January 23, 2025
Day T4: The Best Bike Ride to Pattaya Yet
Today was one of those rides that was so good you didn't want it to end. There was a certain zen-like flavor to it and despite doing this ride 20-30 times already it felt like a brand new experience. I saw all sorts of new things and made new stops that it could have been a first time ride.
Arriving in Pattaya was the bonus, but the biking itself was the journey remembered more. Music blasting in the headphones added so much flavor. The pulsating EDM and house for some reason made this feel like river tubing in Laos, but this bike ride in itself had its own unique flavors.
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Before starting, I had a pages long conversation with ChatGPT trying to make sense of all the things I noticed at this guesthouse over the past few days. While I've been coming here on and off for over 15 years, there were definitely some things I noticed that were off. It mainly had to do with staff not familiar with my habits, or the absence of familiar staff who are. Meals were delayed, wrong food was brought in, and they didn't have me sign the tab as usual. And the staff weren't clear where my bicycles were. To make things in alignment, the usual thing I do is message the owner and others I have a good relationship with. I never raise a stink or cause people to lose face as that matters a ton in Thailand. But it's clear that some 'volatility signals' are emerging and it may be time to pivot a little.
Eventually everything worked out beautifully. Not only did the staff bring out the Montague for the first few days, they also located where I stored the other white Tern that was completely forgotten about along with a jacket and goodness knows what else I forgot there.
While I was getting set to leave on the white Tern, I also saw them put the Montague in storage. This ties into further logistics where I'm coming back to switch bicycles again and ride the Montague to Chiang Mai for basically the last time. Jen is helping me sell the bike and despite the sentimental value (have had that Montague for 15 years) it only makes sense. The plan is to gradually start moving bicycles out of that guesthouse and keep on the minimalism journey.
ChatGPT helped me understand that all these 'volatility signals' indicate there is a transition happening at the guesthouse, and it is most likely to do with a generational succession plan. Whatever is happening with that plan we don't know, but it seems that maybe the next generation isn't so invested in the place. One thing you have to understand, the owner built that place from the ground up by the sweat of her brow. She put her entire life into the business. When it comes to self-made people like this, more often than not, they have a hard time sharing the leadership burden. My Dad was exactly the same way and the lack of any succession plan meant my stepmother stepped in and took advantage. Enter the legal battles we had to deal with.
But as for this guesthouse, the owner continues to be amazing. I'm sure she'll keep on running it for many years to come. That's why as part of the deal for them storing my bicycles I will continue to give rave reviews online and promote it etc.. At the same time this arrangement has tied me there longer than I would like. Many times in Bangkok I would simply want to be downtown and hang out with friends and not have to take this transit back and forth all the time etc...
Trying to pivot a little bit, if we could limit it just to one bicycle there and then keep them on a rotation of guesthouses it seems a better way.
This all ties to the new logistics of the trip and how it has pivoted away from a James Bond cash mission to Cambodia.
But after setting off, I was amazed at how this Tern bike was performing beautifully on the back roads and it felt like it was riding itself. The air was clear and crisp. Aside from a little smokey smell of pollution, not bad at all.
For some reason despite all the traffic it was a non-issue. The weather conditions were perfect and this bike was rolling with hardly any effort. I felt I could keep going for hours and not take any breaks. Even so, there was a good excuse to stop for a coffee.
At some point after the reservoir the traffic was backed up for over 10km. It made no difference on a bike and that's why I was grateful to be riding one. The gameplan was to stop off for food at the Ninja Market and that came up much sooner than expected.
Unfortunately because this is a night market, there wasn't much open or available at 1pm. I did manage to find something, and it was the most delicious fish curry. They had vegetables and spices you could add to it and the people running the stall were super chill. One of the older ladies had to be in her 90s, she gave a big thumbs up and said "Aroy!" which means this food is really good. I then ordered a second one.
They cranked up the sound system for the entire market and played my favorite music, catering to the lonely farang on a bicycle eating his fish curry.
I know you're thinkin' I'm heartless I know you're thinkin' I'm cold
I'm just protectin' my innocence I 'm just protectin' my soul
This moment could have lasted forever and I wish it would be it was eventually time to move on for the second half of the ride.
For whatever reason, traffic was considerably thinned out and it made for a much smoother and pleasant second half than is usually on this crazy stretch. The bike kept performing beautifully and effortlessly. As a bonus I even made all the green lights through Chonburi and Si Racha which is unheard of. Even you get stuck at one of those, you could be waiting for five minutes. But I just sailed on through.
Trying to prolong the ride as best I could, more and more stops were made. At one such stop, I opened my trading account and noticed that the price of Gold plummetted. This was an ideal time to cover two short contracts. It wasn't so much the profit which was nice, but the goal was to reduce exposure so I don't have to keep watching the account. For goodness sakes it's a holiday, we don't want to be doing this.
At the same time now is the best time to get in on Gold shorts because everyone else is ridiculously bullish on Gold to the point they're idiots. Gold normally does well in inflationary markets, not the market we have now. That's all because they're afraid of Trump's policies since he took office and they're afraid there will be inflation. So the natural response out of both fear and greed is for people to drive up the price of Gold to insane levels. When it comes to me, I act like the greed police and take advantage of these people by shorting it. Unfortunately I will admit now that I'm facing losses but some were made back just now and exposure reduced. Gold can rally more to however much it wants and there's no need for me to worry about the account since I reduced exposure. At some point Gold will come crashing down once they realize that Trump is not doing what they're all afraid of. That's when I'll add more short contracts.
But like I said it's a holiday and with now being nearly fully decompressed from my full time job, there is no sense in focusing too much on trading also. It was a just a matter of enjoying this bike ride to the max.
Arrival had been timed to perfection as I just soaked up the atmosphere of the beach and enjoyed the moment as long as possible.
Later I found the hotel I had just randomly booked during one of my stops and the staff were quite friendly. There was a bit of a cafuffle at first since they saw me with a backpack and wanted to charge 1000 baht deposit instead of the usual 500 baht. Call it the backpack penalty, but I tried to counter that by saying I rode a bicycle from Bangok. She just looked at me like I was crazy and offered to store the bike anyway. Once in the room I said, "I'm sorry but the room is too noisy, it is right on the street. Can I move to another one." I was afraid of what they would say next.
"We can't, rooms are fully booked. Peak season. No refunds either."
I insisted, "Fair enough but can you look on the computer and see if there is a superior room I could upgrade to? I'll pay more for it."
She looked and sure enough a room happened to be found. The manager said, "No problem boss, we'll give you a free upgrade. You'll enjoy this room a lot more, can sleep tonight easily for sure"
I thanked him very much and checked in. These people truly rocked and will get a rave review. I then had some delicious Muslim food nearby and hit the sack.
Today's ride: 111 km (69 miles)
Total: 169 km (105 miles)
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