Cycle Touring Bangkok

April 1st Bangkok

Yesterday we said goodbye to Donna and Chris, Maria's friends from home. It was great to spend a few days with them and unfortunately I think I talked their ears off as for 3 months it has just been Maria and me.

We visited the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha and went into the city to the Cabbage and Condom Restaurant.  Drinking beer on the Khaosan road and having massages, a great way to finish the trip.

For Donna and Chris the the trip has just begun and I am a little jealous however we have had a great time and ready for new challenges back home.

I hope to put a little more information on my blogs just in case they are of use to other cyclist heading out, I might even get a website going.  For now though time to pack.

Cycle Touring Thailand Samut Sakhon to Bangkok

March 27th Samut Sakhon to Bangkok 44km

Not too sure how good of an idea cycling into the city was.  The roads started busy and ended up manic. It did feel at times like a possible life ending experience but like everything the longer you do it the less scary it gets.  By the time we got there we were weaving through the traffic like the locals ( well not quite).

The hotel was difficult to find as it is not on a road but on a footpath next to a canal.  The Blackberry did it's job well and navigated us straight to it, we just didn't believe it.

With our last day of cycling done we put the bikes away and started to collect the bits we need for the trip home.

Cycle Touring Thailand Nakhon Pathom to Samut Sakhon

March 26th Nakhon Pathom to Samut Sakhon 55km

Had a bit of a dodgey belly so had a couple of runs to the loo, then put some air in my tyre and the valve broke so had to change the tub.  The GPS wouldn't work so we headed out a couple of km further than we needed.  Not the best start.

All went well for a while on nice back roads, then we hit a dual carriageway but as it wasn't far we decided to stick to it.  Just s well as it started raining then pouring with a good dose of thunder and lightning.

The road turned to crap as we hit a long stretch of road works before finally turning to dirt.  How can you go from lovely smooth tarmac to a bumpy mud track in 10km on a main road??  When we got to the town the hotels were all on the other side of 6 lanes of fast moving traffic, nothing is going smoothly today.

We finally found a fly over and a hotel that didn't just do rooms by the hour!  As it turns out we could of easily crossed over Thai style and just ridden down the wrong side of the road like they do.  It would have saved 4km, I guess the rain must damped my brain.

Tomorrow Bangkok, should be an interesting ride!!

More water wheels

This was a tarmac dual carriageway before it turned into this

CycleTouring Thailand Suphan Buri to Nakhon Pathom

March 25th Suphan Buri to Nakhon Pathom 105km

It seems we can't stop doing 100km+ days even when the plan was to only cover 87km.  The first problem was a road we were supposed to take was being resurfaced with truck carting gravel and masses of dust.  It looked like there was another easy option so we opted for that.  As it turns out google maps showed a road that didn't exist so we travelled down a slowly deteriorating track until it came to n end and had to back track.  Still we got there in the end and saw even more obscure Thai places we wouldn't of if it weren't for google.

I don't think we could of travelled around avoiding the main roads without google maps and the blackberry so it is easy to forgive it the odd mistake.

The ride today was great all in all and we crossed a temporary bridge that was the worst surfaced bridge I have ever ridden across, cool.  We passed a street party where a young lady stood in the road and jiggled her bits at me, thing is it was 9.30 on a Sunday morning.  An early start or a late finish!!!

Had another massage to finish the day off, the best yet.

A shorter day tomorrow and thinking we might ride into Bangkok instead of getting a taxi.

Nice bridge, not!

The best shop in Thailand

Cycle Touring Tahiland Ayutthaya to Suphan Buri

March 24th Ayutthaya to Suphan Buri

Today we have come across all types of road including no road at all, well no bridge to be more precise.  Following google maps routes take you to some interesting place you won't find on a normal tourist itinerary that's for sure.

Two random things today, the first was having to avoid 2 elephants heading the wrong way down a dual carriageway!  They were accompanied but still not something you see every day.  The second was a pickup full of monks.  As they drove past one hung out of the window and had a chat as we rode along.  As they drove off you could see at least 3 of them in the back smoking, somehow did think they would.

It wasn't far today but the roads were quite slow in the latter parts of the ride.  All in all a great ride though.  Hotel 800baht including breakfast, it even has a pool although we haven't used it.

Pimp my combine

Wheres the bridge?

Massive fields

Not sure what they are doing but they liked having their picture taken

Thats a hole in the road

Massive lilly pads

Ausitn 1300

Cycle Touring Thailand Nakhon Nayok to Ayutthaya

March 23rd Nakhon Nayok to Ayutthaya 94km

Ok so we missed a turn and added about another 7km to the trip.  Today we had a mix of dual carriageway, 2 lane and dirt roads.  It was nice to have a good mix and a good tailwind.

We are stying in the same place as we did over 5 weeks ago but this time moving on in the morning.

Thai Gnome

Not a busy stretch

What can you say

Cycle Touring Thailand Kabin Buri to Nakhon Nayok

March 22nd Kabin Buri to Nakhon Nayok 80km

Strange day today, as there wasn't a restaurant in the hotel we left without breakfast and for some reason ended up visiting 2 7/11 stores and 3 cafes before we managed to get any.  The AH1 continued to be quiet, even going down to a normal 2 lane road for awhile without much of an increase in traffic.

I think today was the day for random manufacturing on the side of the road with spirit houses, headstones, wooden and thatched cabins being some of the items for sale.  We also passed a stand selling giant bananas and a park full of cockerel statues?! 

We struggled to find a hotel but eventually stopped for lunch at Bees Cafe and got directions to a place 1km away with nice rooms for 500baht.

We covered 80km but at least 5 of those were looking for a hotel.

Since we started touring (not just riding) we have covered 8,000km.

Taxi rank Kabin Buri style

Here are some we made earlier

Home to go

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Big Banana

Buffalo in the background