In 2023, K asked if TH and I could help organise a charity ride to Penang. That is how I met the group from ECONFRAME®. A few R@SKLs went on a delightful multi-day ride from Teluk Intan to Penang with the group from Klang.
A few months ago, the idea of another charity ride arose. We chose to spend four days riding in Southern Thailand. Many hands contributed to the planning and execution of this trip. The daily routes were plotted. Train tickets were bought. Hotel rooms were booked. Cycling jerseys were designed and ordered. Support vehicles and drivers were lined up.
The long weekend began on Thursday with bicycles transported to Padang Besar by B and K in a pair of pickup trucks, accompanied by TH and S on motorcyclists.
This update during the trip was a sign of things to come.
The quartet was joined at the Chek Embun Homestay by a few others who also drove to Padang Besar. They all did a wonderful job stocking ice chests and preparing the bicycles.
The rest of us caught the 7:30 a.m. Friday ETS departure from KL Sentral to Padang Besar.
While we were on the train, the guys in Padang Besar went on a cave walk in Gua Kelam in Kaki Bukit.
L and P picked us up at Padang Besar KTM station. We changed at the homestay and were ready to ride at 1:30 p.m.
The Day 1 route from Padang Besar to Satun was the shortest of all the daily rides. However, the 49 km ride did include the most challenging segment we would face.
The climb to Wang Kelian is on slopes like this. Made even harder by the high humidity and 38ºC temperature.
This is the Wang Kelian climb in numbers.
The view at the top is worth the effort.
Photographs are essential. That is the patriarch of H’s family. 85 years young.
From the summit of the climb it is a mostly downhill run to the Malaysian Immigration post at Wang Kelian.
You go through the Wangprachan Boundary post to enter Thailand.
The roads in Southern Thailand are wonderful to ride on.
30 km from the Malaysia-Thailand border is the Navakiri Boutique Resort in Satun.
That is a bar at the far end of the swimming pool. A bar that was well-patronised by the eleven of us who went for a swim.
Dinner was at the Coconut Gardens Restaurant. The restaurant is 850 metres from the resort. Close enough for most of us to make the trip in the bed of a pickup.
Our first and not the last big meal of the trip.
Old Roots, New Routes 