{"id":140,"date":"2012-04-20T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T11:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/2012\/04\/20\/back-to-bisex-2\/"},"modified":"2017-11-27T13:00:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T13:00:12","slug":"back-to-bisex-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/back-to-bisex-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to Bisex"},"content":{"rendered":"
[*’Bisex’ being ‘Basics’ mixed with ‘Bike’…. not ‘Bisexual’ – I tell you this now in an attempt to not disappoint just in case that is what you were after]<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s been a long time coming, but I can proudly say that Bangkok is officially behind me. About 350 km behind me. After 12 visits to the city (5 of them this year) I\u2019ve finally moved on. Now it\u2019s just me and the bike and the teddy bear and the [sometimes very big and busy and scary] wide-open road all the way to Chiang Mai!<\/div>\n
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Day 1: Bangkok \u2013 Dutch Embassy – Ayuttaya<\/b><\/div>\n
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After a morning spent hunting down the Dutch embassy I\u2019ve been there 3 times already, I really should know how to get there by now) to pick up my brand spanking new 65 page diplomatic passport (HOOORAAH \u2013 no more worries of a full passport!!!) I was out of there\u2026 out of the stench and grime and misdemeanors that make Bangkok tick\u2026 Well, sort of out of there\u2026 admittantly I did a few accidental laps of the city first. <\/div>\n
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And I was doing pretty well too until I got a flat tyre\u2026 my 7th in a week. I was only 9km away from my destination so I decided to just pump it up and cycle like the wind but [and this is embarrassing], I couldn\u2019t work out how to use my pump and for the first time I had no cycle buddies to help me out. About a kilometer walk down the road a motorcycle mechanic took pity on me, changed my tyre, mended a spare, and gave me 2 liters of water and then refused payment. I\u2019d like to mention that this was the third time I\u2019d been donated bottles of water today, not to mention the free energy drinks and coffee. Thai people are so lovely!!!<\/div>\n
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Cycling down the road my back tyre began deflating, but I was too ashamed to return and instead sucked it up and cycled with a flat. I arrived at about the same time as the moon\u2026<\/div>\n
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Day 2: Learning to fix a tyre<\/b><\/div>\n
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Coming from the slums of Bangkok, Tony\u2019s Guesthouse was a mecca of clean perfection so it wasn\u2019t a massive ask to decide to stick around Ayuttaya for a day to learn how to fix a tyre and it only took 2 hours of frustration, but I now know how to remove, mend and reattach a wheel [I think] and that\u2019s progress!<\/div>\n
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Ayuttaya is also a great place to finally sort out your car insurance only 5 months after leaving Australia [and my camper van]\u2026<\/div>\n
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The ruins of the city are impressive too and an evening cycle to see the clusters of ancient temples at sunset is well recommended!  <\/div>\n
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Day 3: Ayuttaya \u2013 Sing Buri \u2013 In Buri<\/b><\/div>\n
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After reading three different cycle forums and reading how each got their first flat tyre on the way to Sing Buri, I decided to leave at dawn \u2013 one for them probably signified 15 for me (at least)\u2026 But alas, by 12 I\u2019d cycled the 100 odd km puncture free and was unsure of what to do next.<\/div>\n
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After lunch, I escaped the heat of the day by googling hotels in the next 70 km and the interweb informed me they didn\u2019t exist\u2026 Obviously I wanted to prove the internet wrong\u2026 <\/div>\n
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\u2026.I spent the night sleeping with a local family who tried to marry me off and force me to stay forever so I could be the village English teacher.<\/div>\n
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Day 4: In Buri \u2013 Nakhon Sawan<\/b><\/div>\n
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After a night of bed bugs and strange noises mossies, I hit the road exhausted and it\u2019s hard enough to stay awake when the roads are straight and quiet and dull and flat so I\u2019ve taken to counting things:<\/div>\n
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Rabid dogs who chase you and try and bite: too many <\/div>\n
Trees that actually shade my side of the road: 6<\/div>\n
Dead Snakes: 124<\/div>\n
Living Snakes: None. They\u2019ve all been killed<\/div>\n
Military vehicles, carrying armed soldiers (big guns in hand) and tanks: 104 \u2013 It got to the point where I was expecting to cycle into a full fledged war zone. Wait, I haven\u2019t read the news in a while, is Thailand a war zone???<\/div>\n
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And now I\u2019m here. I stopped in Nakhon Sawan because that\u2019s where every other cyclist stops and I couldn\u2019t handle breaking more hearts. I\u2019m hiding in my hotel room because it\u2019s hot outside and downstairs is packed with Thai business men trying to force [against my wishes of course] alcohol upon me and it\u2019s the fifth time since I left South Africa the last time (507 days ago I think) that I have air con and I feel like I need to make the most of it.<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m only 578 km away from Chiang Mai and haven\u2019t a clue what the future holds. Tomorrow I travel onwards\u2026 Probably.<\/div>\n
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 [Pictures to follow later – this internet is so worse than what I imagine a lobotomy would be…] <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[*’Bisex’ being ‘Basics’ mixed with ‘Bike’…. not ‘Bisexual’ – I tell you this now in an attempt to not disappoint just in case that is what you were after] It\u2019s been a long time coming, but I Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2052,"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/2052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bearfootgypsy.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}