2 bikes in Bangkok

It seems ages since we last wrote to you and we’ve covered several countries since our last update. We flew to Singapore on Nick’s birthday and celebrated with a few in-flight Singapore slings. The city was predictably hot, humid and occasionally sterile but we also saw a different side. With Krishna temples in the middle of Chinatown, Buddhist temples in Little India, huge sky scrappers towering over poverty, and strong Malay, Chinese and western influences we found the city to be full of contrasts and great food.

We saw the sights and filled our stomachs with cheap scoff from street vendors. Nick tried the pig’s organ soup and we regularly had no idea what we were eating. On one occasion we went to a local’s restaurant in Little India but there was not a plate or knife & fork in sight. Instead they placed 2 banana leaves on the table and dished rice and several spicy sauces on top that we ate with a naan and our fingers. We were the only non-Indians in there but everyone was doing the same so we just went with it. We washed it down with some traditional sweet and spicy Indian tea and the whole lot was delicious! Not bad for a couple of quid.

We walked for miles around Singapore and at the end of a long day Jen revived her feet with some fish therapy. This means she paid good money to put her feet in a fish tank while dozens of little Gariarufe fish nibbled the dead skin of her feet. Nick didn’t do it but he was brave enough to put his finger in for all of 10 seconds (it was weird).

So, after Singapore we flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the ancient temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. These magnificent vast temples were built around 800 years ago but were lost to the jungle for hundreds of years until they were ‘rediscovered’ by a French botanist. Several of the smaller temples are still overgrown and it was easy to imagine how he, the French guy, felt when he came across the lost world. Of course there are tourists, tuk-tuk drivers and tat sellers crawling all over them now so we hired two tatty bikes and cycled to the more remote temples to appreciate their beauty in peace. The cycling also gave us the chance to see a bit of the countryside as we rode past the fishermen, padi fields, villagers and happy faced children who would run to say hello.

From Seim Reap we travelled to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, where the country’s more recent and tragic history was very clear. The sad legacy of civil war and landmines was evident in the many homeless, disabled and disfigured people. We went to S-21 where thousand of people were imprisoned and tortured before being executed at the killing fields. The investigation into the atrocities is still continuing and none of the main players have been convicted of the crimes under Pol Pot’s regime.

We weren’t keen on Phnom Penh, it was too claustrophobic and the air was heavy with traffic pollution, so we made a big decision and went to Bangkok. (Yes, despite the protests and the airports being closed for a week we went anyway.) It took 14 hours on a clapped out banger of a bus that was so overcrowded people were sitting in the aisle on upturned buckets. We had to stop every couple of hours while the driver used one of these buckets to throw water over the bus’ radiator.

Before we left Liverpool one of the main things we wanted to do on our tour was cycle around Southeast Asia. However, we spent hours and hours trying to find decent bikes in Cambodia but they were all too small and too rubbish for serious cycling. (You should have seen Nick doing the actions when trying to ask for bigger bikes with suspension and panniers) So, after a lot of thought and internet searching we decided to go to Bangkok. We found just what we were after and we’ve bought 2 bikes and a load of other kit to help us on our way. We met a really helpful Indian guy called Deep who showed us the cycling etiquette of the busy Bangkok streets and took us to his friends home where we had coconuts.

Yesterday we went on a day ride with the Thai Cycling Club. It was a really big event with over a 100 cyclists and we rode to a special eco school where we all planted a tree. We were the only 2 westerners and people were taking our photograph constantly, it was like we were celeb!.

So, tomorrow we begin our cycling adventure in earnest and we’ll leave Bangkok to head Northeast toward Laos. It should take a couple of weeks and we expect to be in Laos for Christmas. We hope we have a wheelie good time.

Love
N&J

xx

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