i usually take the main road 4 to through phang na and thap put then left on the 415 and then right on the 4197 to plai phraya, then left to join the main road 44 which is then a straight shot to donsak, missing surat altogether

but the 4197 to plai phraya is a bit of a small road so i was thinking about going more south on the 4 towards ao luek and turning left to join the 44 further south west. does anyone know the best place to turn if i do that? i see its all country roads through palm plantations.

also, looking at google maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%88%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%9F%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%81%2FRoute+4021&daddr=8.4719701,98.5983146+to:8.3881007,98.783713+to:Route+4142&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=8.408866,98.693619&sspn=0.314838,0.528374&geocode=FctpdwAdOI7cBQ%3BFaJFgQAdqn3gBSkpCGIzmQZRMDHzsHFyMUslMw%3BFQT-fwAd4VHjBSmTl8o1eApRMDEno7BzzbwhuQ%3BFSiBjQAd-W3xBQ&mra=dvme&mrsp=1&sz=12&via=1,2&t=m&z=12

i see its possible to bypass phang na and thap put altogether and stay closer to the bay on route 415 and 1002. this saves about 15km and probably a few traffic lights but i assume its a slower road than 4? has anyone tried the 415/1002 way? what's your verdict? faster or slower than 4?

i'll be driving at about 5am so i don't expect to see a lot of traffic

thx steve

PS, anyone want to go to samui tomorrow EARLY!

Have used many routes but have found the one you already take to be the quickest

Have used many routes but have found the one you already take to be the quickest

actually, i realized after posting this that when coming back to phuket, i do take that road that bypasses thap put and phangna already. when you get to the first big PTT on the left, coming from surat, and the sign at the lights says go right for phuket, i go straight on. after a few km there is a T junction and i turn right there. after about 15mins it joins back to the main road 4. that is far faster than turning onto 4 after the big PTT. i've done it hundreds of times, just didn't connect it with the map for some reason.

the problem is, coming from phuket i don't know where the right turn is onto that 415 road just before phang na. but i measured it from the bridge on google maps and it should be 41km from the bridge, plus i have my GPS which i don't need for this trip but it is useful for finding shortcuts