Rest days in Bangkok

March 12, 2018 to March 14, 2018

How can it be I find one of South East Asia´s largest and most busy capitals more relaxing than any small town in the North of Cambodia? I´ve asked myself this question several times over the last few days and came up with three possible reasons:

a) I am completely anonymous here. You can walk around and nobody cares about you whereas you are under permanent observation in the remoter parts of SEA. People are gazing at you; children are permanently shouting any sort of greeting which I feel obliged to respond to; a lot of people who have any sort of English wish to try it out on you. This is on one hand the reason for me to go to the middle-of-nowhere, it does get a bit tiring after a certain amount of time though. Not here in Bangkok! People are friendly if you approach them with any sort of question or enquiry but you can remain entirely by yourself without being alone if you wish. And I wish to have exactly that at the moment after being the centre of attention in many places for more than 3 months now.

b) Bangkok is a visual sensation. No minute without something exciting happening. Not necessarily the big sightseeing sensations but if I step out of my hotel, life (=trade) is happening. Amazing what they manage to deal with in those narrow side streets. You would not allow that chaos in European town centers but it works fine here. And I love being in the middle of it.

And then Chinatown itself of course. It took me an hour to walk down the Chao Phraya ferry pier this morning and it is less than 2 km away from the hotel. Amazing shops, amazing restaurants. To me the very place to be and I can only repeat what I said the other day: I honestly don´t know why I was so eager to avoid central Bangkok over my last few trips and always started/finished in Lat Krabang at the airport. Well, it is obviously convenient to be picked up by the hotel shuttle when having the bike box with you but in the future I will do it differently: Pay a bit extra to get a cab at Suvarnabhumi to take me and my box down here to the K. Srikrung Hotel; get a room with "Hualamphong balcony" on the 5th to 7th floor; arrange a service appointment with Bok Bok Bikes (they are official Rohloff dealer for Thailand too!); leave Bangkok either by train or on a decent route which I am hoping to find on Wednesday. Feels like the best possible start to your Thailand cycling adventure.

c) I already mentioned above I would come back to the K. Srikrung Hotel. I am thoroughly enjoying my room/balcony and even decided to stay four nights. One interesting observation while booking that fourth night through agoda by the way: I first checked the prize on my mobile phone and it would have been just below 800 Baht. I then had another quick look at my route down to Samui and as it was clear I do still have plenty of time in hand I wanted to book the room on my netbook about 15 minutes after that first check - 920 Baht. I immediately took my mobile phone and checked there again: 870 Baht. I heard about that phenomenon a few times on customer care programmes back in Germany but today I was the "victim" myself for the first time.

Obviously I have not just been sitting on my balcony and roaming through Chinatown:

-I spent a wonderful morning with Bob on Sukhumvit Road yesterday and even did some shopping in one of the huge malls: Two compression sacks which may safe me sending some of my stuff ahead to New Zealand. Even more luggage? Yes and No. The sacks are brilliant and I don´t know why I ignored my friend Ruth, who has been trying to convince me to have some of them as she and her sister Ute were extremely happy with them over their last three South East Asia trips. Now I did buy two, realized myself how much space I can actually win in the panniers and will go back to the Empire Mall tomorrow and get two more. This time 8 but 12 liters. And have lunch with Bob afterwards, who is as impressed with the sacks and will get some more too. He compared the prices of those Osprey sacks and they are less than half the price than back in the US.

-In the afternoon I took my bike 4 km up the road from my hotel to Bok Bok Bikes and a thorough check by the owner Praphreut ("Ma") brought the sobering result that both hubs need replacement due to broken cones and the extra day here will be in his favour as well getting the work done I guess.

What else am I going to do with the two days while still here in Bangkok?When coming back from the bike shop yesterday I walked across one of the canals and I saw those boats full of passengers hammering down the rather narrow waterway, almost like the jetboats down in New Zealand. Almost.... I started thinking about doing that and on their website it says a day ticket is 200 Baht, available on the boats. When I asked Bob about it he suggested I should instead take a real river cruise on one of the Chao Phraya Express Boats which run on regular schedules up to Nonthaburi. And that´s what I did today and I loved it! Except that the conductors were the first rude people I ever met in Thailand but they have to make sure all those tourists don´t stay in the rear of the boat where you can take the best photos.

I wish to finish with another emotional highlight for me: I told you I met Jan for the first time in person while in Siem Reap after having "known" each other through another cycling site for many years. The same counts for Sydney-sider Andrew who sent me a message last night, saying he would be touching down in Bangkok on April 15, meeting me soon after somewhere near Surat Thani from where we will ride together towards the Malaysian border. There I/we will be joined by Singaporean Chris and his wife Coleen for who the same story accounts......Travelling cyclists are a very special breed and I am honoured and delighted to be part of it. Very likely too lofty words but I mean it!

The forehead on the right belongs to Bob. He didn´t want to be in the picture in full. No wonder with his unshaven legs...

Look very much forward to being part of it again on Wednesday...

Coming from a labour class background myself I seem to relate closest to those who work hard themselves. On the female side that´s usually cleaning ladies and chefs. This lady is one of my all time favourites! The pad khapao moo she cooks in the Food Court of the Hualamphong Station is outstanding. Trust me, you never spent 50 Baht any better.....

The Krungkasem Srikrung Hotel as seen from the Hualamphong Station. One possibly helpful advice: Hotel in Thai sounds like "Rong Rem". It is written like "Isuiisu" in Latin script as you see with the first seven symbols on top of the building. If you see this or the typical "24" you will find a room anywhere in Thailand

Bok Bok Bike. Yes, it is that small and crammed but I was extremely pleased with what I got

The Thai King. While I was at Bok Bok Bikes the Police completely shut off the road and they do aggressively chase anybody away from the boardwalks (except that one cleaning lady), prohibiting any photos to be taken. I was fortunate to get this one, adding to my series "Frankie goes to.....meet the SEA Royals." By the way: You would not believe how large the entourage following him is. At least 25 of the top-of-the-range S-class Mercedes Benz, all painted in bright red

The speed of these canal boats absolutely stunned me

Life is far more contemplative on the Chao Phraya River

Wat Arun and the Royal Thai Navy HQ taken from the northbound Chao Phraya Express Boat

The Royal Palace compound from the river

As I have been raving on about my balcony I wish to share my view at night...

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Andrew FatseasLooking forward to riding with you Frank!
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6 years ago

Leo van NoortPerfectly explained about the many greetings of people that pay attention to you. It is for sure nice, but sometimes and I think only cyclist can imagine, makes you feel tired.
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6 years ago