#1: [18-Oct-05]

14-Feb-2013 -- This confluence visit is the eights out of a series of 15 visits in Malaysia and Thailand. The previous confluence is 9°N 99°E. It is in turn part of a 4-months bicycle trip starting in Tasmania at 43°S 146°E.

In the morning of confluence day, I started cycling in the little town Chaiya (ไชยา) which is 72 km beeline from the confluence point. In the afternoon, I had reached the road no. 4006 that took me up to a distance of 2.8 km. The remaining approach was on sandy tracks between palm oil plantations. I poked around a bit on those tracks until I gave up cycling. I parked my bicycle 190 m from the cp. The walk was steep up and down and required some bush bashing. At the end, I found the confluence at the edge of a palm oil plantation. But this plantation was mixed with some mangosteen trees. Actually, one of the mangosteen trees is growing exactly at the confluence. Down at the ground I found some sweet fruits as a reward.

After the visit I took road no. 4006 further westwards in order to get into Myanmar the next day. I stayed the night in the little town Phato (พะโต๊ะ), the only place to stay in the mountainous jungle area. All restaurants were closed, but on the main street a lively party seemed to go on. Some people invited me to take dinner from the buffet. Only after my dinner, I found out that the reason for this party was actually a sad one: the husband of an elderly lady had died and this was the obsequies.

The next few days I was not able to visit any confluence points on my route northwards. All the confluence points are located in Myanmar in off-limits area.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to an asphalt road: 2800 m
• Distance to a track: 190 m
• Distance of bicycle parking: 190 m
• Time to reach CP from bicycle parking: 20 minutes
• Time at CP: 4:00 PM
• Measured height: 101 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 7 m
• Topography: steep undulating terrain
• Vegetation: oil palm and mangosteen trees
• Weather: fine, 31° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Mangosteen Confluence

More pictures of the trip can found at mautz.net.

The story continues is at 13°N 100°E.