August 9, 2019
Day 9 - Off The Island Attempt
Now the problem was becoming more and more urgent about how I was supposed to replace the Chinese visa that went missing with the stolen passport. Obviously my girlfriend had the same concerns as there was quite a lot of high stakes now on finding a way to get back into China. It's a whole other story as to why I'm still there if I dislike so much about the place, but she's a key reason why.
[November 2022: I later ended up marrying her. That's great for who she is but it only made it more and more difficult to leave China and dashed any hopes of getting away from that place]
But I was set on replacing that visa now. It would first involve getting back to Bangkok but not right away. I saw Sophia off to the airport earlier this morning, fell back asleep, then took off very late just when it started drizzling. It would only get worse and worse.
The plan was to try and cover 100km or more because in two days I wanted to fly out of Surat Thani airport some 236km away. First stop was to buy the plane ticket in cash at a random Air Asia travel agent since my credit card wasn't working. The lady took one look at my bike and laughed and said "Ah, so this is the sports equipment." I said yes. She then realized I would be biking to Surat Thani in two days and basically thought I was a nutcase. What else is new. She then said be careful.
Next stop was a bike shop en route to do some maintenance and how fitting that my rear rack snapped right while pulling up. They could install a new one as well as some derailleur work. The guy was very funny and said "You put a bomb in your backpack? Oh I see, you already bomb." Little did he or I know that this trip would certainly bomb about 30km further up the island due to shitty weather.
It was just awful, the worst I've ever seen and it never stopped. Finally I just gave up and found the nearest serviced apartment after a whopping 35km of this.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,969 km (1,223 miles)
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