Day T11: Off to Pattaya

August 17, 2024

There was one more group fitness class then a social event in Bangkok to check out on Friday night. The crowd was a lot more subdued than the Tuesday event, but I bumped into a guy I met at the previous Internations. He was originally from UK, then a Singapore expat who quit there and now working in Bangkok. He said, "This crowd isn't really my style, I'm towards the upper age limit here anyway." Having just turned 47 years old I could sort of relate, although people still call me young. Call it midlife.

But Mike had a lot of interesting stuff to say where it really mattered: about Pattaya. His information was quite timely and relevant. Although I "lived" there off and on for 10 years with the condo misadventure, he gave a lot more of a local perspective on the chilled out places to stay and explore. It would add a whole different layer to the experience and I was keen to try out his advice. My condo had actually been quite isolated. I was hoping now to turn my back on all that and start completely fresh.

It turns out the new owner was none too happy about the condition I had left the place in. You could blame the pandemic or the mismanagement etc... but I had also left the place in a state of neglect for many years. None of this was visible on a surface level - it looked flawless. But he paid a fortune to gut the place out and start over. He wasn't shy to tell me about all the problems he found either.

The entire bathroom doorframe had molded out. I guess that's why it didn't close

So whatever, buyer beware as they say. I was just very lucky to have dumped that place at a good price otherwise I would still be stuck with it right now. Mike even said at the event "Good call to sell that. If you're not in Pattaya for 1/3 of the year or more it's not worth it."

Obviously the new owner reneged on his invitation for me to stay there again this trip while he is away. But it's for the best. There is no sense going back to that.

The next day I started packing to leave the Sananwan after those 9 days of well needed rest and recovery. The first immediate thing I realized, besides getting most of my energy back, was that the load was considerably lightened. It was almost as if my stuff went down my half. It took no time to pack.

The only thing I left with reception is two 1/4 filled pannier bags and the folding bike carrying bag. Everything else fit into the smaller panniers I bought in Armenia and even then they were barely half full. Not only that, but I threw away a bunch of electronics including all these old phones. The remainder was consolidated onto one backup phone I bought a few days ago, plus my main phone.

I also came up with a better SIM card arrangement: China and Thailand on my main phone, then Canada and US on the backup. Knowing how to keep the Thai SIM running while out of the country I figured this was huge progress.

So all told I felt considerably lighter. How this all happened I really don't know. Thailand has a way of bringing order out of chaos.

Getting set up once again. The light version

Home for the last 9 days. It was like a caterpillar in a cocoon kind of experience

I ended up checking out and was amazed at the deal: 600 baht a night x 9 then 2000 baht food. All told it averaged out to around $22 a night including the food. Astonishing! This was totally worth staying so far outside the city and commuting in. Friends had warned me that hotels in Bangkok itself would be closer to 2000 baht a night or basically triple the price.

As I was checking out, I had a chat with Mack, or as he called himself "Texas Mack". He was ex military and 60 years old but there was no way he looked it. He explained that after the life he led, including many years abroad in Amsterdam he had had enough. Basically he just wanted to chill and decompress. He had been coming to the Sananwan for nearly 10 years off and on doing exactly that. We agreed this place was the best in Thailand. It draws people like us in. He even said "What the fuck is that man, you even got the owner's son to smile at you, he never does that to me" We just laughed then he had to take off for something. That was also my cue to bounce.

While biking out out towards the main highway, I noticed some type of massive shop that gutted out car engines and left the parts hanging, maybe to be reassembled. Putting this together, I was sensing another key theme here. This midlife crisis was akin to a massive gutting project.

You and me both, brother. The shop looks like a mess but the Thai people are incredibly creative. He will find a way to re-organize a new engine out of all this

Deconstruction if you will. It was like holding a microscope to the fundamental assumptions about life and society that I had been taught growing up. I realized that so much was a lie, an illusion. Piece by piece I would dismantle these things and start reinventing myself just like building a new engine. This process had actually been going on for years already with the minimalism but really picking up this trip. No wonder I felt so exhausted last week.

This isn't to say, for example, my parents were wrong to say we should be polite to others and treat them with respect. Look at for example how Thailand masters that art. The lies I'm referring to are mainly things that keep us in the Matrix, designed to keep humanity in a perpetual state of servitude. The list of all these things could be never ending.

What makes this all so complex is that you mix in some decent truth with the lies and you end up building an engine as it were that looks functional. Maybe it even works for a time, but for sure it will break down in midlife.

The biking felt much lighter and smoother than the touring in Georgia and Armenia. It was a whole different world. Some things never change though such as my terrible luck with headwinds. These were strong but there was a way to circumvent them a little.

Instead of riding under an elevated motorway, I could detour all the way south to Sukumvhit Road and then it would swing around to catch a tailwind. This would add 10km to the route but it was worth it.

Even so the road eventually converged at the bottleneck near Bang Pakong where it joined the motorway and then boomeranged the opposite direction right back into the headwinds. These were unavoidable and the conditions felt like riding into a swamp. I bonked after around 60km.

We might as well just call this the swimming pool tour and be done with it

In the end I got as far as Chonburi and called it a day. It was the same hotel as where I stayed midway on the last trip six months ago. At this exact place then when I left, little did I know that the condo would soon be sold. If that could happen then what else was possible?

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 915 km (568 miles)

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