August 10, 2019
Day 10 - What a Day!
I was up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. The plan was to try and make up for the lost distance yesterday and smash out 200km to reach the Surat Thani airport before the check in time of approximately 8pm. With these conditions I knew it could be done but of course there was a wildcard: the weather.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
It didn't take long to get washed out after the bridge and it meant stop, stop, and stop while riding out the lighter rain portions. Then of course a puncture but I was lucky to have it happen right in front of a motorcycle repair shop. The guys were friendly and used some sort of tube melting mechanism to burn a patch in. Rather interesting.
Still, with the consistent rain I knew I had to stop and take a bus the rest of the way. That was a lot easier than I imagined due to the good timing. A tourist bus from Phuket to Koh Samui stopped at the bus terminal where I was in Phang Nga and I got on. They let me off close to the airport. By then I realized I would have well over 6 hours to kill before check in.
So I thought of an alternative: take the bike on the train. I'd still fly tonight but would send the bike ahead of my as cargo. I talked to the ticket counter person and she said it wasn't possible. Unfortunately I gave up too quickly because I should have talked to the cargo people directly.
By then I decided it best to feast up on food then find a room in a resort for a few hours to nap. That was easily arranged as many of them will do 3-hour stays. Then I rode to the airport to check in and was somewhat reluctant about it since the weather had now cleared up and I was enjoying the cycling again.
The airport experience was dreadful and that's why I had wanted to ship my bike on the train to avoid these hassles. For starters the airline insisted on a bike box. Thankfully I had arrived early. It was such a small airport they didn't have any boxes for sale so the best I could do was buy a roll of packing tape, find some old boxes lying around, and get to work.
It was a lame job but at least it was *something* and the airline staff were nice enough to help finish the job properly.
The flight itself was very rough, and landing in Bangkok I hopped on a bus to Khaosan Road then lugged that contraption many meters on the street and up a bunch of narrow stairs to my hotel. It was now 1am and I was exhausted. Time to stay here for a long time.
Today's ride: 96 km (60 miles)
Total: 2,065 km (1,282 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |