We did not do much cycling today. We stayed again in one of those expensive bloody Starbucks to update our blog. We only left the place towards Patong beach late this afternoon. This is one of our shortest trip, 12km haha :-) This one is called Karon beach and it’s not as “cute” as the Krabi’s beaches. Anyway, let’s cover those few kilometres and see how looks one of the most famous touristy destination in Thailand.
Map.
We started cycling just before sunset. Fortunately, Patong beach is not far.
Along Karon beach, on the opposite side of the road, there is several shops and places where to eat.
Sunset!
Hehe :-) I forgot to take pictures of my setup these days. Yes! I’m still cycling around ;-)
The distance we have to cover today is short but still hilly! At least, we have a nice view on the sunset.
Stephane in action ;-)
Ouuuh, this is the end!
Few more kilometres and we will get to Patong.
I did not take anymore picture after that. The traffic in Patong is quite dense. We felt totally safe except that it’s a pain in the a** when we try to turn somewhere. First, we looked for a temple so we would be able to leave our bicycles and walk around the place.
We crossed all the city centre to reach the biggest temple. Luckily, we got there just after the pryer. We met a first monk, asked if we could pitch a tent somewhere. The monk pointed his finger to someone else, another older monk, the master? We waited a minute for him to come. When we asked the same thing, the old monk turned back, shook his head and his hand negatively saying “no, no, no, no”. Ok, that’s clear enough, we won’t sleep here tonight. This place being the most famous in Phuket, hotel must be expensive. We must find another spot.
On the way to here, I’ve seen another temple on the map but we did not find it. As we were cycling back towards the beach, we reached the top end of that famous street where pubs, cowgirls and other sexy shows are happening every night. Before that, the first thing we saw was a policeman. As soon as he saw me entering in the street (the temple is somewhere at the end of this street, apparently…) the policeman stopped us. Firstly he asked what do we have in our bags. Then where are we going. Where are we sleeping. That’s the question! We don’t know yet :-) Few other guys came around, starring at us with a big smile. I said to the policeman that we were looking for a temple. Straight away, he explained that the temple is next to a stadium, close to the beach. Cool, so there is one :-)
He asked to take a picture with us and we were free to go. Police in Thailand is as nice as Indonesia and Malaysia: simply human :-)
That was maybe a mistake to get through this huge street with our bicycles. There is hundreds of people walking in both directions, loud music, lazers and other led signs blinking from every direction. That’s a change compared to the country side haha.
Suddenly, one of the girls who certainly work for a bar came to us. When she saw my trailer she jumped on it and said “go, Go!”. We “traveled” together during few metres :-) Cycling by myselft through this crowd is already tricky but with someone seated behind… Well, we did not go really far haha. The girl thanked me for that short trip, gave us an “high five” and came back to work. Ok :-) Is Patong like this everywhere?
Few minutes later, we reached the other end of the street and followed the indications that the policeman gave me. We made a wrong turned, stopped to check the map. Actually I did not have the time to do this. Anither guy came to us, asked first if we wanted a drink. “Not now sorry, we are looking for a temple nearby”. The guy answered ” Yes, it’s the next street, it’s very easy”. He continued “Are you thirsty? I’ll offer you a drink, what do you want?”. “Heuuuu, anything”. ” No problem, follow me”. The tall Asian started walking towards the temple. We followed him from the road. At the next corner we turned right and stopped front of a tiny supermarket. The guy added “What do you want? A beer? A coke? Fanta? Water? I will offer it to you”. “Coke is fine, thanks!”. We waited a moment for the man to come back with two 1.5 litres fresh bottles! Even after 12 kilometres, a fresh Coke is always nice :-) The guy indicated us where the entrance of the temple was, welcomed us in Pucket and came back to his work place. Wow!
Ok, Patong must be like this everywhere :-)
Few seconds later we arrived at the temple that doesn’t exist on the map. Thanks to the policeman :-) We met few monk and this time they accepted us, few! This temple is close to the beach, not far from that crazy street but here it’s very quiet. Lucky us!
Tomorrow, we will have a visit. See ya!
It sounds like a fun place. :-)