We learnt from past mistakes and DID NOT have breakfast in the overpriced restaurant, instead having Nutella toast in our room. Flo was extremely nervous, wanting to find the right spare part so badly that I started to worry a bit. What if we couldn’t find it?

But we were lucky to begin with. The Red Baron opens at 10am, even on a Sunday. Wednesday is the day that they are closed. Not knowing how Bangkok traffic will be like this morning, we started early and arrived at 9.45am.

The store opened at exactly 10am. The guy at the counter had us bring the bike around to the workshop so that the mechanics could have a look and then went in search of reg/recs for big bikes. In the end, he found two new ones. Flo was over the moon!

However, again, learning from past mistakes, we didn’t want to commit to one of them before we had Jonathan’s confirmation that they would really do the job. This time, the parts were also VERY expensive. So we wrote Jonathan on WhatsApp about the specifics of the two reg/recs and then waited. Chances were good that Jonathan worked even on a Sunday so we would get a reply in his lunch break, most likely. It was 11.30am already so we decided to go for an early lunch ourselves while waiting for the reply.

And yes, Jonathan’s reply came during lunch: One of the reg/recs was a go! It could handle up to 50 ampere while Rocinante’s original part was up to 35 ampere so we would even upgrade! Nearly jumping for joy we made our way back to the Red Baron. The mechanic didn’t share our enthusiasm. The part was not for a different Honda bike so while it worked ampere-wise, the connectors had to be carefully made to fit. Very reluctantly, he went to work.

Changing the reg/rec was a very good thing but problems with that part often also effect the battery and vice versa. The battery had been drained twice now through our efforts to get Rocinante back to Bangkok so changing the battery as well is a good idea. If the battery had been damaged, it could have effected the new reg/rec and we really, really didn’t want that. Because of the new battery, we had to wait two hours for it to be charged before being able to take off. With a fully functional bike! The only down side is that “big bikes” are luxury items in Thailand which means that a special luxury tax of 60% applies to them, as well as to all spare parts. The reg/rec cost us about NZ$500 and the new battery another NZ$200. Having the bike fixed felt amazing…the cost with our financial background not too much.

Everything worked fine so we made for Sa Kaeo, the town closest to the Cambodian border. No warning lights, no issues with the electronics at all! I even had my family Skype call from the cafe at a gas station cut short in order for us to make it before dark. We booked a roadside hostel online so all we had to do was get there.

With the last glimpses of light disappearing, we rolled into the Golden house hostel, had a silly little victory dance in our room and fell into bed without dinner.