in the day, we assembled and rode out for dinner.
The same place which Roger had booked for two days.. It's a very decent makan place with good food, so, we didn't hesitate at all.
But like anything that is too good, sometimes, Murphy's Law will never cease to amaze me.
We ordered a few dishes and it came out wrong.
A group of Thai customers who were seated next to us had their orders misplaced. 
Lucky for them, we didn't eat up their food.
Even our orders were totally messed up, but that didn't matter because we've had good time, then it was back to the rooms for a couple of beers and a discussion on what lies ahead.
Ranot is our next destination after Thale Noi...

ToST III - Part 1

Touring in Southern Thailand...

We did our first Tour of Southern Thailand from Hat Yai to Patthalung back in August 2013 and continued with the second tour sometime in October the same year.
It took me a few months to plan the third tour, this time, covering a reverse route from Patthalung to Hat Yai.
There was a request to check out the Thale Noi waterfowl sanctuary and we did just that by having a slightly longer stay in this birding paradise.
Then, it dawned on us that the timing fell on the Songkran (Thai New Year) festival.
Roger Teoh, who co-organized the ride had allayed his fear that there will be a possible shutdown on all food and beverage outlets during the festival which is celebrated over a course of a few days all throughout Thailand.

Contingency plans

I suggested to the ToST team members to bring their meal kits.
In addition, I will pack my backpacker's stove and some cooking pots to prepare meals.
The plan was to purchase some supplies in Hat Yai and we kept ourselves updated through our emails.
Initially, there were supposed to be nine people in the group.
Two declined and another had dropped out citing health reasons.
There were suggestions on adding replacements, but I was adamant that the group is already large enough and that we don't need to drag on inexperienced cyclists for this trip.
My colleague Eddie played a key role by securing the KTM Ekspres Langkawi tickets from KL - Hat Yai.
During Songkran, we don't leave anything to chances. So, the tickets were procured way in advance before the trip.
I handed them out to the respective people and gave them the landmark to meet up at the day of departure.

Saying good bye to our pooch

We'll be on the road for a week..

The list

We had Roger Teoh who had toured with us for the third time, Patric Yee, a first-timer, Sin Tai Lim (Happy Happy Cyclist & Blogger) who joined us on his second tour and Andrew Ng who rode with us at the first tour.
At least three of them are experienced and we got along very well.
Roger left a day earlier to scout for accommodation in Thale Noi while Pat took the bus and met up with us in Hat Yai.
We boarded the KTM train which was packed to the brim and headed off Hat Yai. Roger will meet us in Pak Khlong in Patthalung. He managed to book five rooms at the Thale Noi resort where we stayed for two days.

Michelle and our usual seat in coach L7 of the Express Langkawi

The slow and tiring ride to Hat Yai

It takes at least 14 hours to get to Southern Thailand's largest city from Kuala Lumpur. 
We stopped at major train stations along the way.
While waiting to board, I saw an old friend, Tuan Jamal, a national trainer with the Scouting movement. 
We chat a bit and I found out that he was traveling to Nibong Tebal.
He actually took the bunk next to our team members during this trip.
Late in to the night, Jamal melted away and we were prepared to disembark in Padang Besar to get our travel documents stamped by the Thai immigration..

Tuan Jamal at his bunck onboard the coach L8

At Padang Besar, Perlis

Arrival in Hat Yai on the eve of the Songkran festival

Rendezvous with the rest of the team...

We kept in touch via Facebook messenger.
I carried two phones, a primary (HTC One X+) that I use for my official stuff and a secondary (Motorola Moto G) for travel.
We arrived in Hat Yai without a hitch and made arrangements to meet up with Pat who came in on a bus.
After moving the bikes and panniers to a secure spot, I collected 100 baht each from the guys to purchase food rations in case if the shops and eateries are closed.
The guys also requested for a Thai data SIM Card which is sold at the 7-Eleven outlets at 299 baht and upon activation, we get 7 days of data coverage up to 1.5GB.
By the time we got down to the downtown area, the Songkran party was already in full swing. A section of the road was closed for the water festival.

New Year revelers having a go with their water guns during the Songkran fest in Hat Yai

Way I see it, it was more a Malaysian tourist affair in Hat Yai rather than the locals themselves who were really having fun.
The Thai business community took advantage of this to sell waterguns.
After securing the foodstuff and the Thai SIM Cards, we moved back to the station and our guys were already having a small party by themselves there..