Yesterday I (David) had made the decision to move on solo as from today. So once we had packed our gear and collected the bike riding gear from the laundry we wished each other well and I moved on at 08.30am.

As the hotel did not do breakfast I stopped by the local Tesco’s and grabbed a bite to eat before heading south once more.

Today’s ride was an easy ride as it was a continuing on down the highway towards the Malaysian boarder. Speeds were up as the road had been improving and the traffic was light (Sunday).

It was 5.00pm when stopped at HatYai after travelling a distance of 645k and now only 65km from border. The day had been clear with only a slight drizzle at one stage.

As the south of Thailand has a significant fishing industry I had found the smell of dead fish in many parts! yes, it smelt bad. I gathered there are many fish processing factories along the way and it also smelt like the fish remains may have been used for fertiliser for the farming industry.

Hat Yai, however was a modern thriving city, one that you could easily mistake for many medium sized places in Europe, with shopping malls (where the kids hang out) etc.

Statistics

Distance for week: 1,742km

Average  Fuel consumption to date: 4.8 litres per 100km

Average speed to date: 71.9km/h