12. april 2017 - 10. juni 2017\nTirsdag d. 06. juni 2017 - Lørdag d. 10. juni 2017 (Update 10. aug. 2017)\nChiang Mai - Mae Khachang 83 km\nHente Visum i Chiang Mai\nMae Khachang - Chiang Rai 99 km\nChiang Rai - Chiang Khong 106 km\nDa vi cyklede afsted fra Panda House, var vi godt klar over, at der ventede os en hård dag. Stort set hele vej igennem Thailand havde vi cyklet på flad vej, men fra nu af skulle vi til at cykle i bjergene, istedetfor at have udsyn til dem.\nVores visum til Thailand udløb 10. juni og det betød vi havde 4 dage til at nå ud af landet. Vores plan var som følgende. Første dag cykle til Mae Khachang og overnatte. Næste dag tage bussen tilbage til Chiang Mai for at hente vores pas med Kina visum. Tage bussen tilbage til Mae Khachang og cykle to dage mere inden vi ville nå grænsebyen Chiang Khong.\nHele vejen ud af Chiang Mai var mere eller mindre flad, men efter 24 kilometer begyndte alt det sjove. Nu skulle vi ned i et lavere gear og finde bjergbenen frem. Det var ikke let efter 10 dages pause, benene føltes som gummi og kroppen var slet ikke gearet til de stigninger vi skulle opad.\nAllerede fra start, var vi nødt til at skubbe cyklerne, da vejene var meget stejle.\nDa vi kom til Mae Takri National Park havde vi tilbage lagt 37 kilometer. Her holdt vi en pause i skyggen af nogele høje træer og nød udsigten ned over en lille flod.\nHerefter havde vi 18 kilometer til toppen af passet, som lå i mere end 1000 meters højde. Denne stigning "slog os ihjel". De sisdte 200 meter før vi blev reddet af en restaurant som lå 3 kilometer før toppen, måtte vi atter af cyklen og skubbe. Vi følte os helt omtåget og da vi endelig sad på restauranten, kunne vi ikke rigtig finde ud af hvad vi skulle spise. I første omgang bestilte vi noget at drikke og langsomt kom vi til os selv og fik bestilt noget mad.\nFor første gang i meget lang tid kom vi til at fryse lidt, da luften var køligere heroppe i højden og der var en dejlig brise, samtidig med vi sad i vores svedige tøj. En følelse vi ikke havde haft længe og vi nød det.\nEfter en times pause, var vi klar til at tage de sidste 3 kilometer til toppen og derefter fik vi belønningen for alt det hårde arbejde. 11 kilometer senere kørte vi igennem en lille by, hvor der var masse varme kilder.\nDet virkede syrealistisk at der var varme kilder, når vi stod der i 35 graders varme og kunne mærke den varme damp stige op. I nogle af kilderne, var der kvinder som kogte æg for derefter at sælge dem. Der var store kilder og små kilder, alt sammen lige i midten af denne lille by. Der var en "dejlig" duft af svovl over det hele.\nHerfra cyklede vi de sidste 12 kilometer inden vi var i Mae Khachang. Her fandt vi frem til et gæsthus - Sam´s Inn, som havde et VIP værelse til 450,- THB incl. morgenmad. Værelset var så stort, at vi unden problemer kunne have cyklerne derinde. Vi betalte vi for to nætter. Da vi skulle med bussen tilbage til Chiang Mai næste dag for at hente vores pas.\nVi var helt omtåget da vi vågnede næste dag. Det var nok eftervirkningerne efter en hår dags cykling.\nVi skulle med bussen klokken 10 og gik hen på busstationen i god tid. Klokken blev 10, med er kom ingen bus. Så vi spurgte i billet lugen, de kunne informere os om at bussen kom om 10 minutter, men de 10 minutter blev til 1 time inden den kom.\nTuren til Chiang Mai tog 1 time og 20 minutter og nu kunne vi se hvad vi havde cyklet igennem dagen før. Undervejs trak et uvejr op og det regnende utroligt meget. Vejen blev spejl glat og på et tidspunkt kunne vi mærke at bussen skred. Heldigvis var chaufføren hurtigt og fik rettet op på bussen.\nDa vi ankom til Chiang Mai, tog vi en taxa som satte os af tæt ved konsulatet. Vi havde stadig tid, da afhentning af pas først var fra 15.00. Inden kunne vi nå at få noget at spise.\nDa konsulatet åbnede, var vi de første i køen og nu tog det kun få minutter inden vi havde betalt 2200 THB og havde fået vores pas igen, nu med at visum til Kina, som galt i 1 måned og hvis vi ville kunne vi forlænge det en måned mere, når vi var kommet til Kina.\nNu tog vi en taxa tilbage til bus terminalen og ventede en god time inden turen igen gik tilbage til Mae Khachang.\nPå vejen tilbage til Mae Khachang kunne vi se resultatet af uvejret. Ialt så vi 3 biler, som var endt i grøften.\nIkke den mest spændende dag på vores rejse, men nu havde vi visumet til Kina.\nVi ville forsøge at nå til Chiang Rai, som betød vi skulle næsten cykle 100 kilometer. Heidi havde ikke den store appetit da vi skulle spise morgenmad. Nogen gange føler hun bare at maden vokser i munden på hende når hun forsøger at spise. Men efter en kop kaffe og et par mundfulde var vi klar til at cykle.\nDet små regnende og varmen var til at holde til. Vi kunne cykle på et fladt stykke de første 20 kilometer, hvorefter der kom 4 bakker lige efter hinanden med en stignings procent på 8 %.\nVejen snoede sig igennem landskabet og flere steder cyklede vi igennem små byer, hvor forskellige cafe´er lokkede. Men dog uden at vi besøgte nogen af dem. Vi kom forbi et sted hvor de solgte Sticky rice og Mango.\nHer købte vi to portioner, så vi havde til senere på dagen.\nEllers var højdepunktet på dagen, da vi nåede lidt før Chiang Rai, her ligger "Det hvide Tempel" (Wat Rong Khung). Tempelt er et utraditionelt buddhist tempel og er privat ejet. Det er et kunstværk, som åbnede for besøgende i 1997 og er designet af Chalermchai Kositpipat. Han har brugt mere end 40 milioner THB (7.7 milioner danske kroner).\nTemplet er ikke færdig men man regner med at det står helt færdig i år 2070.\nTemplet symboliserer 5 elementer: Ild, Luft, Jorden, Vand og Visdom.\nVi brugte en del tid ved templet. Faktisk blev vi kun udenfor, da det meste kunne ses fra vejen og fordi der var så mange mennesker, der ville ind for at se det. Templet var virkelig en meget speciel oplevelse med alle de små detaljer.\nCykeldag 144 blev den sidste cykeldag i Thailand. Vi havde fundet en cykelrute via maps. me, som førte os af små veje og igennem områder med rismarker og flere steder var markerne ved at blive høstet, andre steder var man ved at gøre markerne klar til en ny såning. Faktisk så vi en form for mejetærsker, som kunne øste risene. Meget efektiv. Vi nød at cykle på en strækning igennem en lang alle´ hvor vi kunne cykle i ly fra solen. Sådan et sted var varmen tit 4 grader lavere end lige i solen.\nDa det var den sidste dag i Thailand, stoppede vi flere gange end de andre dage, for at tage billeder. Landskabet ændrede sig, hvor vi nu havde bjerge på begge side af vejen og vi vidste snart ikke hvor vi skulle kigge hen. Vi syntes dette var den helt rette måde at afslutte turen i Thailand.\nVed middagstid kom vi forbi en tankstation, hvor der var en altmulig butik og en lille restaurant. Dette blev vores frokost sted. Inde på pladsen foran tanken sad en mad på en stol. Da vi var ved at stille cyklerne, spurgte han : Where are you going??? Heidi bemærkede at han snakkede med dansk accent og ganske rigtigt. Manden var dansk og hed Stig og kom fra Valby. Han var i Thailand når det var vinter i Danmark og hjemme i Danmark når det var sommer der.\nHan fortalte at han tit cyklede til denne tankstation, da han kendte manden der ejede den og sad og fulgte dagens gang. Han fortalte at han havde været med til at bygge nogle huse i en by i nærheden.\nVi fik os noget at spise og imens vi sad der, kom Stig forbi på hans cykel og da han havde set vores efternavne på vores cykler råbet han højt: Hey Nielsen, kan i nu have en god rejse og pas godt på jer selv. Resten af vejen til Chiang Khong er flad, så det klare i let og så cyklede han afsted alt imens vi vinkede farvel til ham.\nEfter frokost forsatte vi i mere end 40 graders varme. Vi kunne ikke rigtig holde en lang pause, da vi stadig have 50 kilometer.\nPå den sidste del af turen, bestemte vi os for at holde ved en de små vej cafe´er for at få den sidste iced cappucino. Dem kom vi helt sikkert til at savne, når vi kryssede grænsen til Laos.\nJo tættere vi kom på Chiang Khong, jo tættere på kom bjergene. Det var så flot. Vi var godt brugte, da vi holdte på Esso stationen i midte af Chiang Khong og klokken var næsten 5. Vi havde cyklet mere end 100 kilometer og 2 måneder med dejlige oplevelser i Thailand var ved at blive afsluttet.\nFor at fylde vores depoter op, købte vi en Sponsor banana energi drik og espresso. Nu skulle vi finde et sted for natten, som blev Namkhong Guesthouse and Resort. Vi fik et hyggeligt værelse med aircon til 500 THB og hele dagen sluttede af med i tur i swimmingpoolen, som vores muskler og sjæl var meget glsde for.\nImens vi lå i poolen, snakkede vi om alle de oplevelser vi havde haft de sidste 2 måneder igennem Thailand.\nDet havde været utroligt varmt, men vi havde klaret det og nu håbede vi på at temperaturen ville falde en smule, når vi kom til Laos, hvor vi skulle til at bevæge os ind i bjergene.\nTuesday 6 June 2017 - Saturday 10 June 2017 (Update 10 Aug 2017)\nPick up visa in Chiang Mai\nAs we rode away from Panda House, we were well aware that a hard day was waiting for us. Mostly all the way through Thailand, we had cycled on flat road, but from now on we had to cycle in the mountains, instead of having a view of them.\nOur visa to Thailand expired on 10 June, which meant we had 4 days to leave the country. Our plan was as follows. First day ride to Mae Khachang and stay overnight. Next day, take the bus back to Chiang Mai to pick up our passport with China visa. Take the bus back to Mae Khachang and cycle two days more before reaching the border town of Chiang Khong.\nThe whole way out of Chiang Mai was more or less flat, but after 24 kilometers the fun started. Now we had to get down into a lower gear and finding our mountain legs. It was not easy after 10 days' break, the legs felt like rubber and the body was not geared to the climbs we were climbing.\nFrom the start, we had to push the bikes as the roads were very steep.\nWhen we arrived at Mae Takri National Park we had covered 37 kilometers. Here we stayed in the shadow of tall trees and enjoyed the view over a small river.\nThen we had 18 kilometers to the top of the pass, which was more than 1000 meters high. This increase "killed us". The last 200 meters before we were rescued by a restaurant that was 3 kilometers before the peak, we had to get off the bikes and push. We felt completely wasted and when we finally sat at the restaurant we could not really figure out what to eat. At first we ordered something to drink and slowly we came to ourselves and ordered some food.\nFor the first time for a very long time we felt cold as the air was cooler up here and there was a nice breeze while we sat in our sweaty clothes. A feeling we had not had for long and we enjoyed it.\nAfter an hour's break, we were ready to take the last 3 kilometers to the top and then we got the reward for all the hard work. 11 kilometers later we drove through a small town where there were lots of hot springs.\nIt seemed funny that there were hot springs when we stood there in 35 degree heat and could feel the hot steam rising. In some of the springs, there were women who cooked eggs and then sold them. There were large springs and small springs, all in the middle of this small town. There was a "nice" smell of sulfur all over the place.\nFrom here we cycled the last 12 kilometers before we were in Mae Khachang. Here we found a guesthouse - Sam's Inn, which had a VIP room for 450, - THB incl. breakfast. The room was so big that we could have the bikes in the room as well. We paid for two nights. As we had journey to Chiang Mai the next day to pick up our passport.\nWe were completely wasted when we woke up the next day. It was probably the aftermath of a hard day's cycling.\nWe were going by bus at 10 o'clock and went to the bus station in good time. It got 10 o'clock but no bus. So we asked at the ticketcounter, they could inform us that the bus arrived in 10 minutes, but the 10 minutes went on for 1 hour before it arrived.\nThe trip to Chiang Mai took 1 hour and 20 minutes and on the way we could see what we had cycled through the day before. A thunder storm started right after we left Mae Khachang and it rained incredibly much. The road was slippery and at some point we noticed that the bus slipped. Fortunately, the driver was fast and got the bus back on track.\nWhen we arrived in Chiang Mai, we took a taxi that dropped us off close to the consulate. We still had time when pickup of passports was from 15.00. Within we could have something to eat.\nWhen the consulate opened, we were the first in the queue and now it took only a few minutes before we had paid 2200 THB and had our passports again, now with a visa for China that was valid for 1 month and we could extend it for one month more when we had come to China.\nNow we took a taxi back to the bus terminal and waited a good hour before the trip again went back to Mae Khachang.\nOn the way back to Mae Khachang we could see the result of the storm. In total we saw 3 cars that ended in the ditch.\nNot the most exciting day on our trip, but now we had the visa to China.\nWe would try to reach Chiang Rai, which meant we would almost ride 100 kilometers. Heidi did not have the big appetite when we had to eat breakfast. Sometimes she just feels that the food grows in her mouth when she tries to eat. But after a cup of coffee and a few mouthfuls we were ready to ride.\nThe little rain and the heat were OK. We could cycle on a flat stretch for the first 20 kilometers, after which 4 hills came just after eachother with an increase of 8%.\nThe road went through the nice green landscape and in several places we cycled through small towns where different cafes lured. But without us having visited any of them. We came past a place where they sold Sticky rice and Mango.\nHere we bought two portions, so we had some for later in the day.\nOtherwise, the highlight of the day was when we arrived a little before Chiang Rai, here is the "White Temple" (Wat Rong Khung). The Temple is an unconventional Buddhist temple and is privately owned. It is a work of art that opened for visitors in 1997 and is designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat. He has spent more than 40 million THB (7.7 million Danish kroner).\nThe temple is not finished but it is expected that it will be completely finished in 2070.\nIt symbolizes 5 elements: Fire, Air, Earth, Water and Wisdom.\nWe spent some time at the temple. In fact, we were only outside, as most could be seen from the road and because there were so many people inside. The temple really was a very special experience with a lot of small details.\nCycle Day 144 became the last cycle day in Thailand. We had found a cycle route through maps. Me who led us through small roads and through areas of rice fields and in several places the fields were being harvested, elsewhere, people were making the fields ready for new seed. In fact, we saw a kind of combine harvester who could raise the rice. Very effective. We enjoyed cycling on a stretch through a long alley where we could ride in the shelter of the sun. In such a place, the heat was often 4 degrees lower than in the sun.\nAs it was the last day in Thailand, we stopped several times than the other days to take pictures. The landscape changed where we now had mountains on either side of the road and we soon did not know where to look. We thought this was the perfect way to end our trip in Thailand.\nAt noon we came acrosst a gas station where there was an all-inclusive shop and a small restaurant. This became our lunch place. Inside the square in front of the tank station was a man sitting on a chair. When we were parking the bikes, he asked: Where are you going ??? Heidi noticed that he spoke with Danish accent and quite rightly. The man was Danish and his name was Stig and he was from the town Valby. He was in Thailand when it was winter in Denmark and home in Denmark when it was summer there.\nHe told us that he often rode to this gas station when he knew the man who owned it and sat and followed the people who showed up there. He told us that he had helped build some houses in a nearby town aswell.\nWe got something to eat and while we sat there, Stig passed by on his bike and when he had seen our surnames on our bikes he shouted loudly: Hey Nielsen, have a nice trip and take good care of yourself. The rest of the road to Chiang Khong is flat, so it's easy and then he drove off as we waved goodbye to him.\nAfter lunch, we left in more than 40 degrees of heat. We could not really take a long break as we still had 50 kilometers to cover.\nOn the last part of the trip, we decided to stop at one of the small road cafes to get the last iced cappucino. We certainly would missed them when we crossed the border to Laos.\nThe closer we came to Chiang Khong, the closer came the mountains. It was so nice. We were quite tired when we arrived at the Esso station in the middle of Chiang Khong and it was almost 5. We had cycled more than 100 kilometers and 2 months with lovely experiences in Thailand was about to finish.\nTo fill our depots, we bought a sponsor banana energy drink and espresso drink. Now we had to find a place for the night, which became Namkhong Guesthouse and Resort. We got a cozy room with aircon for 500 THB and the day ended with a dip into the swimming pool, for which our muscles and soul were very happy.\nWhile we were in the pool, we talked about all the experiences we had during the last 2 months through Thailand.\nIt had been incredibly hot, but we survived it and now we hoped that the temperature would drop a bit when we arrived in Laos where we had to move into the mountains.\nChiang Mai 10 days and two birthdays\nSøndag d. 28. maj 2017 til Mandag d. 05. juni 2017 (Update d. 25. juli 2017)\nPause i Chiang Mai - Ansøgning om visum til Kina\nDet vi regnende med skulle blive 5 - 6 dage i Chiang Mai, gik hen og blev 10 dage ialt.\nVi vågnede efter en lidt urolig nat ved Ae. Hendes hus ligger lige ved lufthavnen og når flyene lettede eller landede, lød det fuldstændig somom de landede lige ned i hendes hus. Meget intens lyd. Men dejligt at vi havde kunnet sove der den første nat.\nDa alle var stået op, hentede Göbken og Ae morgenmad fra et lokalt marked og Nico lavede pandekager til os. Så sad vi ellers bare og nød morgenmaden, alt imens snakken gik. Det var dejligt at tænke på, vi ikke skulle cykle for en stund og kunne slappe af nogle dage. Inden vi havde set os om var klokken næsten 14:00, så vi fik pakket og sagde på gensyn til vennerne. Vi havde aftalt at mødes senere på dagen, ved det store Chiang Mai søndags marked og derefter spise sammen.\nDer var 6 kilometer hen til Panda House, et hotel som lå lige udenfor den gamle bydel, men en god beliggenhed og lidt gemt af vejen fra larm og støj. Værelset vi fik var stort og rent og personalet var venlige, søde og hjælpsomme.\nInden vi gik på markedet, fik vi checket at vi havde de papir vi skulle bruge til visum ansøgningen. Så vi var klar til at tage på ambasaden, som det første næste dag. Derefter gik vi hen til Tha Phae Gate, hvor vi mødtes med de andre.\nDet var dejligt at have Ae med os, for hun kunne fortælle en masse omkring de ting vi så. Bl.a fortalte hun at hun havde haft en bod her for nogle år siden, hvor hun solgte små notesbøger. Faktisk fik vi en af bøgerne, som en gave med en hilsen, da hun havde en rest hun ikke havde fået solgt. Markedet var meget stort og man kunne købe så mange forskellige ting. Det eneste vi købte var 3 små armbånd. Det nytter ikke noget at vi køber flere store ting, hvert sted vi kommer til. For vi kan ikke havde det på cyklerne.\nHalvvejs igennem markedet fandt vi et sted at spise og der efter tog vi den anden halvdel og gik igennem. Vi kunne ikke mere da klokken var ved at være 21:00. Så vi gik tilbage til hotellet og de andre tog tilbage til Ae´s.\nNu var det mandag og vi skulle se om vi kunne være heldige med at få vores visum til Kina. Det første vi skulle ordne på vej derhen, var et besøg ved Thai Airways. Her skulle vi lave en booking til en retur flybillet til Kina. Det er de kinesiske myndiheder der forlanger det. Udover det skulle de vide vores fulde rejseplan med hvor mange dage vi skulle være de forskellige steder. Så vi havde lavet en fuld rejseplan på forhånd og booket hoteller og hostel´s til hele turen. Vi skulle hverken bruge flybilletten eller hotellerne, men for at få visumet, var det en del vi var nødt til at gøre. Når vi så havde fået vores visum, kunne vi gå ind og afbestille alt igen. Meget besværligt og tidskrævende!!\nVed Thai Airways lavede de hurtigt en booking til os og derfra gik vi hen til Den Kinesiske Ambassade. De åbnede klokken 09:00, havde vi set på deres hjemmeside. Så alt var i bedste orden, for vi var udenfor inden klokken 9. Men alt går ikke lige, som vi forventer. Da klokken var 10, gik vi hen til døren og kunne se den ikke var åben. Istedetfor kan vi se en seddel, hvorpå der stod at ambassaden var lukket pga. Dragon Boat festival. WHAT!!! tænkte vi. Hvornår åbnede de så igen??? Der stod d. 31. maj 2017. Det betød at så måtte vi vente 2 dage mere inden vi kunne aflevere vores ansøgning. Først en lukkede ambassade i Bangkok og nu det her i Chiang Mai. Det var lige før vi tænkte at Kina kunne være Kina. Men vi kunne ikke gøre andet end at vente til onsdag, så tage turen derhen igen.\nI Chiang Mai havde vi mulighed for at få lavet service på vores cykler og havde fået anbefalet Triple Cat´s Bike Shop, så der tog vi hen næste dag. Vi bad om at få lavet et fuldt check af cyklerne og Marianne´s cykel havde et gear kabel der var brækket. Vi havde et næsten nyt dæk vi ville have sat på baghjulet og det dæk der sad på baghjulet skulle sættes på forhjulet. Så det fik vi laver en aftale om og efterlod cyklerne der.\nDet var Göbken´s fødselsdag og vi ville lave en lækker overraskelse til hende. Vi vidste hun var glad for chokolade, så vi fandt en god cafe´ som lavede hjemmelavede kager. Her købte vi en chokoladekage og de ville endda pynte den med flødeskum og Happy Birthday. Det ville tage et par timer inden kagen var færdig, så vi skulle hente den på vej til restauranten vi skulle mødes på om aftenen.\nRestauranten vi skulle spise på hed Oh Ka Jhu og er navnet på de tre der ejer stedet. Her laver de mad af deres egne økologiske råvarer og stedet er meget populært.\nVi fik hentet kagen og kørte til restauranten. Her mødte vi en anden cyklist, Alex. Han var også blevet inviteret, da Göbken havde lavet en notits på Whats.App om at, hvis der var andre cyklister i Chiang Mai, var de velkommen. Han kom ind af døren lige som vi gik ind. Han kunne genkende os fra et billed han havde set på Facebook.\nInden vi fandt de andre blev det lidt skægt. Dem der stod i receptionen, troede vi hørte til at andet selskab og viste os hen til et bord, hvor der sad to mænd. Vi hilste pænt. Mændene spurgte ind til kagen vi havde med, for de var ikke bekendt med, at nogen i deres selskab skulle havde fødselsdag. Så vi fandt ud af at de kaldte sig - Chiang Mai Soceity og var en klub der mødtes hver månede til hygge og god mad. De sagde at hvis dem vi skulle være sammen med blev kedelige, var vi altid velkommen ved deres bord og vi skulle endelig lade kagen stå.\nDa vi kom nedenunder igen ringede jeg til Göbken, for at høre hvor de var og af den vej fandt vi hinanden.\nDet blev en helt fantastisk aften. Vi fik god mad og portionerne var så store. Aldrig har vi været på en restaurant hvor billederne virkede micro små i forhold til hvad vi fik serveret.\nVi bestilte en frugtsalat og i den var der nok til at alle 6 kunne smage. Alt smagte godt og smagte af noget vi aldrig havde prøvet før. Vi grinede og havde det skægt. Til dessert fik vi restaurenten til at servere kagen og så sang de fødselsdags sang oveni.\nI løbet af eftermiddagen havde jeg arbjedet på en video omkring vores tur fra Bangkok til Chiang Mai og som afslutningen på aftenen viste vi videoen på vores computer vi havde taget med. Göbken blev helt rørt og sagde at det havde været en af de beste fødsledage hun havde haft.\nDa vi skulle tilbage til hotellet, tog vi en taxa sammen med Alex. Han skulle også søge om visum til Kina. Så vi sagde på gensyn imorgen, da han også skulle på ambassaden der.\nSå blev det onsdag og vi kendte vejen til ambassaden. Igen var vi der i god tid, så vi kunne være nogen af de første til at aflevere vores ansøgninger. Inden længe stod en stor flok af mennesker udenfor, som alle nok var gået forgæves de sidste par dage.\nVi kom ind og var nummer to i køen, men ak hvad nytter det, når vi blev afvist. For det første fik vi at vide de ikke udstedete visum til 3 måneder og for det andet var de ikke tilfreds med billedet af Marianne. Det skulle være på hvid baggrund. No mercy. Jeg prøvede endda med et andet billede. Nej, dur ikke du skal have fat i et andet.\nHold nu op hvor blev det altså for bøvlet. Heidi var tosset og da vi kom udenfor bandede og svor hun. Hun havde svært ved at beherske sine følelser.\nNå, men vi skulle finde et sted de kunne tager billeder og det betød vi skulle med en taxa til den anden side af byen. Det tog 20 minutter og billederne tog 15 minutter og så en tur i taxa tilbage igen. Nu var vi pludselig nummer 76 i køen. Alex var også kommet da vi kom tilbage. Nu var vi spændte på, hvad der ville ske når klokken blev 11:30, for der lukkede ambassaden. Ville de meddele at dem der ikke nåede køen måtte komme igen dagen efter??? Alle ekspeditioner tog lang tid. Mange blev afvist. Klokken blev 11:30 og der skete ikke noget. Så der var vi heldige. De tog alle ekspeditioner til de var færdige. Men det var ikke slut endnu. Da det blev vores tur, tog de vores papir og alt var godt. Men altså kun 1 måneds visum og så kunne vi forlænge til en måned mere i kina, hvis vi havde lyst. Afhentning af passene blev sat til d. 7. juli, som var om 7 dage. Det kom som et chock. Vi havde stadig 300 kilometer til Laos grænsen og hvis vi først kunne hente visumet d. 7. juli, havde vi kun 3 dage til det. Så vi forsøgte at spørge om de ikke kunne gøre det hurtigere, da vores Thai visum udløb. Igen NO MERCY.....7. juli......på gensyn........farvel og tak.\nJeg tror nok de fleste kan forestille sig, hvordan vi så ud da vi gik ud fra ambassaden. Der var ikke et smil at se og vi virkede nok lidt opgivende.\nResten af dagen var vi noget sluk øret, men samtidig var vi nødt til at forholde os til vores tidsplan. Så vi lagde en plan for, hvordan vi kunne slippe for alt for meget pres på turen ud af Thailand.\nPlanen blev at vi ville cykle fra Chiang Mai til Khachang d. 6. juni 2017. Khachang ligger 80 kilometer fra Chiang Mai og så ville vi tage en bus fra Khachang frem og tilbage til Chiang Mai d. 7. juni, for at hente vores visum og derved allerede være godt på vej mod Laos.\nVi havde stadig Heidi´s fødselsdag at fejre og så havde vi et interview med Lars fra check-in bladet, som skulle ordnes og derfor ville vi ikke cykle før d. 6. juni.\nPå Heidi´s fødselsdag (01. juni) valgte vi at sove længe. Jeg havde søgt på nettet, for at se om jeg kunne finde et sted der lavede en lækker morgenmad. Så da vi var vågnet, valgte Heidi at vi skulle gå på noget der hed Bagle House. En lille hyggelig cafe´ hvor de selv bagte deres bagles og serverede friskpresset juice, sammen med en god stærk kop kaffe.\nHeidi var desværre ikke helt frisk, så det var ikke fordi hun havde lyst til vi sulle lave nogle vilde ting. Efter morgenmaden, gik vi tilbage på hotellet. Her fik vi Skypet med Heidi´s forældre og så var det næsten blevet aften. Vi havde bestemt os for at tage på Mexicansk Restaurent og Ae, Göbken og Nico kom også.\nIgen fik vi en hyggelig aften. Nico og Göbken havde købt en ny cykeltrøje til Heidi og Ae havde købt en Elefant, som er et af symbolerne for Chiang Mai. Jeg havde forsøgt at få fat i en dream chatcher til hende, så hun kunn fange alle hendes drømme. Men den gade sælger jeg havde set dagen før, var ikke på det samme sted, da jeg gik hen for at købe en. Så det blev ved tanken.\nInden vi sagde tak for en dejig aften, aftalte vi at vi skulle i biografen en af de næste dage for at se Pirates of the carabiean. Faktisk var det helt dejligt at lave en masse "normale" ting, nu hvor vi ikke skulle cykle.\nDagene fra 2. juni og frem til 5 juni gik med at hente vores cykler ved Triple Cats. Vi endte faktisk med at få cyklerne set efter en gang til, denne gang ved Mong Bikes, vi ville se om de havde en bagaksel vi kunne købe.\nDette endte i et kæmpe mix up og en del stress. Hvor vi endte med at ringe til Dan, vores gode ven og cykelmekaniker i DK. Heldigvis kunne han give os nogle gode råd via nogle billeder vi sendte til ham og i den sidste ende, fik vi specielt Marianne´s cykel tilbage til god stand igen.\nDen aften vi gik i Biografen, blev også den aften vi skulle sige farvel til Ae. Det var hårdt, for vi var virkelig kommet til at holde af hende. Et menneske med masse af energi og gå på mod og et meget positivt sind.\nHeldigvis kan vi stadig holde kontakten via FB og hvem ved, vi kommer nok til Thailand engang igen.\nSå blev det d. 5. juni og vi fik ordnet interview med Lars til Check In bladet og om aftenen havde vi aftalt med Nico og Göbken at vi skulle ud at spise en sidste gang. Efter at havde cyklet 900 kilometer sammen og tilbragt godt 4 uger sammen, var det slet ikke skægt. Men vi er opsat på at vi skal mødes igen, et eller andet sted i verden. Hvor ved vi ikke.\nDa vi havde sagt farvel og vi cyklede tilbage til hotellet, overraskede de os, ved at de var cyklet ne anden vej og pludselig stod de ved hotellet, bare for at give os et sidste kram.\nDe blev en nat mere inden de cyklede videre nord vest på. Til gården hvor de skulle arbjede frivilligt en tid.\nVi fik pakket og gjort klar til at cykle mod Mae Khachang og mod nye eventyr.\nSunday, 28 May 2017 to Monday, 05 June 2017 (Update dated 25 July 2017)\nRestdays in Chiang Mai - Application for visa to China\nWhat we were expecting would be 5-6 days in Chiang Mai, got to be10 days in total at the end.\nWe woke up after a little troubled night at Ae. Her house is located near the airport and when the planes took off or landed, it sounded completely as they landed straight into her house. Very intense sound. But lovely we could sleep at her house the first night.\nWhen everyone got up, Göbken and Ae got breakfast from a local market and Nico made pancakes for us. Then we just sat and enjoyed the breakfast while the talk went on. It was nice to think we would not cycle for a while and could relax for a few days. Before we knew, it was almost 14:00 so we got packed and said see you again friends. We had agreed to meet later in the day, at the big Chiang Mai sunday market and then eat dinner together.\nThere was 6 kilometers to Panda House, a hotel just outside the old town, a good location and a bit tucked away from the noise. The room we got was large and clean and the staff were friendly, sweet and helpful.\nBefore we went to the market, we checked that we had the paper we needed for the visa application. So we were ready to go to the chinese embassy, first thing the next day. Then we went to Tha Phae Gate where we met with the others.\nIt was great to have Ae with us because she could tell a lot about the things we saw. Among other things, she told that she used to have a booth here a few years ago when she sold small notebooks. In fact, we got one of the books as a gift with a greeting when she had some left that she did not sell back then. The market was very large and you could buy so many different things. The only thing we bought was 3 small bracelets. It does not make sense that we buy more big things, every place we come to. Because we could not have it on the bikes.\nHalfway through the market we found a place to eat dinner and after that we took the other half of the market and went through. We could not bare anymore when the time was at 21:00. So we went back to the hotel and the others went back to Ae's.\nNow it was Monday and we should see if we could be lucky to get our visa for China. The first thing we had to get was a booking for a return ticket for china, so vi went to Thai Airways. It's the Chinese authorities that demands it. Besides that, they should know our full itinerary of how many days we should be in different places. So we had made a full itinerary in advance and booked hotels and hostel's for the whole trip. We did not use the airline ticket or the hotels, but to get the visa, that was a part we had to do. Once we had got our visa, we could cancel everything again. Very cumbersome and time consuming !!\nAt Thai Airways, they quickly made a reservation for us and from there we went to the Chinese Embassy. They opened at 9:00 AM, we had seen on their website. So everything was in the best order, because we were outside before 9 o'clock. But everything did not go as we expected. At 10 o'clock we went to the door and could see it was not open. Instead, we saw a note saying that the embassy was closed due to the Dragon Boat festival. WHAT !!! We thought. When did they open again ??? in two days on 31 May 2017. This meant that we had to wait 2 days before we could submit our application. First a closed embassy in Bangkok and now this in Chiang Mai. We nearly thought China could be China. But we could not do anything but wait until Wednesday, and then try again.\nIn Chiang Mai we had the opportunity to have service on our bikes and had been recommended Triple Cat's Bike Shop, so we went there the next day. We asked for a full check of the bikes and Marianne's bike had a gear cable that was broken. We had an almost new tire we would have put on the rear wheel and the tire that was sitting on the rear wheel should be put on the front wheel. So we got a deal and left the bikes there.\nIt was Göbken's birthday and we wanted to make a nice surprise for her. We knew she was fond of chocolate so we found a good cafe` who made homemade cakes. Here we bought a chocolate cake and they would even decorate it with whipped cream and happy birthday. It would take a couple of hours before the cake was ready, so we had to get it on our way to the restaurant wher we should meet in the evening.\nThe restaurant we went to was Oh Ka Jhu and is the name of the three guys who own the place. Here they make food of their own grown organic ingredients and the place is very popular.\nWe got the cake and drove to the restaurant. Here we met another cyclist, Alex. He had also been invited when Göbken had made a note on Whats.App that if there were other cyclists in Chiang Mai, they were welcome. He entered the door just as we walked in. He could recognize us from an image he had seen on Facebook.\nBefore we found the others it became a bit funny. Those standing at the front desk thought we belonged to another company and showed us to a table where there were two men sitting. We greeted them nicely. The men asked about the cake we had, because they were not aware that someone in their company should have a birthday. So we found out they called themselves - Chiang Mai Soceity and was a club that met every month for cozyness and good food. They said that if those we had to be together with became boring, we were always welcome at their table and we should just leave the cake.\nWhen we came downstairs I called Göbken to hear where they were and that way we found each other.\nIt was an amazing evening. We got good food and the portions were so big. Never have we been to a restaurant where the pictures seemed micro small in comparison to what we were served.\nWe ordered a fruit salad and there was enough for all 6 to taste. Everything tasted good and tasted of something we had never tried before. We laughed and had fun. For dessert we got the restaurent to serve the cake and then they sang the birthday song on top.\nDuring the afternoon I had been working on a video about our trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and at the end of the evening we showed the video on our computer we had taken with us to the restaurant. Göbken was completely touched and said it had been one of the best birthdays she had ever had.\nWhen we were going back to the hotel, we took a taxi with Alex. He should also apply for a visa to China. So we said see you tomorrow, when he was going to the embassy too.\nThen it became wednesday and we knew the way to the embassy. Again, we were there in good time, so we could be one of the first to submit our applications. Within a short time a large bunch of people stood outside, which had all gone unsuccessfully in the last few days.\nWe came in and were number two in the queue, but what's the use when we were rejected. Firstly, we got to know they non-issued visa for 3 months and secondly they were not happy with the picture of Marianne. It should be on white background. No mercy. I even tried another picture. No, do not work, you have to get another.\nNow we had to act quickly. Heidi was mad as mad can be and when we came outside she banded and swore. She was struggling to master her feelings.\nWell, we should find a place where they could take pictures and that meant we were going by taxi to the other side of town. It took 20 minutes and the pictures took 15 minutes and same trip back in another taxi. Now we were suddenly number 76 in the queue. Alex had also come when we came back. Now we were excited about what would happen at 11:30, because the embassy would close at that time. Would they say that those who did not reach the queue had to come back the next day ??? All expeditions took a long time. Many were rejected. The time was 11:30 and nothing happened. So we were lucky. They took all expeditions until they were finished. But it was not over yet. When it was our turn they took our paper and everything was good. However, only one month's visa and we could extend to one month more in China if we wanted to. Pickup of the passports was set to 7 July, which was 7 days. It came as a shock. We still had 300 kilometers to the Laos border and if we could get the visa on July 7th, we only had 3 days to do that. So we tried to ask if they could not do it faster as our Thai visa expired. Again NO MERCY ..... 7. July ........ goodbye!!!\nI think most people can imagine how we looked when we left the embassy. There was no smile to see and we seemed a little abandoning.\nFor the rest of the day we were slightly worn out, but at the same time we had to relate to our schedule. So we made a plan for how we could avoid too much pressure on the trip out of Thailand.\nThe plan was that we would ride from Chiang Mai to Khachang on June 6, 2017. Khachang is 80 kilometers from Chiang Mai and then we would take a bus from Khachang back and forth to Chiang Mai on June 7 to pick up our Visa and already be well on the way to Laos.\nWe still had Heidi's birthday to celebrate and then we had an interview with Lars from the check-in magazine, which had to be arranged and therefore we did not want to leave before 6 June.\nOn Heidi's birthday (01 June) we chose to sleep for a long time. I had searched the web to see if I could find a place that made a delicious breakfast. So when we woke up, Heidi chose to go to something called Bagle House. A small cozy cafe 'where they baked their bagles and served freshly squeezed juices, along with a good strong cup of coffee.\nHeidi was not quite well, so it was not because she wanted us to do some wild things. After breakfast, we went back to the hotel. Here we got to Skype with Heidi's parents and then it was almost evening. We had decided to go to a Mexican Restaurent and Ae, Göbken and Nico also came.\nAgain we had a fantastic nice evening. Nico and Göbken had bought a new bike jercy for Heidi and Ae had bought an Elephant, which is one of the symbols for Chiang Mai. I had tried to get a dream chatcher for her so she could catch all her dreams. But the street vendor I had seen the day before was not in the same place when I went to buy one.\nBefore we said thank you for a lovely evening, we agreed to go to the movies one of the next days to see Pirates of the Carabiean. In fact, it was great to do a lot of "normal" things, now that we did not have to ride a bike.\nThe days from June 2nd until June 5 went with picking up our bikes at Triple Cats bikeshop. We actually ended up getting the bikes one more look over, this time at Mong Bikes, we wanted to see if they had a rear hub we could buy.\nThis ended in a huge mix up and some stress. Where we ended up calling Dan, our good friend and bike mechanic in DK. Fortunately he could give us some good advice via some pictures we sent to him and in the end, we especially got Marianne's bike back in good condition again.\nThat evening we went to the cinema and also that night we were going to say goodbye to Ae. It was hard, because we really had come to care for her. A person with lots of energy and courage and a very positive mind.\nFortunately, we can still keep in touch via FB and who knows we'll go back to Thailand again.\nThen it was June 5th and we had an interview with Lars for the Check In magazine and in the evening we had agreed with Nico and Göbken that we should eat dinner one last time. After cycling 900 kilometers together and spending a good 4 weeks together, it was not at all fun to say goodbye. But we are keen to meet again somewhere in the world. Where do we not know.\nWhen we had said goodbye and we rode back to the hotel, they surprised us because they had cycled another way and suddenly they stood at the hotel just to give us one last hug.\nThey stayed one night more before cycling further north west. To the farm where they would volunteer for some time.\nWe got packed and ready to ride our bikes towards Mae Khachang and towards new adventures.\nUps and downs heading for Chiang Mai and China visa\nMandag 22. maj 2017 - Lørdag d. 27. maj 2017 (Update d. 20. juli 2017)\nPhitsanulok - Old Sukhothai 85 km\nOld Sukhothai - Si Satchaniai 80 km\nSi Satchaniai - Wang Chin 74 km\nWang Chin - Lampang 73 km\nLampang - Chiang Mai 109 km\nDen store convoj på 5 cykler tog afsted fra Karma tidligt, da vi havde en del kilometer foran os.\nIgen fulgte vi de små veje, hvor der var masse af rismarker og ingen trafik. Roland og Aurelle var nødt til at juster lidt på deres tempo. De kunne med lethed cykle 25 kmh, hvor vi andre normalt lå på de 20 kmh. På et tidspunkt var de så langt fremme at vi ikke kunne råbe dem op, da de var drejet forkert. Vi råbte og råbte, men de hørte ingenting. Det var først de Aurelle havde kigget tilbage, at det gik op for dem at de var helt alene og måtte vende om.\nGöbken var ikke i så godt humør, så hun ville helst cykle for sig selv. Vi kan ikke alle være i super form hver dag og så må man accptere, nå en har det skidt. Men en god ting er, at spørge hvordan vedkommende har det og få afklaret om der er noget vi kan gøre for at afhjælpe problemet.\nGöbken sagde at hun gerne ville cykle for sig selv og hun havde ondt i hovedet. Så vi holdt øje med hende, men gav hende plads.\nLIdt før middag cyklede af en mindre god vej og nu var varmen steget til over 40 grader. Så vi forsøgte at cykle i skyggen af de træer der voksede langs med vejen.\nVi nåede til en lille by, hvor vi fandt et sted vi kunne spise og holde en lang pause. Vi havde stadig 19 kilometer til Old Sukothai. Da klokken var 15.00 cyklede vi videre, men varmen var ikke blevet bedre og vi havde ingen skygge. Tror at alle var ved at koge over.\nI Old Sukhothai fandt vi frem til et hotel som havde to afdelinger. Nico, Göbken, Roland og Aurelle ville gerne bo på et værelse kun med Fan, så de blev det første sted, men vi to gamle kvinder havde brug for Aircon, så vi sov på afdeling lige rundt om hjørnet. Hvor vi kunne få vores Aircon.\nVi aftalte at tage vores cykler hen til "The Aukhothai Historical Park" ved 18 tiden, for at se på templerne og så var der gratis adgang.\nOld Sukhothai har været hovedstaden for Sukhothai Kingdom som blev grundlagt i 1238. Hele området er 70 km2 og har mere end 190 templer, så for at se det hele skulle vi have brugt flere dage. Vi koncentrerede os om hovedtemplet. Her gik vi rundt og tog en masse billeder. Det hele var så smukt anlagt med kanaler og vandhuller, grønne træer og grønt græs. Her iblandt store stupaer og buddha figure. Fordi det var efter lukketid, var det kun os og enkelte andre der gik rundt, så det var en meget fredsfyldt oplevelse.\nVi fik også taget en masse billeder af os alle sammen med cyklerne. Vi prøvede også at cykle på ligge cyklerne. Efter at solen var gået ned, cyklede vi hen for at finde et spisested. Desværre blev det det værste sted vi til dato kom til at spise. Vi bestilte Mango shakes, som var vandet og maden var micro portioner og uspiselige. Sidst men ikke mindst tog de overpriser.\nRoland forsøgte at forklare damen på stedet, at han var altså sulten og hun skulle give ham en større portion. Så fik han bare mere salat i hans Pad Thai.\nVi kom ikke afsted som aftalt denne morgen. Vi tror at Nico nødt det franske selskab og derfor trak tiden ud. Det var bare ikke så godt for så mistede vi 1 time af det lidt "køligere" vejr. Specielt Heidi var irreteret over den sene start og kom med spydige bemærkninger.\nVi 3 piger havde bestemt os for at cykel den mere direkte vej af vej 1113, men det skulle vise sig at være en dum beslutning. For det første var vejen snor lige og uinspirerende og der var ingen skygge for den bagende sol.\nHverken Nico eller Göbken virkede glade og da vi efter noget tid fandt en bod med vandmeloner, hvor vi holdt pause, gik de lidt til siden og vi kunne fornemme, de havde en diskution.\nVi tænkte at det var os der havde sagt noget forkert på et tidspunkt og nu kom det til udtryk. Men det viste sig at være problemer mellem Nico og Göbken. Göbken havde fortalt at hun skulle rejse til Tyrkiet i juli og ville blive der i 2 måneder. Altsammen fordi hun havde mistet gejsten til at cykle og fordi hun savnede hendes familie meget.\nDet var vi selvfølgelig kede af at høre, men vi fik snakket om det, at savne sin famile og om at en rejse ikke altid er " en dans på roser". Der vil være opture og nedture, gode dage og dårlige dage. Det er en del af det man siger ja til på en lang rejse. Hvis vi var derhjemme, ville der også være gode og dårlige dage.\nDet var rart vi fik sat ord på vores følelser og herefter cyklede vi videre til Sawankhalok. Her fik vi frokost og der var en dame som forærede os vand. Lige hvad vi havde brug for i varmen.\nEfter en lang pause cyklede vi videre imod Si Satchaniai og undervejs dertil cyklede vi igennem noget af den Historieske National Park - Si Satchaniai. Det var så flot hvor vi cyklede, igennem en skov og af og til dukkede der et tempel op imellem træerne. Jeg syntes det mindede om Tyskland. Vi snakkede faktisk om at campere, men vi gamle damer syntes det ville blive for varmt. Temperaturen var stadig på 36 grader og klokken var 17:00.\nMen området var ren fryd for øjet.\nDa vi kom ind til byen, havde vi lidt svært ved at finde et sted at sove. Men med hjælp for nogle lokale fandt vi et billigt sted. 300 THB med aircon og 200 THB med fan. Det lå lige ved en lille cafe´, hvor vi kunne få kaffe drikke og the drikke. Så det passede os fint.\nVi stod op til dejlig 28 grader og overskyet vejr. Det var dejligt, for så kunne vi rigtig nyde naturen og landskabet vi cyklede igennem. Der begyndte at komme små bakker og vi nød afvekslingen, efter næsten 1 1/2 måned på flad vej. Rismarkerne var skiftet ud med mango og clementin træer, men alt var stadig lige frodigt.\nVi cyklede forbi et politi check point, hvor udenfor stod en betjent. Han råbet "Wait" efter os, da jan gerne ville tage billeder af os og inden vi havde set os om var vi inviteret på kaffe ved highway politiet.\nVi fik kaffe og blev budt på bananer. Han fortalte om sig selv og om hans familie med lidt engelsk og tegnsprog.\nFaktisk er det sådan at cyklister kan sove på disse check points. Der hænger plakater hvorpå der står "Cycle rest area". Der er fri WIFI og mulighed for bad. Men desværre havde vi ikke cyklet langt nok til at vi kunne slå lejr for natten allerede. Så efter en 1/2 times tid og en masse photos senere, satte vi os på cyklerne igen og cyklede videre mod Wang Chin.\nJeg var leader of the pack idag. Nico havde puttet ruten ind på min GPS dagen før, men på et tidspunkt var der gået noget galt og jeg havde overset en vej vi skulle dreje ned af. Ups.....vi var cyklet 13 kilometer forkert.\nVi måtte se og komme på rette spor igen. Heldigvis var Nico god til at finde en smutvej, så ialt endte det kun med 6 kilometer omvej.\nVejene var lettere kuperet og snoede sig igennem grønne skove og langs vejen var smukke blomster, altsammen et helt andet landskab end det vi havde set indtil nu. Jeg kunne godt forstå hvorfor mange cyklister elsker denne del af Thailand.\nI Wang Chin var der et stort marked, som vi gik hen til efter vi havde badet. Vi købte take away og tog mad og øl med tilbage til hotellet, hvor vi satte os udenfor for at spise.\nDenne dag blev lidt sværere end de andre dage. Det er slut med de falde veje. Fra start af dagen er der små bakker. Da vi havde cyklet 22 kilomter var vi ved foden af en 7 kilometer lang stigning, men inden vi skulle opover holdt vi en pause for at få lidt energi til musklerne.\nAlle mand klarede "bjerget" i fin stil. Göbken cyklede hele vejen op i et stræk, hvor vi andre tre måtte holde et par pauser undervejs. Da vi nåede til toppen, var vi helt euroforiske og glade. Nu ventede der os en dejlig kørsel ned på den anden side. Her var vi de langsomme. Nico og Göbken var som to projektiler på deres ligge cykler og fløj ned af. Hvor vi tog det lidt mere med ro.\nDa vi var nede på den anden side, passede det med at vi skulle have frokost og der lå en dejlig stor restaurant, hvor vi kunne stille cyklerne i skyggen og hvor de lavede lækker mad.\nImens vi holdt pause, fik vi gratis frugt og sugarcane juce, af dem der havde restauranten.\nDem der havde stedet, havde en lille berber abe der var 3 måneder gammel.\nDen var så sød. Men selvfølgelig ikke den måde en abe skal leve på. De havde givet den en lille trøje på og så havde den en kurv den kunne sove i. Men vi ved slevfølgelig ikke hvad historien omkring aben er. Måske var moder død og de havde fundet den eller måske havde de købt den på det sorte marked. Det ved vi ikke, men den var uimod ståelig og utrolig sød.\nEfter frokost fortsatte vi mod Lampang, inden vi nåede dertil kunne Nico og Göbken fejre at de havde cyklet 22.000 kilometer. Det gjorde vi ved at NIco skrev de forskellige tal på bagsiden af vores læg muskler og så fik vi en kvinde fra en vejbod til at tage billedet af os.\nVi skulle over en 2 - 3 kilometers stigning inden vi nåede ind til Lampang. Her brugte vi noget tid på at finde et sted at sove, første sted havde kun et værelse, så snakkede vi om at campere i en park eller prøve at finde et tempel, men til sidst fandt vi et sted, hvor Göbken fik forhandlet en pris frem til 400 THB pr. værslse.\nDa vi havde pakket cyklerne og egentlig var klar til at cykle, forslog Nico at vi lige skulle drikke en kop kaffe inden vi cyklede afsted. Det endte med at blive for hyggeligt og så begyndte det endda også at regne. Så sagde Göbken....One more day, som nok var blevet deres kende tegn fra Bangkok, hvor de ikke kunne tage sig sammen til at cykle afsted. Vi kiggede alle på hinanden og svaret var let - vi bliver her en dag mere.\nDet var bare lidt dumt, for dem der ejede stedet havde allerede taget sengetøjet af og var gået igang med at gøre vores værelser rene. Vi forsøgte at sige til dem at vi godt kunne tage det samme værelse igen og at vi slev kunne rede sengen igen, men det ville de ikke høre tale. Så vi fik to helt nye værelser.\nTror vi alle havde brug for at trække stikket ud en dags tid og genoplade. Så faktisk gik dagen kun med at sove, skrive lidt blog og spise. Det viste sig at være en rigtig god beslutning, da næste dag blev en af de lange.\nDen første del af turen vi tog denne dag, blev af hovedvejen imod Chiang Mai. Vi kunne have cyklet af de mindre veje, men så havde vi fået godt 12 kilometer mere at cykle. Igen skulle vi op over et højdedrag og da vi når toppen holder vi for at tage billeder af alle de forskellige bedeting og små templer der er der. Hver gang bilerne krydser toppen, dytter de tre gange for at symbolisere at de er nået til toppen i godt behold og for held på deres videre rejse. Det burde vi måske også havde gjort, for da vi køre ned på den anden side blev det noget dramatisk.\nNico og Göbken lå langt foran os og vi kunne se hvordan de susede igennem svingene med høj fart. Jeg når lige at tænke - hold da op det går hurtigt - inden jeg pludselig ser Nico´s cykle på midten af vejen og Nico som kommer op ude fra vejgrøften. Nej nej nej tænker jeg. For først troede jeg det var Göbken der var styrtet. Men heldigvis får jeg øje på hende længere nede af vejen. Men hvad er der sket ???? Da vi komme hen til Nico, kan vi se det er ham der er styrtet og faktisk må han været rullet/fløjet 20 meter eller mere af cyklen i styrtet. Han har slået sin ryg og et stort kødsår på foden ved den en storetå. Han ryster og det var forståeligt, da det kunne have gået grueligt galt. Der var tung trafik på hovedvejen, men heldigvis havde der ikke været nogen biler idet han styrtede. Vi får hurtigt samlet tingene sammen og Göbken behandler Nico´s sår og vi får tjekket at han ikke har brækket noget. Cyklen er også OK. Så alt ialt så heldigt. Men Nico var rystet og skulle lige have noget tid inden vi cyklede stille og roligt videre.\nHvordan styrtet skete vidste han ikke. Hen kunne kun huske at pludselig kunne han ikke styre cyklen og så var det for sent. Men det viser hvor opmærksomme vi skal være når vi cykler, da det er småting der skal til inden et uheld kan ske.\nResten af vejen ind mod Chiang Mai, cyklede vi af små bagveje. De førte os langs en lille flod, forskellige plantager og små byer. Nico havde fået kontakt via en ven, til en tailansk kvinder der hed Ae og hende kunne vi bo ved. Så efter en dramatisk dag og 108 kilometer nåede vi huset hvor Ae boede. Vi skulle lige vente lidt inden hun kom hjem. Da hun kom, blev vi taget imod med et kæmpe smil, en energi som vi sjællent har oplevet. Ae var så sød og livlig at det blev en glæde og super oplevelse at møde hende.\nNico og Göbken ville blive ved hende indtil de skulle videre til en gård hvor de skulle arbejde frivilligt og dyrke yoga. Vi ville blive en nat og så finde et sted inde i byen. Dette for at være i nærheden af den Kinesiske ambasade.\nDa vi havde fundet os tilrette, tog Ae os med på hendes stam restaurant, hvor vi fik en super lækker Pad Thai og nogle dejlig kolde øl. Vi skålede for en god tur fra Bangkok til Chiang Mai og var så spændte på hvordan det ville gå med ansøgningen til det kinesiske visum.\nMere på vej inden længe .........\nMonday 22 May 2017 - Saturday, May 27, 2017 (Update 20 july 2017)\nThe big 5-bicycle convoy departed from Karma early, as we had a few kilometers ahead of us that day.\nAgain, we followed the small roads where there were plenty of rice fields and no traffic. Roland and Aurelle had to adjust a little at their pace. They could easily bike 25 kmh, where we usually lay on the 20 kmh. At one point they were so far ahead of us that we could not shout to them that they had turned wrong. We shouted and shouted, but they heard nothing. It was only when Aurelle had looked back that she could see that they were all alone and had to turn around.\nGöbken was not in such a good mood so she would rather ride for herself. We can not all be in great shape every day and then one must accept. But one good thing is to ask how the person feels and to clarify if there is anything we can do to remedy the problem.\nGöbken said she would like to ride for herself and she had a headache. So we watched her, but gave her room.\nJust before lunch we got to cycled on a less good road and now the heat had risen to over 40 degrees. So we tried to ride in the shade of the trees that grew along the road.\nWe reached a small town where we found somewhere we could eat and have a long break. We still had 19 kilometers to Old Sukothai. When the time was 15:00 we continued, but the heat had not getting better and we had no shade. Believe that everyone was boiling at this point.\nIn Old Sukhothai we found a hotel that had two departments. Nico, Göbken, Roland and Aurelle would like to stay in a room with Fan only, so they stayed at the first place, but we two old women needed Aircon so we slept in the department just around the corner. Where we could get our Aircon.\nWe agreed to take our bikes to "The Sukhothai Historical Park" at 18 o'clock to see the temples as at that time there was free entry.\nOld Sukhothai has been the capital of Sukhothai Kingdom, founded in 1238. The whole area is 70 km2 and has more than 190 temples, so to see it all we should have spent several days. We concentrated on the main temple. Here we went around and took a lot of pictures. It was so beautifully landscaped with canals and water holes, green trees and green grass. Among big stupas and buddha figures. Because it was after closing time, only us and some others went around so it was a very peaceful experience.\nWe also got a lot of pictures of us all along with the bikes. After the sun had gone down, we cycled to find an eatery. Unfortunately it became the worst place we had eaten so far. We ordered Mango shakes that was more water then mango and the food was micro portions and inedible. Last but not least they took over prices.\nRoland tried to explain the lady on the spot that he was hungry and asked her to give him a bigger portion. Then he just got more salad in his Pad Thai. Not recomendable at all.\nToday we should say goodbye to Aurelle and Roland. They would look at another temple near Sukhothai before they set off for Myanmar. Who knows maybe our roads will cross further on the trip as they are also heading back to France.\nWe did not start on time as agreed this morning. We believe that Nico enjoyed the French company and therefore took extra time before leaving. It was just not that good, as we lost 1 hour of the slightly "cooler" weather. In particular, Heidi was irritated by the late start and came up with some remarks about the late start.\nWe 3 girls had decided to cycle the more direct road on road 1113, but it would turn out to be a stupid decision. First of all, the road was straight and uninspiring and there was no shadow from the backing sun.\nNeither Nico nor Göbken seemed happy and after some time we found a watermelon stall beside the road where we stopped, they walked away a little and we realized they had a discussion.\nWe thought it was us who had said something wrong at some point and now it was expressed. But it turned out to be trouble between Nico and Göbken. Göbken had told she was to travel to Turkey in July and would stay there for 2 months. This because she had lost the spirit of cycling and because she missed her family a lot.\nOf course we were sorry to hear, but we talked about missing a family, and that a journey is not always a "dance of roses". There will be ups and downs, good days and bad days. It is part of what you say yes to on a long journey. If we were at home there would also be good and bad days.\nIt was nice we got a word of our feelings and then we rode on to Sawankhalok. Here we had our lunch and there was a lady who gave us water. Just what we needed in the heat.\nAfter a long break, we rode on to Si Satchaniai and on the way we cycled through some of the Historic National Park - Si Satchaniai. It was so nice as we rode through a forest and occasionally a temple appeared between the trees. I thought it reminded me about Germany. We actually talked about camping, but us old ladies thought it would be too hot. The temperature was still 36 degrees and the time was 17:00.\nBut the area was pure joy for the eye.\nWhen we got into town, we struggled to find somewhere to sleep. But with the help of some locals we found a cheap place. 300 THB with aircon and 200 THB with fan. It was next to a small cafe where we could have coffee drink and the drink. So it suited us fine.\nWe stood up to lovely 28 degrees and cloudy weather. It was great, because then we could really enjoy nature and the landscape we rode through. There started to get small hills and we enjoyed the change, after almost 1 1/2 month on the flat road. The rice fields were replaced with mango and clementine trees, but everything was still lush.\nWe cycled past a police checkpoint, where outside stood a policeman. He shouted "Wait" after us when he would like to take pictures of us and before we knew we were invited in for coffee by the highway police.\nWe got coffee and were invited to take some bananas. He told about himself and about his family with a little English and sign language.\nIn fact, cyclists can sleep at these checkpoints. There are posters on which it is written "Cycle rest area". There is free WIFI and a bath. But unfortunately, we had not traveled far enough to make camp for the night already. Then after a 1/2 hour and a lot of photos later, we sat on the bikes again and rode to wards Wang Chin.\nI was the leader of the pack today. Nico had put the route on my GPS the day before, but at some point something went wrong and I had overlooked a road we should have turn down. Ups ..... we cycled 13 kilometers wrong.\nWe had to see if we could get back on track. Fortunately, Nico was good at finding a shortcut road, so it only ended with a 6 kilometers detour.\nThe roads were easy hills and twisted through green forests and along the road were beautiful flowers, all a different landscape from than we had seen so far. I could understand why many cyclists love this part of Thailand.\nIn Wang Chin there was a large market we went to after we had bathed. We bought take away and took food and beer back to the hotel where we sat outside and enjoyed the food.\nMore to come....soon....\nPhitsanulok, GEO caching and rest at Karma Hostel\nFredag d. 19. maj 2017 - Lørdag d. 20. maj 2017 (Update d. 19. juli 2017)\nNatten havde været varm, men med blæseren lige ind i hovedet og fejende ned over kroppen, var det lykkedes os at få sovet.\nDa vi kom ned i fællesstuen sad Grace og Kristine allerede og spiste morgenmad. Vi fik brygget noget sammen til morgenmad og sad derefter og hygge snakkede med de andre alt imens vi spiste vores mad.\nKristine kunne fortælle at de først var kommet hjem klokken 4 om natten, efter en hyggelig aften. Nico så ikke alt for frisk ud, da først han var stået op.\nMarc som ejer Karma Hostel ville gerne vise os et tempel, som lå lige om hjørnet. Så han sagde at dem der havde lyst kunne komme med lidt senere på dagen.\nJeg havde et problem med min cykel. Undervejs fra Bangkok havde den fået en mærkelig lyd og jeg var bange for at det var kranken der var gået istykker, så Marc hjalp mig hen til en cykelhandler. Han kunne thailansk, så han kunne forklare hvad der var galt med cyklen. Cykelhandleren tog et kig på cyklen med det samme, men kunne ikke finde nogen fejl. Han skilte hele kranken ad, men den så fin og pæn ud.\nHan mente lyden kom fra kæden, da den var godt beskidt. Så den blev renset. Da vi kørte tilbage til hostellet, var lyden væk, men kom lidt igen inden vi nåede helt tilbage. Derfor kørte jeg tilbage til butikken, hvor jeg efterlod cyklen til senere på dagen, så de kunne tjekke det helt igennem.\nDa jeg kom tilbage, havde Marc samlet en god lille gruppe, som alle ville med hen og se templet. Heidi havde begyndende hovedpine og var meget træt, så hun valgte at blive tilbage og hvile.\nMarc kunne fortælle en masse ting omkring templet og generalt templer, som ingen af os vidste noget om. Et sted var der en båd der var hævet over jorden, så man kunne kravle under den på langs. Hvis man kravlede 3 gange havde man brug for lidt held, 5 gange mere held og 7 gange rigtig meget held.\nJeg kravlede under 5 gange i håb om at vi ville få vores visum til Kina.\nSå var der et Bodi træ (Helligt træ), hvor man kunne kravle op af en stige og kravle igennem et hul i træet. Igen galt det 3, 5 eller 7 gange. Her kravlede jeg igennem 3 gange.\nDer var en kæmpe stor gong gong, den kunne man gnide hænderne hen over og få den mest vidunderlige lyd ud af. Lyden skulle være godt for krop og sjæl. Det var ikke alle der kunne få lyden til at komme frem.\nFra templet gik vi ned til floden, her oplevede vi hvordan små boder solgte levende fisk eller levende ål i små plastikposer. Hvorfor nu det??? Jo, så man kunne give liv tilbage til floden. De lokale ville købe en pose og så sætte fiskene eller ålen ud i floden igen.\nMarc tog os med hen til et lille gadekøkken, hvor vi fik en meget lækker frokost. 5 forskellige retter med ris og sticky ris. Alt smagte så godt.\nDa vi havde spist gik vi hen til Phra Si Ratana Templet (Wat Yai), som skulle have Thailands smukkeste Buddha Image og templet skulle være det andet mest besøgte i Thailand.\nVi kunne godt se det var et populær tempel, men mange besøgende. Det var også utroligt smukt med sine flotte figure, guld og røgelse.\nInden vi gik tilbage, havde jeg fået fat i en Pad Thai til Heidi, så hun kunne få noget at spise. Hun havde bare sovet og slappet af og havde fået det lidt bedre.\nJeg hentede cyklen sidst på dagen. Lyden var gået væk nu, men der var stadig ikke fundet nogen fejl, så jeg var skeptisk og tænkte at lyden ville komme tilbage når vi cyklede afsted igen. Men jeg havde ikke rigtig noget valg og cykel kunne jeg jo stadig, bare med en meget irreterende lyd.\nOm aftenen var vi 12 personer der gik ud for at spise og bagefter gik vi på night market. Her kunne vi købe alt muligt. En af tingene man kunne købe, var insekter som snack. Græshopper, mel orme og andre "lækre" ting.\nHeidi og jeg havde prøvet at smage græshopper og mel orme sidst vi var i Thailand, så vi sprang over. Men mange af de andre ville gerne smage. Faktisk er det nok mest udseenet af dyerne man ikke bryder sig om, for tit smager de bare af salt eller soja.\nDa var meningen af vi skulle cykle dagen efter, men da vi stadig var trætte og fordi vi syntes det var hyggeligt på Karma, valgte vi at blive en dag mere.\nMarc havde fortalt, at der skulle komme et fransk par med tog fra Bangkok, som også var cyklister, så næste dag var der virkelig fyldt op med Cykler. Der var vores to cykler, Nico og Göbkens og nu en ligge tandem cykel.\nDe to canadier var taget afsted og det var nok også godt, for ellers havde der ikke været plads til alle de cykler og mennesker vi nu var.\nNico nød godt af at havde nogle landsmænd at snakke med. Roland og Aurelle´ som de hed, var på vej til Myanmar og havde været undervejs på deres rejse i godt 2 måneder. Så de var fyldt med energi og godt humør. De kaldte dem selv Bikekitchen, da de godt kunne lide at smage på maden i de foeskellige lande og derefter forsøge at finde opskriften på det de syntes bedst om, for så at skrive opskriften ned.\nVi lavede en aftale om, at de kunne cykle sammen med os næste dag op til Old Sukhothai, da det var den vej de skulle for at komme til Myanmar. Så konvojen blev udvidet til to almindelige cykler, to ligge cykler og en ligge Tandem cykel. I kan nok forstille jer hvordan folk kiggede nu når vi kom cyklende,\nDen sidste dag på Karma, blev brugt til afslapning og GEO caching. Det var Nico, der foreslog at vi skulle prøve GEO caching. Han havde set på hans APP at der var gemt 3 cache lige i nærheden langs med floden. Så glade gik vi afsted alle 4 for at se om vi var gode nok til at finde dem.\nDet var noget svære end vi havde regnet med. Det skulle være en almindelig cache/skat vi skulle finde, men i beskrivelsen stod at man skulle kigge godt efter. Den første måtte vi give op for at finde, så vi gik videre til den næste. Den fandt vi efter et godt stykke tid. Skatten var ikke størren end en lille skruelåg og indeni lå en lille seddel, som vi udfyldte med vores data. Nu var vi opsat på at finde nummer tre også. Men igen kunne vi ikke finde den. Det var først da vi sad og drak iskaffe på en lille cafe´ og Nico læste igennem detaljerne en gang til, at det gik op for ham at vi havde kigget lige på skatten. Det var en firkantet grå magnet plade, hvor der var skrevet på bagsiden. Så nu løb Nico hen for at hente den, så vi kunne skrive på bagsiden.\nNu da vi havde fundet ud af den kunne se sådan ud, kunne vi huske at der var en grå firkant, der hvor vi havde ledt efter den første skat/cache, så på vejen tilbage kiggede vi en gang til after den først cache og fandt også den. Sidenhen har vi selv downloaded APPen til GEO caching. Men den er ikke blevet brugt endnu, men det bliver den helt sikkert inden vi når til Danmark, da vi syntes det var skægt og god tidsfordriv.\nFriday, May 19, 2017 - Saturday, May 20, 2017 (Update dated July 19, 2017)\nThe night had been hot, but with the fan right in the head and sweeping down over the body, we managed to get some sleep.\nWhen we got down to the common room, Grace and Kristine were already eating breakfast. We got fixed something for breakfast and then sat and enjoyed talking to the others while we ate our food.\nKristine could tell that they had returned home at 4 o'clock in the night after a nice evening. Nico did not look too fresh when he first got up.\nMarc who owns Karma Hostel would like to show us a temple that was just around the corner. So he said that those who wanted to come should gather later in the day.\nI had a problem with my bike. Along the way from Bangkok, it had gotten a strange sound and I was afraid it was the crank that had broken, so Marc helped me to a bicycle dealer. He could Thai so he could explain what was wrong with the bike. The bicycle dealer took a look at the bike immediately, but could not find any thing broken. He opened the whole crank, but it looked nice and all OK.\nHe thought the sound came from the chain as it was very dirty. So it was cleaned. As we drove back to the hostel, the sound was gone, but came back a little bit before reaching the hostel. That's why I drove back to the store where I left the bike for later in the day so they could check it all once more.\nWhen I came back, Marc had collected a little group that wanted to see the temple. Heidi had a headache and was very tired so she chose to stay and rest.\nMarc could tell a lot of things about the temple and general temples, which none of us knew about. Somewhere there was a boat that was raised above the ground, so you could crawl underneath it. If you crawled 3 times you needed a little luck, 5 times more luck and 7 times a lot of luck.\nI crawled under 5 times in hopes that we would get our visa to China.\nThen there was a Bodi tree (holy tree), where you could climb up a ladder and crawl through a hole in the tree. Again it was 3, 5 or 7 times. I crawled through 3 times here.\nThere was a huge gong gong, you could rub your hands over and get the most wonderful sound out. The sound should be good for body and soul. It was not everyone who could make the sound come true.\nFrom the temple we went down to the river, where we saw how small stalls that sold live fish or live eels in small plastic bags. Why that??? Well, you could give life back to the river. The locals wanted to buy a bag and then put the fish or eels back into the river.\nMarc took us to a small street kitchen where we had a very delicious lunch. 5 different dishes with rice and sticky rice. Everything tasted so good.\nWhen we had eaten we went to the Phra Si Ratana Temple (Wat Yai), which should have Thailand's most beautiful Buddha Image and the temple should be the second most visited in Thailand.\nWe could see it was a popular temple, with many visitors. It was also incredibly beautiful with its beautiful figures, gold and incense.\nBefore we left, I had grabbed a Pad Thai for Heidi, so she could have something to eat. She had just slept and relaxed and felt a little better.\nI picked up the bike at the end of the day. The sound was gone now, but no errors were found so I was skeptical and thought the sound would come back when we should cycle the next day. But I did not really have any choice and I could still cycle, just with a very irrational sound.\nIn the evening we were 12 people who went out to eat and afterwards we went to the night market. Here we could buy everything possible. One of the things one could buy was insects as a snack. Grasshoppers, worms and other "delicious" things.\nHeidi and I had tried to taste grasshoppers and the worms last time we were in Thailand so we did not taste this time. But many of the others would like to taste. In fact, it is probably the appearance and look of the animals you do not like, because they often taste salty or like soy.\nWe were supposed to ride the day after, but when we were still tired and because we thought it was nice at Karma, we chose to stay one more day.\nMarc had told a French couple was comming by train from Bangkok, who were also cyclists, so the next day there really was a lot of bikes at Karmas. There were our two bikes, Nico and Göbkens and now a lying tandem bike.\nThe two Canadians had gone and it was probably good too, because otherwise there would have been no room for all the bikes and people we were now.\nNico enjoyed having some compatriots to talk to. Roland and Aurelle as they were called were on their way to Myanmar and had been on their way for 2 months. So they were filled with energy and good mood. They called themselves - Bikekitchen, as they liked to taste the food in the various countries and then try to find the recipe for what they thought best about, then write down the recipe.\nWe made a deal that they could ride with us the next day up to Old Sukhothai, as that was the way they needed to go to Myanmar. Then the convoy was extended to two regular bicycles, two lay bikes and a lying Tandem bike. You can imagine how people looked now when we came cycling,\nThe last day on Karma, was used for relaxation and GEO caching. It was Nico who suggested that we try GEO caching. He had seen on his APP that 3 caches were stored nearby the river. So all happy we went all 4 to see if we could find them.\nIt was somewhat difficult than we had expected. It should be a common cache we should find, but the description meant that one should look carefully to find it. The first we had to give up on finding, so we went to the next. We found it after a while. The treasure was not bigger than a small cap for a bottle and inside was a small note that we filled in with our data. Now we were keen to find number three as well. But again we could not find it. It was only when we sat drinking coffee at a small cafe, and Nico read through the details once again that it seemed to him that we had looked at the treasure. It was a square gray magnet plate, where it was written on the back. So now, Nico ran to retrieve it so we could write on the backside.\nNow that we had discovered that it could look like this, we could remember that there was a gray square where we had searched for the first cache, so on the way back we looked once again after the first cache and found it at last. Since then we have downloaded the APP to GEO caching. But it has not been used yet, but it will certainly be before we reach Denmark, because we thought it was a lot of fun and very entertaining.\nBiking away from Bangkok\nLørdag d. 13. maj 2017 - 18. maj. 2017 (Update d. 19. Juli 2017)\nBangkok - Ayuttaya 86 km\nAyuttaya - Singburi 86 km\nSingburi - Uthai Thani 89 km\nUthai Thani - Chum Saeng 79 km\nChum Saeng - Taphan Hin 51 km\nTaphan Hin - Phitsanulok 92 km\nNu var vi en flok på fire og Nico blev leader of the pack. Parn fra Granny´s bike bed, havde forsynet os med GPS ruten hele vejen til Chaing Mai, på den måde var vi sikker på at komme til at cykle på nogle små hyggelige veje uden al for meget trafik.\nVi skulle tilbage lægge 36 kilometer inden vi var ude af Bangkok. Her holdt vi en pause på en tankstation og fandt derefter vejen, som første os langs en lille flod. Ruten var fuldstændig flad og vejret ikke alt for varmt.\nSå vi nød det allesammen.\nVed middagstid trak det op til tordenvejr og vi søgte ly med en lille gaderestaurant. Her spiste vi nudelsuppe og fik en kaffe drik, men uvejret forblev i horisonten, hvor vi kunne se lyn og høre tordenbrag. Så efter en time cyklede vi videre. Senere tog regnen til, så vi besluttede os for at søge ly, ved at af mange læskure.\nDet blev en længere pause, så Nico tog sig en lur, imens vi andre sad og slappede af.\nInden vi nåede til Ayutthaya, kiggede vi efter et sted at campere, mentil sidst blev vi enige om at cykle helt ind til byen og se om der var plads på Brickhouse hostel.\nGöbken ledte os igennem snørklede veje lige direkte hen til stedet. Hun havde været i Ayutthaya, for kort tid siden, da hendes forældre havde været på besøg. Det var en stor hjælp for os. Hun vidste lige hvilke templer vi skulle se og hvor de lå. Så vi skulle ikke til at bruge tid på at lede.\nAyutthaya er en historisk by, som var hovedstad i Siam fra ca. 1350 til 1767. I midten af 1300-tallet opstod et rige, der havde centrum i Ayutthaya.\nVi ville vente til næste dag med at se på templerne, da vi først var sent fremme. Så istedetfor gik vi direkte ud for at spise, endda inden vi havde skiftet vores svedige tøj.\nVi var allerede oppe klokken 6 næste dag. Da Göbken havde været her med hendes forældre, var de kommet gratis ind, da det var før templerne åbnede, så det håbede vi også vi kunne. Men nej, vi måtte betale og det gik nok også. Det var stadig en god ting at være ved templerne så tideligt, for der var næsten ingen mennesker.\nDer var så smukt, med de gamle templer og det frodig grønne græs og budske og træer. Stille og roligt gik vi rundt og kiggede, samtidig med vi tog billeder og filmede. I et af templerne var der små egern, som sprang rundt og vi så en masse herreløse hunde. Mange af dem er søde og ser sunde ud, men desværre er der også mange som lever et forhudlet og ikke værdigt liv. Man kan se store bare pletter med store sår og nogle er utrolig tynde. Selvom det er hård at sige, så ville mange af dem være bedre tjent med at blive aflivet. Det andet er dyremishandling.\nVi cyklede rundt til de forskellige templer og inden vi havde set os om, havde vi cyklet de første 10 kilometer den dag. Da vi følte vi havde set nok, cyklede vi hen til vores ynglings "restaurant" - Seven Elleven. Her fik vi vores morgenmad og provianteret til dagens tur.\nVi nød virkelig at være i selskab med Nico og Göbken. Nogen gange cyklede vi bare hver for sig, andre gange cyklede vi og snakkede. Der blev fortalt historier fra hver vores turen og vi fik grinnet meget.\nDa vi holdt middagspause denne dag, opdagede jeg at mit forhjul var begyndt at tabe luft. Det viste sig at et lille stykke ståltråd havde sylet sig igennem dæk og slangen. Så fint vi holdt pause så vi kunne skifte til en ny slange. Den gamle tog vi med os, så vi kunne lappe den senere og have til senere brug.\nDe næste 2 dage, hvor vi cyklede Sing Buri, Uthai Thani, Chumsaeng skete der ikke så meget. Vi startede ved otte tiden om morgenen og cyklede indtil middag, hvor efter vi holdt en pause på 2 - 3 timer. Så vi ikke skulle cykle i middags heden. Naturen bød på rismarker. Nogen var lige plantet andre marker var ved at blive gjort klar. Andre igen var næsten klar til at blive høstet. Ude i horisonten kunne vi skimte høje bjerge. Men heldigvis skulle vi ikke cykle opad før om lang tid.\nFolk hilste på os og gav tommel up, andre udstødte en højt næsten hysterisk latter, når de så Nico og Göbken på deres liggecykler. Vi sad næsten altid bagerst og betragtede det hele lidt fra afstand og fik os et godt grin. Vi blev næsten usynlige, for de lokale havde så travlt med at kigge efter Nico og Göbken at de overså os.\nTror også de lokale blev overrasket over den lange konvoj på fire cykler.\nDagen fra Chumsaeng til Tapan Hin blev en meget våd dag. Vi var alle trætte da vi cyklede afsted og vi nåede da også kun og cykle 10 kilometer inden det begyndte at styrt regne.\nHeldigvis var vi lige ved en tankstation og kunne søge ly under et stort halvtag. Det så ikke ud til at regnen ville stoppe, så Göbken og jeg gik igang med at spille kort. Efter en time og regnen stadig ikke var holdt, spurgte vi på tankstationen om vi måtte sætte os i ly i et stor rum som bare stod tomt. Det var OK. Imens vi sad derinde, begyndte vi at snakke om at vi kunne blive der og slå lejr for natten. Nico og Göbken havde lidt mad vi kunne lave og vi havde massevis af snacks. Men det blev kun ved snakken, for snart blev det tørvejr og vi besluttede os for at cykle videre.\nIkke nogen god ide´, for det fortsatte med regn - on og off resten af dagen. Flere gange måtte vi søge ly, når det blev for slemt.\nPå et tidspunkt blev det helt vildt og samtidig med begyndte det at storme. Så meget at et stor skildt blæste omkuld. Vi havde søgt ly under et tag ved et hus og rundt omkring lå der forskellige ting. Blandt andet en masse legetøj. Ved ikke helt om det var regnen eller hvad der skete, men vi begyndte at lege med en gravko og nogle andre ting som lå i de store vandpytter.\nDet blev rigtig skægt, da Heidi pludselig udbrød: der sidder to frøer inde i førehuset af gravkoen. Hold nu op hvor vi grinnede. Vi døbte frøerne - Nico og Göbken, da de jo kalder dem selv - Frogs on Wheels.\nEn anden oplevelse den dag, var fisk der forsøgte at krydse den våde vej. Vi tror de kom fra de overrislede rismarker og når vejene bliver våde forsøger de at flygte fra en rismark til en anden. Vi så en masse der vred sig hen over vejen. De lokale gik og samlede dem op. En let måde at få frisk fisk på.\nEfter 51 kilometer i regnen havde vi fået nok og i Taphan Hin tjekkede vi ind på et kæmpe stort hotel, som jeg i første omgang troede var utroligt dyrt.\nDet så så flot ud udefra. Men sagen var en helt anden indenfor. Engang har det nok været det førende hotel i området, men nu var det slidt og derved også billigt.\nVores rutiner startede klokken 6:40 efter vi havde sovet 9 timer i streg. Alle var klar til at cykle klokken 8, men vi fandt ud af at der var morgenmad med i prisen, så selvom vi havde spist vores egen morgenmad, blev vi enige om at tage en ekstra kop kaffe og nogle af de kiks man kunne få.\n40 minutter senere ledte Nico os ud af byen, idag var det af nogle meget små veje og inden vi havde set os om, endte vi på en vej der var lukket helt til at store bambus træer. Vi gad ikke at cykle tilbage, så vi stod af cyklerne og kravlede over og under grene for at komme igennem et stykke på 100 - 200 meter, inden vi var ude af bambussen og kunne cykle igen.\nTuren til Phitsanulok endte med at blive næsten 92 kilometer. Undervejs holdt vi kun to pauser, tror vi alle var opsat på at nå frem til Karma Hostel og så glædede vi os til en pausedag.\nDa vi kom frem, blev vi budt velkommen af Grace. Hun var fra USA og arbejdede 14 dage som frivillig for Mark som ejer Karma Hostel. Mark er fra UK og gift med en thailansk kvinde. Der var også to andre cyklister fra Canada.\nKarma Hostel er et lille hostel med plads til 11 - 12 personer og man betaler hvad man har lyst til. Drikkevarene havde en fast pris.\nStedet var meget hyggelig med en stor tag tarasse og en afslappende atmosfære.\nDa vi var godt ankommet og havde pakket ud, gik vi fire ud for at spise. Da vi kom tilbage, havde Mark samlet alle de andre og nu skulle de ud at spise. Senere ville de gå på bar og vi kunne bare komme hvis vi havde lyst.\nVi - Heidi, Göbken og mig blev da vi var trætte, men Nico gik på bar og kom først hjem langt hen på natten.\nHan havde det ikke alt for godt næste dag.\nSaturday May 13, 2017 - May 18th. 2017 (Update 19. Juli 2017)\nNow we were a bunch of four and Nico became the leader of the pack. Parn from Granny's bike bed had provided us with the GPS route all the way to Chaing Mai, so now we were sure to ride on some nice roads without much traffic.\nWe had to cycle 36 kilometers before we were out of Bangkok. Here we stopped at a gas station and then found the road, that lead us along a small river. The route was completely flat and the weather was not too hot.\nSo we enjoyed it all.\nAt noon, we could see a thunderstorm was on its way towards us, so we sought shelter at a small street restaurant. Here we ate noodle soup and got a coffee drink, but the storm remained in the horizon where we could see lightning and hear the thunder. Then after an hour we continued cycling. Later the rain came back, so we decided to seek shelter in one of many shelters along the way\nWe took a longer break, so Nico took a nap while we were seating and relaxing.\nBefore reaching Ayutthaya, we looked for a place to camp, we did not find any nice place and at last we agreed to bike all the way to town to see if there was room at Brickhouse hostel.\nGöbken led us through the narrow roads straight to the place. She had been to Ayutthaya a little while ago, since her parents had been visiting. It was a big help for us. She knew exactly which temples we should see and where they where. So we should not use time for searching.\nAyutthaya is a historic city, which was the capital of Siam from approx. 1350 to 1767. In the middle of the 1300s, a kingdom that had its center in Ayutthaya emerged.\nWe would wait until the next day to look at the temples as we arrived late that night. Instead, we went straight to get someting to eat even before we had changed our sweaty clothes.\nWe were already up at 6 o'clock next day. When Göbken had been here with her parents, they had come in for free as it was before the temples opened, so we hoped we could do the same. But no, we had to pay and it was OK too. It was still a good thing to be at the temples so early, because there were almost no people.\nIt was so beautiful with the old temples and the lush green grass and buds and trees. Quietly we walked around and looked while we took pictures and filmed. In one of the temples there were little squirrels running around and we saw a lot of stray dogs. Many of them are sweet and look healthy, but unfortunately there are also many who live a foremost and not worthy life. You can see big spots with big wounds and some are incredibly thin. Although hard to say, many of them would be better served to be killed. The other is animal cruelty.\nWe rode around to the different temples and before we knew we had cycled the first 10 kilometers that day. When we felt we had seen enough, we cycled to our favorite "restaurant" - Seven Elleven. Here we got our breakfast and other food for today's trip.\nWe really enjoyed being in the company of Nico and Göbken. Sometimes we just cycled separately, and on other occasions we cycled and talked. We were told stories from each of our trips and we laughed a lot.\nWhen we had lunch break this day, I discovered that my front wheel had begun to lose air. It turned out that a small piece of steel wire had stung through the tires and the tube. So while we stopped we could switch to a new tube. The old one we took with us so we could patch it later and have for later use.\nThe next 2 days where we rode Sing Buri, Uthai Thani, Chumsaeng not much happend. We started at eight o'clock in the morning and cycled until lunch, after which we stayed for 2 - 3 hours. So we did not have to ride the bicycle in the midday heat. Nature offered rice fields. Some was just planted other fields were getting ready to plant. Others again were allmost ready to be harvested. Out in the horizon we could see high mountains. But fortunately, we should not climb them for a long time.\nPeople greeted us and gave thumbs up, others exclaimed a loudly almost hysterical laughter when they saw Nico and Göbken on their recumbent bikes. We almost always sat at the back and observed everything a little from the distance and got a good laugh. We became almost invisible, because the locals were so busy looking for Nico and Göbken that they did not see us.\nWe also think the locals were surprised by the long convoy of four bikes.\nThe day from Chumsaeng to Tapan Hin became a very wet day. We were all tired as we rode off and we only got to cycle 10 kilometers before it started to rain.\nFortunately, we were just next to a gas station and could shelter under a big roof. It did not look like the rain would stop, so Göbken and I started playing cards. After an hour and the rain still stopped, we asked at the gas station if we could shelter in a large room that was empty. That was OK. As we sat in there, we began to talk about that we could stay there and camp for the night. Nico and Göbken had some food we could make and we had plenty of snacks. But it never happend, because soon the rain stopped and we decided to ride on.\nNot a good idea, because it continued with rain - on and off the rest of the day. Several times we had to seek shelter when it got too bad.\nAt one point it became pretty wild and at the same time it began to storm. So much that a big sign beside the road was blown away. We had taken shelter at a house under a big roof and around there were different things. Among other things a lot of toys. I Do not know if it was the rain or what happened, but we started playing with a toy bulldozer and some other things that layed in the big puddles.\nIt became a really funny when Heidi suddenly shouted out: there are two frogs inside the bulldozer. Now s we could not stop laughing. We named the frogs - Nico and Göbken, as they call themselves - Frogs on Wheels.\nAnother experience that day was fish that tried to cross the wet road. We think they came from the irrigated rice fields and when the roads get wet they try to flee from one rice field to another. We saw a lot of fish crossing the road. The locals went and collected them. An easy way to get fresh fish.\nAfter 51 kilometers in the rain we had enough and in Taphan Hin we checked in at a huge hotel, which I thought initially was incredibly expensive.\nIt looked so nice from the outside. But the case was quite different inside. Once upon a time, it has probably been the leading hotel in the area, but now it was worn out and thus also cheap. Wich suited us well.\nOur routines started at 6:40 after we had slept 9 hours in a row. Everyone was ready to cycle at 8 o'clock, but we found out that breakfast was included in the price, so even though we had eaten our own breakfast, we agreed to take an extra cup of coffee and some of the biscuits we could get.\n40 minutes later, Nico led us out of the city, today it was of some very small roads and before we knew we ended up on a road that was close by big bamboo trees. We did not like to ride back, so we got off the bikes and crawled over and below the branches to get through a distance of 100-200 meters before we came through the bamboo and could ride again.\nThe trip to Phitsanulok ended up being almost 92 kilometers. Along the way, we only stopped for two breaks, I think everyone was keen on reaching Karma Hostel and all of us were looking forward to a break.\nWhen we arrived, we were welcomed by Grace. She was from the United States and worked for 14 days as volunteer for Mark who owns Karma Hostel. Mark is from the UK and married a Thai woman. There were also two other cyclists from Canada.\nKarma Hostel is a small hostel with space for 11-12 people and you pay what you want. The drinks had a fixed price.\nThe place was very nice with a big roof tarace and a relaxing atmosphere.\nWhen we had arrived and packed out, the four of us went out to eat. When we came back, Mark gathered all the others and now they went for dinner. Later they would go to a bar and we could just come if we wanted to.\nWe - Heidi, Göbken and me were tired so we stayed but Nico went to the bar and came home late at night.\nHe did not feel that well the next day.\nTo be continued......soon\nBangkok - busy and lazy days\nPraktiske dage og hvile. (Update d. 11. juli 2017)\nLørdag d. 6. maj 2017 - Fredag 12. maj 2017\nDe dage vi boede på New Road Guesthouse, brugte vi på afslapning, sove længe og forlængelse af vores visum til Thailand.\nLørdagen gik med at sove længe og ellers ikke lave noget specielt. Vi tjekkede på nettet, hvor det var vi skulle hen for at forlænge vores visum til Thailand og så en video på YOUTUBE om hvordan vi kom ud til immigrations kontoret. Fra New Road Guesthouse, skulle vi nok regne med det ville tage mellem 1 - 2 timer at komme derud. Så vi var opsat på at stå tideligt op mandag for at komme afsted i god tid.\nVi undersøgte også hvor den Kinesiske Ambasade lå og gjorde alle de forskellige papir klar til at ansøge om visum. Her skulle både laves kopier af vores pas, kopier af alle de steder vi skulle overnatte, en rejseplan og udfylde ansøgningen.\nVi var først nødt til at forlænge vores Thai visum inden vi ansøgte om Kina visum, for vi skulle aflevere vores pas til den Kinesiske Ambassade og nok regne med at det ville tage 3 - 5 hverdage for at få det ordnet.\nAlt var gjort klart, men så læste vi en besked på nettet. Her stod: at den kinesiske ambassade havde lukket for udstedelse af visum til udenlændinge, indtil slutningen af maj pga. tekniske problemer. Det var ikke kun ambassaden i Bangkok men worldvide. Det kunne vi læse på flere forskellige FB forums.\nHvad skulle vi så gøre??? Vi måtte finde på et eller andet. Så vi undersøgte hvor der var andre Kinesiske ambassader og fandt ud af at Chiang Mai også havde en´. Så vores plan blev at cykle den vej op norpå og så håbe på at vi kunne ansøge om visum sidst i maj.\nHele mandagen gik med at forlænge visum til Thailand. Det tog 1 1/2 time at komme ud til immigrationen, som er en kæmpe bygning. Vi fandt frem til det rette kontor og måtte vente en times tid, inden vi kunne aflevere vores ansøgning og betale 1900 THB hver. Herefter igen vente en time inden vi fik passene retur med de nye visum i. Så gik turen tilbage. Denne gang med Taxa til nærmeste BTS station - Mo Shit. Det tog 45 minutter pga. trafik og undervejs begyndte det vildeste uvejr, så vejene blev oversvømmet.\nVi stod af ved Silom Road, for at gå forbi Outdoor Vison. Her kunne vi købe en gryde, kedel og pande. Det gamle havde vi efterladt i Adelaide, da det var slidt.\nVi havde fået vores pakke, som vi havde sendt fra Adelaide og når vi skulle cykle videre fra Bangkok, var vi tilbage på 23 kg hver i oppakning.\nEfter 4 dage på New Road Guest House, besluttede vi os til at flytte til Granny´s Bike Bed hostel. Vi havde hørt meget godt om stedet og vi håbede på at kunne møde andre tour cyklister og derved få gode råd til turen videre.\nOnsdag d. 10. maj blev en flytte dag og en kort cykeldag. Vi skulle cykle 5 kilometer for at komme til Granny´s og på vej derhen cyklede vi igennem Chinatown.\nStedet er et lille hostel med plads til 10 personer og alle der boede der var rejsende på cykler. Hostelet er ejet af et thailansk ægtepar - Parn og Neemo. De sødeste og meget hjælpsomme mennesker. Parn har hans egen cykle butik og Neemo har en helse butik, samtidig med at de har Granny´s.\nSkiftet til Granny´s skulle vise sig at blive et godt valg. Vi mødte Nico og Göbken et fransk tyrkisk par, der havde været undervejs i 3 år og boet i Kina 1 år, hvor de havde undervist i engelsk. Så var der Jason fra UK. han var lige blevet færdig med 7 måneder rundt i Asien og skulle rejse hjem næste dag. Hjem for at finde arbejde, så han kunne komme afsted igen. Vi mødte Mai og Mohammed fra Malaysia, et vennepar som havde cyklet 14 dage i Laos. De skulle med tog næste dag tilbage til Malaysia.\nSå der var en masse interessante mennesker at snakke med og udveksle erfaringer med.\nDet viste sig at Göbken og Nico også skulle cykle til Chiang Mai. Men de ville allerede cykle næste dag, det var det de meldte ud. At det så kom til at tage 3 dage inden de kom afsted var en helt anden sag.\nDe forsøgte fysisk at komme afsted alle de andre dage, med cyklerne pakket og alt klart, men de kunne ikke tage sig sammen til at komme afsted. Så vi endte faktisk med at cykle afsted sammen mod Chiang Mai.\nDagene på Granny´s, blev til mere afslapning og masse af hygge sammen med Nico og Göbken. Sightseeing gjorde vi ganske lidt. Det var fjerde gang vi var i Bangkok og derfor havde vi set de fleste ting der skal ses der.\nPractical days and rest.\nSaturday 6th may 2017 - friday 12th may 2017\nThe days we stayed at New Road Guesthouse, we spent relaxing, sleeping and extending our visa for Thailand.\nOn saturday we just sleept for a while and did not do anything special. We checked online where we were going to extend our visa for Thailand and watched a video on YOUTUBE about how to get to the immigration office. From New Road Guesthouse, we should expect it would take between 1 - 2 hours to get there. So we knew we had to get up very early monday morning.\nWe also checked where the Chinese Ambasade lay and made all the different papers ready to apply for the visa. We should make copies of our passports, copies of all the places we would stay overnight, a itinerary and fill out the application.\nWe had to extend our Thai visa before applying for a China visa, because we had to hand in our passport to the Chinese Embassy and would expect it to take 3-5 working days to get it sorted.\nEverything was ready for applying, but then we read a message online. It said: That the Chinise Embasssey would not issue visa for any foreingers until end of may 2017 due to tecinal problems. It was not only the embassey in Bangkok it was worldvide. This was what we could read on different FB forums.\nWhat should we do ??? We had to find a solution. Then we investigated where there were other Chinese embassy and found out that Chiang Mai also had one'. So our plan was cycling that way up north and hoping that we could apply for a visa at the end of May.\nAll monday went with applying for the Thai visa. It took 1 1/2 hour to get to immigration office, wich was a huge building. We found the right office and had to wait an hour before we could deliver our application and pay 1900 THB each. Hereafter again wait one time before we got the passes returned with the new visa in. NOw we had to get back. This time we took a taxi to the nearest BTS station - Mo Shit. This took 45 minuts due to heavy trafik and on the way a major rainstorm started wich floded the roads.\nWe got off at Silom Road because we wante to drop by the Outdoor Vison shop. We had to buy a new pot, pan and keddel. We had left that old in Adelaide, as it was worn out and old.\nWe had got our package, which we had sent from Adelaide and when we were to ride on from Bangkok, we were back at 23 kg each.\nAfter 4 days at New Road Guest House, we decided to move to Granny's Bike Bed hostel. We had heard very much about the place and we hoped to meet other tour cyclists and thereby get some good advice for our futher trip.\nWednesday May 10th was a moving day and a short bike day. We had to ride 5 km to get to Granny's and on the way there we rode through Chinatown.\nThe place is a small hostel that have space for 10 people and everyone who lived there were travelers on bicycles. The hostel is owned by a Thai couple - Parn and Neemo. The cutest and most helpful people. Parn has his own bike shop and Neemo has a health store, while they have Granny's as well.\nThe change to Granny's would prove to be a good choice. We met Nico and Göbken a French Turkish couple who had been on their way for 3 years and lived in China 1 year were they taught English. Then there was Jason from the UK. He had just finished 7 months in Asia and had to go home the next day. Home to find work so he could come back again. We met Mai and Mohammed from Malaysia, friends who had cycled 14 days in Laos. They had to go back to Malaysia the next day.\nSo there were a lot of interesting people to talk to and share experiences with.\nIt turned out that Göbken and Nico were also going to cycle to Chiang Mai. But they would already ride the next day, that's what they at least said. That it took them 3 days before they left was a completely different story .\nThey physically tried to get away all the other days, with the bikes packed and all ready, but they did not manage to get on thier bikes and ride away. So we actually ended up cycling together to Chiang Mai.\nThe days at Granny's became more relaxing and lots of fun together with Nico and Göbken. Sightseeing was not the question. It was the fourth time we were in Bangkok and therefore we had seen most things to be seen there.\nLørdag d. 29. april 2017 til Fredag d. 5. maj 2017 (Update d. 29. juni 2017)\nChumphon - Hat Bang 94 km\nHat Bang - Phurak Resort 58 km\nPhurak Resort - Kui Buri 90 km\nKui Buri - Cha-am 95 km\nCha-am - Samut Songkhram 99 km\nSamut Songkhram - Bangkok 80 km\nDa vi kom tilbage fra nogle dejlig dage på Koh Tao endte det med at vi blev en dage mere i Chumphon. Heidi bøvlede med hendes migræne. Vi fik også skypet med Heidi´s mor og far. Heidi´s mor havde fødselsdag, så det fejrede vi via SKYPE. Det er utroligt dejligt at vi kan se familien via skype, men vi savner dem. Det er virkeligt et stort afsavn at vi ikke kan dufte dem eller give dem et kram. Nogen gange snakker vi om hvor dejligt det kunne være lige at sætte sig i bilen og køre forbi på en kop kaffe og en god hygge snak. Det er det største minus ved at være væk i så lang tid.\nDe svedige dage fortsatte. Faktisk kogte Heidi fuldstændigt over på turen fra Chumphon til Bang Hat og hun meddelte at nu var varmen altså for meget og vi må se om vi ikke kan finde en vej ud af dette varme helvede.\nVi diskutere en del frem og tilbage, da vi ikke er helt eninge. Udfaldet blev, at vi må tage en dag af gangen, ikke alle dage kan være ens og kan ikke altid være en dans på roser. Når vi ser tilbage på hele turen indtil nu, er det ikke mange lorte dage vi har haft. Lorte dage vil komme og dem skal der også være plads til.\nDa vi cyklede videre, havde jeg set forkert på google maps eller også er mit syn bare ved at være utroligt dårligt. Det betød vi kom til at cykle 3 km forkert. Det gjorde ikke Heidi i bedre humør, men heldigvis var der en stikvej vi kunne tage for at komme på rette spor igen.\nVi havde cyklet af mindre veje for at komme ud til kysten igen og dagen endte i Bang Hat. Her oplevede vi et helt lokalt ferie sted, hvor det var tydeligt at se, det var Thailænderne der tog på ferie. Slet ikke så turistet, som på de ferie steder vi havde været de gange vi havde været i Thailand.\nVi fandt et sted som var ejet af et belgisk/thai par. Meget afslappet, vel nok lidt for dyrt i forhold til standarden. Men vi havde en seng at sove i og vi kunne få bad. Næste morgen da vi skulle have mogenmad, var det sammen med en Thailansk familie som også havde boet på stedet. Vi sad ved samme bord og fik en hyggelig snak. De syntes også det var helt vildt at vi cyklede i den utrolig varme. Vi kunne kun bekræfte at vi også syntes vi var ret tosset turister.\nVi sigtede tilbage mod hovedvej 4, for at få den mere direkte vej mod Bangkok. Hver dag gentager sig med den utrolige varme og en af dagene holdt vi en længere pause i et af de mange skygge skure der er langs med vejen. Det samme gjore et Thailansk par, som vi faldt i snak med efter noget tid. Hun hed Lek og var 53 år og førtids pensionist pga. en skade i nakken. Hun ligner overhovedet ikken en på 53. Manden var fly ingenør for Thai Airways og derfor har de rejst rigtigt meget. Vi ender med at snakke med dem i længere tid og Lek tager billeder sammen med os og af cyklerne. Så hyggeligt og interassant at møde mennesker på vores vej.\nDa vi var tilbage på hovedvej 4 fik vi godt gang i pedalerne igen. Når det gik godt cyklede vi med 23 kmh.\nDet var selvfølgelig hyggeligere at cykle på de små veje, men med den kogende varme var målet at komme fra A til B og så måtte vi se hvad der var at se undervejs på hovedvejen.\nDer er altid noget at se på undervejs, som da vi så en fuldstænding overlastet lastbil. Den var fyldt med halmballer, som hang langt bagud og ovenpå og højt op. Vi tror at Thailænderne har et motto der lyder noget i retningen af: Hvorfor køre to gange når man kan nøjes med at køre en gang.\nDer var biler med et lad der var fyldt helt op i en højde af 2 meter med ananas. Alle lå de som et flot mønster flettet ind i hinanden. Alle var på vej fra de store ananas plantager vi så undervejs enten til kæmpe fabrikker/opkøbere eller til de boder der solgte dem langs vejen.\nEn dag så vi to flyvemaskiner på hver sin mark. Gad vide hvordan de var endt der? Det ene var fra flyselskabet NOK air. Skrogene var fuldt intakt, pånær vingerne som manglede og da Heidi kiggede ind i NOK air flyverne var alle sæderne taget ud. Det så ikke ud somom de var styrtet ned. Måske nogen ville lave en restaurant eller noget helt andet. Det må vi lade stå hen i det uvisse.\nEn ting var sikkert vi var meget tæt på Myanmar og det betød vi var hvor Thailand er smallest. 20 kilometer bredt er stykket fra kysten til Myanmars grænse. Der hvor vi stod var der et skilt hvorpå der stod vi befandt os på det smalleste sted og på et andet skilt kunne vi se der kun var 10 kilometer til Myanmar.\nSamme dag fejrede vi at vi havde cyklet 8000 km siden starten af turen. Jeg tror ikke helt vi forstod det. Men det er langt set med Danske øjne. Omregnet svare det til at cykle fra Danmark til Italien 5 gange.\nPå vej nordpå kunne vi vælge at cykle den direkte vej mod Bangkok eller tage en lille afstikker til Hua Hin, som er en kæmpe ferieby der ligger helt ud til Gulf of Thailand. Vi bestemte os for at cykle til Hua Hin, da vi ville se hvad det var for noget.\nPå vej dertil cyklede vi forbi Rajabhakti Park. Det er en park, hvor der står 7 mega store statuer af Thailands forhendværende konger. Det var ikke nødvendigt at cykle hen til parken, for staturene var så store at vi let kunne se dem ude fra vejen. Så vi nødt udsigten på afstand.\n12 kilometer før Hua Hin var der anlagt en helt ny cykelsti, så den benyttede vi os af. Vi var de eneste der brugte den, borset fra et par scooter, som nok ikke forstod skiltet med ONLY FOR BICYCLES.\nJeg havde sendt en besked til Eva, som jeg arbejdede sammen med på billetkontoret, da jeg kunne huske at hun havde arbejdet som guide i Hua Hin. Jeg ville høre om der var nogen vi skulle cykle forbi og hilse fra hende. Der gik ikke lang tid inden hun havde svaret tilbage om at vi kunne cykle hen til Tuk Tours og hilse på Martin og Tuk. Så det gjorde vi. Desværre var det kun et lille visit, da Martin skulle til et møde. Men tror de blev overrasket over at få en hilsen bragt til dem fra Danmark på cykel.\nMartin mente med de kilometer vi tilbagelagde hver dag, ville vi være hjemme i Danmark 4 måneder senere. Der måtte vi lige rette lidt til og forklare at der altså også var nogle høje bjerge vi skulle over, så 4 måneder var ikke nok.\nEfter at havde set Hua Hin, var vi helt sikker på at det ikke var et sted vi skulle hen på ferie en anden gang. Alt for meget larm og kæmpe hoteller.\nVi overnattede i feriebyen Cha-am 30 km nord for Hua Hin. Hold nu op hvor var der mange mennesker på stranden og vandet var vildt oprørt og slet ikke den smukke farve vi havde set andre steder i Thailand. Men hotellet vi fandt var billigt og havde endda swimmingpool, hvilket vores kroppe nød godt af efter 5 timers cykling.\nNæste dag da vi cyklede afsted mod Samut Songkhan, kunne vi godt se at vi kom tættere og tættere på Bangkok. Her er mere trafik og ikke meget at kigge på. Vi ser dog en del templer, store og små og hver gang vi cykler forbi et ringer vi med vores ringklokke tre gange. Vi er lidt overtroiske og mener det vil bringe os held på vores tur. Efter 80 kilometer fandt vi et af de små guesthuse med forhæng og p plads foran værelset. Desværre er der ikke noget sted vi kan spise i nærheden, så stedet kan tilbyde os 3 gange microbølge mad. To med grisekød og en med krabbekød.\nVi lavede lidt grin med at i et land som Thailand, hvor der laves så god mad ender vi med at spise microbølge mad. Maden smagte godt nok. Risretten med grissekød var utrolig stærk, så vi var glade for at den med krabbekøb var helt mild.\nHen på aftenen begyndte det at regne og tordne. Hvilket var helt OK for os, for så var temperaturen måske lidt anderledes næste dag???\nDa vi vågnede næste dag, kunne vi stadig høre regnen og torden udenfor. Så vi var klar over at det nok ville blive 80 våde kilometer der ventede os på turen ind til Bangkok.\nAftenen før havde vi undersøgt vejen ind til byen, da vi vidste at der var veje vi ikke kunne cykle på. I første omgang ville vi cykle af vej 35 og derfra finde ind på vej 3242.\nInden vi cyklede afsted ventede vi 30 minutter ekstra, da vi ikke ville cykle imens det lynede. Da vi kom ud på vejen kunne vi se at det havde regnet rigtig meget i løbet af natten. Nogen steder stod vejen under vand og vi måtte cykle igennem vandpytter der var 20 cm dybe. Et sted så vi en tankstation hvor forpladsen stod fuldstænding under vand. Men livet går videre uden problemer her. Tror Thailænderne er vandt til al den regn.\nVej 3242 fandt vi også godt nok og nu cyklede vi i en forstad. Nogen vil nok tror det er svært at cykle i trafikken i en storby som Bangkok, men det var lige det modsatte. Alle tager hensyn til alle og når vi skulle skifte bane, var det bare med at række hånden ud, så de andre trafikanter kan se hvad vi ville og så blev der holdt igen indtil vi var sikkert på den anden side. Kunne ikke lade være med at tænke på, hvad der var sket i Danmark, hvis vi skulle cykle noget ligende. Nok noget med dytten og en skråt op finger fra bilisterne.\nDe officielle befolkningstal for den indre by af Bangkok er 8,2 milioner, med forstaderne skulle det være 18 milioner. Bangkok er en af verdens hurtigst voksende byer.\nVi var jo lidt i træning da vi i 2009 havde cyklet ind til Istanbul, som har 14,8 milioner indbyggere. Den tur var meget mere hektisk og ikke noget vi ville gøre den dag idag.\nJo, tættere vi kom på centrum jo flere højhuse kunne vi se og nogen af den kunne vi genkende fra tideligere besøg. Det var 4. gang vi var i Bangkok, men første gang vi havde cyklet hertil.\nVi blev helt eroforiske da vi cyklede over broen og kunne se Lebua towers. Nu vidste vi, at der kun var få kilometer inden vi var ved New Road Guest House. Stedet er dansk ejet og det var her vi ville holde pause nogle dage. Vi brugte vores GPS på mobilen for at finde vej, men på grund af højhusene, blev den lidt forvirret og sendte os i den forkerte retning. Men vi fandt hurtigt ud af at det ikke var rigtigt og fik vendt om og fandt rigtigt frem.\nNu havde vi en del ting der skulle ordnes, så i første omgang havde vi købt 4 nætter, som gik hen og blev en del flere. Bl.a skulle vi forlænge vores Thai visum og ansøge om Kina visum.\nMere herom i næste kapilet.\nSaturday, April 29, 2017 to Friday, May 5, 2017 (Update June 29, 2017)\nWhen we came back from some nice days on Koh Tao, we ended up staying for one more day in Chumphon. Heidi struggled with her migraine. We also got to talk with Heidi's mother and father. It was Heidi's mother birthday so we celebrated via SKYPE. It's incredibly nice that we can see the family via Skype, but we miss them. It's really a big despair that we can not give them a hug. Sometimes we talk about how nice it would be to sit in the car and drive over for a cup of coffee and a good, cozy chat. It's the biggest minus of being away for so long.\nThe sweaty days continued. In fact, Heidi completely heated up on the trip from Chumphon to Bang Hat and she announced that now the heat was too much and we should see if we could find a way out of this hot hell.\nWe discussed back and forth as we were not completely satisfied with each others questions. The outcome was that we had to take one day at a time, not all days can be the same and can not always be a dance of roses. When we look back on the whole trip so far, there had not been many shit days. Dark days will come and that is a fact.\nAs we rode on, I had seen wrong on google maps or my eyes is just about to get incredibly bad. That meant we got to ride a detour of 3 km. It did not make Heidi in a better mood, but luckily there was a short cut we could take to get back on track.\nWe had cycled on smaller roads to get to the coast again and the day ended in Bang Hat. Here we experienced a local vacation spot where it was clear to see that it was the Thai people who went on vacation. It was not as touristy as at the holiday places we had been the times we had been in Thailand.\nWe found a place that was owned by a Belgian / Thai couple. Very relaxed, well enough too expensive compared to the standard. But we had a bed to sleep in and we could get a shower. The next morning when we had breakfast, it was with a Thai family who had also stayed at the hotel. We sat at the same table and had a nice talk. They also thought it was crazy that we cycled in the incredible heat. We could only confirm that we also thought we were quite crazy tourists.\nWe headed back to the main road 4, to get the more direct road to Bangkok. Every day repeats with the incredible heat and one of the days we spent a longer break in one of the many shadow sheds that are along the way. The same thing did a Thai couple who we talked to after some time. Her name was Lek and shewas 53 years old and early retired because of a neck injury. She did not look like one at 53. The man was a plane engineer for Thai Airways and therefore they have traveled a lot. We ended up talking with them for a long time and Lek took pictures with us and the bikes. So cozy and interesting to meet people on our way.\nWhen we were back on highway 4 we got back to pedal fast. When it went well we cycled with 23 kmh.\nOf course it was nicer to ride on the small roads, but with the boiling heat the goal was to get from A to B and then we had to see what was going on along the highway.\nThere is always something to see on the way, like when we saw a complete overloaded truck. It was filled with straw bales, which hung far backwards and upwards and high up. We believe that the Thai people have a motto that sounds something like: Why drive twice when you can drive once.\nThere were pick up cars that was loaded all the way up to a height of 2 meters with pineapple. They all lay as a nice pattern braided into each other. Everyone was on the way from the big pineapple plantations we saw along the our way either to giant factories / buyers or to the stalls selling them along the road.\nOne day we saw two airplanes on two different fields. Wondering how they ended there? One was from the airline NOK air. The aircrafts were completely intact, the wings missing and when Heidi looked into the air airplanes, all seats were taken out. It did not look like they had crashed. Maybe someone would make a restaurant or something completely different. Who knows ????\nOne thing was for sure we were very close to Myanmar and that meant we were where Thailand is the narrowest. 20 kilometers wide is the stretch from the coast to the Myanmar border. Where we stood there was a sign on which stood: this is the narrowest af Thailand and on another sign we could see there was only 10 kilometers to Myanmar.\nOn the same day, we celebrated that we had cycled 8000 km since the start of the trip. I do not quite think we understood. But it is far seen from a danes prospectiv as Denmark is such a small country. Conversely, responding to cycling from Denmark to Italy 5 times.\nOn the way north we could choose to cycle the direct road to Bangkok or take a small detour to Hua Hin, a huge resort town right next to the Gulf of Thailand. We decided to ride to Hua Hin as we wanted to see what it was all about.\nOn our way there we rode past Rajabhakti Park. It is a park where there are 7 mega statues of former Thai kings. There was no need to ride into the park, because the statues were so big that we could easily see them from the road. So we enjoyed the view from the distance.\nTwelve kilometers before Hua Hin, there was a completely new cycle path, so we used it. We were the only ones who used it, except from a pair of scooters, who probably did not understand the sign with ONLY FOR BICYCLES.\nI had sent a message to Eva, whom I worked with at the ticket office when I remembered that she had worked as a guide in Hua Hin. I wanted to hear if there were anyone we had to greet from her. It was not long before she had answered that we could ride to Tuk Tours and greet Martin and Tuk. So we did. Unfortunately, it was only a small visit as Martin was going to a meeting. But we think they were surprised to have a greeting brought to them from Denmark by bicycle.\nMartin meant with the kilometers we traveled every day, we would be home in Denmark 4 months later. There we had to correct him and explain that there were also some high mountains ahead of us, so 4 months was not enough.\nAfter seeing Hua Hin, we were absolutely sure there it was not a place we would go back to on vacation another time. Too much noise and giant hotels.\nWe stayed in a hotel in Cha-am 30 km north of Hua Hin. Holy cow where there were many people on the beach and the water was wild and not the beautiful color we had seen elsewhere in Thailand. But the hotel we found was cheap and even had a swimming pool, which our bodies enjoyed after 5 hours of cycling.\nThe next day we rode to Samut Songkhan, we could see that we came closer and closer to Bangkok. Here was more traffic and not much to look at. However, we saw some temples, big and small, and every time we cycle past one we rang with our bell three times. We are a little superstitious and believe it will bring us luck on our trip. After 80 kilometers we found one of the small guest houses with a curtain and parking in front of the room. Unfortunately, there was no place we could eat nearby, so the place could offer us 3 times microwave food. Two with pork and one with crab meat.\nWe made a little joke at the fact that in a country like Thailand where food is so good we end up eating microwave food. The food tasted good. The rice dish with pork was incredibly spicy so we were happy that the crab cake was quite mild.\nIn the evening it started to rain and thunder. Which was all right for us, because then the temperature might be slightly different next day ???\nWhen we woke up the next day, we could still hear the rain and thunder outside. So we were aware that there would be 80 wet lilometer waiting for us on the way to Bangkok.\nThe evening before we had checked the road into town, we knew there were roads we could not ride on. We would like to ride along the road 35 and from there 3242.\nBefore we left, we waited 30 minutes extra, as we did not want to cycle while there was lightning. When we came out on the road we could see that there had been a lot of rain during the night. Some places stood under water and we had to cycle through the water puddle that was 20 cm deep. One place we saw a gas station where the forground was under water. But life goes on as normal. We think that the Thai people are use to all this rain.\nRoad 3242 we also found and now we rode in a suburb. Someone would probably think it's hard to ride in traffic in a big city like Bangkok, but it was the opposite. Everyone takes care of everyone and when we change lane, we just stretch our hand so that the other road users can see what we wanted and then stayed there until we were safe on the other side. Could not help thinking about what had happened in Denmark if we were to ride something similar. Something with honking the horn and a Fuck off finger from the drivers.\nThe official population for the inner city of Bangkok is 8,2 million, with the surburbs it should be 18 million. Bangkok is one of the world's fastest growing cities.\nWe were a little expirenced as we had cycled into Istanbul in 2009, which has 14.8 million inhabitants. The trip was much more hectic and nothing we would like to do today.\nThe closer we got to the center, the more high-rise buildings we could see and some of them we could recognize from earlier visits. It was the 4th time we were in Bangkok, but the first time we had cycled here.\nWe became completely eroforic as we rode over the bridge and could see Lebua towers. Now we knew there where only a few kilometers before we would arrive at New Road Guest House. The place is Danish owned and it was here we wanted to rest for some days. We used our GPS on our mobile to find our way, but because of the high houses, it became a bit confused and sent us in the wrong direction. We quickly found out that it was not right and got turned around and found the right way.\nNow we had some things that had to be arranged, so in the first place we had bought 4 nights, which became more. For example, we should extend our Thai visa and apply for China visa.\nRead more about that in the next chapter\nHot days on the way to Koh Tao\nOnsdag d. 19. april 2017 - Fredag d. 28. april 2017 (Update 23. juni 2017)\nTrang - Thrung Song 84 km\nThrung Song - Wiang Sa 78 km\nWiang Sa - Chai Ya 94 km\nChai Ya - Thung Tako 85 km\nThung Tako - Chumphon 60 km\n4 dage på Koh Tao\nInden vi forlod Trang onsdag d. 19. april, cyklede vi forbi Cafe´ 1952 for at spise en god solid morgenmad. Da vi sad og spiste snakkede vi om vi nogensiden ville komme tilage hertil, vi tror det ikke, men man skal jo aldrig sige aldrig.\nTuren til Thrung Song bød igen på massevis af gummiplantager, palmer og templer. Marianne var stadig ikke helt på dypperne og syntes at hendes ben er gelé. Men selvom det, kom vi godt nok fremad.\nVi kom tidligt frem, som skulle vise sig at være meget godt, da helvede brød løs 1 time efter vi havde checket ind på VB hotel. Himmelen blev kul sort så man skulle tro det var midt om natten og det lynede og tordenede. Et lyn slog ned i nærheden og tog Tv signalet. Det var det kraftigeste uvejr vi hvade set indtil nu på turen. Regnen piskede ned i flere timer og hvor var vi glade for at vi ikke skulle campere i sådan et uvejr.\nMorgenmaden næste dag blev American breakfast med en meget stærk kop kaffe, som krævede ekstra vand for at kunne drikkes. De to stykker toast, en lille pølse og lidt bacon som var American Breakfast kunne ikke mætte to cyklister som os. Så da vi cyklede afsted derfra, stoppede vi ved en lille butik for at købe 2 double black soya drik og samtidig fylde op med vand. Manden der ejede butikken, syntes vi skulle havde 2 ekstra vand med, helt gratis. Vi takkede mange gange og smilede. Al den godhed der findes i vores verden.\nIgen ser vi gummitræer, hvor der tappes gummi fra til forskellige gummiting. Når træerne ikke levere gummisaft mere, fældes de og bruges til at lave møbler og gulve af.\nIndtil middag klarede vi os godt nok, men da vi cyklede videre efter frokost, var temperaturen steget til 44 grader, nu var det ikke sjovt at cykle mere og det blev også kun til 10 kilometer mere, inden vi fandt Asia Inn.\nEt billigt sted til 300 THB. vel og mærke incl. 2 flasker vand, Aircon, 1 rulle toiletpapir, håndklæder, et stykke sæbe og et kondom. De her små Inn´s/guesthuse bliver nok brugt til det vi kalder "Knald hytte". Det er sådan at udenfor værelset, kan en bil holde helt uforstyrret, der er et stor forhæng man ruller for. Så er der ingen der kan se hvem der holder der for natten/timerne.\nVi syntes det var dejligt at vi havde en hel lille gård til at stille cyklerne i. Værelset vi havde fået havde en ekstra detalje. Der var tre kulørte lamper over sengen, i rød, gul og blå . Vi tænkte det var nok til hygge belysning eller måske vurderings lamper. Hvem ved ?????\nOvernatningsstedet lå langs med hovedvejen og vores aftensmad blev på den anden side af vejen, hvor der var en BP tankstation med 7/11 og en lille hyggelig cafe´. Her var stadig pyntet op til jul eller måske var det cafe´ens image. Overalt stod Merry Christmas og vinduerne var pyntet med juleting, selv et lille juletræ i plastik havde de.\nMen der er jo dem der siger, at julen vare lige til påske.\nVi valgte vores aftensmad ud fra nogle billeder på meny kortet, da den var på Thai. Damen bag disken, sagde til os at den ret var spicy, men vi sagde at det var fint nok med os, vi kunne klare det, men aldrig under vurder når en Thailænder siger det er spicy, så er det SPICY!!!\nDe næste dage var mere eller mindre det samme landskab vi cyklede igennem. Vi fulgte vej 41, som ikke bød på de store udfordringer. Vi kunne se bjerge langt væk og nogen gange så vi kæmpe buddha figurer stikke op over palme træerne. De var kæmpe store og gigantiske, vi tror helt op til 30 meter høje måske endda højere. Varmen var stadig en stor plage for os, så vi startede dagene klokken 7, for at få en ekstra time hvor det var et par grader "køligere". For det meste gik det godt nok indtil klokken 11, men herfra og helt til klokken 16 var temperaturen mange gange mere end 40 grader. Når det er så varmt, er det ikke en nydelse at bevæge sig rundt og vi svedte også fuldstændingt sindsygt. Når vi holdte en pause, dryppede store dråber svad fra vores albuer og svenden løb ned af skinneben.\nHeldigvis havde vi 7/11 butikkerne, hvor vi kunne blive kølet ned, fordi de altid har deres aircon på MAX. Samtidig med at vi kunne få kolde drikke og andet proviant.\nEn af dagene mødte vi en ældre mand på en cykle. Den var fint pyntet med to thai flag på hver side af styret og foran på cyklen havde han den karataristiske strå hat hængende. Ham døbte vi Mr. Thailand og da han cyklede rigtig langsom, ja næsten i slow motion. Nåede vi både at tage billede af ham og filme ham.\nDa vi var udenfor Chai Ya boede vi på et guesthus som lå lige ud til hovedvejen. Her kom Heidi til at sove i en seng, hvor madrassen var bestående af en spånplade. Rigtig mange steder, er sengene utrolig hårde, men den her slog alt. Heidi sagde: at de eneste der ville klappe i deres hænder over sådan en seng, var nok munke, som er vandt til at sove på en hårdt underlag.\nHeidi havde undersøgt på nettet, hvor der skulle være godt at snorkle og havde fundet ud af at Koh Tao, skulle være et af de bedre steder. Så vores mål var at cykle til byen Chumphon og parkere cyklerne på et hotel og så tage ud på Koh Tao nogle dage.\nPå vejen fra Thung Tako til Chumphon cyklede vi ned af en sidevej for at se nærmere på et lille tempel: Wat Phra That Sawi. Det var et buddhist tempel, som lå lige ned til en flod med en stupa i midten af en gård. Gården var omringet af massevis af forgyldte buddha figure. Da det var først på dagen og templet lige åbnet, var vi de eneste der gik rundt og kiggede. Der hersker en ro sådan et sted og vi nød at gå stille og roligt rundt, for at kigge på templet.\nI Chumphon boede vi på Euro Butique hotel og her kunne vi også stille cyklerne, de dage vi var på Koh Tao.\nAtter fik vi bestilt busbillet og færgebillet i receptionen på hotellet. Vi ville afsted med den tidlige afgang, som betød at vi skulle op klokken 5 næste dag.\nMen hvor er det altså for let at rejse i Thailand. Vi blev hentet på hotellet i en minivan, som kørte os til busstationen. Her skulle vi med en stor bus til færgelejet i Lomprayah og herfra sejle med en Katamaran 1 1/2 time inden vi var på Koh Tao.\nFørste indtryk af Koh Tao, var ikke imponerende. Selve hovedbyen hvor båden lagde til, var et stort viavar af restauranter, bar områder og tusindvis af tursister. Så vi var ikke sikker på at vi ville bryde os om øen. Men til vores held, skulle vi bo på den anden side af øen og blev positivt overrasket, da vi ankom til Montalay Beach Resort. Her var stille og roligt. Hotellet lå i en lille bugt og det var muligt at snorkel lige ud fra stranden. Vandet var krystalklart og der var tusindvis af fisk, samt flotte koraller. Hvilket passede os utroligt godt.\nVi endte med at blive der i 4 nætter og lavede ikke andet end at snorkle, nyde solen, spise god mad og slappe af.\nNår man rejser på cykel, er det også vigtigt at trække cykelstikket ud og lade op igen af og til. Det er faktisk ret krævende at skulle bevæge sig fra sted til sted næsten hver dag. Det at pakke ud og pakke sammen, finde et nyt sted at sove og cykle cykle cykle, kan være trættende og derfor er det dejligt og vigtigt at havde disse afslapningsdage undervejs.\nWednesday, April 19, 2017 - Friday, April 28, 2017 (Update June 23, 2017)\n4 days on Koh Tao\nBefore we left Trang Wednesday, April 19th, we stopped at the Cafe 1952 to have a good hearty breakfast. As we sat and ate, we talked about if we ever wanted to come back to Trang again, we did not think so, but never say never.\nOn the way to Thrung Song we again saw a lots of rubber plantations, palmtrees and temples. Marianne was still not quite well and found her leg to be jelly. But even so, we moved forward well.\nWe arrived early, which would turn out to be very good when hell broke loose1 hour after we checked in at VB hotel. The sky became black as black so you would think it was in the middle of the night and it was lightning and thundering. A lightning stroke down nearby and took the TV signal. It was the most powerful storm we had seen so far on the trip. The rain whipped down for hours and we were glad that we should not camp in such a storm.\nThe breakfast the next day became American breakfast with a very strong cup of coffee which required extra water to be able to drink. The two pieces of toast, a little sausage and a little bacon could not feed two cyclists like us. So when we rode off from there we stopped at a small shop to buy 2 double black soy beans drinks and fill up with water. The man who owned the shop thought we had to have 2 extra water with us, completely free. of charge. We thanked him many times and smiled. All the goodness found in our world.\nAgain, we saw rubber trees, where rubber used for making different plastic things. When the trees do not deliver more gums, they are cut down and used to make furniture and floors.\nUntil noon we did well, but when we rode on after lunch, the temperature had risen to 44 degrees. Now it was not fun to ride a bike and it was only 10 kilometers more before we found Asia Inn.\nA cheap place for 300 THB. Well incl. 2 bottles of water, aircon, 1 roll of toilet paper, towels, a piece of soap and a condom. The small Inn's / guesthouses are probably used for what we call "Knald hytte". It is such that outside the room, a car can stay completely undisturbed, there is a large curtain to be rolled out. Then nobody can see who is there for the night / hours.\nWe thought it was lovely that we had a whole little yard to put the bikes in. The room we got had an extra touch. There were three colored lamps over the bed, in red, yellow and blue. We thought it was for cozy lighting or maybe assessment lights. Who knows ?????\nThe place was located along the main road and we got our dinner on the other side of the road, where there was a BP fuel station with 7/11 and a small cozy cafe. Here was still decorated for Christmas or maybe it was the cafe's image. Everywhere was written Merry Christmas and the windows were decorated with Christmas things, even a little Christmas tree in plastic they had.\nBut there are those who say Christmas lasts until Easter.\nWe chose our dinner from a picture on the meny as it was in Thai. The lady at the counter tried to wran us, that the food was spicy. But we said we could handle it. Bad idea: never underestimate when a Thai says it is Spicy it is SPICY!!!!!\nThe next days were more or less the same landscape we rode through. We followed road 41, which did not bring the big challenges. We could see mountains far away and sometimes we saw giant buddha figures popping up over the palm trees. They were huge and giantic, we believe up to 30 feet tall maybe even higher. The heat was still a big challenge for us so we started the days at 7 o'clock to get an extra hour where there were a few degrees "cooler". Most of the time, it went well until 11 o'clock, but from here and until 16 o'clock the temperature was many times more than 40 degrees. When it's so hot, it's not a pleasure to move around and we also sweat completely exhausted. When we took a break, big drops dripped from our elbows and the sweat ran down our shins.\nFortunately we had 7/11 stores where we could be chilled because they always have their aircon on MAX. At the same time we could get cold drinks and other supplies.\nOne of the days we met an elderly man on a bike. It was finely decorated with two Thai flags on each side of the handlebar and on the front of the bicycle he had the thai straw hat hanging. Him we named Mr. Thailand and when he cycled really slow, yes almost in slow motion. We both managed to take a picture of him and film him.\nWhen we were outside Chai Ya we stayed in a guesthouse that was just off the main road. Here Heidi got to sleep in a bed where the mattress consisted of a particleboard. In many places, the beds are incredibly tough, but this hit everything. Heidi said, that the only ones who would clap their hands over such a bed, probably would be monks who are used to sleeping on a hard surface.\nHeidi had researched the web where it was good to snorkel and found out that Koh Tao should be one of the better places. So our goal was to ride to Chumphon City and park the bikes at a hotel and then go to Koh Tao for a few days.\nOn the road from Thung Tako to Chumphon we cycled down a side road to look at a small temple: Wat Phra That Sawi. It was a Buddhist temple that lay right down to a river with a stupa in the middle of a yard. The yard was surrounded by lots of golden buddha figures. When it was first in the day and the temple just opened, we were the only ones who walked around and looked. There is a tranquility with these tempels and we enjoyed to go quietly to look at the temple.\nIn Chumphon we stayed at the Euro Butique hotel and here we could also leave the bikes, the days we were at Koh Tao.\nAgain we ordered a bus ticket and ferry ticket at the reception at the hotel. We wanted to depart with the early departure, which meant we had to get up at 5 o'clock next day.\nIt is just too easy to travel in Thailand? We were picked up at the hotel in a minivan which drove us to the bus station. Here we went on a big bus to the ferry pier in Lomprayah and from here sailed with a Katamaran 1 1/2 hour before we were reached Koh Tao.\nFirst impression of Koh Tao, was not impressive. The actual main town where the boat sailed to was a big deal of restaurants, bar areas and thousands of tourists. So we were not sure we would care about the island. But to our luck, we should stay on the other side of the island and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Montalay Beach Resort. Here was quiet and calm. The hotel was in a small bay and it was possible to snorkel right off the beach. The water was crystal clear and there were thousands of fish as well as beautiful corals. Which suited us very well.\nWe ended up staying there for 4 nights and did nothing but snorkel, enjoy the sun, eating good food and relax.\nWhen traveling by bike, it is also important to pull out of the bicycle mode and recharge from time to time. It is actually quite demanding to move from place to place almost every day. Packing and packing up, finding a new place to sleep and cycle cycle cycle. Cycling can be tiring and therefore it is nice and important to have those relaxation days along the way.\nSong Kran and Koh Ngai\nOnsdag d. 12. april 2017 til tirsdag d. 18. april 2017 (Update 14. juni 2017)\nPedang Besar - Hat Yai 63 km\nHat Yai - Pattalung 97 km\nPattalung - Trang 61 km\nFerie på Koh Ngai 3 dage\nVi afsluttede vores rejse i Malaysia med vores ynglings morgenmad: Roti Chenai og Kopi. Fra den lille biks hvor vi spiste morgenmad, skulle vi kun cykle 1 kilometer inden vi blev stemplet ud af Malaysia.\nIndstemplingen til Thailand blev lidt forvirrende, Da vi stilte os i kø sammen med alle andre, men det skulle vi åbentbart ikke. Vi skulle bare udfylde indrejse kortet og så kom vi ind i et rum for os selv og udenom køen.\nVi ved ikke hvorfor vi fik særbehandling, men det gjore vi og nu kunne vi ophole os 30 dage i Thailand og havde mulighed for at forlænge med 30 dage mere. Næste punkt på dagsorden var at finde en ATM. Det var let nok at finde en hæveautomat, men at hæve penge blev lidt mere kryptisk. Det lykkedes ikke ved første automat, så vi måtte cykle ind til grænsebyen og fandt så en anden ATM. Den var tømt for penge, men treide gang lykkens gang og vi fik hævet penge.\nNu var vi klar til at cykle afsted og fandt vej 4027, som var en mindre vej, med næste ingen trafik. Vi blev ledt igennem gummiplantager, rismarker, små landsbyer, hvor der blev afholdt markeder og inden længe så vi de første to templer. Der er et eller andet beroligende over disse Thai templer. Store som små, har de alle noget at byde på og er altid i smuk stand med massevis af buddha figurer og flotte udsmykninger.\nInden længe kunne vi mærke at varmen blev mere intens og på termometeret kunne vi se vi ver på vej over de 40 grader. Så vi bestemte os for at holde frokostpause, hvilket blev en skæg oplevelse.\nStedet var lidt større og det ser ud til at bleve besøgt godt. Så vi kigger på menuen, men alt står på Thai og den unge dreng der servere for os forstår ikke rigtig noget.\nVi får bestil to colaer og vand. Jeg kan sige ris på thai (Kao) og så peger vi på et billede der viser et eller andet kød. Drengen nikker ja ja. Men der går lang tid inden vi får noget mad og først sætter de bare to portioner ris på bordet. Det er først da jeg peger på køddet igen at han kommer med det og så er det kun en portion.\nPyha det var virkelig op ad bakke. Drengen siger sorry sorry. Udover maden ender det med at de fortyner\nHeidi´s cola med vand, da hun har en god sjat cola endnu i glasset og drengen hælder bare vand oveni.\nEn mand fra et andet bord kommer over til os og spørger hvor vi skal hen og inden vi har set os om, tegner han den vej vi skal cykle for at komme ind til Hat Yai på et stykke papir.\nSlutningen på hele mad forstillingen blever at vi kommer til at betale 420 THB som er det samme som 84 danske kroner. Totalt opspind, da vi ved hvad vi normalt betaler andre steder.\nEfter frokost kommer vi ud på en større vej, som føre os ind til Hat Yai. Vi bruger en god time på at finde et overnatningsted. Hat Yai er en større by, men masse trafik og by larm, så vi var glade da vi havde tjekket ind og kunne finde ro på værelset.\nOm aftenen handlede vi ind til morgenmad og aftensmaden spiste vi for 120,- THB, her fik vi 2 risretter og to sodavand. Se det er de rigtige thailanske priser.\nDa vi var tilbage på hotellet, fik vi en opringning via messenger fra min svigerinde, hun ville lige prale med at hun havde vundet et kæmpe påskeæg af chokolade og ellers høre hvordan vi havde det. Dt var dejligt at høre nyt hjemmefra.\nNatten havde ikke været særlig god. En del unge mennesker havde løbet frem og tilbage mellem deres værelser og smækket med dørenen, men kun indtil Heidi stak hovedet ud for at sige at nu var det nok. Så blev der ro og vi kunne sove igen.\nDet var idag at det Thailanske nytår startede: Song Kran og vi var spændte på hvad det ville bringe med sig. Hele festen strækker sig over 3 dage, hvor der er vandkamp og andre festligheder.\nDet hele er delt op i forskellige gerninger der skal laves for hver dag. Første dag er en renselesdagen, andnendagen er en forberedelsesdag. Kvinder forbereder mad til ofring til næste dag. Trejdedagen er ofre dagen. Fugle og fisk sættes fri for at symobliser nyt liv og der laves gode gerninger. Fjerdedagen er respektfuldhedsdagen. Her hælder de yngre duftende vand udover de ældres hænder og beder om tilgivlese hvis man har været respektløs. Det er herved at vandkampen er opstået.\nDet er ikke meget vandkamp vi ser på hovedvej 4, som vi cyklede på. Men pludselig ser det ud til der sker et eller andet på den anden side af vejen. Vi kan høre musik og se en lang kø af biler. Det er åbentbart et politi check point, hvor de fejre Song Kran. Vi tror næsten ikke vores øjne da vi kommer tættere på. Politiet går rundt med vandpistoler og sprøjter vand på de forbi passerende biler og så forære de energi drik og vand til alle.\nDe stiller endda op til photo shoot og smiler med vandpistolen i hånden. Den ene betjent er specielt cool, da hans vandpistol er formet som Angrybird. Det hele får vi filmet og taget billeder af. Vi bliver stående et godt stykke tid og nyder den afslappethed der hersker på sådan en dag. Det var meget underholdende.\nFlere steder undervejs blev vi "skudt" på med vand, fra børn, der stod klar i vejsiden med vandpistoler og nogen gange spande med vand. Faktisk havde Marianne også købt en vandpistol (50 år gammel ;-)), som hun forsigtigt brugte undervejs.\nVandet var et dejligt indslag, da der var bagende varmt. Senere blev vi igen standset ved et check point og budt på vand og roulade. Her sad to betjente og vi tror de kedede sig lidt. Der var ikke så meget gang i dem som ved det første sted.\nDa det er ved at være sidst på eftermiddagen, begynder vi at kigge efter et sted at sove. Vi havde hørt fra så mage at det skulle være super let at finde et sted at sove, da der skulle være masse af gæsthuse langs med vejen. Men vi syntes ikke det ser sådan ud, indtil Marianne ser et skilt hvorpå der står FREE WIFI og 24, samt en pris 330,- THB. Udfra det mener vi at have fundet et gæsthus. Så vi cyklede ned af en lille sidevej og ganske rigtigt, her fandt vi et sted med 6 værelser. Pænt og rent og billigt. De har endda roomservice. Så vi kan bare bestille mad.\nDet bliver godt nok lidt spændende, da Marianne skulle i bad, for hun kom til at kigge under vasken og der sad en kæmpe stor edderkop. Hun bevare roen og får skyllet sæben af sig. Men hvordan får vi forklaret dem på stedet at der en edderkop på værelset.\nHeldigvis har vi google oversæt og de forstår med det samme, så en ung fyr kommer til vores undsætning og får fanget bæstet og sat den fri i naturen.\nDagen ender med at vi har brugt 761,- THB og det er vel og mærke med overnatning, snacks og aftensmad (3 risretter og 2 store fanta 150,- THB) ialt omregnet til 155 danske kroner. We like a lot!!!\nNatten havde været dårlig for Marianne. Tror at edderkoppen spøgte lige rigeligt, så hun var på vagt meget af natten. Der kunne jo komme flere af slagsen.\nVi var meget spændte på dagen, da vi skulle cykle til Trang. Der havde vi været tilbage i 2011. Dengang var det som afslutning efter cykelturen fra Lhasa til Kathmandu. Vi var spændte på om vi kunne genkende byen og vi havde faktisk bestilt overnatning på det samme lille hotel, som tilbage i 2011. Hotellet hed My Friend.\nJeg tror vi begge havde en følelse af at skulle "hjem", sådan kan vi godt have det når vi kommer til steder vi har været før.\nVi kunne godt mærke at Thaierne havde fridage, da der var en del mere trafik på vejene end hidtil. Igen cykler vi igennem små byer og af og til ser vi voksne og børn siddende på ladet af bilerne der køre forbi, nogen af dem er klædt ud i faverigt tøj andre med en maske altsammen pga. Song Kran. Vi bliver også overhalet af en del motorcykler, som giver os tommel up. Altid godt for moralen og specielt denne dag, da de fede må svede. Vi skulle over et lille pas og må ned i de lavere gear og presse på over de næste 5 - 7 kilometer. På toppen af passet er der et lille tempel og som tradition dytter Thaierne altid tre gange når de er kommet godt op over. Den tradition tog vi til os og ringede med vores ringklokker tre gange. Nu kunne vi rulle ned over på den anden side. Efter nedkørselen, blev vejen helt flad og vi kunne "køre stor klinge", som vi siger af og til.\nInden vi nåede Trang, blev vi standset af politiet. Denne gang var det fordi de var igang med en stor kampagne imod sprit kørsel og nok også fordi det var Song Kran. Denne gang for vi foræret koldt vand og vådservietter. De tager billeder sammen med os og giver tommel up da vi cykler videre.\nVi kom ind til Trang lige ved det store Robinson Shoppingmall, så det kunne vi genkende, men så kom vi lidt anderledes ind i byen og der gik lige lidt inden vi fandt togstationen, markedet og Cafe´ 1952. Men vi fandt det og som fejring for vores genforening med byen, spiste vi sandwich og fik lækker shakes på vores stam cafe´ fra sidste besøg.\nMy Friend hotellet lå kun 300 m fra cafe´en og det lignede sig selv. Vi fik et værelse og fik lov til at stille cyklerne et godt sted inde i hotellet. Her skulle de stå de næste dage, da vi skulle ud på øen Koh Ngai og nyde strandlivet for en stund.\nAt komme dertil var super let. Vi spurgte i receptionen om transport til Pak Meng bådsbro og båd til Koh Ngai til dagen efter. Så ringede hun til et kontor og lavede bookingen for os og vi betalte til hende. Nu ville vi blive hentet næste dag fra hotellet og kørt til Pak Meng og derfra var der en båd direkte til Koh Ngai Resort, hvor vi havde købt 3 nætter. Lettere bliver det ikke.\nEftermiddagen gik med en tur til Robinson Shopping Mall. vi havde en del vi skulle have ordnet. Mere solcreme, SIM kort til vores telefoner og så ville vi købe snorkeludstyr, så vi kunne udøve vores anden store passion: at snorkle. Sidste gang vi havde været i Thailand, havde vi været på en bådstur til Koh Ngai og vi kunne huske at det havde været godt at snorkle der, så det var derfor vi havde valgt øen. Heidi skulle også have en langærmet trøje som hun kunne bruge til snorkling, så hun ikke ville blive forbrændt.\nAftensmaden købte vi ved de lokale boder der var på det store marked foran togstationen. Det foregik ved at man køber lidt den ene sted og så lidt det andet sted. Det er jo med at smage på alle lækkerierne. Vi fik både Shushi, kylling og ris, lækker shakes og jeg smagte en slush ice dessert med 3 forskellige toppings. Vi har virkelig lyst til at smage alt, men der er ikke plads i maven til alt.\nTilbage på hotellet, fik vi startet computeren op og gang i SKYPE. Vi havde lavet en aftale med Heidi´s forældre og Onkel Rene´. Desværre var forbindelsen ikke alt for god, så det blev kun til en kortere samtale. Men dejligt at se og høre deres stemmer.\nVi så frem til turen til Koh Ngai, efter at have cyklet mere end 7000 km passede det os fint med nogle dage hvor vi ikke skulle tænke på at cykle. Via internettet havde vi lavet en booking til 3 nætter på Koh Ngai Resort.\nDet passede så godt med transporten fra Trang, som betød vi ankom til Koh Ngai ved 13 tiden og her fik vi hurtigt checket ind og så ellers i badetøjet og ned i det flotte vand.\nFørste indtryk af vandet, blev lidt skuffende. Det har meget at sige om det har være vindstille og om det havde regnet for nylig. Det havde det desværre og sigtbarheden var ikke super til snorkling. Men så nødt vi bare at pjakse rundt i vandet. Næste dag fandt vi det perfekte sted at snorkle, hvor sigtbarheden var meget bedre.\nHotellet var det eneste på denne strand, det ligger isoleret fra den anden strand, hvor der er en del flere hoteller og resorts. For at komme til den anden strand skulle vi klatre/gå af en lille sti i godt 10-15 minutter.\nDen anden strand er nok mere populær og mere indbydende end der hvor vi boede. Men vi nød stilheden på "vores" resort. Personalet var så søde og venlige. Maden var god og man kunne låne en kajak gratis i to timer af gangen. Det samme gjalt for svømmefødder.\nSå vi havde 3 dejlige nætter hvor vi slappede fuldstænding af og brugte meget tid på bare at sidde og kigge ud over havet og snorkle.\nDet passede så godt ind i vores program, da Marianne ikke var helt på toppen og bøvlede med lidt ondt i halsen og feber. Så perfekt at vi ikke skulle cykle.\nWednesday, April 12, 2017 to Tuesday, April 18, 2017 (Update 14th june 2017)\nHoliday on Koh Ngai 3 days\nWe ended our trip in Malaysia with our favorite breakfast: Roti Chenai and Kopi. From the little restautant where we ate breakfast, we should only ride 1 kilometer before we were stamped out of Malaysia.\nThe stamp for Thailand became a little confusing. We stood in line with everyone else, but we should not for some reason. We just had to fill in the entry card and then we entered a room for ourselves and out of the queue.\nWe do not know why we got special treatment. Now we were able to stay 30 days in Thailand and had the opportunity to extend 30 days more. The next item on the agenda was to find an ATM. It was easy enough to find an ATM, but raising money became a bit more cryptic. We did not succeed at the first vending machine, so we had to cycle to the border town and then found another ATM. It was emptied of money, but once again the luck of luck and we got money at the thired machine.\nNow we were ready to ride off and found way 4027. It was a smaller road, with nearly no traffic. We were led through rubber farms, rice fields, small villages where markets were held and soon we saw the first two temples. There is some calming about these Thai temples. Big and small, they all have something to offer and are always in beautiful condition with lots of buddhas and beautiful decorations.\nWithin a long time we noticed that the heat was very intense and on the thermometer we could see we were heading for mare then 40 degrees. So we decided to have lunch break. It became a beard experience.\nThe place was a little bigger and it seems to be well visited. So we looked at the menu, but everything was in Thai and the young boy serving us did not really understand anything.\nWe succeded to order two coke and water. I can say rice on Thai (Kao) and then we pointed to a picture showing some meat. The boy nods yes yes. But it took a long time before we got some food and only then it was two servings of rice. It's only when I pointed at the meat again that he brings it and then only one portion.\nPyha it was really uphill. The boy says sorry sorry. In addition to the food, they end up diluting\nHeidi's coke with water, as she has a nice sweetie of coke still in the glass and the boy just poured water on top.\nA man from another table comes over to us and asks where we are going and before we have looked, he drew the road we have to ride to get to Hat Yai on a piece of paper.\nThe end of the whole food show is that we got to pay 420 THB, which is the same as 84 Danish kroner. Totally upspin, as we know what we usually pay elsewhere.\nAfter lunch we rode on a major road leading us into Hat Yai. We spend a good hour finding an accommodation place. Hat Yai is a bigger city with lots of traffic and city noise so we were happy when we had checked in and could find peace in the room.\nIn the evening we went shopping for breakfast and the dinner we ate for 120, - THB, we got 2 rice dishes and two soft drinks. See that's the real Thai prices.\nWhen we were back at the hotel, we got a call via messenger from my sister-in-law, she would just like to brag about how she won a huge easter egg of chocolate and otherwise hear how we where. It was nice to hear news from home.\nThe night had not been very good. Some young people had walked back and forth between their rooms and slammed the doors, but only until Heidi stopped them saying that it was enough. Then there was peace and we could sleep again.\nIt was today that the Thai New Year started: Song Kran and we were excited about what it would bring. The whole party extends over 3 days where there are water fights and other celebrations.\nIt's all divided into various deeds to be made for each day. The first day is a cleansing day, and the 2nd day is a day of preparation. Women prepare food for sacrifice for the next day. The third day is the day of merit. Birds and fish are released to symbolize new life and good deeds are done. Fourth day is the respectful day. Here the younger people poor fragrant water beyond the hands of the elders and asks forgiveness if you have been disrespectful. This is how the water fight has arisen.\nThere was not much water fighting on the highway 4 that we rode on. But suddenly there seems to be something on the other side of the road. We could hear music and see a long line of cars. There was a police checkpoint where they celebrated the Song Kran. We almost did not believe our eyes when we got closer. The police walk around with water guns and spray water on the passing cars and then they gave energy to drink and water to everyone.\nThey even was up for a photo shoot and smiled with the water gun in their hand. One officer was especially cool when his water gun was shaped like Angrybird. All of this we got filmed and taken pictures of. We stood for a good while enjoying the relaxedness that prevails in such a day. It was very entertaining.\nSeveral places along the way we were "shot" on with water, from children who stood ready on the road side with water guns and sometimes buckets of water. In fact, Marianne had also bought a water gun (50 years old ;-)), which she carefully used along the way.\nThe water was a nice touch as it was so hot. Later we were stopped at a checkpoint and offered water and roulade. There were two officers sitting here and we think they were bored a little. There was not as much game going on here as at the first place.\nAs it got late in the afternoon, we began to look for a place to sleep. We had heard from others that it would be super easy to find a place to sleep, as there should be a lot of guesthouses along the way. But we did not think it looks like that until Marianne sees a sign on which there was written FREE WIFI and 24, and a price of 330, - THB. From this we thourght that we found a guesthouse. So we cycled down a small side road and quite right here we found a place with 6 rooms. Nice and clean and cheap. They even have room service. So we could also order food.\nIt got a little exciting when Marianne was going to have a bath because she looked under the sink and there's a huge spider. She keept calm and got soiled off the soap. But how do we explain to the owners on the spot that there is a spider in the room.\nFortunately, we had google translate and they immediately understood, so a young guy came to our rescue and caught the beast and set it free in nature.\nThe day ends with the use of 761, - THB and it is well worth the overnight stay, snacks and dinner (3 rice dishes and 2 large fanta 150, - THB) totaled DKK 155. We liked a lot !!!\nThe night had been bad for Marianne. Believing that the spider was comming back, so much that she was on full allert a lot of the night. There could be more of the kind.\nWe were very excited about the day when we were going to cycle to Trang. We had been there back in 2011 after endning our cycling trip from Lhasa to Kathmandu. We were excited about whether we could recognize the city and we had actually booked accommodation at the same small hotel as back in 2011. The hotel was called My Friend.\nI think we both had a feeling of going "home", we sometimes have that feeling when we get to places we have been before.\nWe could feel that the Thais had a day off as there was more traffic on the roads than normally. Again, we cycle through small towns and sometimes we see adults and children sitting on the loads of cars passing by, some of them dressed in fancy clothes others with a mask all because of the Song Kran. We were also overtaken by some motorcycles that give us thumbs up. Always good for the morale and especially this day when we the fat must sweat ;-). We were going over a small pass and got into the lower gear and pushed over the next 5 to 7 kilometers. At the top of the pass there was a small temple, and as a tradition, the Thaians always thrive when they have come up well. The tradition we adobted and rang our bells three times. Now we could roll down on the other side. After the way down, the road became quite flat and we could "use the big chainring", as we say sometimes.\nBefore we reached Trang, we were stopped by the police. This time it was because they were running a big campaign against liquor driving and probably because it was Song Kran. This time we got cold water and wet tissues as a gift. They took pictures with us and gave thumbs up as we cycle on.\nWe came into Trang right next to the big Robinson Shopping Mall, which we could recognize, but then we made a small detour into town before we found the train station, the market and the Cafe 1952. But we found it and as celebration For our reunion with Trang, we ate sandwiches and got delicious shakes at our favorite cafe 'from the last visit.\nMy Friend Hotel was only 300m from the cafe and it looked teh same as in 2011. We were given a room and were allowed to put the bikes in a good place inside the hotel. Here they should stand the next days when we went out to Koh Ngai to enjoy the beach life for a while.\nGetting there was super easy. We asked at the reception about transport to Pak Meng boat pier and boat to Koh Ngai the following day. Then she called an office and made the booking for us and we paid her. Now we would be picked up next day from the hotel and driven to Pak Meng and from there there was a boat directly to Koh Ngai Resort, where we had bought 3 nights. It can not be any easier!!!\nThe afternoon went with a trip to Robinson Shopping Mall. We had some stuff we should have arranged. More sunscreen, SIM card for our phones and we wanted to buy snorkel equipment so we could do our other great passion: snorkeling. Last time we had been to Thailand we had been on a boat trip to Koh Ngai and we remembered that it was good snorkeling there so that's why we had chosen the island. Heidi also had to buy a long-sleeved shirt that she could use for snorkeling so she would not be sun burned.\nThe evening meal we bought at the local stalls on the large market in front of the train station. It happened that you buy a little one place and then the other place. It's a taste of all the delights. We got both Shushi, chicken and rice, delicious shakes and I tasted a slush ice dessert with 3 different toppings. We really want to taste everything, but there was no room in the stomach for everything.\nBack at the hotel, we started the computer up and running for SKYPE. We had made an apointment with Heidi's parents and Uncle Rene'. Unfortunately, the connection was not too good, so it only became a shorter conversation. But nice to see and hear their voices.\nWe looked forward to the trip to Koh Ngai, after cycling more than 7000 km, it suited us well with a few days off our bikes. Through the internet we had made a booking for 3 nights at Koh Ngai Resort.\nThe transport from Trang worked out so well, which meant we arrived at Koh Ngai at 13 o'clock and here we quickly checked in and jumped into our swimwear and into the beautiful water.\nFirst impression of the water became a little disappointing. It has a lot to say if it has been windy and if it had rained recently. Unfortunately, the visibility was not great for snorkeling. But then we just splashed around in the water. Next day we found the perfect place to snorkel, where visibility was much better.\nThe hotel was the only one on this beach, it is isolated from the other beach, where there are a lot more hotels and resorts. To get to the other beach we should climb / walk on a small trail for about 10-15 minutes.\nThe other beach is probably more popular and more welcoming than where we lived. But we enjoyed the quiet of our "resort". The staff were so sweet and friendly. The food was good and you could borrow a kayak for free for two hours at a time. The same for swimming feet.\nSo we had 3 lovely nights where we relaxed and spent a lot of time just sitting and looking out over the ocean and snorkeling.\nIt fitted so well into our program, as Marianne was not feeling that well with a little sore throat and fever. So perfect that we did not have to ride our bikes.