Leaving Bangkok
Woke up feeling seedy
Had mango and sticky rice with Billy, one half of Billy and Trish, two Aussies who are ALSO riding motorcycles around the world.
Went to Pat Pong rd and had a conversation with a bar girl. Perhaps gave her a shred of hope that not all western guys are arseholes when she asked if I “took” a Thai girlfriend and I answered no. She’s 19, has a 48 year old English boyfriend who comes out to see her for three months a year. We wonder why Thai people scowl at farang (foreigners) !
Went to the tool shop and bought a torque wrench for 300baht ($9). Used it to pull my bike apart and regrease the swingarm and rear suspension bearings.
Went to the tool shop again and bought some more tools.
Went to the tool shop again and sold the torque wrench back to the shop for 100baht!!
Bought some food off a street vendor!
Not entirely sure what it is I’m buying here but cheers.
Our Friendly Suksawadee Guesthouse Staff
Folks at the 7/11 where we bought Cornettos every night
I spent ages waiting in Bangkok for the flight arrangements to go through, we used the company called Trans Air Cargo and our contact was Kittima. The trouble I went through to get my bike out of the country was monumental. I had to do two loops to the border and back, one from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong to pick up the Thai customs temporary import form (after telling me at the border I didn’t need it, the customs office in Bangkok said it was mandatory to leave Thailand), the other border run was for a visa extension, because I found out the shipping would take longer to organise than the time I had left on my 30 day visa. That ended up being a 500km round trip to Cambodia, phew!!
Hmmm, cooking up some ginger chicken….
The paperwork for the shipping took three weeks, and we basically spent the entire time cruising around Bangkok in cabs to such places as the tool shop and the Trans Air Cargo building. Then every night we’d have a couple of long-necks, go for a meal at the regular restaurant, Billy became obsessed with ginger chicken, and afterwards head back to the guesthouse after stopping at the seven eleven for a Cornetto. I put on 6kg!!! Note, this was a good thing because I’d lost quite a bit of weight after being ill in Cambodia and just eating noodles in my breaks while travelling around on the bike.
Hmmm, burning up some ginger chicken….
Took my bike to Trans Air Cargo and had it fitted for a crate.
Tried to convince the crate builders not to be so enthusiastic. They tried to build it around my bike in 5 minutes. Very efficient though and worth the price.
Said goodbye to my dearly beloved as her shrinkwrapped body was whisked away.
