All posts tagged: Bicycle touring south east asia

Thailand: Bangkok by Bicycle (Not)

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After riding over 1,200km from the bottom of Thailand, Bangkok was only 60kms away.  But with all the overladen speeding tucks flying past our elbow the distance became irrelevant.  We had cycled as far as we could but the roads, (expressways) were just becoming too dangerous to ride.  Our chosen road, Number 35, had been a two-lane road, but then kept widening, adding more and more extra lanes as we inched closer to the city.  A friendly traffic policeman stopped us at one intersection and kindly reached into the open signal box next to him, pausing all the lights so we could cross before the traffic. 

Thailand: Cycling Hat Yai to Bangkok

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We spent a little under two months in Thailand, riding over 1,200km, which was stretched over 20 riding days, and quite a lot of downtime.  Our daily distances ranged from 122km at our highest, down to a mere 7km on our lowest (us skirting into Bangkok).  We travelled north from the border of Malaysia to the capital of Bangkok, hitting the following towns:

Thailand: Three Beaches not on the Tourist Trail

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Crystal blue water.  Squeaky soft sand.  Tropical islands covered in jungle.  This is the picture of Thailand that is commonly lusted after by holiday makers and planners.  However with over 29 million visitors a year, is it difficult to find a patch of paradise that’s not covered in crowds all vying for the same bit of sand.  Finding a beach outside of the tourist areas is off-putting if you don’t know where to go.  Also the garbage situation is horrendous; much of the coastline is incredibly dirty, full of trash spat out from the rivers from villages, or washed up by the tide, derelict buildings and shrimp farming operations running drains to and from the water.

Thailand: The First Few Days

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Our plan was to ride up the east coast of Thailand, starting from Padang Besar on the border, and finishing in hustle of Bangkok.  Crossing the border from Malaysia to Thailand was nothing but us following the motorcycle lane again, right up to the check points.  It was surprisingly easy, with guards barely blinking at us.