April 23, 2025
Day DS2: 400 Years Old
Narathiwat to Pattani
The hotel offered breakfast too, what a deal. I sat down to a mix of spicy rice and meat dishes, toast, fruit, and hot coffee. A blend of local flavor and simple comfort. They really look after you well here!
After eating, I began packing up. The staff smiled, wished me well, and told me I was always welcome to return. It really felt personal, like this is not something they would say to everyone. What struck me most was that after two full days and counting, I still hadn’t seen a single other foreigner. Not at the beach. Not at the markets. Not in town. Not even passing through. What the heck was going on? The Muslim Deep South of Thailand was stunning in every way: kind, affordable, peaceful, authentic.
It was like finding a beautiful room in a palace, completely unlocked, and no one else had bothered to check the door.
It was a sultry day, but thankfully a rain storm happened to cool things down. The road wasn’t as inspiring as the day before — fewer scenic moments. It was more of a hip hop beats and grind it out kind of day. As the kilometers slipped by, something became clear: this felt like any other region of Thailand. If it weren’t for the travel advisories and overcautious embassy warnings, you’d never guess this area was on a global “do not travel” list.
The people were kind. The scenery was familiar, the rhythm was routine.
All day long, I saw only one manned checkpoint. The rest were there, physically, but completely unmanned. No cars were being stopped.No weapons, no searches, no police escorts.Just open road and the steady thump of bass in my ears as I kept moving north.
I stopped at a 7-Eleven, just a mid-ride break to hydrate and cool off. Nothing special.
And then a woman approached, holding a small package of buns. She handed it to me with a smile, no hesitation. "God bless you my brother" she said. "If you need anything, call me" and she handed me her phone number
That was the only free gift today. The running count was slowing down. But somehow this landed harder. It wasn’t part of a streak like yesterday, it was a single human choosing to be kind out of nowhere . And that was more than enough.
Soon after that, I saw a sign that caught my eye: "400 year old mosque". That was enough to warrant a detour. When it comes to bicycle travel, diversions like this have to be chosen very carefully. They can add 5-10 km of extra distance or more. But this mosque was only 1km off the main road and it was totally worth it.
The mosque turned out to be one of the oldest in all of Thailand, and as I rolled up, the people running the nearby tourist shop looked genuinely surprised to see a foreigner. I bought a coffee and a T-shirt and asked politely if I could walk the grounds. "Sure no problem" they said and waved me on.
It was just after the noon prayers, and the site was serene. It was quiet and reverent and steeped in history. I took photos of the beautifully weathered structure, its carved wood and layered age.
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I wanted to go inside. But the man who seemed to be in charge — possibly the imam — stood watching me with a cold, unreadable stare. A sign read that you can't go inside without asking his permission.
I decided not to push it. Maybe I should’ve asked. Maybe he would’ve been kind. There's a very good chance. Or maybe not. Either way, I chose respect over insistence. The bottom line is this: how many other tourists get to see a 400 year old mosque that is tucked into a sleepy corner of southern Thailand? Whoever the next man or woman is that comes along to see this, I hope that I left a good impression for them to check it out also.
It is rapidly coming up to the 21-year anniverary of some massive bloodshed that happened at this mosque when the Thai army massacred a bunch of people here. It was in the news for all the wrong reasons.
The deep south insurgency was at its worst from around 2004-14 and I did in fact make a couple of trips there at the time. That was when you could expect military checkpoints and curfews everywhere, including police escorts. Naturally, that is how the travel warnings all began and cycle tourists would purposely avoid the east coast of Thailand for this reason. They would make long detours via Phuket and the other coast if they wanted to cycle to or from Malaysia.
Now the security situation is rapidly improving. It's by no means fully peaceful yet but is way better than before as this trip is proving.
As I entered Pattani I was expecting lockdowns, curfews, closed shutters and silent streets. But instead? The town was alive!
The entire city buzzed with energy: people walking, laughing, shopping, eating at open-air food stalls. There were restaurants and coffee shops everywhere, new homes going up, signs of real investment and urban renewal all around. Ten years ago, this place felt like a military zone. Now? It felt like it was rebuilding itself from the inside out.
I found a steakhouse and had an excellent meal. The staff pumped their fists when they realized they were serving a foreigner, like I was some kind of novelty, a signal that yes, outsiders are coming back.
I asked about bars and they excitedly pointed me toward one. The fact that there was live music and the amazing Thai vibes even in this town was more a novelty than anything else At the bar, I pulled out my phone, did a little bit of light trading, and sat back as I watched the official end of a nearly three-month bear market unfold on my screen.
In the background, a lone female Thai singer stepped onto the stage, guitar in hand, and sang a string of English and Thai songs — ending with one that hit me right in the chest:
“Die With a Smile.”
And just like that, I knew.
The bear market had died. The shadows of the past months — the stress, the uncertainty, the exile, The Run — had reached their endpoint. It all happened with the entrance into Thailand’s Deep South frontier.
Today's ride: 98 km (61 miles)
Total: 455 km (283 miles)
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