Biking in Phuket

Many people think it is dangerous to bike in Phuket. They believe that the Thai people are driving careless. That is not my opinion after biking many years and finding them very thoughtful and friendly in the traffic. What you have to know is that the rules applied differ from the law. E.g. you often meet traffic driving on the right side of the road. If so they are driving slowly on their own risk. Overtaking is done to the right as well as to the left and even uphill with poor visibility. Traffic light exist but more or less to be observed as recommendation. All this may sound dangerous, but other road-users seem to be prepared. They often say 'Mai pen rai' which means 'never mind'. I must, however, admit there is one big danger. Some grills in the streets, where the chinks in the trafic direction can be a disaster for a cyklist: 

If - after all - I should jump into any trouble with the police, all I have to do is referring to one of my Thai friends. He pays some money each year to the police giving him immunity, which can be used by his friends as well. So far I have not used this and in fact I have only met friendly police officers. For example at 13th of April (the Songkran festival), when people throw water at each other everywhere, I poured a bucket of water at one police officer. He just laughed and said 'cup kun cup' (= thank you). In the following picture a girl entered the scene and tryed the same:

I have my own bike permanent in Phuket. There is allways  some one who will take care of it when I am not there. It is a 'citybike' something between an ordinary bike and a mountain bike. It has 7 gears inside the back hub. The mechanism is well protected and therefore it stands well against rain and dirt. Gears are necessary in the very steep hills in Phuket. Inspite of my gears I can not manage the worst hill from Patong Beach to Kamala Beach.

I warn you - don't rent a bike in Phuket. Once I did so and got one with too low handlebars, too low sadle, bad breaks, a thin and hard sadle and worst of all, in a steep down hill the handlebars came off.

The drawback with having a bike from Sweden is that spare parts are difficult to get. But so far no problems. They will allways be solved by my very good workshop situated in the beginning of Bangkok Road when you enter the town by Route 4021 (Chao-Fa Road). Study the map below.

Now ( from 2006) there is a good bike shop - Beach Boy - in Kata where you can repair, rent and buy bikes. See Kata map. Here Mr Phu is changing my back wheel to a new one from Sweden:

The best work shop for bikes is, however, found on Bangkok Road in Phuket Town:

So what is so good with biking in Phuket?

1) During the rain period, the rain will cool you down when climbing the heavy hills.

2) In the dry period when temperature is 32° C biking is cooler than walking.

3) On a bike you easily make contact with the local people on country side.

4) By bike travelling will be more spontaneous than going by taxi.

5) Small occasional shopping are done easy and fast by bike.

6) Biking combined with swimming give a good exersize.

7) No need for lock to the bike - there are no thieves.

Maybe only cyclists observe the beautiful Royal Poinciana at close quarters:

You will find it along all high ways in Phuket - at present mostly on small bushes recently planted, but the bushes grow fast and will soon be big trees with flat crowns. The flowers are growing in clusters and since they are small (4 cm) it is difficult to see their beauty at a distance.

French: Arbre Flamboyant

Latin: Delonix Regia

Thai: Hang Nok Yung

 

Another flower, often seen in pools of water, is the beautiful Lotus (bua):

The following distance table is obtained by using Google Earth:

There is a big difference between biking at the East side and at the West side of Phuket. Using a 7-gear bike like mine makes some of the hills nearly impossible to ride on the West side. Thus, a tour like the one shown on the following picture from Nai Harn Beach to Phuket Airport is quite a challenge:

Using Google Earth the following road profile has been produced:

It has, however, to be said that the vertical accuracy is not very good in this otherwise very nice system, which in the year 2007 got big improvements particularly the display of the East side of Phuket.

 The roads between Bang Tao Beach and Phuket Airport is troublesome in many ways. There are no good maps. But why complain this is the charming Phuket.  

The interest for biking in Phuket has increased remarkably during the last years like it has in Thailand over all too. Siam Bike Tour is an interesting organizer of bike tours in Thailand which can be seen in their home site:

http://www.siambiketours.com/3.0.html?&L=1 

 Finally I want to quote the former Governor in Phuket according to Phuket Gazette:

Thursday, April 27, 2006

On yer bikes – Gov tells officials

PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura this morning urged government officers to ride bicycles instead of using motor vehicles in order to save fuel, in light of the recent price hikes at Phuket gas pumps.

At the monthly meeting of provincial chief officers, Gov Udomsak said, “We have to save fuel and save money. Please think of ways to do this. Phuket is an island, so we all should be riding bicycles, which provide exercise and are safe to use.”

He said that Phuket City Municipality should lead the way, by building bicycle lanes and installing bike racks where bicycles may be parked.

“I have started walking instead of driving around after work. If the cost of fuel continues to rise to above 30 baht a liter, after I retire I’ll have to walk for sure,” Gov Udomsak joked. As Governor, his gasoline bills are paid by the government.

Moving his focus from the carport to the kitchen, Gov Udomsak added, “I would also like to suggest to everyone that they grow their own vegetables at home. You can grow them yourselves and eat them – there’s no need to buy them.”

 

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