End of the first leg 22/02/2011 Phetchaburi to Bangkok 135.38km

Right now I feel worn out which is mainly my fault because I knew I would have a about a week off I wasn’t drinking enough and the day was rather emotional though I didn’t let it out, I will explain as I do every day.

The day started a little late, I didn’t rise from my bed till 7am but was quickly going and after locating breakfast, it was 8am by the time we were on our way. The riding was good, the bike gods were smiling down on us, another good tail wind and in the morning provided a fair bit of cloud cover. Again frustratingly after one hour Loon requested a stop for the dunny but because of the tailwind we made good time and before we knew it was in the familiar build up to a city, although I think Bangkok with a population of around 8 million, I think, is the biggest city I have cycled in to ever but I was enjoying it. The traffic got rather heavy but I was in an aggressive mood which later turned into frustration and anger. Being aggressive in the traffic wasn’t a bad thing, I was giving myself room to move and making sure cars and motorbikes (motorbikes are the biggest danger) knew to keep their distance and I made sure they knew I was there.  The way I was riding is probably why most people hate cyclists, hogging the road, weaving in and out and always in the way but at least they could see I was in the way so had to reason not to see me, I was rather enjoying myself to go with to be honest. As me and Loon got into the main part of the city problems began, I hadn’t looked at my Lonely Planet book or checked out where the best place for cheap accommodation is and  therefore hadn’t given myself an idea of where in the city to head to, Loon had done this therefore I left it down to him. This was a mistake, Bangkok is a pretty confusing place to ride round and we were struggling to get where we wanted, I didn’t feel in control. When you travel on your own you think about yourself, you don’t have to think if the other person wants to stop and get a cup of tea, which I sometimes do when I’m in a places like Bangkok just to sit back take it in and come up with a plan of action. Travelling with two you don’t do things as you’d like and well I tend go with the other persons ways and plan, before you know it you don’t have the slightest idea of what is going on or where you’re going or even where you are. This happened to me, before steam came out of my ears and I lost my head, (I haven’t felt like losing my temper since Sydney I guess), I stopped, sat down on the pavement and counted to a million. Loon is a polite guy so set to work on his GPS and didn’t say a word, I think he knew my frustrations. We went with directions from the GPS all be it slowly, we went down one way streets, Loon wasn’t keen on this but I didn’t care anymore, I wanted to be where we were going and we did make it to Ko San road where there was a number of guesthouse’s, not before I had grabbed a tow on the side of the unstable looking Tut Tut with its cheery crazy driver.

There was a lot of places to stay but feeling pretty grumpy instead of searching for the cheapest, I took whatever came up, 350 baht for two people, more expensive than I hoped but I didn’t care. I slept as soon as my carcass hit the bed, it had been a mentally and because I didn’t drink enough water or cover up from the sun, physically tiring day. Venturing out for food my frustrations and anger began to grow again, it was busy full of tourists and I didn’t feel I could get my own space, the only time I did is when we ventured just to the edge of the tourist bit and I sat on a kerb by the road where I could feel a cooling breeze and had my own space. Having plenty of time to explore I went back to my room, I bought a cheap beer (pretty awful bottle of beer to) from the 7/11 which finished me off.