Biking South East Asia Archives - Page 10 of 17

Geoff’s SE Asia bike tour – Bangkok to Samutsongkhram

Posted on March 9, 2014March 9, 2014

Back on the road at the crack of dawn, very pleasurable too, even the 12 lane highways out of Bangkok were good fun, apart from when 3 lanes peel of to the left and I needed to be going straight on but, as you can tell, I survived.

Later on I decided to do some exploring all was OK until I came to a section where the road stopped 🙁 looking at OSM I could see it restarted again a couple of miles further along the railway track I could also a track where other folks had had the same idea so I went for a bit of off roading, where the missing road bridge was someone had thoughtfully put planks on the sleepers so you could use the railway bridge – good fun until I noticed a train in the distance 🙂 The remainder was through delightful villages & around Buddhist temples.

I made the 61 miles it to the previously booked Baansuanphidchamika so called resort , although it’s just a group of chalets, a bit more deluxe than the ones from my childhood at Butlins in Skeggie but chalets all the same.

The great thing about this place is that the floating market at Amphawa is literally a hundred metres down the road, so I gave Sally a little tour on Facetime, which works incredibly well on 3G, and then returned this evening for a gorgeous fresh fish & rice.

The new iPhone holder worked very well, once I had discovered thE two lugs that stop it sliding out! The big plus is that I can leave it plugged into the charger so I arrived with 100% charge the minus (as always) is that my sweaty hands and head stop the finger action working 🙁 but no overheating today!

Here as usual is the Strava:

and the pictures of the day are here

Bangkok booty

Posted on March 8, 2014May 28, 2019

After, for me, a record breaking 4 nights at the ultra deluxe Windsor Suites Hotel I’m moving south towards Singapore tomorrow.

The long delay was due to V.Siam Optical waiting for my replacement prescription glasses which after 4 days duly arrived today, not particularly cheap at £163 for varifocal adaptive glasses but wow are they lightweight in a titanium frame & ultrathin plastic with Crizal Alize coating. Suddenly I can see again 🙂 Must remember after snoozing that I still have them on!

My other ‘major’ purchase was a new bike mount for my iPhone. The Topeak performs well in wetter cooler climes. However, here it acts as a mini cloche causing the iPhone to overheat and switch off, even with no direct sunlight, 🙁 not so good for navigation.

In Loft they had a Capdace Uniconcept Asia Ltd Racer Bike mount holder, HR00-BC01 for £13 which would be useless in the wet but maybe good in the dry as the iPhone is exposed to the wind directly, all it needs now is a little brolly for shade so I can read it in the sun.

I also had one of the tailors here, Zerutti, modify my beloved Chinese blue silk sleeping bag so it now has a bright red silk pillow holder for when I return to my down market establishments that have no sheets..

Other than that I haven’t bought anything here, except a few too many Starbucks Frappuccinos 🙁 In fact Bangkok is not really my type of place although I did get a decentish massage at the hotel today (although they need to buy their oils from Sally) and just maybe my left heel fasciitis has eased of a little.

Tomorrow I’m booked into Baansuanphidchamika in Amphawa so I should get to see the floating markets etc.

River Kwai one day trekking tour

Posted on March 7, 2014September 30, 2017

Yesterday was another of my tourist days. Very tiring too, we covered 270 miles via minibus, train, boat & elephant 🙂 but no biking.

Our first stop was Kancchanaburi military cemetery dedicated to the 6,981 folks killed whilst building this part of The so called “Death Railway” a startlingly high number from Cambridge who were part of of The Fen Tigers as The Cambridgeshire Battalion was nicknamed , more details can be found here and here Apparently 24 Officers and 760 Other Ranks killed in action or died as prisoners of war in the hands of the Japanese. All terribly sad since one of the survivors worked at The Cavendish so I got to know him quite well and his intense loathing for the Japanese.

We toured the museum which was a bit higgledy piggledy but interesting especially, for the old train spotter in me, that one of the engine’s used by the Japanese on the line was built in England in 1921. We then took the train for 100 minutes crossing the famous bridge over the fast flowing Kwai (actually Khwae Yai) river and the amazingly close shave with the cliff face at Tham Krasae.

Then it was onto a lovely lunch at Kitti Rafts restaurant on the river Khwae Noi followed by a high power bomb up the river, you should see the Thai idea for an outboard motor 🙂 then a leisurely drift back on a bamboo raft.

After the river excitement it was a sedate ride on a 42 year old elephant, must say I prefer the bike! it’s decidedly very wobbly up there. After this we paid a quick visit to the Sai Yok Noi waterfall which was OK but not in full flood mode.

13 hours later we arrived back in Bangkok. The tour was booked with R.A. Travel Agency and given the full on day was good value at the equivalent of £36 but please guys cut out the buses with blackened glass, we are tourists wanting to see out not the president wanting no one to see us!

Here is the route we took:The 150 photos of the day are here

To Bangkok from Phanom City on Geoff’s SE Asia tour

Posted on March 5, 2014March 5, 2014

An excellent mornings cycling. It began and ended on busy dual carriageways initially with big trucks to suck me along later big tourist buses. Not so well endowed with coffee shops today but plenty of small towns.

As a lark I rode the bike over the official weighbridge 🙂 Total weight for bike, clobber & me was 120kg, My weight in the hotel gym tonight was 82kg , the main bag weighs 8kg and the bar bag 4kg plus about 1kg of water & bananas so the bike must weigh 25kg

It was real fun coming into Bangkok on really crowded roads, the bike is superb at weaving around the traffic so I was at the magnificent Windsor Suites Hotel at just after 12 noon having left at 6.36 so a good time for over 61 miles. My bike is now in pride of place in the foyer behind the concierge’s desk 🙂

The Room on the 22nd floor is the plushest yet with commanding views over Bangkok, a separate lounge & humungous bed & all for half the price of some b&b’s I’ve stayed at in the UK.

I’m having to stay here till Sunday as my new spectacles won’t be ready till saturday afternoon. I’ve also commissioned someone to make a silk pillowcase for my lovely Chinese silk sleeping bag that I use in less salubrious establishments. Tomorrow I’ve booked for the River Kwai ‘experience’, I’m not sure if Bas Humphreys from my Cavendish days would call it that after he nearly died building the thing..

According to bikemaps .net I now have 1923km of pedalling to Singapore & 30 days from Sunday to do it in.

The Strava is here:

all the photographs are here