Day 9 Bike: Up Up and Away

March 4, 2024

While at the bank I also attempted to cancel the electricity bill autopay. The new owner said that if I didn't do this, he would end up with a pretty sweet deal. He might still have a bonus because I fucked up by losing all the old bills. The bank insisted on a bill to apply for the cancelation. Realizing I didn't have one anymore I then asked juristic for a photo and will try later.

At this point it was too late anyway and I was exhausted. Getting some more grub at the Si Racha central mall food court, I then double checked all my stuff and started riding the bike north. I would see how far I felt like going before ordering another car to finish the distance.

It was a pretty surreal feeling just blasting north towards Chonburi, now in the dark, and just soaking in the glow of the accomplishments of what had just happened. It was both a sense of relief and loss: there was no reason to go back to my beloved Pattaya anymore. This could possibly be the last bike ride north.

In a strange way it felt like leaving behind a crazy ex girlfriend who I still had feelings for.

This bike ride started taking on a mind of its own. Not wanting to go through Chonburi town, I took the bypass road and aimes for the massive Ninja food market where I was at last month. This time it was all closed. It's very possible the market always closes on Monday as the way things were packed up it was deserted and appeared to have been like that all day.

I just kept riding and made it as far as Bang Kapong which was better than expected. The car was then ordered from the Amazon Cafe and then back to my guesthouse. The staff greeted and said I must be a rich man by now. That was nice but the gesture I appreciated more was them treating me like a Thai local and the whole thing done in Thai with also the phrase "Khun Sateep" where Khun is the title given to someone in respect and Sateep is a transliteration of my name in their language.

At that point it was pretty obvious that a future trip would surely involve learning Thai formally, and that includes reading. Based on everything I know and love about Thailand, not learning the language and only speaking English the whole time would be just plain wrong.

Learning Thai would also take these cycle tours to a whole new level. I was lucky in the sense that Siri was there to help translate when I met all the locals across the border last month, but if I could speak Thai better these encounters would only multiply.

I also got the sense this trip that a lot of Thai people want to learn both English and Chinese. With my background I could end up teaching both so that got the wheels turning also. The staff themselves were making a trip to China and it could now be done without a visa. Thailand and China signed a mutual visa exemption effective March 1

But all that was for a later trip. Now I just wanted to sleep.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 1,197 km (743 miles)

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