The past few days have reminded us that bike touring in SE Asia is no walk in the park. On top of the stifling tropical heat, we've had a bike accident, some of the worst riding conditions of the trip and now Ginny is sick in bed with Thai tummy. On the positive side, it's great being in Thailand as the food is the best we've had all trip, the roads and riding conditions have mostly been really good and there are so many more services. You can barely go a km without running into a 7-Eleven!
We crossed the border between Cambodia and Thailand on May 6 and it was the easiest border crossing of the trip. After being charged for two visas for Cambodia, it was nice to not be charged anything to enter Thailand. Upon entering Thailand, we immediately noticed the difference in road and traffic conditions as compared to the other countries we've been riding through. Notably there are way more cars here and they drive really fast! There still are scooters but they don't dominate the traffic flow as in Vietnam. The roads are essentially built to the same standards as the US (although it's left side driving here) and the road signage is amazing. We often got lost in Vietnam as there was little to no signage but here we've got signage up the wazoo!
On our first day riding in Thailand, Ginny crashed her bike while being chased by a dog. She was fortunately okay with not much more than a skinned knee and big bruises but the rear wheel on her bike was in rough shape. We found a bike shop in Chanthaburi who rebuilt her entire wheel for $16! They also gave us some great tips on places to eat and fed us fruit while we waited for Ginny's wheel to be ready. Now that is customer service!
After a couple days of pretty good riding, we hit the resort town of Rayong which was probably the worst riding of the trip. We spent about 40 kms riding on eight lane arterials with tons of traffic, pouring rain and vehicles coming up behind us trying to turn the shoulder into yet another lane (are eight lanes not enough?). We finally escaped the madness by getting on some backroads which gave us beautiful riding past palm trees and unknown crops (and a few feisty dogs). Since we would get much of the same auto dominated environment as we got closer to Bangkok, we decided to hop a bus from Pattaya City to Hua Hin. Our bus ride went very smoothly (ie., no haggling over taking the bikes, no accidents, etc) and we made it to Hua Hin last night.
We're taking a rest day today as Ginny has come down with a tummy bug and needs to get better before we can ride again. We should probably be more careful with eating street food but it's so delicious! So we're laying low, licking our wounds and will be out riding again in no time. We've ridden over 2,000 miles and have about 1,000 miles to go!
We crossed the border between Cambodia and Thailand on May 6 and it was the easiest border crossing of the trip. After being charged for two visas for Cambodia, it was nice to not be charged anything to enter Thailand. Upon entering Thailand, we immediately noticed the difference in road and traffic conditions as compared to the other countries we've been riding through. Notably there are way more cars here and they drive really fast! There still are scooters but they don't dominate the traffic flow as in Vietnam. The roads are essentially built to the same standards as the US (although it's left side driving here) and the road signage is amazing. We often got lost in Vietnam as there was little to no signage but here we've got signage up the wazoo!
On our first day riding in Thailand, Ginny crashed her bike while being chased by a dog. She was fortunately okay with not much more than a skinned knee and big bruises but the rear wheel on her bike was in rough shape. We found a bike shop in Chanthaburi who rebuilt her entire wheel for $16! They also gave us some great tips on places to eat and fed us fruit while we waited for Ginny's wheel to be ready. Now that is customer service!
After a couple days of pretty good riding, we hit the resort town of Rayong which was probably the worst riding of the trip. We spent about 40 kms riding on eight lane arterials with tons of traffic, pouring rain and vehicles coming up behind us trying to turn the shoulder into yet another lane (are eight lanes not enough?). We finally escaped the madness by getting on some backroads which gave us beautiful riding past palm trees and unknown crops (and a few feisty dogs). Since we would get much of the same auto dominated environment as we got closer to Bangkok, we decided to hop a bus from Pattaya City to Hua Hin. Our bus ride went very smoothly (ie., no haggling over taking the bikes, no accidents, etc) and we made it to Hua Hin last night.
We're taking a rest day today as Ginny has come down with a tummy bug and needs to get better before we can ride again. We should probably be more careful with eating street food but it's so delicious! So we're laying low, licking our wounds and will be out riding again in no time. We've ridden over 2,000 miles and have about 1,000 miles to go!
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