Peter Gostelow

Easy ride down to the coast - with an escort for most of the way. 5km after leaving the hotel I ride past a group of local riders who invite me for tea - they're all riding towards Butterworth and offer to show me the way. Probably a better route than the one Komoot has me on - passing through fields and some plantations. Last 20km is mostly on built up roads towards Butterworth and the ferry terminal to Penang. Easy to get on a boat headed across. And then a 12km ride on busy roads to north of island and brothers address. Good to arrive safely and see familiar faces.

Glad to have moved from the hotel to the campsite by the river for a night. Should have come here first. Peaceful hour or two packing up before riding up to the border. Only 5-6 km. Very easy to exit and enter Malaysia. No queues. And then it's into the first town where I withdraw cash (no ATM fee) and get a SIM card in record time. Being a Friday it feels a bit quieter on the streets here - prayer day for many. Noticeble absence of street dogs. Temps feel hotter as I drop a few hundred metres and ride on to next small town for lunch. People seem more forthcoming and outwardly friendly here - more confident to speak English partly explains it. Ride on during afternoon - mixture of roads, towards where I've booked accommodation. Large hotel but small room, as I can't believe there's no window! Reception says it wasn't written in the description! They are also fussy about me bringing my bike inside (there goes any good review for them). Easy to find food outside around the corner. Short ride to Penang tomorrow

Nice quiet roads inland through Yala province. Cleaner than the coast too. Muslim populated villages. Some gravel tracks as I broadly follow the course of the Pattani river. Make a detour across the city of Yala to visit a bike shops recommended to me by a contact on Facebook. Vee's bike shop in Yala is a bit of an incongruity - small provincial capitals don't usually stock major brand bicycles like Surly, velotraum and even Thorn bikes from the UK. Vee is a friendly guy, although his English is as good as my Thai, so we mostly use Google translate to communicate. Go for lunch together and intake some pics of the shop and gear. He invites me to stay, but I already have accommodation booked tomorrow, so push on to Banglang Dam. Get here an hour before sunset to a viewing platform - looks like a great place to camp, but there are security about and I have an inkling it wont be allowed to camp. My doubts are confirmed. Ends up getting dark before I follow some guy on a motorbike a few kilometres to what is a boat on the lake. Pitch the tent on the roof in the dark - decent spot in the end

Shorter day and easy ride into Pattani, mostly on the highway as few other roads. Noticebaly more Muslim populated areas now. Take a lodge near Big C hypermarket - clean and quiet for 550baht with fridge.