A perfect nights sleep, I slept like a log and enjoyed it so much I allowed myself to sleep in. I took my time to pack up, I really like the peacefulness of this place, away from the general craziness of Thailand. Before I left I was given some crackers for breakfast and my water bottles were refilled, now that’s service.
On the road again I decided today I was going to put some air in my flat looking back tyre, I could feel it was flat never mind see. Stopping at a petrol station for the use of their pump riding was about to become much easier, my tyre was down at 20psi! It should be up around 70psi. I could feel a world of difference, it was almost like riding a new bike. I then stopped for breakfast where I learned the most important word I would need in Thailand, ‘Cha,’ which means ‘tea.’ I have been struggling to get a cup of tea, even iced tea I don’t mind, anywhere because nobody understands when I just say tea, saying ‘cha’ does not have a 100% success rate however. I was really enjoying the riding this morning, the coolness of the morning just made it delightful, this morning though there was a few army checkpoints which I presume is because of the close proximity to the Burmese border. Going through one of these checkpoints all the guards began making a fuss, I stopped as I wasn’t sure what was going on. A guard came over and repeatedly said ‘Cream,’ and was pointing back towards a sign written in Thai (so I thought). I told him I have no cream but he kept repeating ‘cream,’ I was wondering if he had his English mixed up until the mystery was solved, a guard came over with my sun cream that had fallen out going over one of the speed bumps. The drama wasn’t over yet though, I was then ushered over to a tent next to the checkpoint where two important looking soldiers were sitting (I base this on the fact they were in the shade reading the paper and drinking coffee while the others worked) and a smartly dressed man who was an interpreter. They asked me, via the smartly dressed man, ‘where I was going,’ ‘where I had come from,’ ‘where did I stay last night,’ ‘where I was going to stay tonight,’ you get the jist. They asked if I wanted a coffee to which I replied inquisitively, ‘Cha?’ Unfortunately there was none. After a few more questions it became apparent they were just curious about why somebody would want to carry all their worldly possessions on a bicycle going from place to place.
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| Sporting my Lycra. |
I rather enjoyed my little interrogation by the army, it was more a friendly chat but I can big it up how I like, I showed the them a few pictures I had, as they’d asked what I did I showed them a picture of me pedicabbing in Sydney and showed them picture of Jess (my dog). I few silent moments came before I was told I was free to leave. To them I may have looked a little nervous and uneasy, well they were half right I was a little uneasy but that is purely because I was sat there with the Thai army wearing lycra cycling clothing, I don’t wear it for image, I did try wearing shorts over the lycra shorts but its too uncomfortable and I have to wear the cycling top, which in all fairness actually is very suitable for what I require, as it has pockets to keep my phone and wallet in.
Soon enough the glorious morning had been replaced by the hot hot hot afternoon sun. Today it felt particularly bad and from the times of 1pm till 3pm I only managed 10km. I had to keep stopping the heat was unbearable, also I was back on a main road and I could feel the fumes of the cars making the air even worse. One last this that was making life incredible difficult was the road, it was never flat, either up or down. After 3pm, riding was much more comfortable, I could feel the heat easing up and after a stop at 5pm it was as delightful as riding the morning.
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| Camp for the night which was OK except for the cockroaches, frogs and dogs that terrorized me. |
My plan was to ride till 530pm where I would then keep an eye open for a police box where I could try and camp near, if this failed from 6pm I would have 30mins before the sun set to keep an eye open for a secluded camping spot. I found a police box just before 6pm in a small ‘drive through village,’ asking the local rozzer if he had a patch of beautiful, lush green grass to put a tent up the response was blank, he didn’t speak a word of English. Whether or not he understood my charades he said ‘OK,’ then disappeared back inside his police box. I walked round but there was nowhere to put a tent up, so I followed a dirt track that ran behind the police box to a tree plantation, it was perfectly hidden and with darkness close the chance of being spotted was slim. Just as I was picking my spot a local man appeared from round the corner, giving me a look of ‘what the hell are you doing?’ Before he decided to release the hounds I gave him a big smile (this seems to work well with the Thai’s) and indicated sleep here. I was given a smile and two big thumbs up. I just hope nobody else was passing this way, but come morning I’m sure they will be so I made sure I could get away early but as my phone was dead I had no morning alarm. The place I chosen to camp was full of insects and frogs hoping around the dead leaves and every time I went to the bike I came across a cockroach one of my biggest foes, I made it a nervous night till I was safe in my tent where I could sweat the night away. Luckily for me it was cooler than the other nights so I wasn’t so bad.
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