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THAILAND 1: 24.11. - 18.12.2004
Route: Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Uthai Thani, Lampang, Chiang Kong
Kilometer: 1179 Km
Ascent: 1760 m (in total)
Preface: Thailand: balm for heart and soul! Although many tourists
travel to Thailand, the Thais stay loyal to their image: "Keep on smyling".
Everywhere where we arrive with our bicycles, we are welcomed with a friendly
smile. The roads are wide and very well paved, and at the service areas
it was always possible to get a delicious soop and some cookies. A really
perfect country for cycling.
Civiliziation shock Bangkok: After nearly
5 months in India, it was a real civilization shock to arrive in Bangkok:
already at the airport absolutely clean toilets with toiletpaper,
woman being emancipated and having equal rights, woman in miniskirts,
civilized traffic, safe cars, cardrives blowing their horn only in
emergencies, cars stopping for passangers, marks for blind people
on the sidewalks, huge modern shopping centres, no garbage on the
roads, dustbins in use, ... . Without the Tucktuck drivers (a Tucktuck
is a motorcycleriksha) getting on our nerves, we would have thought
to be in "paradise".
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Lost laguagge: During our flight from Calcutta
to Bangkok our airline (Biman Bangladesh Airline) lost one of our
bags. Nearly all of our equipment was inside this bag. The staff from
the airline was absolutely lazy and we had to push them all the time
to try to find our bag. After one week, we again visited the airlineoffice,
and finally they followed our suggestion to send a fax to Hongkong
(we had a stopover at Bangladesh and at about the same time at the
next mornig there was also an airplane going to Hongkong). We had
good luck and they found our bag in Hongkong! After more than on week
our bag finally arrived in Bangkok! During that time we had a lot
of time to visit Bankok with all his shopping centers and sights.
On the picture you can see the "TEMPLE OF DAWN". |
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www.grossereise.de: The world
is very small, but sometimes a few meters seem to be as far away as
on the other side of the world. We were already one week in Bangkok,
when we found out, that there were two cyclists from Germay in the
neighbouring guesthouse (since about two weeks). Susi and Daniel started
their tour around the world in 2002 and travelled so far from Europe,
Northamerika, Southamerika, Newzeeland, Australia as far as Southeast
Asia. Susi is also a nurse and one of her colleague is a good friend
of us (the world is really small!). But now Susi and Daniel are changing
their transportsystem from bicycle to a Tucktuck (especially constructed
for them). They also have a really beautiful website http://www.grossereise.de/ |
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Food: It seems that eating is the most famous thing
in Thailand. Cheap foodstalls can be found everywhere and they cook
most of the food in a wook. After the many vegetarian dishes in India,
it was more difficult for us to find some food here, but if you are
crazy about chicken, shrimps or squid, Thailand is perfect for you.
If you are open for strange food, it is also possible to test fried
bugs, fried grashoppers and maggots. |
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First accident: After 2 weeks we left Bangkok
and after 10 Km a policeman forced us to leave the Highway. We just
arrived on the normal road when a scooterdriver bumbed into me (from
behind) and I fell from my bicycle. I had some small wounds on my
left knee, ellbow and shoulder. The boy (about 17 years old) stopped
immediately and brought ous to a hospital. Because I didnīt want to
sit on the scooter I decided to walk, but after 1,5 Km it was to hard
for me and we decided to take a taxi. In the very modern hospital
I was examined from a doctor and treated an bandaged really professionl
from a nurse. The scooterdriver payed for the costs in the hospital.
In the meanwhile the police had arrived and on the back of their pickup
they brought us back to our bicycles (still sanding in a garage whereteh
accident hapened). Nothing was really broken and so we went back on
the road. |
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Elefanttrekking: After we missed twice
th change to ride on an elefant in India, we used our change in Thailand.
In hope for cheap prices and only some other tourists, we visited
a small elefant camp close to Kanchanaburi (famous for the "River
Kwai Bridge"). Our choice was not the very best, because together
with us, a Bus with 30 Japanese tourists arrived, and the 30 minutes
ride schould cost 6,- each (twice as much as our guesthouse in Bangkok)!
We waitet until the Japanese group was already 15 minutes in the forest
before we started our trip. And it was great! After a while, our guide
jumped of the Elefant and Nadine had to move to the hat of the elefant.
With Nadine as our new guide, we started to explore the jungle. After
the jungle we rode our elefant along a river back to the camp. It
was a nice experience, but from all the swaying be became quite sick. |
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Tigertempel: In Thailand it is quite normal that the
local people bring their "old" pets or orphan wild animals to buddhist
monestarys. So during the mid 90īs a monestary close to Kanchanabury
got two babytigers and in the meanwhile, they have small tiger breeding.
Most of the tigers are "absolutely" tame, and each afternoon they
are brought out of their chages for a walk. The tigers are so tame,
that it is possible for visitors to caress them. As tought cyclist
we are of courese not afraid of such adventures. Bur in contrast to
all the other tourists, we took a lot of time for this (not just 5
minutes). We watched the scenario for quite along time, until we had
the feeling that the tigers are treaten well and not abused for some
nonsense. After more than half an hour, we also decided to stroke
the fascinating beast of prey. For us it was absolutely fascinating,
that the five tigers were strolling around a small canyon completely
free (no chains) and relaxed, or just layed around. The tigers we
not impressed from all the crazy tourists. One of the tigers even
ate some salt from my hand. |
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Speeding up for Christmas: To
spent Christmas 2004 not somewhere at the border between Thailand
or Laos we decided to cycle a little bit faster. So we managed to
cycle between 90 Km and 130 Km a day (with a stong headwind). But
we also had goodluck, because the roads were very well paved and flat,
and the pertolstations offered a perfect infrastructure (toilett,
restaurant, supermarket, showers room, ...) for us. |
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Bordercrossing: After 960 Km in only 10
days we arrived in the Thai bordertown Chinag Kong. After a short
shopping- and internetstop we cycled to the border. After less than
one minute we had our exit stamp (the customs was not interested in
us). In this region the Mekong River (Mae Nam Kong = mother of all
rivers) is the natural border between Thailand an Laos and everybody
has to cross the river with a small boat. We also brought our bikes
on a small boat and crossed to Laos. The immigration procedure in
Laos was also very fast and after some minutes we had our entry stamp
and our boatticket for the next day. |
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