November 6, 2022 to November 10, 2022
Take hold of the smallest thing
Portland to Bangkok
Dear little friends,
The baby peeked through the seats in front of us with bright eyes. Cautiously she poked one chubby little hand toward me, and I responded by pretending to run my fingers up her arm, without touching her of course. She chortled and asked for more. Children want so little, really.
As we deplaned in Tokyo I complimented her mother on her beautiful and well-behaved child and she told us their next flight was to Jakarta. I said we were heading to Bangkok. Then like a puff of dandelion smoke every person on that flight moved in 175 different directions and none of us will ever see each other again. Never. I guess I’ve been isolated long enough that this very common random coming together and then separating again seems profound and maybe even a little sad. I don’t know why. I was glad I was with Bruce, who I definitely will see again.
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We just might be getting a little old for these long flights, truth be told. They seemed quite arduous. I wear noise canceling headphones which are wonderful, I’ll never fly again without them, but they don’t cancel out the cramped seats, the various horrible movies that people around me watch on their little screens. I’m one of those weirdos that love airplane food but let’s just say that United is, uh, lacking in that department.
The last flight was long too and when we stumbled out of there the smell and heat of Thailand almost did me in. The thought hits me every single time: what was I thinking? Honestly, I’d like to arrive and be thrilled but that’s not really possible when you’re completely wiped out and 15 hours off your home time.
When does it become thrilling? Is it after that 2am glorious shower and crawling into a surprisingly comfy bed? Is it when Bruce opens the sliding balcony door so I can hear my favorite Thai bird, the koel, calling out in the jungly lot across the street? What I know about jet lag is that things feel really, really wrong for a day or so, super unsettling, even when you really wanted to come to this place, which I did.
The first three days in Thailand have been spent gathering up the thrill as it slowly trickles back in and things start feeling good, then great, then awesome. We pottered around resting, eating, visiting with friends, doing some money changing and SIM card buying, putting the bikes together, eating some more, sending photos of food to the foodies in my life, checking in with family back home, taking showers and siestas. Busy busy busy. But not riding.
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You and Andrea are an inspiration (along with others here at CB) to keep heading out, not to mention overcoming obstacles to do that! (Obstacles re physical health increasing with age for many of us, for sure.)
Your comment to Steve and Dodie recently about using cardboard boxes when checking bikes on flights resonates with me as a good option that we might use with our BF tandem. We've used the hard case (for wheels, triangles, etc. up to 23 kg), plus an extra duffle, in the past. But, as you know there are limitations and problems to that.
My question is: Do you leave one side of your boxes clearly marked as an 'open here' section, for TFSA? Have they opened your boxes to inspect them? If yes, did they do a good job of reinserting everything and taping is shut quite well?
For us, after flights, TFSA attention led to our first hard case suffering a broken main latch (fixed that), then a broken handle (I just removed the remaining stub of that) and later broken side latches (had to retire it and get a new case.)
Just curious: Are those boxes in the corner in this photo your bike boxes? They look well made and sturdy. I cannot tell if they would open and reseal easily.
Thanks, Mark
1 year ago
Yes, those are the boxes we put the BFs in. We made them from full sized bike boxes that we purchased from a bike shop in Ubon Ratchathani in January 2020. They’re back in Portland again and good for at least one more flight. The dimensions are 20x30x12 inches. We carry a small string with us with those lengths marked off. Converting to this size that will open on top is kind of a mind stretch but so far I’ve figured it out every time. And yes, the top that opens is clearly marked with our names and addresses. We never assume it will end up in the hold of a plane right side up so put lots of padding and extra cardboard inside. This recent flight home is the first time one got opened, by Thai security. They did not lift out the bike or rearrange anything. They did not re-tape it as thoroughly as we did but the bike is fine. I think if you are wanting an open jaws trip and are willing to discard your box and packing materials at the airport or hotel, this is a good way to go. At the end of the trip allow an extra day or two to track down a proper box that’s very sturdy. Buy a couple rolls of packing tape, and have a sharp knife along. It just so happened that we had friends willing to store the boxes in Bangkok this time so now we know that these boxes can take multiple flights. They are probably mostly packing tape now 😜!
1 year ago
Thank you for your questions. Although I'm not familiar with tandems I would think a cardboard box would be fine. As Andrea said, we have only ever had one box opened one time (this trip coming home) but it was as if they opened it and didn't touch a thing. It's always been my fear that some zealous worker trying to impress a superior thinks he sees something on the x-ray and digs through the box. No way would anyone ever pack it back up the way we do. But this has never happened and unless we put something that looks really suspicious in the box, I doubt it ever will happen. The workers generally don't want to dig through the box and repack it and reseal it. On our boxes there is the main flap that is obviously the one they would slit to open. That's no problem. And this time, when they did open it up, they did retape it, although not as well as I would have. The thing about cardboard is that it is versatile. You can make a box any size or shape, plus you can add an extra layer of cardboard under something that needs more protection. We use things like sleeping bags and tents and clothing to pad here and there. I use empty water bottles inside the corners for some more reinforcement. There are lots of things to make a box better. And, so far for us, it has always worked perfectly. Our boxes end up being right around 19 or 20 kilos every time. A cardboard box that heavy is not going to get thrown around easily. I think this is one reason they have fared so well, that and the difficulty of lifting them without handles. It's just a big heavy box. There are, of course, unforeseen problems that can occur so nothing is perfect. We have gone with cardboard boxes partly because of cost and our desire to leave from a different location than the one we arrived at. Cardboard has proven to be the most versatile way to go in this regard.
Thank you for your kind words. Andrea and I have never thought of ourselves as inspirations. So nice of you to say that. We simply like a good adventure and if we learn something along the way, we want to share what we have learned. CycleBlaze is a great place to do that - a community. It's been a lot of fun meeting people through CB.
1 year ago
I do like building things, including custom boxes when I can't find the perfect size, so your approach is very appealing. My only marginally similar experience with bikes was in the San Diego train station at the end of our Pacific Coast ride from our home in BC when I bought an Amtrak bike box (for a single bike) and partially disassembled our tandem enough to fit it in for the ride back to Bellingham. We had not towed the hard case on that ride, and Amtrak wanted bikes in boxes.
As for inspiration... touring again after your ladder accident and recovery, journalling from the road with great photos and wordsmith skills, telling compelling stories in your posts, appreciating Rilke, all come quickly to mind.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply re the cardboard approach!
1 year ago
1 year ago
Today we rode. We had a short and snappy route mapped out on Pocket Earth from our hotel in Pratunam to the venerable Hualumphong train station, where we had another hotel booked across the street so we could visit with more friends before hopping on the train to Ayutthaya tomorrow. Sturdier people than us think nothing of a ride out of Bangkok and its endless outskirts. Naw, we’ll skip that.
Naturally we hadn’t tested out our bike reassemblies before loading them up and heading out but it turns out that we’re getting pretty good at this now and only made a few mistakes that we had corrected during assembly. So, nerves a-jangle, we wobbled out the door and down Soi 11 and onto a monstrous street and then down a tiny lane and, I kid you not, it felt glorious. My nerves stopped jangling, I felt the zen calm of being part of traffic, watching for obstacles, trusting other drivers, assessing the various traffic currents, stopping to wait for two large vehicles to pass in a 20-foot-wide street full of plants, boxes, light poles, and other impediments. There is nothing you can do but be patient and take the chance to look around you while waiting.
Somebody is cooking on the street, girls walk together yakking, motorcycles wait with us, there is some mysterious pounding coming from inside an old traditional Thai house, a street shrine sports some bottles of red soda with straws in them, opened for the gods to take a snort from. It all feels good, that dandelion smoke of an experience that gathers in a moment and then puffs away in a thousand directions never to be repeated, over and over, every moment of every day. The two vehicles maneuver painfully close, barely avoiding a permanent bottleneck bardo and pass unscraped, and the waiting is over, all are released to go where the world will take them.
Today's ride: 3 miles (5 km)
Total: 3 miles (5 km)
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1 year ago
1 year ago
Fleeting moments of connection to notice and appreciate.
Some opportunities to engage with gestures of kindness.
Also.. love the call of the koel!
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Great to see those bikes assembled and ready to go!
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