Oooooh, Chocolate. By this point I estimate my weight was down to 10 stone / 63 kg. This was soon restored after some days in Thailand. Chocolate and other European favourites most definitely back on the menu. Most towns have a Tesco store (Tesco Lotus) which is a subsidiary of the Uk’s biggest grocer chain. In the corner of most stores was an Ex-Pats shelf with imported favourites like Marmite, Marmalade and McVities biscuits at a price.
It’s a good job that British nationals do not need a visa for tourist trips to Thailand as I visited three times and got to see more of the country than I had originally planned.
Chiang Khong – Mae Sae. Couldn’t negotiate passage along highway 4 in Myanmar so returned.
Mae Sae – Mae Sot. Quick dash to get to Mae Sot border crossing before my Myanmar visa expired.
Mae Sot – Bangcock. Rohloff Hub body cracked in Myanmar so returned to get replacement hub body at Bangcock.
Originally I had only intended to spend a few days in Thailand. I cycled from Chiang Khong to Mae Sae. I took the road that generally follows the Mekong river apart from a stretch where it cuts the corner of a big meander. The road is quite minor and scenic at the Chiang Khong end. Once over the hills, it has been significantly improved and has been made into a dual carriage way. However, there is still not that much traffic and there is a good size shoulder so this was no problem. At Mae Sot I crossed directly into Myanmar as I had booked a hotel in Tachileik. The Myanmar border staff told me that I was free to enter but would not be allowed to proceed along highway 4 to the centre of the country as this area was controlled by the military. This was no good to me as I need to cross the country. The only alternative was to cycle to the major border post at Mae Sot some distance to the south. The border staff allowed me to the hotel without stamping my Myanmar visa on the promise of returning first thing the next morning which I did. I needed to make good time in order to get into Myanmar before my visa expired so I followed the main road south taking 6 days to Mae Sot. The final stretch from Tak to Mae Sot was a bit more of a climb than I had anticipated, not helped by a large amount of road works on the steeper sections. Refreshment stops were also a bit thin on the ground on this section so I was glad when I got to the car park by the temple near the top of the climb with its selection of stalls and Café. Returning from Myanmar I ran parallel to and sometimes on the main road. From Tak south was all flat easy rolling. Although cycling to Bangkok was not on the original game plan I enjoyed cycling through Thailand. I didn’t find the cycling a white knuckle experience. Although the cities are not really laid out in cycle (or pedestrian) friendly manner; I found that when I had to go onto a major road they usually had decent width shoulders. The ancient ruins at Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya were well worth a visit on my way south. My route into the centre of Bangkok was not great, although the roads were shown as secondary routes on the map, they were still multi-lane highways and the design of the intersections brought you out into the outside lanes on a couple of occasions. Fortunately traffic speed was not that great and was able to get across to the near side easily enough. I also put a rest day in my route south to deliberately arrive on a Sunday. I had 5 days in Bangkok to allow a new hub body to be laced into my rear wheel and obtain a Bangladesh visa. Bok-Bok bikes gave me a bicycle box left over from a recent cycle delivery so I could pack my bike properly for the flight to rejoin my intended route at Dhaka. When I went to get to the airport I found I could not get this in any of the taxi’s because of the LPG tanks in the boot. I tried to go on the MRT, but they would not allow. In the end I took a tuk-tuk to the airport the far side of the city. As these don’t usual go beyond the imediate locality I had to navigate using sat-nav. The lesson here is to cut your bike box down to the minimum size necessary so it will fit across the rear seat.