Tag: Bangkok

Thailand Vietnam October 2009

What a big 2 weeks!

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About 2 months ago Alex proposed a great idea. A trip to Thailand. Then Hugh suggested we go to Vietnam. Using all our genius we were able to work out a way to spend a week in Krabi province in Thailand, and then a week getting as much out of Vietnam as possible.

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So 2 weeks ago here the five of us were all sitting in a cafe in Phra Atit (near Khaosan Road) in Bangkok, feeling pretty pumped for a grand old time. Awesome when things work out!

Railay & Koh Phi Phi were the places we spent out time in Krabi. In Vietnam we visited Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Hua An and Ho Chi Minh city.

Vietnam is a great place. Most of the folks we met were kind and seemed slightly interested in talking to some foreigners. Also Vietnam is fantastically affordable. A beer could cost as little as 2000 dong! ($0.10 – $0.15 USD). You can get into a nice hotel for about $5USD. No need to slum it in Vietnam!

I liked Hanoi. Thousands of scooters zipping by down some little streets, heavy chinese influence, tasty food, an old prison with lots of history, a lake with a Turtle god in it. What else could you want?

I’d definitely recommend a trip up to Sapa and spend a few nights there. We could only fit in one night but it made for 2 days walking around the hills and being shuffled through the Mhong villages in the area.

Hua An is UNESCO heritage listed, and in my experience that means it is definitely worth a visit. Vintage town on a river – that flooded in the last few days we were there. Hua An also has a big name for the amount of tailors there. Need a suit? Need a coat? Need some shoes?

Liam and I ended up being the last of us in Vietnam. We spent a night in Ho Chi Minh city – also a great city with that same vibe as Hanoi but a lot bigger and … developed? We were both pretty knackered after the big 2 weeks so didn’t make much of an effort to explore. Next time for sure.

Now it’s time to get back to that thing some people call “reality” and look for a job. Blerg.

I have a ton of pictures, heaps in 1:1 aspect, so flickr is going to cop it today. 🙂

Square Format images

Day 01: Bye Bye Bangkok

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During a last minute trip to pick up some small travel sleeping bags Nicholas and I came to the conclusion to depart a day early.

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Nick’s Dad, Mr Ward, was kind enough to drop us over the other side of the Chao Praya which ended up probably saving us 50km or so of inner Bangkok madness.

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So we hit highway 35 and kept up the pace with the trucks, buses and other folks driving at warp speed.

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It was all going pretty smoothly for the first 2 hours or so and then the sun decided it was time to call it a night. My bike started to fall apart and make weird noises but luckily it held itself together.

We rode into the night for another hour or so and ended up at a town called Samut Songkram. Found a place to crash for a few hours called the “Mae Klong” – 200baht.
Reasonable price, but got bugger all sleep.

That afternoon’s total km: 60km

4.30am we skipped town and headed off towards Cha-am. Riding in the morning is awesome. Not hot, not so many people around, and you get to see everything wake up. For breakfast – sticky rice cooked in bamboo – tasty stuff!

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But as the sun eventually made itself known I began to feel the effects of it, and the lack of sleep. 25km or so out of Cha-Am the heat was oppressive and the wind just really smashed me around. Wind = sucks.

Anyway we made it, Nick powered on steadily throughout the whole day, I tried 🙂
Now chillin at Nick’s Aunty’s place in Cha-Am – amazing!

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Early night tonight. Off to … Prachuap Khiri Khun
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Probike

Just got back from a trip to Probike down near Lumphini park.
Decided to get some gloves and those weird looking bike pants that have the ball/ass protector in them. Got some spare parts too. Hopefully that is it for my gear buy up for now!

Talking to Ward we thought we should post up any links/locations/reviews of places that go to to get bike stuff.
Maybe someone may find it useful one day.

So here’s the first one.

PROBIKE
ph: +66 2 2533384
237/2 Sarasin Rd., Lumpinee Pathumwan Bangkok Thailand 10330

http://probike.co.th/

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Dude, Where’s my Jakkayarn?

In less than a week 2 average dudes will head off from Bangkok, via Malaysia, to Singapore, by bicycle.


View Bangkok to Singapore in a larger map

Follow our journey!
http://dudewheresmyjakkayarn.wordpress.com/

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/bkk2sin

We are currently trying to attach our blog to a charity – would be great to raise some money for a good cause somewhere in SE Asia.

We have a blog!

Here we go!

So, what the hell are we doing?

Riding a bicycle from Bangkok via Malaysia to Singapore. Duh!

Well a few months back when I was traveling I had the good fortune to meet a bunch of crazy people. Crazy people doing crazy things. Well crazy to me at the time. People such as a French guy called Yann. I met Yann in Iran. Yann told me he rode from Singapore, via China and all the *stans, to get to Iran, and was continuing on home to France. At that point he’d covered 18,000 kms. Oh yeah, he did it on a $S300 mountain bike. 🙂

Meeting people such as Yann has led me to wonder why I am not doing such cool things as these folks. So on my way back to Thailand I decided I was going to buy a bicycle and ride to Singapore. I figured if I could at least to something like this I would be guaranteed fame, fortune and all the beautiful ladies of the world! Well not really, but probably. 🙂 It turned out that Nicholas, & our good friend & resident bicycle guru Boat, were getting their bicycle on too, and were pretty interested in joining me to Singapore.

After some slight delays, such as having to work, here we go.

July 12th 2009 we set off from Bangkok en route to … Hua Hin i think – is that right Ward?

* I’m sitting here at my Dad’s place here in Hong Kong, preparing for the ride with a egg tart in one hand, and a vodka & soda in the other. You see I was just informed that Nicholas, the half farang half thai guy who is doing this ride with me, has just bought a brand new bicycle. And he is riding it. I am not doing anything at the moment and I know this will be to my detriment. Oh well 😛

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