glorify and praise him, oh all!
This morning, I had to leave Pam in BKK. (But she and her family will come to Vienna when I am back 😀 ). We took photos
and had a good-bye that was a little less hard than some others, because we know the next meeting is nearly fixed – her family wanted to go to Vienna during my trip but then changed to Italy, so we can see each other in Vienna in 1-2 years.
On the way out, I met some of the cyclists joining the vibes of love-parade.
It was the usual mixture of big and small streets that Mr.G offers.
“One of these lanes became smaller and smaller, at last I had to be very careful with the bags not to bump into something. It opened again to a square, the square was open to a channel and a bridge was open to cross.”
Do you know this??
Yes, it was on the way to BKK (day 137), it was the same bridge, the same trap!
First I only had a strange feeling and when I realized what is going on it was too late. I didn’t want to go back. For sure I didn’t want to go the jetty to the right, like last time. I also didn’t want to explore the jetty to the left. And so, I cumulate all anger and despair and embarrassment to a peak of energy that was enough to carry the bike (except two bags that were to wide for the handrail) over the bridge, mount the bags and go on.
In the end this was 2-3min work.
After 30km, you could say BKK was behind and I made a stop to change shoes and turn on the spot GPS (I now do that only 2-3 times every day). I sat down in a bus station shelter abd saw food there, untouched food.
First, I thought it could be a donation but then I saw that it had been bought 2 days before.
And you know what? I didn’t even try the sticky rice in that package although it was not stinky after 2 days in the heat. So reasonable I can be, sometimes. Ok, I took the donuts in their slightly blown-up packaging…
And after only a few km, I stopped to buy the pineapple of the day. It was a smaller one than I knew before, but very delicious. If it would have been juicier it would have got 10 points, but 9/10 is still good!
The next stop was induced by a car that stopped, a young man waved and asked, “are you Martin?”
…and he is a friend of Pam 😀
Pam had postet our departing selfie with a nice text and so, her friends knew that I am on the road and this friend was also on the way to his and Pam’s hometown!
It would not have been easy to meet 10-20km before, because I was most probably on other roads than he, so it was a nice coincidence ?
My last food stop was to get some of that funny stuff that had been offered on this road also a few times before, it is Ro-ti sai mai, (as Pam knows)
not much later, I saw a young man with is bike turned upside down because of a flat tire. I stopped to talk and, if necessary, to help, but at the same time, an officer or guard of a estate in front of us, came to help. He just grabbed the wheel, put on the tire, inserted the new tube and was unstoppable.
When he was finished, he disappeared for a while and then came back with an electric pump. Then, while Babtiste, the young man, fixed his wheel on the bike, the guard again disappeared and came back with water and soap for Babtiste to clean, it was so nice…
We decided to go together, and I invited Babtiste to my hotel room that was open for two. But after only 100m, his new tube exploded. We stopped and saw that this tube could not be fixed anymore and Babtiste had nothing left for fixing a hole. I had and gave him two, just in case.
He didn’t want to stop me any longer and I had a stomach problem anyway that motivated me to go on. So, we agreed that he would come to the hotel later.
He then came earlier than I had expected because he had had a third flat tire soon after fixing the second and had come by hitchhiking.
He is on tour with a friend and they had started in Kuala Lumpur and just after BKK they had separated, because his friend goes volunteering in a hostel and he on a farm in Cambodia. He has much less stuff with him but much more time for reading, because he is not keeping diary and has only a phone for photos. Keep it simple ?
when i came to the hotel, there was a report of the “Vibes of love” parade on TV. And again, HIS majesty was involved, leading his people even on a bike!