Tag Archives: Chanthaburi

Day 180 – Bangkok is the new Denpasar

Blogging at the breakfast table

We almost got fooled by the utterly unfounded confidence of our mechanic yesterday. Where to go? Would we believe in his words and go on towards Cambodia? Once again, a WhatsApp exchanged with Jonathan came with bad news that nonetheless saved our bacon. He checked the specifications on the regulator / rectifier that was put in yesterday and confirmed. Too weak. Rocinante produces about 400W of electricity, the r/r could only “neutralise” a maximum of 300W. That means even with all lights constantly going, it would be at maximum capacity at all time. Maybe ok at 15°C, but not at 36°C as we had yesterday.

All this considered, we decided to go back to the nearest Honda “BigWing” dealer in Pattaya and try our luck. All bikes over 300cc are part of the BigWing section, which are marketed as luxury items with only a handful of showrooms in the country. And so we parted from our lovely and extremely helpful hosts. If you ever find yourself in Chanthaburi, I recommend staying at Banchan 9 Homestay.

Right away, it proved to be the right decision. The rear ABS sensor was playing up with intermittent faults, which also meant that we had neither speed- nor odometer for the first couple of kilometers. But with the lights on high beam and every device plugged in to charge, it settled down after 10 minutes or so. Still the fear of permanent damage of the CDI or ABS computer crept into our minds.

At least they were helpful in referring us on. Honda was just utterly useless

Arriving at the Honda dealer turned out to be the first big bust of the day in the end. After giving us the barest minimum of courtesy by checking the original parts number in their system (I already knew it is not in it, the Transalp was never sold in Thailand) they pretty much ignored us from here on. Thus began a bit of a goose chase through Pattaya – the Kawasaki shop sent us to their workshop who sent us to an independent workshop further on. The last one looked extremely promising, with both an old Transalp as well as an Africa Twin right there.

It got even better when the owner produced a R/R he claimed was from a 900cc Kawasaki cruiser – I briefly checked and the one from that bike would indeed have been enough to get us going for good. Just to be 100% certain, we consulted our WhatsApp oracle while the part was being installed. Once again, once all was said and done we were left disappointed and devastated. The temporary fix from Chanthaburi had blown up already on the last 150km, so we had to use the new one, payed $180 for it and still had no permanent solution. Later that day it turned out that the owner was wrong or may have lied to me regarding the part he sold. Rather than the big 900cc bike he mentioned, the part was from a 650 Ninja … with a far less powerful alternator …

Hasty lunch at 4pm before tackling the road back to Bangkok

The few hours we have been in Pattaya made it clear that we did not want to stick around. The city is still known as a go-to destination for sex-tourists and the number of fat old white men we saw swaggering about with scantily clad young girls and women was plenty to trigger our gag and flight reflexes.

The saving grace was that we got one more contact for a parts and big bike shop, back in Bangkok out of it. However, it was written in Thai script so we had no idea where it was or how it was called. It was late already, very late, but we wanted to make use of the cooler evening time to get at least close to BKK again. We aimed for the hotel near the airport we stayed in a couple of days ago – east of the city and a good place to sort out where to go tomorrow.

We arrived after dark, but at least without any further issues regarding the electronics. Checking in took a moment due to a particularly obnoxious duo of German tourists taking forever with their petty requests uttered in even pettier English. But after that, when we were about to retreat to our room to fully deflate, came the glimmer of hope that would rob me of almost all my sleep that night. We asked the hotel staff to translate the address we got in Pattaya and it turned out that it was for the local branch of the Red Baron chain. They are great in NZ, so I really got my hopes up this time …

: Blogging at the breakfast table

: At least they were helpful in referring us on. Honda was just utterly useless

: The right kind of bikes are around but the reg/rec turned out to be too weak

: We had to take it anyway as the Yamaha reg/rec was fried already. You can see the plastic bubbling up

: Hasty lunch at 4pm before tackling the road back to Bangkok

Day 179 – Chanthaburi

deck on day 1

We also got to get up in one of the most beautiful places we’ve stayed at so far. The night in the four-post bed under a giant mosquito net had been very relaxing but, in the morning, all our worries came back.

Our lovely host had prepared breakfast. I had been so knackered yesterday that I forgot to tell her I’m vegetarian so I couldn’t eat my rice with shrimps and beef/pork. Feeling very sorry for the waste of food I created, I ate more from my, now cold, noodles from dinner.

Things started to move quickly but also not at all. Our mechanic had already called our host to inform us that the bike could be picked up again. He claimed that he had fixed it and to see if it would be okay for longer distances had ridden it 100km to Trat and back in the night. Flo was overjoyed but still picked up a voltage meter to check if everything was okay. It wasn’t. There was too much current going through the regulator/rectifier which, in the long run, would fry the bike’s other electronic parts. Disappointed, we let the mechanic know who took the bike away again.

Unfortunately, the multi-meter had no good news for us

It got later and later and by 11 am, we decided to stay for another night as it didn’t seem likely that we would be able to check out by noon. Around noon, the mechanic returned Rocinante, this time fitted with the reg/rec from his own Yamaha bike. Flo checked it with the voltage meter and it was looking good! To be absolutely certain, we contacted Jonathan again. Jonathan, the electronic’s wizard from Malaysia, had given us a WhatsApp contact so we were able to ask him about this solution. He replied that Rocinante produces too much electricity for the part so that we should try and use as much of it as we can before the reg/rec has to work with it. That means, charging as much as we can on the bike, having the lights on full beam etc. However, Rocinante would ride again!

Hmm, smoothie!

Now we still had half an extra day in Chanthaburi for some sight-seeing and lunch, of course. Our host lent us a bicycle with an extra pillion saddle on it so Flo drove me around town on a bicycle. 🙂 We went back to the little alley at the river side which turned out to be lovely for almost the whole length. Tiny wooden houses on each side of the one lane street, most of them having food stalls on the ground level made for a pleasant stroll. For lunch, we already had the strawberry place from yesterday in mind though. Again, it was delicious and Flo got another strawberry slushie as a take-away.

After lunch, I insisted on a visit to the “sweet @ moon” cafe. Every cafe that has a sign for cake before one for coffee is my cup of tea. 🙂 So we had a pleasant afternoon stop there before heading further into town. Chanthaburi is known for its gem trading which only happens on the weekends, including Friday. Through our delay with a broken down bike, it was Friday today so we intended to check out the gem market.

Food stalls and trader tables all crammed together

It is nothing for the uninitiated. Many stalls, or long rows of tables in shops were filled with traders, many looking at gems through a magnifying glass. Food stalls were scattered in between and the whole street was clogged up with pedestrians. One of the traders waved at us and asked about our whereabouts. Then, he shortly talked about how beautiful NZ is which is the usual reaction that we get.

On the way back, we rode past the cathedral as well which looked pretty in the afternoon sun. The homestay’s deck was a lovely place to hang out but we used the time to check out our financial situation. It looks pretty dire. We’re at the point where we would have to go back to Bangkok right now to fly home to Frankfurt as our funds are just enough for two flight tickets and a crate back home for Rocinante. So we called family and friends to ask for advise and the possibility for loans. We are blessed and privileged to have such family and friends who are willing to give us interest-free credit so that we can, at least, finish the loop through Cambodia and Laos first. We will also set up a gofundme page if anyone would like to help out, even with small amounts.

: deck on day 1

: Unfortunately, the multi-meter had no good news for us

: Deck on day 2

: What a lovely place to catch up on our favorite channels

: Hmm, smoothie!

: We take pictures of cats … that’s what we do …

: Wohoo … (confusing the locals in the back)

: super cute alley towards the river in Chanthaburi

: The important things first …

: No, I am not a cushion – just compfortable.

: riding a … cat?

: They shall eat cake!

: Look who is hiding!

: easy to chill … with an outside AC going o.O

: Food stalls and trader tables all crammed together

: Not only a lot on the sign, also quite talkative

: The French influence at work.

: Rocinante in the driveway of our homestay Banchan 9

Day 178 – No power left

It all started so well, with us having a chilled breakfast at our cheap and clean hotel. With free coffee and tea, and with me even having remembered to buy fresh milk last night. All was well. A brief loop round the inner city, maybe lunch and then a light 200km to get to a hotel near the Thai-Cambodian border. Easy, right?

Brain freezzzzee incomming!

Not quite as it would turn out. The city was nice, but nothing to linger too much. We thought of maybe hanging around for a coffee or so at the riverfront. However, we did not find the place recommended by the Lonely Planet. Instead, we settled into a pretty restaurant / juice bar, as the only patrons for now. Their shtick is a strawberry slushy – so I naturally went with that while Nina opted for the orange version.

Well cooled down and with high spirits, we saddled up once more to get on the road … and failed! Rocinante would not start, the battery was drained. Oh, well. We did a bunch of short rides since yesterday and I was not sure if I had pulled the plug for the GPS. So not a big reason to worry. Continue reading →

Day 177 – Bangkok, the never-ending city

Yeah, that’s how it looks like

Today didn’t start so well. It might all sound very petty in the beginning but it started to add up over the course of the day. Our lovely hotel at the airport had a small cafe/restaurant attached to it. Flo had seen the menu last night, said it looked nice and wanted, at last, to have a nice breakfast there. However, it turned out to be not that nice. You could only order American breakfast which we did. We ordered it without the sausages and bacon which didn’t happen. When she brought us the tray and realized the mistake, we were handed the plates after she’d removed the meat. Thus, for the price of 120 baht PER PERSON, we now had two half-cooked fried eggs, one slice of toast with jam, an orange juice and bad tea and coffee.

This was the first time today, we regretted spending money on something.

New screw is used and just needs to be shortened

As you might recall from yesterday’s post, we had fixed two problems and had created two problems. First, one of these things on the front wheel was now broken. Given that we are planning to ride into Cambodia, we rather wanted it to be fixed here. Waranyu, who was so super helpful yesterday, had sent us GPS coordinates of a workshop where we could get it fixed.

The mechanics were very helpful and within 1 1/2 hours they had gotten out the part that was broken off and replaced it with a screw. The screw was too long so they sheered off the part that was too long as well. Flo could definitely do a better job of describing it but you have the pictures to understand what I’m trying to say. 😉

So the first of our new problems was taken care of. The second problem were Flo’s gloves. Since we had left his broken ones at Touratech yesterday, he was riding without gloves. Well, he used his workshop gloves but they were no good. No real protection and the synthetic made his hands sweat a lot. So we stopped at the roadside and bought a pair of super-basic bike gloves for $10. While we were on the way to the motorbike shop to look for real touring gloves. *facepalm* In this synchronized moment of stupid, we needlessly spent more money than we needed to. Another regret.

PANDARIDER!

Of course, pandarider had gloves. A lot of the selection was leather which is too hot for this weather but Flo found a pair of light summer gloves that he thought were okay. Note, he didn’t like them much but they were okay. Also, he had to buy them in XXL because he is a freakishly tall European with giant hands. *lol*

With all of our problems fixed, we now “only” had to leave Bangkok and ride to Chanthaburi, our last stop before Cambodia. But Bangkok didn’t want to let us go. Traffic was horrendous again and we were still in the city for a long while. Already not feeling too perky due to much money spent on things unnecessarily, we stopped at a huge mall to stock up on sunscreen and on cash. While I bought the sunscreen we’ve been looking for for a while, Flo had a disaster at the ATM. See, we have to pay fees every time we withdraw cash. Thus, we generally withdraw the largest amount possible so we only have to withdraw once or twice in each country. In this transaction now, Flo accidentally pressed “use local conversion rate” instead of “charge credit card with foreign currency”. This sounds like a pretentious thing to do but it actually makes a very big difference. Our credit card uses a good exchange rate while the local one is usually worse. And of course, using the local rate resulted in us loosing $100 worth of NZ money. Which means the money was charged to our credit card but we got not enough Thai baht out of the ATM for it. Bad rate. Now feeling utterly defeated for today, we had a cry and then lunch at McDonald’s.

Waiting for our fate next to the toll gates…

Still, the city was not ready to let us leave. Navigating the traffic and the many, many streets, we ended up on the motorway. The “no motorbikes allowed” sigh was half-way up the ramp so we saw it too late and then there was no way to turn back anymore. So we reached the toll gate and were waved to the side, made to stop and a lot of “culprit” pictures were taken of us. Communication was impossible as no one seemed to speak English. So the man in the uniform with the strict face made us get off the bike and wait for our doom. I was certain we were going to be fined for using the motorway as motorcycles are not allowed on it and nearly cried again. Flo was very worked up but had to restrain himself as you don’t want to insult any officials. So we sat around. The man then told us in very broken English that we needed to get off the motorway. Sure, we knew that. So we had to wait for a car to arrive which could accompany us to the exit. It would take about 15 min.

After 30min, the car arrived. More pictures of us were taken. But they also let us know that we were free to leave with this car, without paying a fine. What a relief! So we rode behind the car…for a whole 50 meters as this is where the next exit was. Really? You made us wait so we wouldn’t ride 50 meters without company? Anyhow, super relieved, we finally, finally left Bangkok behind.

Lovely hostel, away from Bangkok 😉

Things started to improve. First of all, the traffic was waaaaay lighter so we made good speed. Second, Flo actually enjoyed riding the bike while listening to an audio book. Third, we had a lovely coffee stop with iced coffee and iced chocolate to lighten our mood. Fourth, though with all the delays we had to ride till sunset, we found a lovely, cheap place to stay. It was in an old hospital, now refurbished as a hostel, opened only in 2014 and cost all of NZ$18 for the night. AND there was a food market nearby so Flo volunteered to buy dinner there which resulted in an amazing mix. Salad as a starter, dumplings as a main and nuts-honey-coconut mix for dessert.