Riding in Thailand

There are all sorts of reasons to ride to Thailand.  The excellent north south highway makes traversing the Malay Peninsula a matter of a day’s ride.  Hardcore hard arsed riders have made it a point of getting to Hat yai in a day, although personally I have always found riding past Penang or Ipoh around the time of a late lunch very difficult to do without stopping for a little something. I know you could easily do the eating rounds on the way back from Thailand, but somehow its not quite a holiday until the penang kuay teow from Red Garden, the Mee Goreng from Brooke Street or the ipoh guo teow from tianzhen coffee shop is set before me.  So this time finds me spending a night in Georgetown before heading out across into Thailand at the Weng Kerlian crossing. 

For the biker this is hallowed ground; many feel you’re not really an overland traveler that justifies all that wonderful kit on the bike until you crossover from Malaysia.  Then there is the change in riding conditions. The north - south highway is a smooth as silk ribbon of perfect engineering that goes on for miles and miles. The main danger isn’t the road conditions, it’s trying to stay engaged.  Look carefully that the crashes that one invariably sees on this highway – especially those in the hours of darkness -  and what you notice is the absence of tyre marks before the wreck at the side of the road – a sure sign that someone’s fallen asleep.

Once in Thailand all that changes.  There is a highway system that allows an easy 400 km a day but its nothing like what you leave in Malaysia.   For the biker I suppose what sums up the situation more clearly than any other is this road sign:

You see in Thailand bikes are meant to be limited with bicycles on the road shoulder, not mixing it up with the rest of the traffic,and certainly not overtaking anybody.  In many ways this is consistent with the local situation.  There are hardly any local bikes larger than 100ccs on these rural roads.  Most hardly travel above bicycle speeds.  Making allowances for a five hundred pound one liter bike is unthinkable.

What this means is that the spider-sense needs to be modified.  Under usual riding conditions outside Thailand the most dangerous time on a trunk road is when overtaking against oncoming traffic.  In Thailand it’s when you have this nice straight piece of road all to yourself in your direction and some traffic coming the opposite way is stuck behind a slower vehicle.  What has happened on numerous occasions is that they all start overtaking and seem to disregard your right of way.  What has been explained to me is that they know you’re a bike and you should be on the shoulder.  Similar situation when you have a faster moving vehicle coming up behind you: they will go through you rather than overtake because you’re supposed to be on the shoulder. 

There seems to be some solutions to this. One is to make your bike obviously not the kapcai they think you are.  A friend of mine on a gorgeous Kawasaki voyager has no such problems because he actually has three lights forward headlights.  Some others have added on interesting bits of lighting although it should be said that some kapcais have this as well. The other solution is to obey the law and actually stick to that shoulder. This will be a bit of a trick, because what can be found on that shoulder includes livestock, monks, bikes heading the other way.

The third alternative I think is the most sensible.  Slow down, forget you have horsepower far in excess of requirements, behave as though you are a local kapcai and take in the scenery.  It’s  not so much an issue of making the required miles as seeing as much of the place as you can. And a lot of the scenery is simply fabulous and more than makes up for the change in riding habits.  Riding outside of Trang the limestone formations come right up to the edge of the road.

On a whim I actually followed one of the road signs that suggested an off road turn would lead to a nice waterfall.  Completely off the planned route and not indicated on the GPS or the Michelin maps. Pretty soon I’m enjoying a genuine blast of some gravel trails and catchup with some locals and their off road vehicles.  At the back of my mind was the Schedule.  There were miles to make and only so much daytime left, but I figured this was a wandering trip and I might never pass this way again.  I’m really glad I did. In the middle of nowhere was proof that if you behave like a local you might just see what the locals keep to themselves.

Dare Greatly

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”

Theodore Roosevelt April 1910

Thought to give a glimpse of what has gone into putting this trip together. One reason is to acknowledge the tremendous amount of support so many people have given us; another to give prospective overland travellers an inkling of just what is required.  Ever since this project has got the green light it has been a whirlwind of activity and it is impossible to overstate just how much it has taken over our lives.  Based on previous travellers it has about a one in three chance of success and although we try to make plans as detailed as possible, we know it’ll all go to pot as soon as we cross the causeway.  It would not be an adventure if it didn’t. There is a sensation that we have already made so much progress when in reality we haven’t even set off yet! 

It might sound a little odd but the first hurdle to cross when this idea was mooted was the need to be persuaded to actually go.   This trip is a big hit on time, finances and just calling in favors and as we put things together at the initial phases there was almost this hope that someone would pull the plug as early on so that we wouldn’t get our hopes raised only to have them dashed.  There were many potential dealbreakers.  The bosses could say this was barmy and get back to work.  The wives could say, well pretty much the same thing.  Experienced travellers could try to talk us out of it, or that with the time constraints it would be an impossibility. Colleagues could say they would not do without our services for four months. 

As it transpired there was none of the above.  The bosses not only thought it would be a good idea, they wanted to come along for parts of the journey.  In this regard Prof CN Lee, our immediate boss has been a real stalwart for the cause, putting us in touch with his wealth of contacts from Russia, Kazakhstan, India, China, Myanmar.  We have met a host of very accomplished people who share the common traits of wanting to travel more, see more, learn more. Of these the most intriguing has been the indefatigable Mr Jim Rogers who has been around the world not once but twice! (see “the Investment Biker” for a perfect combination of adventure travelog and financial risk prediction – a gem of a book I think only he could write)

Support has come from patients and their relatives, students, cabinet ministers, hotel owners, bike shop operators, colleagues from across the continent.  it's like a cocker spaniel you cannot help but pat: There seems to be something about this trip that captures the imagination in a way that makes no difficulty insurmountable and everyone wants to plug in in whatever way possible. 

A special word should be said about Goh Mia Chun and his lovely wife Samantha. This affable and generous couple were the first Singaporeans to circumnavigate the world on their Honda African Twin some three years ago with far less resources than we have to call upon. Their wonderful blog can be found at singaporedream-rtw If anyone needs inspiration to get on their bike and get going.  Goh has been invaluable and unstinting in the practical details that worry the uninitiated – border crossings, lodgings, tyre changes, bike modification, route planning. Most importantly just being in his company makes us realize that this journey will be a mental voyage as much as a physical one, and that the most important equipment is a mind that will adapt, stay focused and not fussed, and quietly get the challenges sorted.

The first challenge was the bikes. Mike has a BMW GSA – a beast of a bike tailor made for this kind of go – anywhere do – anything trip.  Look at Ewan and Charlie’s TV programmes and  they considered no other bike suitable for the task.  I’ve taken a different approach.  A Suzuki Vstrom 1000 eats roads and hills but needs a lot of modifications to make the grade – a chance for tailoring the bike to me and knowing what its limitations are.   Its now got steel hoses for the hydraulics, Hepco and Becker panniers and crash bars, HH brake setup, 4mm custom made bashplate, higher windscreen. As the date approaches it will be cranked up suspension, new chain and sprockets, all cables and fluids changed.  The bikes will be asked to make a 30 000km journey in the space of just over three months.  Essentially asking it to do three years wear and tear in three months –so everything that can be anticipated to need changing will be sorted before we leave.   Unfortunately my proposed custom paint job did not go down too well.  Some feel it goes against the common sense approach to not stand out.  You decide.

The second most important consideration is the route.   This has taken a Kindle with all the Lonely Planets for all the countries in Europe and asia, and 24 road maps which now adorn the office walls.  Invaluable to planning has been two websites www.advrider.com and www.horizonsunlimited.com.  These not only provide more information that you will ever need about travelling from where you are to anywhere you want on a bike, but also detailed accounts of over 150 intercontinental bike rides.  Some have been going for over four years, and if anything provide reassurance that if you think you’ve got a bad case of wanderlust, they have got it a lot worse than you have.

 Most trips like this have taken at least half a year, so with only four months we have to choose the fastest safest route.   This has been hard.  I think we are down to plan E now.  The world is a wonderful place and there is so much of it we are going to pass by without any chance of stopping.  I wanted to dip by the ghats in Varanasi, walk the corridors of a palace in Jaipur, pay my respects at two tennis courts in Kohima..  It has been frustrating sometimes to find one detailed plan has to be hashed because of some development or other.  I was really keen to ride through Myanmar and in the last three months two groups of bikers have been the first to bring their own bikes to this newly opened border. Unfortunately recent ethnic riots and killing have put paid to this.  Cannot really plan a route through that and tell friends and family I have planned responsibly.  No Myanmar unfortunately means also no India, Nepal and Pakistan.  No karakoram highway.  This means not visiting some cancer collaborators and cancer hospitals where we feel their cancer experience really needs to be told. Ah well, another trip then, when things have settled a bit.  As things are now we will be riding Shangri La, from Laos to Yunnan and then through Tibet into Xinjiang and then on the Almaty and the ‘Stans before Iran and Turkey.  Stunning scenery and truly desolate roads await us, but it will take some time before I completely get over the disappointment of not riding into Darjeeling,  Kathmandu and Lucknow…