What 2 quid a night buys you in Bangkok
Today I rode the 660kms from Ventiene in Laos to Bangkok in one go as I'm very keen to get the bike shipped to Nepal as soon as possible. Fortunately the roads in Thailand are way better than Laos and this one is a 2 lane highway so I can cover a much greater distance than I have of late. Because the road is so much better, I decide to use my mp3 player today to help pass the time and head south to the sounds of The Greyboy Allstars. I figured that it would be around 7.30pm and dark by the time I got to Bangkok but as I planned on going back to the same guest house I stayed in before, it wouldn't be too much of a problem.
The battery on my mp3 player lasts the day until I get about 30kms from my hostel however the shear volume of traffic around me makes me decide I really need to concentrate now and switch it off. Its dark and I'm in the middle of about 5 lanes, each of which is solid with traffice inching its way forward, with hundreds of mopeds buzzing between the vehicles like flies. Its also raining heavily and I eventually find out why the traffic is so heavy- the roads are flooded to a depth of around 8" in places. To make matters worse, the bike decides to stall on me and won't start. I push it between the cars to the side of the road, eventually getting it started again after about 5 minutes. It did this in Vangvien too after a night of heavy rain and hope this isn't the start of some new problem.
It's painfully slow squeezing my heavily loaded bike between the traffic and trying to avoid any more encounters with mopeds as they fly down the gaps. It takes 2 hours to get through this and is well after 9pm by the time I eventually reach my destination, flopping down on the single bed in my cell-like room. I've scanned and emailed off all my documents to the shipping company I'm going to use to get the bike to Nepal, here's hoping they don't take forever in organising it.
As part of my prep, I get a new front tire fitted but as this is Bangkok, I manage to get myself stopped by the cops going and coming back from the shop. It took me a lot of energy to decide to cross town in the first place so this was all I needed. The first cop explained I should have been 'left' and not 'right' or something. Who knows. He took a look at my frankly shoddy licence copy, laughed and said it was a copy. I somehow convinced him it was my real license though and we commenced the now familiar routine. Wave a ticked in Thai at me and say I'll have to go to the Police station to pay and get my fake license back. But then he tells me 'but you don't know where Police staition is?'. I tell him just give me the address and I'll find it, though as I suspect he knows he isn't actually holding my real license, he repeats 'ah, but you don't know where... etc'. He now begins the begging for money bit where he mutters 'maybe you can, erm, eh, maybe you pay something..' but he can't quite say it. After a minute or two of this, I'm waved on without paying anything again.
On the way back from the tire shop, unbelievably the same thing happens again though this time, its one cop on his own and he can't speak English so after a brief flutter on his radio, I'm waved on again.
So currently, the scores now stand at:
Overlander 3 : Bent coppers 0
I quickly tire or my depressing cell-like room with no windows and the constant noise of tuk-tuks accelerating all night and find something much nicer for a little more cash. If I'm going to be here for a week or two, I might as well not be tempted to commit suicide in the process. I also manage to get some more bike prep done, stuff that I should have done in Australia but ran out of time. As my horn broke in my accident, I get a local guy to fit two loud ones and sort out the new wiring. This will be essential in India where you need to be heard. I also get some perspex cut which I'm going to try and fit to my headlight as I'll need something to protect the glass from flying stones on the rough roads.
And yesterday (4 July), I finally get the green light to take the bike over to the shipping agents on monday so hope to be in Nepal by the end of next week.
As part of my prep, I get a new front tire fitted but as this is Bangkok, I manage to get myself stopped by the cops going and coming back from the shop. It took me a lot of energy to decide to cross town in the first place so this was all I needed. The first cop explained I should have been 'left' and not 'right' or something. Who knows. He took a look at my frankly shoddy licence copy, laughed and said it was a copy. I somehow convinced him it was my real license though and we commenced the now familiar routine. Wave a ticked in Thai at me and say I'll have to go to the Police station to pay and get my fake license back. But then he tells me 'but you don't know where Police staition is?'. I tell him just give me the address and I'll find it, though as I suspect he knows he isn't actually holding my real license, he repeats 'ah, but you don't know where... etc'. He now begins the begging for money bit where he mutters 'maybe you can, erm, eh, maybe you pay something..' but he can't quite say it. After a minute or two of this, I'm waved on without paying anything again.
On the way back from the tire shop, unbelievably the same thing happens again though this time, its one cop on his own and he can't speak English so after a brief flutter on his radio, I'm waved on again.
So currently, the scores now stand at:
Overlander 3 : Bent coppers 0
I quickly tire or my depressing cell-like room with no windows and the constant noise of tuk-tuks accelerating all night and find something much nicer for a little more cash. If I'm going to be here for a week or two, I might as well not be tempted to commit suicide in the process. I also manage to get some more bike prep done, stuff that I should have done in Australia but ran out of time. As my horn broke in my accident, I get a local guy to fit two loud ones and sort out the new wiring. This will be essential in India where you need to be heard. I also get some perspex cut which I'm going to try and fit to my headlight as I'll need something to protect the glass from flying stones on the rough roads.
And yesterday (4 July), I finally get the green light to take the bike over to the shipping agents on monday so hope to be in Nepal by the end of next week.
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