Last day for this trip. I was going to enjoy this despite it being an ugly ride into Bangkok.
The hotel here is great and I love the area. There was no shortage of food options around, so I set off and grabbed breakfast a few kms later. As usual, the ladies who ran that food stall giggled and laughed through the transaction.
The early part of the route took me through some industrial areas on roads with no shoulder or space for a bike. It was a final reminder of how accommodating the Thai drivers are. even the trucks were patient with this cyclist. The relaxed atmosphere wouldn’t last though, as I emerged onto the busy road that would bring me to within a few kilometres of my destination.
I rode on the frontage road at ground level and there was an elevated freeway to my right. There was still lots of traffic where I was though, but it was easy, flat and pretty quick.
As I neared the turnoff to the airport, the traffic suddenly became crazy for a few kilometres then returned to normal a bit further down the road. Everyone was in a desperate rush in that area only.
The rest was uneventful. I turned off the main road and followed small lanes to my friends’ house, stopped for my last Kao Pad Moo which was different again but fantastic, then got lost, backtracked, found a dead end, backtracked and finally made it.
I had a feeling of accomplishment as I got off my bike. I’d done more than 7,200km over the five and a half months that I’d been at it, and while I was happy to reach this destination, I didn’t want the fun to stop. That was funny, because for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been looking forward to a rest and seeing family and friends. Being home for Xmas and seeing everyone will be great, but let’s get going again soon after 😁 This lifestyle is too enticing to stop for too long.
At this stage, I’m thinking the next trip will be shorter (NZ or Tasmania) and then I expect to head to Europe for some time. But those are general plans with nothing really identified as a route and no flights booked yet.
