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.
Today we were cycling past an abandoned science park and there was lots of things to do but most of them were broken. Mum wants the perpetual motion machine for our front yard.