Bustling markets of Tha Chana

Distance - 77km

We’d slept soundly, but our legs were aching. We’d hardly eaten the day before, but what we had eaten was not agreeing with our stomachs. It would be a hard day.

Luckily, we’d made it across the middle of Thailand and we were now close to the east coast, near Surat Thani, where the road was flatter.

After a couple of hours we stopped at a rest stop for nourishment. On many occasions I’ve found that when you’re not feeling great, a ham and cheese toasted sandwich is the best cure. So that is what we got from the 7-eleven. We found some hardboiled eggs at a small stand, and got some chocolate milk, and managed to get the energy we needed to keep going.

There was a place marked on the road signs called Tha Chana, and we reasoned that if we made it there we would have done about 75km for the day, which we were content with. We arrived in the early afternoon and found a small hotel in the town, right near some markets.

After a cold shower we headed out to get some food. What had looked like a group of street stalls from our hotel turned out to be a massive, bustling open market where it seemed everyone from this town, and surrounding towns, was gathered. They had not only food, but also clothes, shoes, VCDS (not DVDs annoyingly), little pet turtles, goldfish, knives, machetes, pots and pans… all manner of things were for sale at these markets. Sam bought a pair of thongs for less than AU$1 and we got some chicken, rice, pork dumplings, corn (not as good as in Malaysia, but ok), jam and custard donuts, and a green coconut custard filled pancake. The food was good, and experiencing the markets made it worth stopping in Tha Chana.