Tag Archives: night food market

Day 210 – On top of things

A joy to ride

A joy to ride

If the map was any indicator, we were about to embark into the real mountainous North today. We heard from other travelers that there was a new road going over a mountain pass instead of following the Mekong and that it would not be used by buses for the steep incline. Obviously we were quite excited about this.

Before we could find out however, there were a bunch of minor annoyances in our way. First, the drive chain was covered in a thick sandy layer of grit and had to be cleaned. Before packing, I fixed up our luggage racks a bit and when we finally were ready to leave, Nina’s headset finally gave out after playing up for a while. This is the forth or fifth one to break on the trip – and the final spare. As much as we love the cheaper wired intercom, it is getting a bit ridiculous. Later that night I went over all the old (and broken ones) again – and at least found one where only one of the earpieces is dead. That will have to do until we can get our hands on replacements later on, probably Oman. Continue reading

Day 188 – Capital times

The harsh cuts are sometimes rather weird. outside a developing country, inside cosmo posh.

The harsh cuts are sometimes rather weird. outside a developing country, inside cosmo posh.

Phnom Penh caters well for European tourists…they have bakeries so you are able to get a “continental breakfast”. We went to the “Blue Pumpkin” which is also an ice cream parlor and a training cafe. The upstairs seating area with a view over the riverfront was lovely and we got a mix of “continental breakfast” with a pain au chocolate and a “healthy breakfast” with muesli and fruit to share. Full and happy, we were ready to start the day.

First on our list of sight-seeing objects for this morning was the National Museum of Cambodia. I, particularly, was hyped for this one. But we were a bit disappointed: After having been to Angkor Wat already and also spending time in the Angkor National Museum, this one didn’t offer much that was new. In my opinion, the history of Cambodia needs to be researched more and treated scientifically. At the moment, the great focus is on religion as the temples give a good foundation to base work on. However, with no history texts surviving in Cambodia itself and the frequent mentioning that all information about the early periods comes from Chinese accounts, one would think that a translation of those accounts is available. But no. At least not for the visitors of the museum. All you get are the names for the eras in Chinese which is probably a butchered version of some old Khmer name.

Guardian, concrete, 21st century.

Guardian, concrete, 21st century.

In the end, we didn’t stay too long. Walking to the royal palace, we already knew that it is closed to the public at the moment/that time of the day. We still took some pictures from the outside before heading to an early lunch. So much food today!

The afternoon was spent in our room, blogging, checking out a route for the next couple of days and booking accommodation in advance. I am very keen to visit an elephant sanctuary here as we have skipped elephants on Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand so far. However, since it’s the high season, we only got a free date on the 17th of February. That’s a bit later than we wanted to but not too bad. We just have to plan what to do in the meantime.

In the late afternoon, we managed to have a long Skype call with friends of ours in Germany. It was well overdue. Having friends with kids means that you are acutely aware of how much time must have passed between calls as half a year makes such a big difference.

Not wanting to spend much money on food again, we had a look at the street food outside of our guest house. One the square next to the market was a night food market including music and a big stage. Obviously this was part of the Chinese New Year’s celebration. Anyhow, it was amazing as a food source. 🙂 We ordered our food from the stalls around and sat down with the locals on the big patch of mats on the ground. Not any less comfy than ale-benches and much cleaner!

Day 176 – Getting tyre’d

We are close to Bangkok and the goals for the day are simple. First, get a set of new tyres. Second, finally replace the partly dissolved Touratech Compañero gloves. They were basically gone since Timor-Leste.

The tire is screwed. That puts the nail in the coffin ... sorry :)

The tire is screwed. That puts the nail in the coffin … sorry 🙂

I forgot to call ahead on both accounts, but have been in email contact a week or so back. What could go wrong? So we made our way to Asiana Moto, the licenced Heidenau importer for Thailand to get issue number one sorted.

Having all day to do stuff really helps to ease the stress of urban traffic quite a bit. After a comically bad breakfast at a little coffee shop attached to a petrol station, we started the 50km journey from the west of Bangkok to the shop located in the north-east. Traffic was heavy and slow going, but mostly cars, and those quite orderly. Even though we are about 110 cm wide with the luggage, we probably cut an hour or so out of our trip by lane splitting when possible. All in all, it took us about two hours to get there.

When we were within 1 km of the shop, I though I felt the bike behave oddly, and when we pulled up I was certain there was an issue with the rear tyre. I was right, a decent sized screw has embedded itself in the tyre, but unfortunately something else became evident: The shop seemed to be closed today. Oh … that may be an issue.

Turns out, the zega pro has its uses as a stilt for propping up the bike.

Turns out, the zega pro has its uses as a stilt for propping up the bike.

Luckily, I managed to get hold of Waranyu who is managing the store while the owners are out and about. Unfortunately, he was in Pattaya, 3 hours south of where we were. Nonetheless he promised to check the inventory to see if he could help us at all. Things got a bit hectic right then, while I took the wheel off (something needed to be done anyway, new tyre or not) a group of Thai arrived to help us maybe get the tyre fixed and Waranyu called back with news of an available rear in the shop.

I got hauled into a taxi, but the auto tyre shop could not help us with the tubed wheel and sent us off again. I did learn though that the tyre itself also had a tear lengthwise and should not be used even with a fixed tube. Meanwhile, Nina had talked to Waranyu and he agreed to get in the car and meet us at the store in 3 hours. What a hero!

yea, no way ... could not even break the bead.

yea, no way … could not even break the bead.

So we settled in. Nina got her book out and I got to work on the wheel, just for practice and to find out if I actually could fix a puncture myself if I needed to. The sobering result of that experiment was that no, with my tools I see no chance I would be able to break the bead on the rear. Not even after a quick lunch.

A bunch more Thai showed up, including a paramedic, eager to help. I was not able to break their enthusiasm and explain that I was just mucking around while waiting for Waranyu to open up the shop. Everyone was eager to try. Bigger tyre leavers were produced, but one by one, they failed (which soothed my hurt pride a bit). The tyre was still happily sitting on the rim unchanged when Waranyu showed up and was able to explain what was going on.

With the proper machinery, a new rear tyre and tube were fixed in no time and my biggest worry was taken care of. Which left the question of how to deal with the front. It was better off, but I doubt it would have another 5000 km in it for the round trip until we returned to Bangkok. There were no 100/90 19″ K60 available, neither the more road-y K76. I knew from NZ that I could squeeze a 110/80 19″ in if need be, but that it would be tight. The K76 fit, but the K60 was about 2 mm to wide when not on the rim.

proper tools handled by someone who knows what he is doing ...

proper tools handled by someone who knows what he is doing …

Waranyu when upstairs and rummaged around for a while until he emerged with an only half worn K60 from the discard pile. That one fit and we gave it a shot. A little drum roll, but it fitted even when on the rim. The best thing: I got this one for free! Thank you heaps Asiana Moto and Waranyu – that was a life saver.

Unfortunately, I spoiled the victorious mood a bit when I sheered off one of the four bolts securing the mounting plate of the front axle while putting everything back together. My story is that it was nicked before by a rock and I will stick with that … regardless, Waranyu was super helpful once more and gave us the address of a workshop we could go to tomorrow to get it sorted. The issue is not too bad, but nothing you want to go into both Laos and Cambodia if you have the chance to fix it before.

With big smiles and a photo session we took off for the Touratech Thailand premises another 35 km to the southeast, near the international airport. We made it there in time before they closed down and were welcome by Somjin. Sadly, the gloves I was using have been discontinued and the new summer gloves are not yet available in Thailand. Nonetheless, I left my, now utterly ruined, pair here to be send back to Germany for a post mortem.

Whohoo ... so far we have interacted with every TT distributor along the way ;)

Whohoo … so far we have interacted with every TT distributor along the way 😉

At least we got a replacement for the broken carrying handle strapping down our tent (yes, we are still carrying a tent …). We concluded our visit with a customary photo-in-front-of-sign session and were off for our resting place for the night.

We made use of being so close to the airport and for a cheap but cool place usually for people awaiting their flight. On our way there we passed a night market and stocked up for dinner. Markets like these are a pretty cool thing in Thailand. People sell single dinners in plastic bags, ready for assembly at home. This seems to be a popular thing among Thai. We each got something for us and then a sweet thing for dessert. All for less than $4 in total. Whohoo!

A final goody that night was that when the hotel staff saw all our gear they upgraded us to a superior room, so that we only had to lug it up two flight of stairs instead of six. Ah, what a day.

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.