Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

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Lazing on Lanta Island

1-IMG_8473In fact to be more precise; a lazy day on and by the magnificent beach of Klong Dao  near  Saladan Town. I took a  barefoot walk to the far end of the beach where I had a fresh coconut 🙂 then it was back to the Bee Garden for a two hour massage by the beach the first hour devoted to my feet the next hour to be massaged with coconut oil. I guess I will soon be a coconut.

I’ve now found there is a ferry from this island to Koh Lipe where I can stay the night then a ferry to Langkawi Island which is in Malaysia followed by a ferry to Penang which is connected to the Malay mainland. According to bikemap.net from there to Singapore is 760km so about 10 days at a relaxed pace.

Given the pressure is  now off ,since I still have  20 days before my flight I’ve booked myself in for a day of snorkeling around Phi Phi island tomorrow

 

A long day from Phrasaeng to Khlong Dao on Geoff’s SE Asia tour

I thought today was going to be  a ton up day. However, it turned into an only 97 mile day 🙂 but given the heat & weight still a good day.

It’s still totally amazing to me the sharp contrast between tourist & non tourist areas both in pricing,  availability of stuff in shops & getting understood. It would be really interesting to see how the transition works & what is the catalyst that flips the switch.

1-IMG_1230The roads today were filled with huge trucks carting the fruit of palm trees to be rendered into palm oil, the road was strewn with the bunches that had fallen of the trucks, fortunately non hit me..

The hottest part of the day is awful and I just felt like giving up as it’s impossible to stay hydrated & motivated.  However, after 4pm I had managed to buy yet another, about the 4th I think,  smart new Lightning connector for the iPhone so I managed to talk to Sally on Facetime for close on half an hour (82MB of data) & then Nick for 7 minutes (22MB of data) both with unbroken connections whilst pedalling along at 15 mph. Truly amazing really to have live video conferencing  on a push bike essentially for free whilst mobile & with a 7 hour time difference. Very James Bond 🙂

I managed to make both the small ferries to get on Koh Lanta with no waiting, a great advantage of bike touring! You just bike past the big queue and jump on board 🙂

The Bee Garden, although it should be called The Beer Garden given all the German accents here, Had a room for me and a great view of the setting sun with a beer in my hand.

So i did the 97 miles between sunrise and sunset ! The Strava is here:

Helluva_a_day_-_Phrasaeng_to_Khlong_Dao___Strava_RideTodays pictures are here

 

Geoff’s SE Asia tour – Don Sak to Phrasaeng

With a cock crowing away outside my door it was obviously time to be on the move!  so after dutifully doing my emails etc I was back on the road at 6.45am ready to cross from the East coast of Thailand to the West coast.

1-punctureThe wind was behind me and with smooth roads I made good time stopping for a Thai breakfast followed by a Amazon smoothie. I was pounding along quite merrily when suddenly I was bumping along with a flat rear tyre. 🙁 So after taking the luggage off and upending the bike I discovered a 2 inch nail had embedded itself in my brand new tyre & innertube :-((  I quickly extracted the nail, changed the tube and was on my way again.

1-IMG_1217On the way I met a Scottish guy who had made a contraption to fix his road bike  onto his moped. I guess in Vietnam they would just have strapped it on with some bungees 🙂 In Puang Promkhon I found a shop where they expertly fixed the punctures caused by the nail going right through the tube 🙁  So I now have a spare again. It’s amazing that I did the 3000 miles to The Black Sea with no punctures whereas in the 1800 miles cycled so far I have had 4 punctures 🙁

1-IMG_1221After 80 miles I called it a day in the city that has a bulldozer on a pedestal in the central square,  Phrasaeng. I really struggled finding the hotel which everyone was sure in the town. At one point a guy had me following him on his motorbike, only to take me to his house! I turned tail & escaped. Eventually someone in a smart car showed me where it was – I would never had found it as the sign was totally in Thai.

So by the time I stopped cycling it was 83.9miles when I arrived at โรงแรมพรทิพย์. (Hotel Porntip according to Google translate). Here is the Strava:

Don_Sak_to_Phrasaeng___Strava_Ride

Todays pictures are here

 

Koh Tao to Donsak on Geoff’s SE Asia adventure

1-IMG_1186I left Koh Tao on the 9.45 Catamaran to Koh Samui with a brief stop , to disgorge hundreds of folk, at Koh Phangan. Last night was the full moon festival so i was treated to loud bangs from some humungous bangers in the street below. Fascinating how the kids like this island, a bit like bees around a honey pot & yet I  can travel hundreds of miles without seeing any Westerners. I’m fascinated by what makes a place popular and others not..

It started raining at the first stop which was unfortunate as I was sat with my bike on the back deck reading my latest John Grisham download The Racketeer (excellent btw). Interestingly I find it as easy to read on the iPhone5 s as on my Kindle paper white and a hell of a lot easier to hold! With my 10Ah battery I can have the screen & GPS on all day long 🙂 although the Lightening connector is once again on its last legs, this time through corrosion on the ‘gold’ contacts.

On arrival at Koh Samui I didn’t take to the place, it has no real island feel, just seems like the mainland , there was no hope of finding Howard from the Grasshoppers tour so, after the major cloudburst finished, I just cycled around the coast to Nathon where I could get the ferry back to the mainland at Donsak, a hell of a lot cheaper than the Lomprayah  Cats as well! just 200 Baht for me & the bike!

1-IMG_8434I stopped at the first motel place of the ferry, Donsak Resort and a snip at 500 Baht per night. The elderly lady cooked me some egg fried rice in her roadside diner with its smart outdoor bamboo shelters with table & seats.

Tomorrow it’s back on the road crossing over to the middle where at Wiang Sa I have to decide whether to go to the West coast at Krabi or the East coast at Ko Kham

Here is my little ride on Koh Samui

Ko_Samui__Surat_Thani__Thailand___Strava_Ride and the photos are here