March 9, 2017

We went to sleep last night with the rain pouring down on our little cabin. We moved our bikes from leaning on the outside to leaning on the inside wall, so they didn’t get wet. We were hoping that it would stop by morning and the roads would be dry. Our wishes came true, this morning the rain had stopped and there was a really nice fresh smell to the air. We had breakfast in the room and headed out at about 7:45.

What a difference a border makes. I forgot to mention after yesterday’s excitement at the border, that not only did I have to contend with almost losing Ralf, we had to switch the side of the road we are cycling on!. Thailand drives on the same side of the road as the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. I have a mirror on my bike which I can switch from one side of my handlebars to the other side very easily.  If it is on my right \”hood\” I know I have to cycle on the left side of the road.  It does take a little bit of getting used to riding on the other side of the road.  Although I spent 26 years of my life in the U.K.  I learnt to drive while in Germany.

The traffic is orderly, there are traffic signs which people follow. No-one came out of a side street without stopping and looking to see if it was clear to proceed, it was amazing. A few motorcyclists did come down the wrong way on the divided highway, but they rode into the dirt not expecting me to ride into traffic.

We were on the main highway for the most part today and took one detour off the highway. The detour road was the old highway and only detoured us off the highway for about 4 kilometres. Once again when a highway is diverted we always notice the small business that have gone out to business lost due to the diversion or widening of a highway.

As we headed down the small diversion, we were passed by sugar cane trucks, the sweet smell of cut sugar cane was quite nice. We saw one field of cane being cut by a machine. In Cuba we saw fields being cut by hand.

The King died in October 2016, the official mourning period is one year, there was one month of mourning where a lot of shops, restaurants etc closed. The Prime Minister stated that the tourist areas did not need to adhere to the one month mourning period so as not to harm the tourism industry. The Thai Restaurant in Barrie closed for the month.

 The King was highly respected and we have noticed a lot of memorials to him, some of the school children have black ribbons attached to their shirts. The King was the longest reigning Monarch in the world (70 years) and was very highly respected in Thailand.

Following the death of King Bhumibol, Britain\’s Queen Elizabeth II has become the world\’s longest-reigning monarch, having been on the throne for 64 years.

On our ride today we passed at least four army bases and one air force base. There was a military coup in Thailand in 2014. Maybe that is why there are so many military bases!

My sister-in-law works for Tesco in England, we have spotted several Tesco stores here – called Tesco Lotus, maybe Di could get a transfer to Thailand.

There are a lot of places to eat along the way, and places to pick up drinks. I don’t think we will go hungry or thirsty in Thailand. Spotted this little place with bicycles

We arrived on the outskirts of Sa Kaeo at 10:45 a.m. I spotted the sign to the hotel, (the Golden House Hotel) and we were allowed to check in early again. Again it is a small cabin style room, very clean and comfortable, although I am not sure about the mural.

We dropped our bags and headed straight out to Sa Kaeo for some lunch and shopping. We needed more cereal and milo and some coffee. I thought the big shopping centre was in the downtown area of Sa Kaeo. It was only 2 ks from the hotel. We left our bikes in the secure covered parking and went into a large supermarket. I hate to say it but we had KFC for lunch. Our evening meal was much better at a small café about 600 metres from the hotel.

Although it was a big store, there didn\’t appear to be a tremendous amount of food.  Two  aisles of noodles and another two of soya sauce and oils.  We spotted Tim Tams – a biscuit that we loved in New Zealand and Australia, we bought them, $2.00 for 8 Tim Tams, worth every penny.

As we walked back from the cafe this evening we noticed lightening flashing through the skies. I am guessing we are going to get more rain tonight. That is fine so long as it is tonight and cleared by the morning.

Tomorrow we are heading away from the main highway and hopefully get to see a little more of rural Thailand, as we head southwest towards the outskirts of Bangkok.