On the morning of the 8th I take a flight to Bangkok. Gisi an Austrian girl is so kind pay for the taxi from the airport to the centre. Dylan from Hawai joins us as well. Dylan knows a cheap guesthouse near Kaosan and we end up there. In the evening we meet Gisi again, who spent most of the day in a swimmingpool, before she flies back tonight. The 9th is dedicated to rhyming, my family celebrates Sinterklaas tonight. All rhymes are finished except the one for Iljoesja, sorry Il! The next few days I use to look for bikes, but not to fanatical if it was not for Vlad a Czech in the same Guesthouse I probably would still be looking.
In between my searches I meet Eric, from the beach in Myanmar and with him I go on a trainride to the southeast of Bangkok. The train almost goes through peoples houses and when it stops in town, people go in on one side and leave through the opposite door, because they do not want to wait until it leaves. Just before the end point the train goes through a market. The stalls and the merchandise have to be moved everytime a train passes. Fortunately for them not that often
I also bump into Roger, I met him and Mireile in Kunming and although Mireile is not feeling well we have dinner and a lot of beers (only with Roger). The 14th I finally leave Bangkok with my newly acquired bicycle. On advice of the boys at the guesthouse I have been drinking with the last few days I take the train until Petchaburi. Because of excess alcohol consumption I fail to catch the two trains in the morning so I end up taking the one at 13:00. When I arrive in Petchaburi I cycle 100 meters and then ask for directions to a policeman. At that moment two motorcyclists collide and one ends up in my front wheel. I have in total not cycled 5 km with this bike and already it is ready for repairs. When I remove the front brakes I can still cycle and for the nex hour I follow the policeman around town for someone who can repair the front wheel. The only bikeshop is closed for a few days, because the daughter is getting married. Eventually we find someone who does an excellent job. He does not want any money for it, not even for the coke I took from his shop. It feels good to be cycling again! Later that night I am invited for beers and dinner by a group of boys all working in the same icecreamshop.
In the morning finally cycling really begins I end up at a deserted beach, with a restaurant nearby, an ideal combination. Unfortunately to get from my musquito net to the restaurant I get attacked by dozens of musquito's. I can kill most of them, but quite a few managed to get some Bart blood. I had hoped that they would be quiet when I leave the safety of the net for a midnight pee, no such luck. The next morning I am invited to watch some cock boxing fights in a small homemade arena. I watch two fights, but I am not able to see, who wins. On the road top Thap Sakae I loose my map. When I try to buy a new one I meet a man who advises me to go to Ban Kruit, it is about 20km and the man is waiting at every crossroads to direct me in the right direction and at one point he holds a can of coke out when I pass, it feels like I have a support car with me.
I am very lucky with the wind. It is coming from the northeast and blowing with force Bf6. This makes cycling very easy most of the time. When I get lost, because I forgot the name of the city I was supposed to be going to, I have a few less nice stretches of road.
In between my searches I meet Eric, from the beach in Myanmar and with him I go on a trainride to the southeast of Bangkok. The train almost goes through peoples houses and when it stops in town, people go in on one side and leave through the opposite door, because they do not want to wait until it leaves. Just before the end point the train goes through a market. The stalls and the merchandise have to be moved everytime a train passes. Fortunately for them not that often
I also bump into Roger, I met him and Mireile in Kunming and although Mireile is not feeling well we have dinner and a lot of beers (only with Roger). The 14th I finally leave Bangkok with my newly acquired bicycle. On advice of the boys at the guesthouse I have been drinking with the last few days I take the train until Petchaburi. Because of excess alcohol consumption I fail to catch the two trains in the morning so I end up taking the one at 13:00. When I arrive in Petchaburi I cycle 100 meters and then ask for directions to a policeman. At that moment two motorcyclists collide and one ends up in my front wheel. I have in total not cycled 5 km with this bike and already it is ready for repairs. When I remove the front brakes I can still cycle and for the nex hour I follow the policeman around town for someone who can repair the front wheel. The only bikeshop is closed for a few days, because the daughter is getting married. Eventually we find someone who does an excellent job. He does not want any money for it, not even for the coke I took from his shop. It feels good to be cycling again! Later that night I am invited for beers and dinner by a group of boys all working in the same icecreamshop. 
In the morning finally cycling really begins I end up at a deserted beach, with a restaurant nearby, an ideal combination. Unfortunately to get from my musquito net to the restaurant I get attacked by dozens of musquito's. I can kill most of them, but quite a few managed to get some Bart blood. I had hoped that they would be quiet when I leave the safety of the net for a midnight pee, no such luck. The next morning I am invited to watch some cock boxing fights in a small homemade arena. I watch two fights, but I am not able to see, who wins. On the road top Thap Sakae I loose my map. When I try to buy a new one I meet a man who advises me to go to Ban Kruit, it is about 20km and the man is waiting at every crossroads to direct me in the right direction and at one point he holds a can of coke out when I pass, it feels like I have a support car with me.
I am very lucky with the wind. It is coming from the northeast and blowing with force Bf6. This makes cycling very easy most of the time. When I get lost, because I forgot the name of the city I was supposed to be going to, I have a few less nice stretches of road.
3 comments:
Je houdt me wel in spanning met drie 'Nieuwskoppen' (2u56, 3u04, 3u05)die veelbelovend lijken. Na een maand wachten op een nieuw BJ avontuur kan ik eigenlijk niet wachten. Ben benieuwd welke inhoud er onder komt en gauw iets van je te lezen! G FJ
Indeed, the audience is waiting. Did our hero get through customs? What happened in Birma? How did his faithful bike survive? Don't leave us with the headers only. Let the show continue!
A New Year on a new bike! Thanks for the photos and the story update. It took some time, but it was worth waiting for. Take good care of the Bart blood.
28/12/06
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