Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all of your comments. We try to reply to every comment but have just been told that it is not easy to find our replies. Allister is looking into it and hopefully it will be easier soon.
Please keep on commenting. We love hearing from everyone. The boys get a real kick out of knowing that someone has read what they have written.
Missing you all but having too much fun to come home.
Julie
Slower than expected start to today’s ride. We noticed that the rear rack on the orange tandem was loose and on closer inspection we saw that one of the bolts had sheared off. Once we started looking at it then the manager at the hotel we were staying at got involved and organised a couple of guys to come and help. It all seemed a little overkill, especially, when they pulled out the welder, but I am no expert, so I took off down the street to do some banking and fill the water bottles.
An hour later and the back rack is all fixed and the boys test out the bike in the Grand Hotel car park.
It was an easy days ride today, but quite hot. With the later than usual start meant I was already sweating huge droplets before we even got started. The ride took us through an large industrial area specialising in oil refining. Huge pipes seemed to be surrounding us on both sides and every five hundred metres they crossed the road like a pedestrian bridge.
After the industrial area we cycled along the coast until we came to the town of Rayong. The route crisscrossed us through the suburbs and gave us an intimate look at the town. The eastern side of the town is taken up by more industry and we were forced onto the main highway for about 5kms, but had some welcome relief of riding a nice track beside a canal soon after to take us back to the coast.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/876569431/
I got a slingshot. It is very cool and a guy showed me how to shoot with great aim.
Dad and I went out shooting. It was very fun. But dad broke my slingshot he says he will fix it but he has not yet.
We found accommodation in a town called Ban Chang. It is only a cross road on Google maps but when we cycled into town we realised that it is a small city. We saw a sign for a hotel called the Grand. We decided to head towards it. The boys decided to race us on foot because it was only 500m down what we thought was a quiet road. As the boys rounded a corner on the foot path they ran straight into a squeal of ‘working girls’. The girls were all dressed up ready for a night of work. The street we were on was the equivalent of Hay street in Kalgoolie. Both of the boys stopped in their tracks in shock. This gave the girls time to close in. Patrick got a squeeze on the bum and Robert got a kiss on the cheek. The girls were hooting with laughter and the boys were horrified. The boys pushed their way through the girls and made it out alive. Later we had to explain to Patrick what the oldest profession in the world is.
This morning was like every other morning. We woke up expecting to have a great day. We live in hope. When we went to load the panniers on the bikes we realised that my rack had broken away from my bike frame. This is a problem because the rack wobbles and it puts a lot of load on the other attachment sites.
When we looked closer we discovered that the bolt had sheared off at the frame. Big problem. The owner of the hotel offered to help and to cut a long story short, he ended up getting two of his mates to come to the hotel with a welder and an electric drill. Kingsley and Phil would be horrified at what they did to get the bolt out of the frame but after about an hour they had it repaired. That bolt hole will never be the same again but I don’t care. It’s fixed.
We hit the road mid morning and made it to a beach side hotel by mid afternoon. The closer we get to Cambodia the hotter it is getting. We are hoping for an early start tomorrow morning to avoid the midday heat, but who knows what tomorrow has in store for us.
Early in the morning today, me and Patrick decided to get up early to do some beyblades. It is so much fun because we have so many now.
We also got a Beyblade Arena. It is yellow and much stronger than all the other ones that we keep breaking.
When we were nearing our hotel we noticed a store that sold beyblades. We begged mom to see how much money they would be, eventually she let us and they were cheap enough, so we bought them.
But Patrick’s one was dodgy and broke in half.
P.S. if 5 people comment with a 🙂 I will continue the Beyblade series.
Back to our standard cycling today. My right foot held up well and as you can see below we put it to the test early on trying a less ridden track.
After a pit stop at a 7-Eleven we met a fellow cyclist, Ronan, who was also getting some supplies. After chatting about what route to cycle he offered guide us through the back roads. It made a big difference having someone with local knowledge. GoogleMaps tries to go the most direct route and doesn’t know the condition of the road, so he saved us some dodgy roads, but still had a very scenic route. Thanks Ronan.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/875527657/
Two short bicycle rides between a long bus ride from Hua Hin to Pattaya. It is our first time travelling with the tandems. At first I don’t think the bus people thought it would fit, but with the help of an Allen key the tandems fitted in perfectly. We originally thought we would take the new ferry to Pattaya, but they don’t allow bicycles unless they are packed up like luggage. Also, the bus was half the price and was not weather dependent.
The bus ride was long, but very comfortable. As you can see below the chairs reclined back a long way and we all caught up on some sleep. The bus route takes you close to Bangkok and gave some spectacular views of the city from the top of bridges.
We were all glade to bypass Bangkok because it is a massive city and the traffic all the way to Pattaya was heavy.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/874302204/
Today was supposed to be an easy 38km ride to a white sand beach. Well it didn’t go to plan. Firstly, Allister was stuck on the phone with the Samsung repair people. He then needed us to backtrack to a bank to deposit money into the Samsung repair account. We cycled back and predictably, the bank didn’t exist. We could only find an ATM with no deposit facilities.
We decided to push on in the hope of finding a bank along the way. No luck so far.
There were two options for cycle routes today. Coastal and highway or inland. We chose inland because Allister felt it would be nicer than the highway. We all agreed and headed off. This was our first hurdle.
After crossing this creek and cleaning the grit out of our shoes, we were just about to head off and a motorbike arrived in front of us. The driver of the motorbike was a police officer and he told us we were not allowed to proceed. Understandably we quickly backtracked across the creek again.
In the end we had to zigzag our way south. After a while we stopped at a 7-Eleven for a cold drink. There was another cyclist there having a drink. He was on a road bike. He was Anglo looking and after being in Pattaya, I assumed he was Russian. We all sat down outside to have our drinks and Allister started chatting to him. To our surprise he had an Irish accent. The first thing he said to us was that he was surprised we were not German because he assumed we were German because they are the crazy ones who do cycle tours with their kids. We all had a laugh.
He asked us where we were headed. He explained that the route we had chosen was not great and he volunteered to lead us. We agreed. He cycled with us for about 25km.
Had a nice rest in Hua Hin. We spent our days reading, watching movies, eating great food and our nights were spent wondering the many night markets around Hua Hin. My favourite dish at the moment is sticky rice with mango.
We spent half a day at the immigration office in Hua Hin, getting renewals on our visas. That was an eye opener. We have been so remote and away from other tourists that it was strange to be surrounded by them at immigation. Some people are so rude and impatient. The boys and I had fun people watching while we waited.
We researched our options for bipassing Bangkok. Our options included ferry (expensive), private taxi (expensive and uncomfortable) or bus (5 hours). In the end we chose the bus. The seats were business class quality and the cost was half the price of the ferry. The bikes fit easily in the cargo hold so we did not have to disassemble them.
We are now in Pattaya. I can understand why it is not a popular destination for Australians. Pretty much every tourist here is Russian. It is the Russian equivalent of Kuta for Australians. We are cycling away this morning and I doubt I will even return here. It is so developed with shops, restaurants and hotels. It reminds me a lot of Kuta.
Allister is still having phone problems. We left his phone in Surat Thani for servicing, with the arrangement that they would post it to us in Hua Hin. Well, it didn’t arrive. He is now on the phone with them trying to get it posted to Trat but they are asking for more money because it is not a Thai phone and they can not use Thai parts to repair it. I have a feeling he should cut his losses but he wants to get his phone back. Once we cross the border into Cambodia, I suspect that will be the end of it. I doubt they will post it to another country.
Allister also repaired his first broken spoke. He did it very well.
This is an update on Beyblades 1. Whenever we have a rest day Patrick and I go looking for Beyblades. If we do find some, Mum will only get them if we bargain for them. It hard to get them.
Patrick and I have 5 each now. We have so many they don’t all fit in the arena any more. We have to makeshift with things we find in the places we are staying because we don’t have one of out on.
