January 11, 2008
Khlong Yai - Trat: Hurrah!
'Tam mai dai.' That means 'cannot do'. No hub. Back at our little hotel we understand that there is a 'song taew', a pick-up with two benches in the back for passengers, running between here and the next bigger town, Trat.
The pick-ups leave from the market. Before departure we have time to take a close look at the goods - what an abundance of fresh fish, vegetables, meat, sweets. The shopkeepers seem to be proud of their displays and readily consent to having their pictures taken.
Travellers on their way to Ko Chang have put Trat on the tourist map, we are going there for other reasons. The road to Trat follows the coast and we would have preferred to be travelling the 75 km on our bikes instead of under them as they are tied on the roof of the pick-up.
When we arrive in Trat we take a room in the first guest house we see since we are in a hurry to check out the bicycle shops here. We often take the first room we look at, for various reasons, sometimes because we are tired and want a shower fast, or because we don't know where we will find other accomodation. This isn't always wise as in this case. This is the tiniest room so far, and very very hot. Turn on the fan and you get blown away because it's so close to you. Our usual rationalization: it's only for one night.
The woman running the guest house is very kind and speaks Thai in a way that I can easily understand. She makes simple sentences and says the obvious. For example when we rush out to find a bike shop, she says, "Take a shower first." But we're in a hurry to the bike shop we saw from the bus on our way into town.
Hurrah! We can hardly believe our good luck! Miraculously, they have a Shimano hub that fits. Within a few hours the bike is fit for the road.
Most everything in Trat takes places around the large market. And hey, there's that cyclist again. He got here just as fast as we did by bus! And now if you didn't recognize him in the picture we took in Ko Kong, you should recognize him now. It's Joff Summerield on his Penny Farthing world tour!
I expect all the readers of this page know his journal, if not have a look at his great journal http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/joff1. Imagine all these crazyguys meeting in this remote corner of the world. We still haven't seen Joff riding his Penny Farthing but since we are all continuing on to Chantaburi tomorrow we are sure we can't miss each other on the road.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |