Tag Archives: towards Bangkok

Day 232 – Packing in Bangkok

2 lanes frontage road, 4 lane highway and 3 lane tollway (overhead) all going the same way ...

2 lanes frontage road, 4 lane highway and 3 lane tollway (overhead) all going the same way …

A whole day to get into Bangkok. Not to be bad with just 250km to go. Unfortunately, it was 38 degrees again which felt like closer to 50 degrees on the motorway in the scorching sun. Also, getting into Bangkok is simply a nightmare. Motorbikes are not allowed on the proper motorways where you pay toll so instead, we were going on the same road as all the trucks and scooters. This meant jam-like conditions starting as far off as 60km before Bangkok. In the heat. The whole ride was just exhausting, nothing more. At some point we stopped at a 7eleven and hid inside just to get our core temperature down again in an ac’d space. BUT, even the worst traffic moves and we arrived at our accommodation at lunch time.

Dropping all the luggage into the room, we just headed out again to have lunch and acquire some form of dinner as our room was out in the sticks, close to nothing but the warehouse where we needed to go tomorrow. We found a local market for some veggie noodle soup and a 7eleven with the option of toast and cheese. All set for the rest of the day, we went back.

Yeay and ney piles will soon be forming.

Yeay and ney piles will soon be forming.

Cooling down was the most urgent point on our to do list now. Luckily, a pool was available (in the shade) which provided us with ample opportunity. Afterwards, we unpacked everything we own, checked if we could take it on a flight or had to chuck it out and repacked. It sounds like a neat package in one sentence but it actually was a lot of work. The spray cans of WD40 and chain oil had to go (flammable) so Flo actually cleaned the bike before applying both for the last time. We updated the route on the world map on our pannier, put the paperwork, clothes and toiletries to the side as we will need this here in Bangkok with us for the next couple of days and packed the rest.

In between, we had a lovely afternoon break patting the resident cats and figuring out that hiding inside our room is really the most comfortable option.

Day 231 – Klicks

We had a good night’s sleep in our little “resort” in Hot (resort in Thailand means a hotel a bit out of the city center or out in the fields). Today, we even got a free breakfast – including fresh strawberries!

The first bit of the route was "scenic"

The first bit of the route was “scenic”

We had about another 100 km of more or less windy back road until we were planning on hitting the highway 1. These really turned out to be quite nice, even if my arm was still taking a bit of enjoyment out of riding. It would still get stiff and cramp after like 30 minutes of riding. On top of it all, it was once again scolding hot. Riding was still fine, but any amount of walking or stopping out of the shade were just … inadvisable.

Once we hit the highway 1, it became quite a different ride again. 600 km of flat land on a road pretty close to a motorway. Cruising speed moved up to 110 km/h, at least outside of the many stretches of roadworks forcing both directions on one of the two multi-lane strips. The kilometers just melted away.

We passed this pick-up going at least 80kmh so the dog was quite deformed

We passed this pick-up going at least 80kmh so the dog was quite deformed

After a very brief and unmemorable lunch in Tak, we were on the road again when a macabre first for the two of us occurred. As expected at a little traffic jam on a stretch of roadwork, we came past an accident. A ute came off the road and had hit a tree. As we passed it, we both got a look at our first dead person that we can remember. Lying right there on the road with the paramedic just taking pictures of him was a lifeless human form wrapped in white sheets – with one blue and mangled hand sticking out.

We got the whole thing for a very good price

We got the whole thing for a very good price

We ended that day with only 250 km to go in another resort somewhere in the no-man’s-land between towns. The benefit was a killer price for an excellent room – the down side was that we were not prepared for the fact that we could not just walk 100m and have dinner ready. I ended up riding another 20 km alone in search of food and all I came up with in the end were crisps and an eight month old one-square-meal.