A River Rat in Thailand

[River Rat]

So the wife and I decided our next holiday would be in Thailand and we would take bikes with us  and use every opportunity to explore the country by bike. The operative word being explore, no Mad Cow, just gentle touring with coffee stops and photographs and I thought some hubbers might like to get some insight as to what it's like to tour another country by bike and that is what this thread is about. I'll try to keep it cycling related as far as possible,so here goes.

 

We bought some decent secondhand hardtails from fellow hubbers not wanting to take our fancy full sussers and risk the inevitable travel damage. So last Sunday my son dropped us off at OR Tambo to board our Singapore Air flight to Bangkok via Singapore. We had decided to extend the layover in Singapore to explore the city and buy a Go Pro Hero 4 silver which depending on the exchange rate was going to cost around R5000-00. The first snag was that although SAA and Singapore Air are part of Star Alliance they have different interpretations on status and baggage allowances. Bear in mind that I'm trying to shed about half a million Voyager miles. " Sorry suh, but you're overweight' says the lady with the bright red lipstick and beaming smile at the weigh in ( take off the lipstick and she's a dead ringer for Thuli). " Ja, I know I'm a buffalo!" I quipped. "How wena, not you, your baggage" she explained "Hey my wife will klap you" I warned her. No matter how many gold cards and Voyager miles I bandied about the cost to Singapore alone was R8500-00 and it was a no brainer the bikes weren't coming with, disaster!

 

I called my son who by now was almost home and he turned around to come and fetch our bikes. In the meantime we tried to pack our kit into one suitcase, months of planning being reworked on the pavement outside departures at OR Tambo. We watched the bikes leave with a heavy heart, this was not the holiday we had planned. With a sense of trepidation we boarded flight SQ479 to Singapore each trying to convince the other that we would somehow be able to hire bikes and still have our holiday, still get to ride in the forests of Chiang Mai. Neither of us were totally convinced but we are both adventurers by heart and we were made to overcome setbacks. In a way not knowing what to expect added a bit of bite to our trip.

 

 

 

[CleatsnCleavage]

Oh no! Not the end I expected at all was looking forward to another one of your hillarious Sani-type stories. Hope the holiday was at least fun..

[River Rat]

Not over by long shot, we've just arrived in Chiang mai.

 

But we're off to dinner and I'll give you an update tomorroW, the wife wakes up a little later than I do so I have some time to do short updates without intruding into our time together.

Edited May 30, 2015 by River Rat

[DJR]

Keeping eyes peeled

[River Rat]

Chiang Mai.

Singapore was quite a revelation; we bought a 3 day EZ Link card for R300 which    gave us unlimited access to their public transport system which is like Gautrain on    steroids. It also gave us free boat ride on the river and an open bus ride through the city. We got the Go Pro including a 32g SD card for just under R5000.00 with the first goal achieved we were starting to believe that we could still have the holiday we had planned. The next objective was the Black Pepper crab that Singapore is famous for. Now I'm not sure whether our concierge didn't understand us, or we didn't understand him or he was simply being mischievous, but his directions for Black Pepper Crab led us smack bang into the middle of the red light district. Crabs were definitely on the menu but not what we had in mind; my wife led me away, a little too forcefully for my liking.

 

Bangkok was our next stop where electronic goods were on the shopping list. Go Pros were fractionally cheaper than Singapore and the knockoff accessories where plentiful and of dubious quality. The real bargains were the power packs at    R400 for 11 000mah. For those of you that have never been to Bangkok my best description is a busy, bustling city where nothing happens quickly. The train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai reminded me of my military days, of Spoornet and 7 day passes. Thailand railways compares favourably with the Spoornet of yesteryear but would beat the current Transnet hands down. It was functional, efficient but rudimentary at the same time. We arrived in Chiang Mai as the morning was starting to burn the clouds off the emerald green mountains of Doi Suthep National Park, hopefully our playground for the next 9 days, if, we could find suitable bikes.

 

An Internet search revealed a number of bike rental shops with list prices varying from R170/bike/ day to R90. The last time we were in Chiang Mai, almost 5 years ago, we went on a 35km organised tour and it cost us R500 each and the bike was an old 21 speed Giant with V brakes. Mine was a medium that had been enlarged    with galvanised plumbing pipes extending the seat and handle bar posts, my wife’s was standard. We knew that a physical inspection was vital and we set off with a list of 6 potential shops all located within the old city precinct, a 2,5 km square fort surrounded by a moat to protect the people of ancient Siam from Burmese marauders. The first shop was Active Thailand; my wife reckons we went there first because their website had a girl with a nice set of boobs on the home page but this not true!  They seemed the most organised, appeared cheapest and they had a girl with nice boobs on the home page. They had a selection of Bianchis, Treks and Kazes the latter brand being quite popular in Thailand. Although the bikes were well used as evidenced by the scraps and scratches they were seemingly in good working order. We negotiated the price down to R80 / day but decided to see if we could do better before we committed. What struck us was the fact that none of the bikes were tubeless, the owner explained that the cost of bombs at R80 each made it impractical to go tubeless.

 

The next shop had closed down and the third only had hybrids for road and jeep track use only, we learned later that hybrids were the standard fare for rentals. We then stumbled upon a shop not listed and clearly just entering the bike rental market with only 3 mountain bikes and a couple of hybrids on display. Two of the bikes were brand new Spez 27.5 hardtails that we set our sights on. Actually I need to be honest here my wife did the bargaining I simply observed the professional in action. The negotiations were conducted in broken English and after much giggling the elder aunt was called in (clearly the other professional) watching my wife and the aunt go toe to toe was a sight to behold and the deal was clinched at R40/ day. The next job was teaching the owner how to set the bikes up while my wife dealt with the paperwork. The standard fare in Thailand is that you should leave your passport as a deposit, that was dispensed with in no time and we settled for a copy of the passports and a deposit of R750/ bike. The bike setup became a learning exercise for the owner as I imparted my rather rudimentary recollection of the formulas.

 

 

 

 

After some happy snaps with the entire family (we guessed this was their first hire) we set off in the Chiang Mai traffic for our hotel. The comparisons between SA and Thailand from a riding perspective are quite interesting. They have worse traffic, the drivers are worse and the road conditions are equally bad, The main difference was the attitude of the drivers, there is simply no aggression, they are quite happy to give you space but you need demand it, so positive riding is key and we used the scooters as our guides. The 15 km trip to our hotel was hectic to say the least but not once did we feel that we were in any danger, but we were grateful when we stopped outside our hotel.  Although we had the bikes we were quickly finding out what else we left behind. Pumps, repair kits, cycling glasses, tubes, tools, cycling shoes and most importantly brackets for the Garmins. As for the latter it amazing what you can achieve with cable ties, as for the rest we are slowly accumulating what we can from a variety of bike shops. Don't expect a once stop shop like a Cyclelab or a Solomon's here. we are slowly realising that even without bikes the contents of the bike bags that we watched with heavy hearts leaving on the back of my son's bakkie from OR Tambo would be worth a fortune here. 

 

Tomorrow the real riding begins and the Doi Suthep trails are calling.

[BenReaper]

Lekker man River Rat,sounds like youre trip is of to a good start,hope you have the time of youre lives and when you come back you can start a new buisness aswell,'River Rats bicycle mechanics skills workshop',or something like that.

[River Rat]

The cable tie plan!

[River Rat]

Lekker man River Rat,sounds like youre trip is of to a good start,hope you have the time of youre lives and when you come back you can start a new buisness aswell,'River Rats bicycle mechanics skills workshop',or something like that.

Unfortunately, the mechanical skills are limited to the "boer maak 'n plan" level.

[DJR]

You do know that there is a HEADLESS guy in your bike shop picture, right?!  

[River Rat]

You do know that there is a HEADLESS guy in your bike shop picture, right?!  

And he was telling everyone what to do! It does look weird though.

[Squier]

River Rat, are you still alive?

[CAAD4]

You do know that there is a HEADLESS guy in your bike shop picture, right?!

The King does not mess around there....

[nonky]

Nice story - keep the updates coming!

[River Rat]

My apologies for the lack of updates as I unwittingly found myself in the connectivity equivalent of a the Bermuda Triangle. This was not according to plan I can assure you but it did create a very different break from society. I am on my way back home and to emphasise the point my journey time between truck, ferry, train and plane is 48 hours. So I'll be back in the RSA on Tuesday.

 

PS have you guys fired Zuma yet?