Report No 27 –December 9 2007 -Ko Lipe Thailand– 19,418 kilometers’

I have now covered 19,418 km from Istanbul and there is another 1,000 to go to Singapore. But I'm afraid I could be accused of being on holiday rather than on a mission as I'm currently having ten days in a row beach combing and then there will be fourteen days off in Singapore. So these days it's more swimming than cycling and I've also done some snorkeling.
The last report was from Cha-Am Beach. From there I cycled further south stopping at a beach every night. I then crossed to the west side and followed the Myanmar border to the coast. I met a very nice couple from Oregon on Bike Fridays.
Khao Lak turned out to be one of the best stopover places of the whole trip. All the coastal resorts were totally destroyed by the tsunami and amazingly only three years later there is no sign of it except for warning towers, warning signs and escape routes. Fortunately the trees and beaches survived intact. The beach at Khao Lak goes on for miles and is just superb. All the resorts are new and I had a nice bungalow, more up-market than I'm used to but still only half the price of a cheap motel in New Zealand. One night I thought I would have one of those half- price on the beach happy hour cocktails that we've had before in Thailand. When I couldn't find my usual 'B52 Bomber' I thought the 'Around the World' would be appropriate. I wrote down the recipe but needn't have bothered as it consists of just about everything.

I followed the coast for as far as the road goes in Thailand, south of Satun. At Satun I was wandering around looking for a beer in a mainly Muslim area which is not an easy task when I was recognised as a cyclist by the bar bag I was carrying. I was wondering when that would happen. Julie & Ian are cycling to New Zealand. There is a gap of twenty kilometers’ from where the Thai road ends to where the Malaysia road starts. This meant another of those rules committee meetings with myself but this time I used your proxy vote Gavin. There were two choices, go well inland to a potentially unsafe area or go by boat. So I cycled 70 kilometers back up the way I had come and caught a boat to a beautiful Thai island Ko Lipe in the southern Andeman ocean. There's no wharf on Lipe so the bike and all the gear had to be transferred to a longtail. It wasn't too bad arriving but very tricky when leaving in choppy seas. I wouldn't have been at all pleased if the bike had of ended up on the bottom of the ocean. There are also no roads so the longtail took me to the bay I had chosen. I was in a basic hut right on the beach, just the perfect place for rest and recreation. From Ko Lipe there is a direct boat link with Pulau Langkawi in Malaysia so here I am. I'm in another bungalow on the beach. In a few days I'll catch a boat to the mainland and cycle from the start of the coast road. I've missed 20 kilometers’ but did an extra 70 and there will be another extra fifty on Langkawi.
My next report will be after Xmas.