We started riding from Chumphon at 8.30 in the morning. 6 people on 5 bikes. All refreshed and eager to see the world. Except me, who now wants to get back. The roads were great and the ride was fun. All my luggage was now in the van that will accompany us to the end of Myanmar. So my bike was bareback and lighter.

It was cool till lunchtime, after which it became unbearable. I would take a liter of bisleri water and pour it down the front of my jacket, so it would trickle down my trousers. Riding after this was like air-conditioning, for an hour, after which things were back to normal. Everyone enjoyed this spectacle, none copied me.

I rode at the tail end and made sure that all were ahead of me. Some of them were grateful. We stopped for fuel and Thai curry, deliciously presented at the fuel station food court. After lunch I went to sleep on a stone slab, under a tree. Napping is refreshing.

After lunch, we stopped at a picturesque monastery and the guide explained the Hindu and Buddhist culture to the group. I lay down under a tree on the grass and relaxed. Hearing about the spread of Hindu culture in school and seeing it for myself were two different things. I was amazed at the vast reach of the Hindu thought.

As we approached Bangkok, the traffic swelled. Inevitably, we lost the van and the group got split in two. Following the van was difficult. We couldn’t breakaway, as we were supposed to be with the van, under legal conditions. But, in traffic to have 5 bikes in one line was next to impossible. So, things were haphazard a bit. I was part of the lost section and one of us using his GPS, spotted the route and after some time we all got together and continued to Ayutthaya. A small adventure.

A neat hotel invited us into the driveway and we closed our ride for the day

Goodnight!