First Day Bicycling

This day has significance: the first day of actually pedaling the bicycle! Also the first day I've ridden in months. That has been the longest I've gone without riding for years, actually. Usually not more than 3 days go by when I don't ride my bicycle.

But here I am.

Weaving out on the bike from our Bangkok alley this afternoon felt unaccustomed: I was more loaded down than I've ever been (have to carry all my belongings for some time!). Buddy Lissy and I threw ourselves into the Bangkok traffic and biked the raging 6 km to the train station. That experience was certainly the most cars I've ever shared a road with before. We rode on the far left side, because they drive on the left here. Especially unnerving were the motor-scooters coming towards us on the wrong side of the road, in addition to the motor bikes and tuk-tuks and buses and trucks and cars and more motor bikes passing us on the right. I felt invigorated to finally be on a bike again, completely overwhelmed by the swarm, but thrilled to be part of this mass of human transport.

Then a hot train ride for an hour to get fully out of the city (50 cent tickets, 3 bucks for the bike). After some time the tall cement buildings gave way to corrugated shanties, then to suburban blocks, then finally to: RICE FIELDS! I gawked at the brilliant green of those rice paddies: stretching out expansively like corn fields in Indiana. Piercingly, gloriously, refreshingly green.

Where the train dumped us (Chachoengsoa for you Google-mappers) left us about 40 km from the coast, so off we pedaled towards Chon Buri (our first "destination"). Our first leg! How exuberant!

But alas and alack, the road was horrendous. 

The worst biking experience I've had, next to the windy snowy bitterly cold one in Idaho. We were on a highway and trucks clashed by so loudly Buddy Lissy and I had to shout to each other. Motor bikes and cars slammed along as well and exhaust was heavy. There was a shoulder but construction was also happening there, so sometimes we rode over the torn-up rusted red soils, which were waiting for new pavement. Add together dust, grit, unexpected gravel patches, and HEAT, and a green-tea frappe at a little gas-station was heaven I had yet to imagine.

But we had a vigorous cheering section as we bicycled. Trucks chirped their horns at us, cars rolled down their windows and yelled out "ooo ooo!" or "wow!" Women at their food stalls rubber necked us, grinning broadly and waving or thumbs-upping. This wasn't harassment and it wasn't hawking; this seemed more like "look at those white girls on bikes! Go and good luck!"

The sun began to set and we didn't get to Chon Buri so we pulled off to find a road-side place. We're staying in an "expensive" hotel ($15 bucks for shared room), complete with toilet paper, nice towels, and hot water, none of which the Bangkok guest house had. This hotel is off a quiet side-street in a traffic-choked strip of a town whose name and objective I do not know, but there are lots of young people and the map said "vocational university." Compared with Bangkok there are NO other white tourists here, and no signs with Roman characters.

I went out walking after a beautiful cleansing shower and for the first time in days I could see stars! I bought some anonymous balls of meat on a stick (passing on the squids on sticks or whole crabs) and found this here internet cafe.

Grateful for our first day of bicycling and ready for tomorrow, with hopefully better roads.

I am very happy to be here.