1. The journey begins!

My mood and motivation to do a blog about this trip have oscillated wildly between, yes, share the joy to no, keep the trip for yourself, it’s a personal experience. Right now my mood is in the former camp so here goes…

Bertha, get back in your box, we’re touring again! Having not been serviced for years, I took her to Wheeler’s Retreat in Malmesbury to get fixed and tuned up. Gary did a marvellous job and now she’s ready to roll. Support your local bike shop! 🚲 

My first flight in seven years. Mixed feelings - it was a thrill to be in the sky again, jetting off to exotic climes and reconnecting to a lifestyle that was such a big part of my younger self’s identity. But the carbon! How can I justify all that jet fuel being burnt?!? I hope that my non-carbon, pedal power mode of transport will go some way to mitigate my climate change impact and to salve my guilty conscience. Sorry, planet. 🌍 

Ahh, the fun of the rebuild! This can be a stressful moment but Bertha came back together smoothly. I didn’t initially put the handlebars in quite the right position and, in transit, the brakes had been knocked out of place, and were a bit sticky but I thought I should just get out of the airport and make my way to the hotel. Fine tuning and tweaking could wait for later. 

A royal welcome, I believe! Riding out of the airport my senses were assaulted by the night time city-scape of Bangkok, the chirping sounds of exotic bugs (and of traffic) but, most of all, by the powerful blast of tropical heat. Shouldn’t it be cooler after sunset? 🌅 

Elated to have cleared the first hurdle and make it to the hotel with all my possessions and a functioning bike. I was completely overstimulated and knew already that I wouldn’t sleep well - far too much going on for my mind to contend with. 

I popped out for a bite to eat, am always attracted by street food. Doesn’t look much but this shack at the edge of a 7-eleven car park served great food and I was soon tucking in to a delicious bowl of tom yum. 🍜 

Vegetarian allies, I’m sorry to admit that, I would describe myself as a vegetarian by choice, flexitarian by necessity. The shrimps I consumed this evening were probably the first of many lapses… (writing this on day 3, I’m feeling increasingly uneasy about this).

The big off! Time difference will take a while to adjust to and I didn’t get going until 11am. Approaching the hottest part of the day. Still, once you get moving, the airflow of cycling helps keep you cool. I will admit that , beneath the smile, was a nervous and unsure mindset. This trip has come together quickly and though I have a vague overall plan, at this point, I had no idea where I’d end up that day and was feeling very unsure about pretty much everything! Time to grasp the nettle and just go.

I tried to reframe my emotions and tell myself I was doing something brave that not everyone could do. It didn’t help much in the moment.

The mission for cycling day one was simply to escape Bangkok. I’ll finish up there and look forward to taking in the city at the end of my trip. 

After a couple of hours I was passing through the suburbs, semi-industrial, semi-residential, and the landscape was flat, dominated by paddy fields (rice?). 🌾 

It looked horribly intensively farmed…

… and then I came across this drone, applying some kind of chemical to the field. Standing down drift of it, I soon tasted/smelt a distinct metallic tang in the air. I quickly got moving again! Hope the AI robots aren’t planning a mass poisoning of the human race. 🤖 

Much like when I look at English farmland, I can enjoy the aesthetics but always wonder, what nature once would have been here before agricultural intensification? There were a few exotic birds around - herons, egrets, bee-eaters, kingfishers, plovers etc etc (I won’t turn this into a birdwatching blog). But it felt like nature had been squeezed out and these were just the remnants of a once much greater biodiversity and bioabundance. 😢 

Early afternoon stop at a bustling market. I stocked up on some bananas 🍌 - great cycling food and look forward to trying more exotic fruit sometime very soon. 

This was my last photo from the first cycling day. I got in a bit of a tizz about what the hell I was doing so decided to set a destination town Ban Sang as a ‘plan’. As the sun set the cycling was very pleasant and, although the sun abruptly disappeared, I soon found a hotel in the dark and enjoyed the much-needed shower, WiFi and, again, sorry planet 🌍, air con. 

The second day of cycling was really pleasant and I felt like I started to relax into the trip a little better. So today, I’ve taken various back roads and made my way to Saraburi. 9 o’clock start today, not brilliant but moving in the right direction. 

As I relaxed, I started to notice things more and enjoy them. Like this roadside shrine…

…and regular breathers at temples… 🛕 

…of which there are plenty. 

Something that is going to make cycling here very easy is the huge amount of food/drink stalls, restaurants and convenience stores. 🏪 

In these lowland areas, at least, I will not have to carry supplies. 

Bucolic scenes allowed me to romanticise Thai rural life. I bet it’s a tough life really. 

More temple scenes. Often the temples have schools adjacent so I’ve had some nice interactions with the braver students willing to try a few words of English. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 

Sadly, a butterfly recently clobbered by a car but an example of the beauty that flies in the skies of Thailand. 🇹🇭 

Part of my route took me near Khao Yai National Park (where, I believe, a few tigers still roam). No big cat activity for me but some of the scenery was just magnificent and the atmosphere wonderfully serene.

Sorry, more temple action. 

As you can see, strapped to the back of Bertha, is my camping gear. In the current heat I cannot imagine anything worse than camping after a long sweaty day in the saddle! But I have been recommended that it’s quite easy to wild camp in the north and through to Laos. 🇱🇦 

I'd like to if I can, camping adds an adventurous feel to travelling that sets it apart from backpacking or travelling from hotel to hotel. Let’s see. It should be cooler as I head north and gain elevation. 

Initially, I thought this (the black covers) was decorative but then I saw some of these big trees being moved around by trucks. So this is a tree nursery. Big ones. 🌴 

As mentioned above, I am feeling a little uneasy about what I’m eating. I mean, sometimes I don’t even know what’s in my bowl of soup, let alone its provenance. At least I can say with some confidence that the bananas that are fuelling my rides are most likely from Thailand. The evidence is literally hanging off of these trees.🌳 

Some of the exotic fruit that awaits my palate. 

Tonight I’m resting up on Saraburi. Both of the last two days have been just under 60 milers and tomorrow will be shorter as I head towards Lopburi which is more on the tourist trail 📸 (I’ve seen no foreigners in the last two days).  Cycling in the hot sun is surely good exercise and I hope to be in good shape soon, able to tackle longer distances if I want or need to.

I’ll sign off here.