Der alte Jan und die Khmer

Getting Ready to Cycle

After spending four nights in Bangkok mostly looking for a bike and also doing a bit of sightseeing, I went off to the bus station today to get to Pattaya. The way from the hostel to the bus terminal was about 20 km, and so I decided to go there by bike instead of trying to cram myself and the bike into the Skytrain and risk breaking my legs while carrying the bike up and down the stairs to the train platforms.

I left the guest house later than planned because I had slept with earplugs and apparently overheard the alarm. As a result, I started the trip shortly after noon, and the streets where pretty crowded. The trip to the bus station reassured me that it had been a good idea to get out of Bangkok by bus instead of taking the bike…the stop and go traffic was really annoying, especially with the heat.

Here’s a first picture of the bike which will take me through Southeast Asia…I named it Samnang, which means lucky in Khmer:

And some pictures of Bangkok at night, taken from the top of the State Tower on Silom Road:

Tomorrow, I’ll get up early to get going for the first part of my trip…I’ll be going from Pattaya to Krat.