Day 269
The south part of Laos is very different to the north. Not just that there are no mountains, here I’m less of a novelty, though no less warmly welcomed. I’ve passed a fair few cyclists on their way to Cambodia, including three Indians. Some of the kids run out to shout hello, but it’s not the excited crowds like we got in the north.
The road to the Thai border is almost deserted, which means a quick crossing, then the rest of the day is spent on very rural roads around the reservoir, some asphalt, some concrete and a lot of compacted sand.
Day 270
I start the day by swapping to a new chain. It’s interesting that these very cheap (€2) Maya chains are lasting 4-5000 km despite being caked in sand, while the Shimano chains in Europe were cactus after only 1000 km. The one I’ve picked up in Hanoi comes in a tiny pack and I’m a little worried it’s for a kid’s bike. It’s turns out to be long enough but only just – only a single link pair to cut off. Brake pads are looking a little thin but they can wait.
The roads are very quiet out of Det Udom, and even when I need to cut back from the 2ary roads on to the primary, basically a motorway, I’ve almost got the road to myself. Then it dawns on me that I’ve strayed into the red zone, as in FCDO advise against all travel. Oops. There’s no evidence of the Troubles, but I’d better not get run over or any other emergency.
Day 271
Another long day of flat wide roads. I end up in a place called Packham where there’s a nice homestay run by an expat originally from South London. Disappointingly he’s not from Peckham but actually Downham, not far from where I grew up.
Day 272
The day starts with a gentle climb through the national park and a not so gentle descent down to the plains of southern Thailand. I think I might be able to cover the 340 km to Pattaya in two days and push on to stay at a motel just off the main highway.
Day 273
It’s quite hot in the afternoon here, and by 2PM I realise I’m not going to make it to Pattaya without arriving totally knackered so I detour to the coast to find a place to stay for the night.
Day 274
Thankfully there are quiet side roads here as the main road is a combination of motorway and trunk road, 14 lanes in total, very unpleasant at the points I have to join it to pass junctions. Instead I can ride through the palms, stopping at a cycle cafe by the reservoir, and arrive in Pattaya in the early afternoon. Here I can take a few days break, and also meet up with my Great Friend Jorge who I’ve not seen for at least thirty years. An added bonus is that he runs the Hard Rock Hotel here so he’s fixed me up with a room at F&F rate plus complementary access to the lounge.
There’s also a cycle shop at Jontien beach where I can get some new shorts before the lycra on my last remaining pair becomes see-through, and a few other bits and pieces.
Day 278
After a few days R&R in Pattaya (TIL the stress is on the first syllable), it’s time to head back north to Bangkok. I’ve been down to Jomtien Beach where there’s a great bike shop run by a French guy. New bib shorts, mitts and his last single speed chain dug up from a box of old bits.
For the first half I can keep away from the main road, and I make another stop at the cycle café by the reservoir for an excellent coffee. After that I have to follow the main road, it’s hot and noisy and I can’t take too much of it, so I stop for the night next to Pele’s Castle (whatever that is) and leave the last section to Bangkok for the morning.
Day 279
The final stretch into Bangkok is a main road bash. There’s a motorway on ground level, plus a toll motorway on stilts above it, either side is a trunk road, one in each direction, and if you’re on the wrong side for the way you want to go there are U-Turn flyovers. The motorway on stilts goes for about 100 km through the middle of the city and out the other side, some still under construction in the west.
As expected, it’s noisy, smelly, and generally unpleasant.
Dennis and partner (the Germans) are here already, they are getting their bikes mended, also their tent which was raided by a monkey and ripped. I meet up with them in Chinatown to catch up, they’re catching the boat to Koh Samui, so I’ll probably bump into them again further south.
Also in town is Anbera, unfortunately she got stuck in traffic and didn’t arrive until late so we couldn’t meet up. Hopefully we’ll manage to get together at some point later on. Spencer is much further on, a day outside Phuket right now.
Day 280
Getting out of Bangkok is the same as getting in, it takes at least half a day before I can get off the main route, and after that it’s still fairly busy for a while before I can turn south and there’s some smaller roads to ride on. It’s hot and humid, the landscape is flat and featureless.
Day 281
I need a little air in the back tyre, but my pump is struggling. The connector has been a bit dodgy for a while, but now it’s not pushing air very well either. The plunger seal is fucked, and adding some chain lube gets it working to a reasonable pressure but oil is getting through and into the tube.
There’s supposedly a bike shop if I retrace, but it appears to not exist. Next one is 50 km, they have only track pumps, they point me in the direction of Hua Hin, though google tells me the “Hua Hin Bike Store” is closed on Mondays. It’s a big town though. The first bike shop sells bikes with presta valves, but not pumps – the ones they offer are either a toy that would struggle to pump up a beach ball, or an ancient frame pump which he tries out on one of his bikes and it doesn’t pump.
I pass the Hua Hin Bike Store, which as indicated is closed, and look for the next one. About 100 m from it I pick up a wire in the tyre and puncture. Amazingly the shop has a proper mini track pump, good to 10 bar and with a gauge. When I pull the wire from the tyre there’s another one close by, and the tube has three holes, they are all close enough to each other that I can use one of the big oval patches to cover all three. Then pump up to decent pressure realising I’ve been running much under good pressure for some time.
Later the same day I catch a screw in the cycle lane, making it a four puncture day.
Day 282
The western side of Thailand is a fairly narrow strip, with a ridge of mountains separating it from Myanmar. There are two routes through here, the big main road and a secondary one, occasionally with minor roads. So really just one choice for cycling, so I meet quite a few others in both directions, including three Russians going the same way.
This route is very pretty, alternating between the national parks and the coast.
Day 283
Komoot plots me a lovely route alternating between the coastal road and through the palm oil plantations. A lot of the time is near to the railway, this looks to have been recently upgraded to two-line operation and there are large brand new stations along the route, including an interesting double-decker station at Hua Hin. What seems to be lacking is any sight of trains.
Day 284
Not a great day. I’ve expected some rain at lunchtime and the heavens open at 10AM so I take shelter with the promise of it being dry for the whole afternoon. Then I get a series of punctures, more wires and one glass shard. After a long chat with a Surrey cyclist over a 7-Eleven lunch, the rain starts again, and after a brief respite, once more. The last section is along the main road, getting sprayed from the lorries and I arrive at the guest house drenched.
Day 285
I follow the Komoot-suggested route which wiggles about a bit but keeps me off the main road. There’s a nice mix of coastal road and roads through the palm plantations. There are also quite a few cyclists making their way north from Malaysia. Near the end of the day I get another puncture and decide to change the front tyre, keeping the old one as emergency backup.
Day 286
After a short main road bash across to the west side of the country, I cut off into the hills and another day of rubber plantations and oil palms. The climbs are not too hard, but the afternoon is very hot.
Day 287
I’m in Phang-Nga and I’ve been told I should visit the temple at Wat Than Ta Pan as it’s interesting. I only have 100 km planned for the day so this sounds like a good detour. At first it seems like any other temple with various gold buddhas and sculptures of animals. Many animals, from rabbits to tigers. Then suddenly amongst the trees where a monk is sweeping the leaves, he’s surrounded by life-size zombies. Further on there is a cannibal scene with people being gored and bludgeoned before being cooked. I walk into the mouth of a serpent and through its body, with real bats flying around, and at the tail I’m handed a torch by another monk so I can enter the caves. At the end of which there’s a perfectly normal buddhist temple. It’s quite the most bizarre juxtaposition imaginable.
After that, there’s the ride down to Phuket through similar scenery to the last few days. The town itself, despite the large tourist presence, is quite charming with a lot of French colonial architecture. There’s a good bike shop here, but I fail to get a new tyre as it’s closed for the week of New Year.
Day 290
At the port I buy a ticket for Krabi on the 08:30 boat, ฿850 with an additional ฿200 to pay at the gate for the bike. As expected, the boat stops at Ao Nang and we’re all told to disembark for the connection to Krabi. It turns out the connection is by road, they don’t have room for bikes. “You have a bike, you can ride to Krabi”. Well, yes, but I paid for a ticket to Krabi, it’s 30 km away. I can hardly go back and complain. Bah.
Day 291
A pleasant day cycling down through familiar palms and rubber trees, ending up at a mangrove swamp. Very peaceful, the mangroves are quite different to the African kind.
Day 292
Today I should get to the Malaysian border, and I pick a wiggly route through the villages. Then at lunchtime there’s a message from Anbera that the Wang Prachan border is closed to motor traffic. According to someone who was there a few days ago, they are not letting bicycles through either. I re-route to Satun, a town tucked away in the very south-west of Thailand, with a view to getting the ferry to Langkawi in the morning.
