Day 10: Fri 31 Oct – Roi Et to Khon Kaen

Day 4: Roi Et to Khon Kaen (79km). Breakfast at the hotel. We transfer about 30 minutes from the busy part of the town, then set off our bikes to cycle off the main road along the beatiful rice fields. This part of Surin and Khon Kaen are the biggest part to produce rice where the road to Udon Thani has more farming of sugar canes and casava. We stop for lunch about Km 50 and after lunch we cycle the last 29km to our hotel to relax at the pool. Dinner and overnight in Khon Kaen. (B,L,D)

Cycle Tour Day 4, 95km average 25km/h. Hot - 33.3deg and humid. 

Bacon and eggs to order for brekky, (although they said "no bacon" when they bought the plates) kicked off a great day. Rode away at 8am back into the extensive rice growing area. One stretch took us down a vegetation tunnel through typically Thai (try saying that after a couple of beers) villages. Flat and straight on a mix of very smooth and very rough/potholed roads till the 65km mark where we had lunch; Thai again! but it was very nice. 

The rice paddies surrounded us all day; a heck of a lot of rice in Thailand.....and China.

Another bus ride (35km) to avoid a very busy road to the motel. All 17 bikes went into a Hilux ute. A master-lesson in packing.

The hotel was very flash and the indoor pool was perfect after a hot workout. So the afternoon was spent cooling off in the pool then wandering around a mega shopping centre. 

One thing they have plenty of in Thailand is temples and they are glitzy beyond belief. The ones in the cities have the added coloured lights for effect. Western societies have their huge cathedrals so no different I suppose. 

Dinner in the motel was the worst this far, very beautiful setting but it did took 2 hours for them to serve me an open burger, which was made out of shoe leather.

Start of the ride today

The tunnel ride

Scooter repair shop

Morning tea stop

Petrol station for scooters

A blue water lily

Mobile grilled mealies (corn)

The Glacier Hotel, Khon Kaen

Hotel's indoor pool

A Buddhist temple near our hotel

Day 9: Thu 30 Oct – Surin to Roi Et

Day 3: Surin to Roi Et (80km). Breakfast at the hotel. Get ready and start cycling from our hotel by taking back road. Soon we get to quiet small road which is suitable for cycling. We stop for water and visit "Ban Chang" means Elephant Village and learn how elephants connect with the people in the village. The villagers should to take good care of the elephants but not riding. Afternoon, we continue cycling on the quiet road to complete 80km. Dinner and overnight in Roi Et. (B,L,D)

Cycle Tour Day 3, 83km average 25 km/h. 

6:30am brekky of curried pork & rice plus very strong coffee. 8am ride away. 

Because we arrived late last night there was no chance to look around this interesting town of 50,000 people. It is the site of the National Elephant Roundup. Heeehaaaaa!!! It looked interesting as we rode out of the centre and through the burbs.

Once out of town we entered a huge rice growing region where the harvest was in full swing, some by hand but the vast majority mechanized. To dry the rice they just spread some fine shade cloth on half of the road and spread their rice out. Every now and again they comb it with a rake to get an even result. All the motorists just slow down and drive around it, no problem, and no hurry. Imagine blocking off one half of a main road in Oz to dry your rice?

The most interesting part of the day though was about the 50km mark where we stopped at Ban Chang, which translates into Elephant Village. The whole town is devoted to the keeping and caring for these magnificent beasts. There are about 600 elephant in the district. It brings the tourist in their droves, especially the Thais who worship the animal. There was a really young calf in one of the yards and it was the cutest. We discussed whether it was good or bad for the elephant, but it does give the locals an income and the ellys get three square meals a day, so to speak. They did look very well fed and cared for. 

Lunch was provided 3km up the road at a riverside cafe which produced great Thai food for 20 people (15 riders + staff) out of a kitchen a little bit bigger than a shoe box. 

After another 30km and it was on the bus to take us the 90km to the Motel Roi Et. The odd bus ride is unavoidable due to the lack of motels in the areas suitable for cycling.

We were checked in by 4:30pm which gave us plenty of time to wash the riding gear then have a walk around town. Not a tourist area; real Thailand. Walked to the local lake/park where there were lots of locals jogging, playing basketball, relaxing and mingling.

Back to the motel for dinner. Gee they certainly do good Thai food in Thailand. Go figure! 

Early night.

Drying the rice on the road

I do love elephants, the smaller the cuter!

Should have made a trunk call

Absolutely beautiful

Ooops, a bit overloaded perhaps?

The lake and park at Roi Et

Lake and park by night

Dinner entertainment - Elvis??

Day 8: Wed 29 Oct – Khao Yai to Surin

Day 2: Khai Yai to Surin (95km). Breakfast at the hotel. We start cycling a bit down hill to enjoy the fresh air. We stop for water after cycling and enjoying for a while and slow down to see this one of the most beautiful National Park. It is the biggest and longest hills which is just a couple hours from Bangkok and situated between Saraburi until Cambodia border. Lunch stop will be around 50km. After lunch we cycle for another 45km on more flat road. Dinner and overnight in Surin. (B,L,D)

Cycle Tour Day 2 - 87km, average 22.7km/h

After the long climb to the top yesterday we enjoyed a nice downhill run to start the day. It was good to see the bright sunshine; not too hot but the humidity was through the roof after the rain. It wasn't long before we entered the National Park with its wild Elephants (saw plenty of poo only) monkeys, deer, squirrel, beautiful butterflies and a few birds, some familiar and some not. 

The downhill start didn't last long and we were soon pushing up 10 to 15 percenters for 32km!!! Thank goodness for granny gears.

Lunch was taken at a cafeteria at the top and then the good bit; downhill for 14km.  But we were robbed; we went up for 32 and down for only 13km. However our hotel for the night was 280km away so it was on the bus for about 4 hours to complete the days outing.

That resulted in a late dinner after 9pm and even later into bed. Slept nicely though. 

A tough day by anyone's standards.

Nice verge on a quiet road

Mmmmmmmm.... dinner!

Look out for elephant

All we saw was this - poo!

A deer, but not my dear

Cheeky monkey

Temple for roosters and elephants

Our hotel

Day 7: Tue 28 Oct – Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park , 75km

Day 1: Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park (70km). Welcome in Bangkok by our experienced English speaking cycling guide. Bike fitting and tour briefing. Transfer about 1 hour 15 minutes from Bangkok to Saraburi to avoid cycling in the busy trafic in Bangkok. We stop for rest room in the gas station and get ready for cycling on the back road to Khao Yai National Park. We stop for lunch before climbing to our hotel. Dinner and overnight in Khao Yai. (L,D)

Cycle Tour Day 1 - 75km, average 25km/h, showers and storms in the afternoon. 

Great early brekky in the motel followed by an 8am briefing by our Tour Leader, Bouen, who looked after the tour most of us were on in 2012 (Bangkok to Saigon). It was then onto the bus for a transfer out of this bustling city of 11 million people. Riding a bike in Bangkok would be close to suicidal. Stopped at Saraburi, about 2 hours out, where we were issued our bikes, brand new straight out of the box. After pumping up tyres, fitting our SPD pedals, adjusting seat heights etc, away we went. 

Fairly busy road but nice and wide with plenty of verge to keep us away from the traffic. 20km out we stopped for lunch at a road-side local restaurant. Very tasty and filling. 

After lunch we were directed onto a quiet, potholed road but we continued to make good time. Passed a lot of paddy fields and lots of other rural stuff. Several military bases including their academy and some very fine looking golf courses. A great ride filled with interesting sights all round really. Everyone was over the moon about our new bikes and very happy with the ride today, despite the rain. 

Our pad tonight is The Forest Home, a resort which caters for the National Park visitors. Our room is about 3m from the pool. Very flash. 

All our kit was wet and soggy when we pulled up and like us it needed a good scrub. We hung it all around the room which ended up looking pretty untidy. No chance of getting the shoes dry it would be wet shoes in the morning. 

Lovely traditional Thai food in a local restaurant for dinner. 

Early night.

A new bike for an old bloke

Me and my mate Phil

Safe??

The kitchen at our lunch stop

Lunch stop

Overnight stop

Our room is the one at the end of the pool

The remnants of dinner

Day 6: Mon 27 Oct - Pattaya to Bangkok

Noy had ordered her taxi-man for 7am so we got up early for brekkie and coffee. It was so sad to leave their lovely house and garden. David and Noy had made us feel so at home. It was also nice to meet Noy's sons even for a fleeting visit on the way to their new term at boarding school. We really missed our early morning bike ride with Dave. He showed us his interesting area with its contrast between absolute poverty and absolute wealth. Like most of Asia, apart from a few exceptions, the place could certainly use a Clean Up campaign, there was rubbish everywhere, such a shame. 

Our taxi was on time and we made good time till we hit the outskirts of Bangkok. Arrived at our hotel, the Grand President at 9:30am. A$53 between the 2 of us for a 130km, 2.5 hour taxi ride, very cheap. 

Had to wait a while for the room but in the meantime our tour mates turned up. Great to see the familiar faces and meet the new ones, 15 of us. While waiting for the room we slipped out for a Subway (A$3) and a fresh cold coconut drink straight out of the shell, yum and filling. 

The tour guide, Jean, picked us up at midday in a mini bus and our Grand Palace Tour commenced. After 1.5 hours and 9km later in notorious Bangkok traffic we made it to the Grand Palace. The complex is actually a number of palaces from previous kings and more temples than Adelaide has churches. The current monarch lives in another complex not far away. In order to boost tourist numbers the Thai authorities had granted free admission to all Chinese for the month of Oct. Soooooo 45,000 screaming Chinese (they don't seem to have a volume knob) was a bit of a headache maker. But the temples and palace were impressive, albeit glitzy. Cameras were banned in all of the inside areas, so photos were all of the outside of the temples, museums and palaces. 

The guide then took us home via a gem factory/store "the biggest jewellery shop in the world" don't think so. Our eyes glazed over immediately we entered and didn't refocus until we walked out 5 minutes later. No commission from us I'm afraid. Now if it had been a bicycle shop that would have been a whole different story. 

Back to the motel for a swim in the rooftop pool and then dress for dinner. 

What a great pick for dinner, a place called Cabbage & Condoms which was originally established to promote the use of the latter when Aids first showed its ugly face. We had a private room and just ordered a smorgasbord for $25 each with free soft drinks and water. Great food and fantastic company. Terry (he org the whole thing) kept us entertained with his jokes and stories.

Hissed down on the walk home, that umbrella left in the room was just about useless. 

First day on tour tomorrow.

Noy's orchids

A touring bike? Maybe not!

Phil with his fresh, cold coconut drink

Grand Palace

Sri Lankan Spire of the Grand Palace

A kinnara statue

Chakri Maha Prasat building

Grand Palace

Drinks on the pool deck at the hotel (9th floor)

Cabbage and Condoms restaurant

Santa with a girl in a wedding dress made of condoms

Our private room

Day 5: Sun 26 Oct - Pattaya

Nice sleep in till 5am (finally kicked the jet-lag) then on the bike for about a 15km local ride. Called into a temple, a golf driving range, a building site (OH&S nightmare) and just a whole lot of interesting local stuff in the back streets. 

It was straight into the spar when we got home and after some brekkie we headed out with tour guide Dave to explore the local sights. Pattaya marina was first where we all picked our favourite 60ft $100m yacht. Dream on guys!! Dave then drove us to his hidden treasure back-blocks beach bar/restaurant, but as there was a monster of a storm brewing we decided to take a couple of pics and move on. 

A wander around a huge Home Works store which had everything, and more filled in nicely till lunch. We reckoned that we wouldn't get many nice steak meals on our cycle tour to Laos, so we took the opportunity to get one at Santa Fe's in Pattaya. It was good. 

We returned home via a nursery where we picked up a couple of nice orchids for Noy. She has been so good, spoiling us rotten. Her Thai cooking was so yummy!! 

A spar, a couple of beers and lots of old music on YouTube topped a fantastic day, thanks David, you have a great life and wonderful place in Thailand. 

In the spa

A couple of likely lads

Fishing boats at Pattaya

Dave's unspoiled beach

A basic beach bar with a great view

Frog anyone? Found in the meat section!