17/02/2010 Bikers Again

We still had the bike as it was not due back until 1.30pm. We were hoping for an early start but the front tyre being flat put us behind. I bugged the reception about the flat front tyre at 8.30a.m and of course they wanted to charge 150 baht to supposedly fix the front tyre. After a brief discussion I convinced them it only needed pumping up and that was their issue. Of course they had to take it somewhere to get the compression the tyre needed so we resorted to having breakfast while we waited. By the time we had munched that down the bike luckily had returned with some of the badly needed air. Off we zoomed to get some extra value out of the bike hire. We headed down the east coast road towards the national park. We stopped at a real estate agent to have a look but they weren’t open so we decided to keep going and check it out on the way back. Just cruised along on our trusty steed. We basically drove until the good road decided it would disappear and turn into a rough dusty track!! But surprise, surprise over the hill the good road again! But around the next corner the crap road again this continued until we came across a sign for at a resort that said best beach on the island. Well that was their opinion. Anyway we had a swim until we got attacked by sea lice. Kicked the bike into life and away we went. The road actually got worse and we had to navigate up a few steep mountains. This was fairly exhilarating seeing as we were on a bike designed for smooth urban roads and we were tackling terrain more suited to a motorcross bike! With Tracey flapping off the back we faced the biggest mountain with the conviction of Braveheart. This did not help us tackle the mountain similar in size to Mt. Everest. Even with my great riding ability and (Tracey just noticed this description of the hill and is laughing in the background…) our super bike we could not make it over the top. I decided the best course of action was to kick Tracey off and make her walk. This had the desired effect. She loved crawling up the side of the mountain covered in a fine layer of dust. The bike had a new lease of life and surged forward. At last we revved and screamed over the top. The bike also made it.

Shortly after this I realized we were out of fuel. We could continue forward and risk having to push the bike back along the crap road or turn around and go get some fuel. Guess what we went back and found a road side stand a few kilometers back and grabbed a litre of fuel and some coke and headed back to the mountain range. I could hear the bike swearing all the way back to Mt Everest. A few kilometers later the road turned into a concrete freeway as it was near a national park! We made it to the gate and after finding out it was 45 minutes trekking each way to see a lighthouse and some jungle we decided to turn around and attack the mountain instead so we could get the bike back on time. Once again I could hear the bike swearing all the way over the crap road. It wasn’t happy but it got us back to civilization.

We stopped at the real estate agent on the way back and found out we could actually buy an island. So we are currently looking for a few partners to come and join us on our quest to own an island. Please send us a large deposit and we will reserve you a piece of paradise. After we made the real estate agent excited we headed back to the resort and just hung around the pool and beach. Went out to a little English style café on the main road where they offered a great menu – unfortunately very little of the offerings were actually available! Had a couple of expensive drinks and some local food and used their wifi while we chatted to a few other travelers.

Lanta Riviera Resort, 90/4 Moo 2 Saladan, Koh Lanta, Krabi Province Thailand 81150
Ph: 075-667043 / 44 (1000 Baht w Air and Hot Water)