Tag Archives: Jonathan

Day 180 – Bangkok is the new Denpasar

Blogging at the breakfast table

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

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

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 …

Day 167 – Learning about electronics

We had a very simple (read: not good) breakfast in the Red Inn Heritage hostel and then retreated back to our room. Since we had been told quite clearly yesterday that we weren’t really wanted here, we just used the wifi to update the blog before packing. Through agoda, we booked into the hostel around the corner to have our night sorted before starting any work on the bike.

Flo's lunch: The daily special

Flo’s lunch: The daily special

At 11am, Flo managed to speak to Jonathan on the phone and he agreed to have a look at Rocinante after lunch. He would even seek us out in our new accommodation. Having set up this meeting, we moved all our stuff into the Guest Inn Muntri and went out for a quick lunch at a Chinese place. Flo ordered the daily special which turned out to be something that looked slightly like a seared sausage. It apparently didn’t taste too bad. I went for the more conservative option of rice and vegetables. However, the vegetables arrived with prawns and I was just surrendering to a lunch of plain rice when the waitress realized that I didn’t touch my food, asked if prawns were okay and when I shook my head, took it away and replaced it with pure vegetables. Win!

"Under the hood"...undergoing surgery

“Under the hood”…undergoing surgery

After lunch, we sat outside the hostel, briefly waiting for Jonathan. He arrived pretty soon after and went right to work on Rocinante’s electronics. The ECM (Engine control module) was checked thoroughly without showing any cracks or dents. So Jonathan concluded that the connection had to be bad. This part of the motorcycle is similar to a computer and here is what I gathered happened to our bike: The different metal connections sit in place for years, making the bike run smoothly. Every bit of the surface that isn’t used, oxidized with time. After the square hit, the connections shifted slightly so that now, oxidation was sitting on oxidation, weakening the connection having the effect of a loose connection…one time it works, the other it won’t.

Jonathan and Flo discussing tyres

Jonathan and Flo discussing tyres

So the solution seemed to be unplugging and re-plugging everything for a couple of times so that oxidation would be scrapped off, allowing the connection to go back to normal. It worked! After the treatment, Rocinante started reliably again and Flo learned something about the electronics’ side of the bike. Mechanically, he is well versed by now.

Jonathan is a very busy man so he declined our offer of a coffee as “thank you” for his help but me being very, very relieved and Flo feeling off today meant that we declared this day as a rest day and went back to relaxing instead of sight-seeing.

While blogging in the communal area of the guest house, we met Josy and Peter, two German backpackers (https://fuckitwereleaving.wordpress.com) who travel South-east Asia now, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are still to come later in the year. This gave us more than enough in common to fuel conversation so we made it a date to have dinner together on the night food market.

...with chocolate cake...

…with chocolate cake…

Before this though, I dragged Flo into the Purrfect Cat Cafe; a cafe that serves coffee and cake but also has a room with up to eight cats that you can pat. I had tried to get us in around 3pm but was turned away because the cafe was already full on a Sunday afternoon. She recommended to come back at a later time  maybe after 6pm. So we went back there.

I liked the cake and tea but was slightly disappointed about the cats: They were clearly peopled out for today. Most of them were up on a cupboard where no one could reach them while one was sleeping on the window sill, not caring if it was patted or not. A second one hopped down for the cupboard later on but went to a chair and even turned its back on Flo when he approached. This cat would also endure patting without looking too happy about it.

So dinner it was. Flo and I went for dumplings on the night market this time. I thought that the spinach and pumpkin ones were vegetarian before being told that they contain prawns so I got stuck with a plate of all sweet dumplings. Guess it could have gone worse.