At breakfast this morning, the friend who is joining me for part of the journey remarked that he calls the trips he does around Thailand “eating tours” rather than “riding tours” because of all the (excellent) new food they try.

This morning’s breakfast was Hat Yai Bah Ku Teh - a deluxe version complete with pork ribs, and abalone, delivered in a sizzling claypot. Accompanying this was mini 油条 （savoury fried donuts), and some roast pork. This is living. The restaurant was named Gotee Ocha, and was a Thai-Chinese place that seems a local haunt - it was buzzing at 8AM with locals! They weren’t Michelin guide but definitely deserved one - if I had to guess, I would assume the Michelin folks just haven’t made it to Hat Yai yet.

Gotee Ocha; breakfast of champions

Pt 2 - featuring what looks like very yummy chicken rice + roast pork.

Then, onto the road we went. A long day of riding today; ~460KMs from Hat Yai to Phuket, about 6 hours according to the GPS.

Today was the first day riding in Thailand in earnest; and required some adjusting to my mental model of how (certain) drivers behave. Whereas in Malaysia, you can expect most drivers to be orderly (stick to left lane unless overtaking, not make sudden lane changes, indicate, not drive at dramatically different speeds to highway speeds), such is not the case in Thailand.

There is almost an endearing quality to the way people drive in the Thai countryside, and (I like to think) you can tell about the driver and what their life might be like just from observing the way they drive (for context, most highways in rural Thailand are 2 lanes a side).

• Commercial vehicles: farmer/works in agriculture; either experienced driver, or a smaller farmer (probably) delivering this week/month’s produce to the coop. The experienced driver will stick to the left generally, but may inexplicably shift to the overtaking (right) lane at very inopportune times. I think these drivers are very chill, in the moment and reactive. They are probably listening to the radio/music they enjoy and going day by day, unbothered by the world around them.
• Old cars and scooters: likely locals to the nearest village running errands, getting around. Same as the commercial vehicle category except 10x as unbothered. They will cruise in the right lane at 30kph if they want, or inexplicably change from right to left and then back (right as you’re coming up).
• Newer SUVs: These are likely city folk and they all seem to have somewhere to be! They will use the traction of all 4 of their wheels, and be hurtling at full pace. I get the feeling that they are competitive and want to overtake others, and be the “king of the road” (as silly as that sounds).

This presents a very different riding environment compared to Malaysia (generally all newer cars, driving with a purpose; to get to the destination quickly, and common etiquette), which means that we can’t go at the same pace. I noticed that we were going probably 20-40% slower than in Malaysia for a given traffic level/road conditions (120-150 vs 180+ in Malaysia).

Honestly, I like to complain but I cannot blame them. These are their roads, and we riders are anomalies and are guests in their parts; we’re riding faster than conventional speeds, and are leading a very different way of life to theirs. Also, we are not very common, so I wouldn’t expect this to be something they update their behaviour for (e.g. this whole day we saw maybe 1 other rider on a high-er-than-scooter engine capacity motorcycle). Once I’d adjusted my expectations from Malaysian etiquette to Thai-style, things were just as fun as they had always been, and I had a great time on the road.

Rest breaks in Thailand always follow the same pattern:

1. Pull up at a “PTT” Petrol Station complex. At these stations, there is usually both a 7-Eleven, a “Cafe Amazon” (think homegrown Thai Starbucks), a toilet block, and occasionally other small food stalls and knick-knack stores. These serve as a hub for the locals in rural parts, where one can go to get their skincare/snacks/other typical supermarket/cosmetic store requirements.
2. Try to get unleaded 95 fuel (“benzene”). If not available, settle for ethanol-additive 95 octane fuel (“gasohol 95”)
3. Park at Cafe Amazon. Order something cold.
4. Wander to 7-Eleven for snacks and water
5. Bathroom break, sunscreen reapplication
6. Get back to the bike. AirPods in, noise cancelling on, choose the right thing to listen to for the next hour or two!

Rest break at Cafe Amazon…ft my amazing hydration bladder filled with ice!

Lunch. Not pictured: fried chicken + gyoza on a stick which i got when i was still hungry afterwards

However the last break we had today there was a departure from the usual; I was wandering 7-Eleven for water and ice, when my AirPods somehow fell from my pocket (honestly I was tired; must not have put them in there properly), and per Murphy’s law both AirPods scattered. One was about 2 metres from the case. The other? Nowhere to be seen. It was only after I had enlisted the help of my friend, and a friendly attendant, and searched for a good 15 mins (with the help of Apple’s find-my functionality), did we find the AirPod on one of the shelves, snugly nestled between chip packets.

We reached Phuket at ~5:30PM, to significant police/military presence. The reason? Apparently the Princess is visiting and staying at the nearby Intercon (or other similar hotel chain). They even had a naval boat positioned off the coast for good measure. Then we settled for dinner at Acqua, an Italian restaurant (hi-so + Michelin guide as the Thai would say) who received us very warmly and served delicious food. Would highly recommend.

petit fours at Acqua

I’ll be settling here in Phuket until Monday/Tuesday. Have a few things to get sorted for my trip:

• tyre change from stock tyres tomorrow. I am opting for TKC 70 (normal for front, “rocks” version for rear). This is a 60% road, 40% off-road, which should hopefully serve me well for the trip.
• replace missing screws on my aliexpress accessories…maybe buy some crash bar bags (to move weight up front), or get a pair of spotlights
• Ducati service on Monday

I’ll probably post a bit less frequently over the next few days in Phuket.

I’ll also be changing up some of my routing from Phuket to Chiang Mai. As I have a bit more time, I’d like to avoid Bangkok and the rather boring route up north from BKK, and opt for a more easterly route.

Stats:

• 34.6L fuel added
• 45g coffee consumed
• 2 uniqe interactions
• 462 KMs travelled