Pleasant day today, resting after a 5 day stretch of cycling. Hua Hin is extremely touristy and somewhat sleazy. We had a walk down to the beach area and sat for a while gazing out to sea until the rain started, which prompted an early return to the room where we relaxed, read and slept. We had fried frogs legs for supper; very tasty.
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers: 1627
Day 62: Hua Hin to Pretchaburi
Today was an absolute scorcher, forcing us to take more regular breaks which even tyrant Bill didn't complain about. We pass through a quieter sea side resort called Cha Am, which appears less sleazy then Hua Hin and in hindsight, we should have pushed on a little further two days ago.
We arrive in Pretchaburi and start searching for a guest house but encounter difficulties until a friendly Thai bloke got on his moped and shows us the way. The guest house is not great; Kate thinks it's another bail hostel, but we settled down. Later we find a great little restaurant just along the road which we return to several times.
Kilometers: 78
Total Kilometers: 1705
Day 63: Pretchaburi to Bangkok (Via night train)
Bill and Lee made an early visit this morning to the train station to find out about the 3pm train to Bangkok. They came back to report that the afternoon train would not allow the bikes on and we would have to catch the night train at 1:15am. Gutted. The guest house refused to offer a discount considering we'd quit the room at midnight and charged us a whole nights rent again. In the meantime, we decided to visit the city's Wat and temple grounds...
Arrived at the train station in plenty of time only to be told that the 1.15am train would be full and maybe we could get on the 1:50am train, which in any case had been delayed. Come 2:20am we are able to find space for our bikes and we're off to Bangkok!
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers: 1705
Day 64: Bangkok
We arrive in Bangkok at 05:30hrs; all three of us tired from not sleeping since yesterday morning, and Kate's weird in-built navigation system takes us straight to Kho San Road, where we dismount and have some well earned brekkie. With only 20mins gone since arriving on Kho San Road, we're joined by a pissed up American, who claims that today he will be hacking into a major banking system with some Russians and then heading off to complete a relatively major gem deal in the afternoon – what a tit! Digs found around the corner, on a quieter street, and we collapse to sleep. Later we take a walk trying to find a book shop, this turns into a major hike after a tuk-tuk driver politely told us to go in the complete wrong direction (charming fellow). Bangkok is absolutely crazy – we're getting hounded by everyone and from all sides; taxi's, tuk-tuks, t-shirts, drinks, food, tattoo's, bracelets, art, music, tailor-made suits, stupid wooden things that make frog noises......AAAAGGHHHHH!
Kilometers: 0
Total Kilometers:1705
Day 65: Bangkok
Today we cycled through the city traffic to take our bikes to be serviced and hopefully for Lee Lee's clicking pedal to be fixed once and for all. Bangkok traffic is crazy and it's soon discovered that drivers are not as courteous as they are out in the sticks. On the way we stop off at the British Embassy to let them know we are cycling north and find out they have a website into which we can log our details and from which they can track us. Bike shop located (well done Kate) and our cycles will be serviced and ready for collection on Saturday. However, the shops cycling gear is rather expensive (at four times the price we expected to pay) so we decide to look elsewhere. We take a taxi back from the shop and then sample the “delights” of Kho San Road. Bill decides to have a tattoo done in the original thai bamboo style.
Kilometers:0
Total Kilometers:1705
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