Thailand

I got on the road around 6:30am, with some light drizzle. There was a little traffic out of town, but I soon turned on to a rural route at Yi-Ngo District.

Meaung Narathiwat (or Menara in Pattani Melayu) is the capital of the eponymous Southern province bordering Malaysia. The town has about 40,000 inhabitants and is around 85% Melayu Muslim. I picked this place because it was at the bottom of Thailand.

I woke up early and took the BTS Skytrain two stops. The Changchun Railway Vehicles train was clean and had announcements in Thai and English. Nearly everyone was wearing a mask.

For a bike/conference trip I wanted to pack light. One bag for my bicycle, 22kg. There was surprisingly a lot of space in there, so I could throw in some extras, including a pannier and rear rack for my ride.