First days on the road

21/1/13
Ubon Ratchathani - Kong Chiam
83km/4h43min.

Left Ubon early in the morning after shopping for supplyes at the market and having a big breackfast at the buddist center.
The road is flat pretty much the whole way, plenty of places to buy whater and food, we made it to Kong Chiam around 5.30.
The town is small and nice, we checked in at the first place we found just next to the marke, got a nice room for 250 Bath with free coffe and chinese donuts in the morning.
This town is famous because the Mon and Mekong river join together and their different coloured whater create a scenic view but we where there in the wrong season.
After all this first day has gone pretty easy.

Stine's favorite part of the day, breakfast!!!

Thinking of changing our allarm clock into a gong...

Bus stop lunch time

Cooking in action

No comment, you will see this over and over again

Great decorations and gadgets in thai's guest houses!

22/13/13
Kong Chiam - Scout Homestay
83km/5h


After a huge breakfast at the market with "yok" (rice porrige, served with finelly chopped veggies, carrots ginger spring onions and minced pork ,wich we didnt get, and more) we had a couple of coffee at the guest house.
We ran into another ciclist going opposite direction and exchanged some tips about the ride ahead. By the time we hit the road it was a bit late.
The road today has been hilly but not majou climbs, in this strech is good to buy whater when you can because the shops are not so many.
Most of the day has been through a beautifull dry forrest where in periods the trees offered a nice shade and definytly many great camping spots, the whole area is filled with attractions, whaterfalls national parks and weird rock formation.
In some streches the road got a bit bumpy.
We stopped at 5.30 at the Scout Homestay wich is more of a mini bungalow resort where for 500 bath,  got a little house with aircon.
Aldough the porch was great for cooking the room is a bit pricy for what u get.
After the resort the road goes uphill for about 1 km where you find a little sadlement with shops and market.
Ther's other accomodations in the side streets.

Stop for a snack and find a friend

Stine's other favorite part of the day, snacks!

One night mansion 

Ubon Ratchathani

19/1/13

After a very long but comfortable train ride to eastern Thailand we made it to the city of Ubon Ratchathani, try to say it 3 times fast if u can!, we travelled in first class sleepers with aircon, first time for me and i have to say they really spank that conditioner!
Beside that i slept like a baby under a warm blanket cuz the temperature in the cabin was close to the one back home.Carring  bikes on a train in thailand is very easy.

At the train station in Bangkok 

You just buy a ticket before boarding, 180 bath for 2,  cheaper than expected. The firstwagon of the convoy is the one used for shipments, this is where u drop the bike. Somebody puts it on and tights it, the luggage though goes on board with you.
A bunch of snacks and twelve hours later we arrived.
The train leaves you in a little town 3 km outside of the city. When we got to town we rode a bit around before we found the first vintage "horror" hotel of this trip: the "New Sri Isaan 2" for 200 bath a night we got a mansion, a safe place to leave the bikes and a rooftop with amazing view and space to cook (with our trangia). It sits close to the river and just next to the market.
We left our things in the room and went of to stuff our faces at one of the two local vegetarian restaurants.

The sleepers wagon

After lunch we had a walk around, noticing the different atmosfere and clean air, somethig  Bangkok lacks. We stumbled upon "L.A. Bikes" a thai brand bikeshop chain, wich offers parts enough to fix most problems plus awide selection of multicoloured crap to pimp your ride if u likethe style.I personally LOVE IT!
What else...a walk and a beer along the Mon river and a tour of the night market are enoug to keep u entertained for two days in Ubon. Tomorrow wake up at 6.45, first day riding!

Freeeeezeng up there!

The room in our great hotel

Last check in the yard

The Mon river

Old building in Ubon

One day in Bangkok

Thought it was about time i started posting stuff as well, not leaving it all to miki! i've been sick almost since we arrived, a flue that wouldn't let go (damn you air-con!!), but today i'm feeling much better. Miki went to the morning market and bought breakfast, exotic style: mango, papaya and pineapple! fuck yeah! i missed the fruit down here sooo much, makes me wonder why i'm even bothered eating it at home..After breakfast and a coffee, we went to the wand lang market, a few stops with the boat from where we live..It's a real nice market and i always go there, if not to buy stuff, then to snack! We bought a few things and sat a bit around, enjoying the madness, before we headed back to Banglamphu to check out a new veggieplace we found on happycow. It was a real nice place, totally Yota-style, run by a little old lady who cooked us up a real good noodle soup. We paid 1,5 euroes for both!! Did i mention how much i love Thailand??
After lunch we went around and got some stuff for the trip tomorrow, including kerosene for the Trangia (which we found the thai word for, NAUM MAUN GAS, and when we say it people actually understand us!). 
We went back to the G.H, did some laundry, tried out the kerosene, miki did some blogging and i did some yoga. Again a really nice day in bangkok had passed. After dinner we wanted to go get massage at a place we've been checking out, but it was super busy so after a walk we ended back up at the G.H, finishing my first post before watching an episode of Game of Thrones..Tomorrow the big land of North East Thailand will be waiting and we are super stoked to go!! Really, i can't wait to be on the road!

Coconut pancakes stall at the market, aroy mak!

Lunch favorite, rice noodles in clear soup

Napping in our messy room

Moving to Bang Lanphu

Our days in Sukumvit are over and we are moving to Bang  Lamphu area wich has a more cozy home feeling, it also make it easier to reach our favorite places such as Chinatown, Littelindia or the Chao Phraya river very good for a refreshing walk.

This will be a daily sight for  me for the next four months.

Getting there was amazing i love to ride in the chaothic streets of Bangkok where the traffic moves like a giant slow worm, the heat from the burning sun or the exousts taking your breath away...not to mention the general madness, scooters coming from everywhere, fruit wagons crossing the road smoke from bbq's, somebody welding under a busy bus stop, small distractions that will lead u spreated on the back of a bus if you are not carefull.
We located ourselfs at the Riverline g.h., a very quiet place lost in the small alleys over the Bang Lamphu canal, where we sat down and made a plan for the future, got ticket to Ubon Rachathani on thursday for a 12 hours ride on a night train,wow sleepers wagons never done one of those!bed too short for my two meters! gave a check to the bikes and found a damage after the flight, a squashed tubus rack but still working and the very usual on my trip, bended dropout that give a cruncy feeling to the drive train, well a bike is suppose to ride not to fly hope i will learn the lesson sooner or later!

Arrrrrr!!!!!!!!

12-13\1\2013 Bang Lamphu district festival

Leaving and arriving

Here we are, repacking and checking that nothing is missing in our touring kit, this year we are going pretty light since the airline we fly with only allowes 30 kg each, pretty much somebody would think but we like to be confortable and carry half of our home with us, anyway four months is not a race against time!
Packing the bikes is the most stressfull thing about the whole trip, and of course i left it for  the night before leaving, aldough i knew we where waking up early the morning after, i ended up fixing the last thausands small things till 3am, to releave the stress some few drinks,  then out for a walk to say good by to the city and there it was my saviour for the morning after!!!!!

The newspaperwagon! It might look silly but trust me it saves u a swet on the way to the bus stop.

After a long flight and a nine hours sleep over in Dubai airport we finally made it to Bangkok.

This time we got to the city by train and skytrain, since it was to late too ride and had no lights, ooops,  the Sukumvit area is where we are gonna stay for the first day cuz we never seen it before, found a cheap room on the internet and ther's a skytrain stop very close to us, perfect when you arrive jet laged and with a huge bikebox.

Got off at Thong Lo, and put the bikes together at the entrance of the train to have some peace while creating our own mess of bags and tools

By the way, how great is it to have someone doing all the job while you take pictures!!

The Sukumvit area is not too bad actually i have to say, beside those nasty rapresentatives of the western world (you should see with your own eyes and understend what i mean if u dont...), we really enjoyed it, is kind o a shock compared to what we are use to in bangkok, shiny high buildings, malls restaurents and top end hotels goes along the main drag andquiet street life is harder to find.

It dind take too long before we found our favorite vegetarian resturant and had a delicious meal, in the aria ther's a lot of food courts with veggie food we foun 3 the first day out!

   

Preparation

Her's some pictures about what is happening before the ride such as our bikes under preparation and all the stuff we r gonna carry around for the next months...

 Stine's stuff laying on the bed,

and mine packed, this trip we will be travelling light with two back panniers and a handlebar bag, despite this, ill still carry my front bags to collect as much crap as i can from around...i always end up with a huge load anyway...

And this is my bike, ready to go i hope!