I was sad to leave Cambodia. I didn't feel anywhere near ready to leave as I did Vietnam. But, time is marching on and new places are to be explored. The border crossing into Thailand was very simple and very quick, surprisingly. Once through no-mans-land and in to Thailand, I was completely thrown by the fact they drive on the left side of the road. The same as the UK, yes but I got so used to cycling on the right for all my time in Vietnam and Cambodia!
We cycling along the main highways straight into Bangkok from the border. There was not much to see or do along the way so we decided to get our heads down and get to the capital. Finding hotels appears to be a little more challenging than ever before for two reasons. Vietnamese uses the Roman alphabet and we knew that Nha Nghi was hotel so spotting these words on signs and buildings was relatively simple. In Cambodia, the word Guesthouse is presented below any hotel signs that are written in Khmer - again simple to spot. Thailand however has its own alphabet (just as squiggly as Khmer) and nothing is in English and it seems there is not one standard squiggle that we Westerners can spot on the side of the road while also trying to cycle and jostle with the traffic. Mmm... it did seem however, that many people we spoke to along the way spoke a tiny bit of English and 'Hotel' is a universally understood word here. We always somehow managed to find some where.
Instant differences when reaching Thailand are the roads. All of a sudden, they are all signposted and beautifully laid tarmac with painted lines and wide hard shoulders. The drink stops were far less frequent but I think this may be because most of the roads we took in to Bangkok were main highways and drink stops when driving I guess don't need to be so frequent. EVERYONE drives a 4x4 here and we wonder if perhaps the government hands them out as part of being Thai. Bicycles were no where to be seen, and there were barely any on scooters here compared to Cambodia and Vietnam. It was strange, we suddenly felt very alone on our bicycles. Apart from the trucks screaming past, the roads were silent, no beeping, no children shouting hello, no animals to dodge and generally no people about apart from when we passed through towns. It was... dull actually.
I want to dedicate this post to all the Thai people that showed us kindness on our journey in to Bangkok. Firstly to Whippy. James and I were coming to the end of a full cycling day. We were heading for this one town when 3km just outside it we saw a hotel. We stopped to check the map and discuss our options when we suddenly heard 'Can I help you!?' Two young ladies stood behind a fence eager to help. After some discussing of hotels they excitedly invited us in to rest and have a drink when they found out we had cycled just over 100km. Their family ran a hardware store so we sat on their hand made benches and they gave us coke and water. After further discussions with brothers, uncles, fathers and co-workers in Thai and English, Whippy concluded that we would NOT stay in the hotel opposite as it was not good and because we were tired and come so far, she will drive us and the bikes in her pick up to the next town 10 miles away to a good hotel. After some protesting that this wasn't nessecary, we didn't actually have a choice as the 4x4 was already in the courtyard and her brothers were dismantling everything to put into the truck and tie down. She took us straight to the hotel, bartered down the price to half what we would normally pay, then helped us take everything upstairs. She would not take any money for the drinks, the petrol or her time. Before she left she then gave us a little wooden door knocker made in her warehouse. Unbelievable. We couldn't believe how kind she had been and she explained that it was Thai nature to do good for others and she would never accept payment.
Furthering on from this, we had many people in their flash cars pull up the side of us to say 'Well done' and 'Keep going, you're doing really well!' We stopped at the side of one road to fix a puncture on James's bike and one chap pulled over, bought some freshly cut pineapple from the stall in front of us and gave it to us. And once we got into Bangkok and a little lost, we had 3 separate people ask us if we needed help and gave us directions. Their kindness was greatly appreciated so Thank You to all of you!
We made it in to Bangkok alive, we have yet to cycle out, but the roads are not as bad as I thought! I was expecting mayhem on a far more vast scale than this. So, now we will spend 4-5 days doing the sites and activities of Bangkok before heading south towards Malaysia.
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