We arrived in Bangkok at 1am on Saturday and stayed at an airport hotel that was far to fancy for Rowan (although still very cheap). All the staff were fascinated by the big box and spent the next morning helping us get it together. At one stage there was five guys all squeezing the tires and trying to adjust bits while giggling away about a bike for two people. They thought it was hilarious when rowan took them each for a ride down the street.
Riding a bike in Bangkok traffic is absolutely crazy - covered from
head to toe in smog, cars and motorbikes everywhere, lost and unable to read Thai street signs. On reflection it was fun but at the time it was hell. It took us about 3 hours to ride the 20km to the train station. We booked our tickets to Chiang Mai and then headed to China Town to kill some time and find some tasty food. We met another biker from Switzerland. He has been riding for eight months (8,500km) around South America and now Asia with 35kg of stuff on a fold up bike! One day we will return to Bangkok to actually see the sights, but for this trip we were keen to get out 
of there asap to start the ride. Slept most of the 15 hour train ride to Chaing Mai. We were a bit worried about the bike which was tied by 5 cm of string to the wall of an open cargo hold but it was all fine in the end.
Chiang Mai is a relaxed and friendly place. We were lucky enough to arrive on Sunday to experience the awesome night market - about 5 streets are shut down and there are hundreds of stalls and buskers everywhere and, of course, heaps of tasty treats for Rowan to try. It is also a bit of a cultural capital with buddhist
Wats on every corner.
We were going to start our ride the next day, but due to a good night with too many cheap cocktails we decided to stay in Chiang Mai another day. We justified hiring a Kawasaki 600cc touring bike on the basis that we were checking out the 'road conditions'. As per usual Rowan was mental (we rode the mountain pass at 120 km/h) and Kate was screaming. We visited a geyser in the national park which was not in the lonely planet and thus not overrun with 'whities' as so many places are.
Tonight we are going to bed early and preparing for our 100km mountain pass on the tandem tomorrow.
Hope you are all well. stay tuned
Keep up the posts! your Mum has emailed all and sundry to make sure we're looking in! It looks like the next few days are going to be really awesome,Have a great time.
ReplyDeleteLots of Love
Sue and Alice xx