Goodbye Malaysia, Heloooor Thailand!

Our rest days in Langkawi island turned out to be more indulgent than we expected. One thing this expedition has taught me, is to leave those expectations at the door with your cycling shoes.

Din, our couchsurfing host, and his tribe of bachelor friends were about to embark on a weekend of birthday parties, and we were invited! During the course of the weekend 'the hungry bikers' were treated to a buffet dinner, followed by an amazing BBQ the following evening. Din's neighbour Rizal cooked up an amazing array of meats, scallops and lobster - which were so delicious that Chris announced the title 'Best BBQ outside of Australia'.

We were excited to get to Thailand - but not before seeing some more of the island. Later on the ferry over to Satun (Thailand) we met a Thai mountain bike group, who were very taken by our bikes. I was excited to have the opportunity to speak Thai again, so asked if they knew somewhere cheap we could stay in Satun. They offered to show us to the main Wat (Buddhist temple) an d we all set off in convoy, riding together in the pouring rain.

After setting up our tents under a wooded pagoda, we noticed that there were several people congregated nearby, celebrating something in true Thai style – by eating together! We wandered over for a look, and before we knew it, everyone was smiling, asking us to sit down and enjoy all sorts of Thai curries, kanom (snacks) and deserts. It was until after a few minutes that I realised that we weren’t crashing someone’s party –but someone’s funeral!

With full stomachs and a dry place to sleep, we couldn’t have been happier. If this was the kind of hospitality shown to us at a funeral, then we were definitely looking forward to seeing what the rest of Thailand had to offer.