We got up a little slower today as we had had a few drinks last night and as we had decided to stay a couple of days there was no rush.

We had decided to was h the bikes so we jumped on a couple of loan push bikes the hotel offered and road down to the local Tesco’s supermarket for  few supplies which was a pleasant change to the motor bikes. The weather was great which also helped as it was the first morning in the past couple of months that we could look to the sky and not see a cloud.

After the trip Tesco’s I decided to wash my bike. it was nice to not rush and relax, cleaning and checking over the bike.  Steve hung by the pool and later also washed his bike.

Later in the afternoon our friend Marion came by again and offered to take us to the local beach and show us around. Once again we were off on the sidecar at a very leisurely pace.

As part of the ride to the beach we passed through a military complex that also had a runway that we had to ride across as it was a public road when plains were not landing! very interesting.

Later in the day and after spending some time relaxing at the beach we were taken to Maggie’s Seaview Guesthouse to meet a few other people (expat’s from various countries around the world). We spent time chatting and having a drink before it it was time for dinner so we were back on the sidecar and off to a nice local Italian restaurant for a bite to eat and off then dropped off back at the hotel.

We rode from Samutsakhon (Bangkok), riding a distance of 250km continuing on down the main highway heading south. The day was very warm (mid to high 30’s) and sunny for a change.

As we made our way along the coast, the towns became far more commercial and full of large international resort complex’s. It was looking more Gold Coast (Queensland) that Thailand. Fortunately we made our way to a smaller low key town (albeit with a funny name) called Prachuap Khiri Khan. We did not have anything booked for accommodation but found a lovely hotel with a pool and individual bungalow accommodation for a really cheap rate, so we decided to spend the next couple of days and get our washing sorted before moving on.

We put our bike gear into a local laundry to be washed and were advised it would be ready for Sunday morning.

Shortly after arriving we bumped into a lovely Scottish lady (Marion) who had made the town her home some 3yrs ago and she kindly offered to show us around the area which was great. So the that evening we were off out with Marion to meet here friend and have a bite to eat. Transport was a little 100cc sidecar that the three of us got about on!

We had dinner with our new Scottish friend and other friends of hers for drinks after. which was a great laugh. We were kindly dropped back to our hotel in a car driven by a friend as it was raining once more.

Steve had arranged to have a new front tyre fitted on his bike at a BMW Dealer on the outskirts of Bangkok. He also needed the fuel gauge re set as the dealer in New Delhi had managed to muck the gauge up when they were going through the calibration checks  when servicing the bike.

We left Sing Buri and the ride was once again easy going however as we headed south it was clear we were in for wet weather as the clouds just got darker every kilometre we travelled.

While making our way around Bangkok our navigation took us to the start of a Toll road at which point Steve (who was in front) was pulled over by a Policeman overseeing the traffic by the toll collection points. He kindly pointed out that bikes were not permitted on toll roads (we had not seen and signs). He then proceeded to write a ticket for Steve and withheld his drivers license.

After a very engaging conversation between Steve and the officer we were guided away from the toll way and down a slip road. The officer wanted Steve to go pay the fine at the local police station (we did not have a clue where that was) and he still held the license. After further discussion Steve managed to get the officer to take the money for the fine and return the drivers license. In the mean time I had ridden off and hid in a factory complex as the officer was intimating that he was looking to book me as well.

So after paying the fine and having the license returned we managed to get rid of the officer and get going once more, just making it to the bike shop before any significant rain started.

It took a couple of hours for Steve’s bike to be sorted so we grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby road side diner and took our time to look over the new bikes in the show room. We did some rough calculations and bikes are extremely expensive in Thailand compared to Australia. No wonder there are not many larger capacity bikes over there, no one can afford them.

Steve’s bike was soon sorted and he was very pleased to have the fuel gauge working once more. The team at MF Motorrad did a great job and treated us like V.I.P’s.

We had another 40km to ride to our hotel destination for the evening. Unfortunately the heavens had opened up and it was once again raining very heavy to the point we had to pull over shortly after starting out due to lack of visibility. When it rains in tropical countries, it REALLY rains.

Finding the hotel proved a real pain as it was tucked away in an area where coconut plantations were everywhere and navigation proved very difficult as the GPS location also did not agree with where we were. A kind couple in a small road side shop arranged for a tuk tuk driver to lead us to our destination.

Upon arriving at the hotel in Samutsakom, having booked the accommodation of Tripadvisor the night before, the couple who appeared to be only caretaker managers, did not know anything about our booking?

It all got sorted and we finally got out of our, by now soaking bike riding gear. As there was no restaurant on site we simply cooked up noodles and beans on our camp cooker that we carried with us, and settled down for the evening.

Total distance for the day was only 175km, but it certainly seamed like a longer day, what with heavy rain, getting lost and hopeless hotel staff.

Tomorrow is another day.

Today was an easy ride from Mae Sot to Sing Buri, a distance of 355km . The riding had suddenly become very easy, if not bland as the roads in Thailand were on a whole very well maintained and sign posted. A far cry from what we had become accustomed to in many other countries we had passed through.

The scenery was very “vanilla” as the road sides typically had either trees masking the sights behind or simple towns etc. which did not make for good photo opportunities.

Behind the scenes, Kathy (David’s wife) had been working hard over the past weeks to arrange air freight for the bikes to Darwin from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Dealing with freight forwarders was proving very difficult. At this stage we don’t have any company flying into Darwin that we can find.

The day went well, although as the day was progressing the clouds started to roll in from the south. We made it to our hotel destination in Sing Buri without any issues.

Within a 1/2hr of arriving the heavens opened up with a large thunder storm combined with very heavy rain that occurs during the wet season. Luckily we could view the sorm from our hotel and avoided getting soaked for a change.