OUR FINAL DAY ON THE ROAD - SI KHIO TO PATTAYA, THIS JOURNEY ENDS...
An early start the next day saw us take on another huge ride, with Capp’s bike now starting to play up a little, we made it as far as Si Khio (or
Si Khiu) and checked in at Green View Apartment.
It was a fantastic place to stay for the
night, quite flash really with large modern rooms and a great balcony that we
took advantage of, with a few nightcaps after dinner.
The town itself looked very interesting, with quite a few markets,
plenty of eating choices and a great public park near the town centre with a
massive pond, definitely not on the tourist trail but seemingly worth a second
look. We paid a crazy 300 bt ($11) for
our rooms, a hotel like this would set you back $150 in Australia! Don't hesitate to check it out if you're ever in Si Khio!
After a well earned sleep, our final leg was here, 1 last day on the road to make it home and
it turned out to be a long hard stretch.
Going through Khao Yai National Park we got absolutely drenched for nearly 2 hours, it
rained so hard and visibility was so poor that we had to stop for a while. We weren't getting any drier, but it was just too dangerous to be on the road.
The heavy rain was clearly not going to stop in the next few hours
so we simply rode on, our cheap plastic ponchos were no match for the forces of
nature that day. Aside from getting
totally soaked, we stopped a couple of times for food, drinks and petrol but
just kept pushing on, the bright lights of Pattaya beckoning.
After dodging all the gigantic potholes on the last stretch into town, some large enough to lose a buffalo in, we were now within minutes of stretching our legs and getting some blood
back into our numb asses. We arrived
back to find a few friends waiting to have dinner & drinks, our trip was
over.
It was with mixed feelings
- relief, pride, joy, fatigue, achievement, but slight sadness that the trip
was over, it is such a great lifestyle to ride all day, the freedom of going
almost anywhere and stopping when you’d had enough.
An amazing trip with great company had come
to an end, but had also reignited our desire to do it more often and it wasn’t
long before the next, albeit brief, trip was underway.
Another funky place with crazy looking chalets and 4 wheeler motorbike trips
Roadside elephants, you never know what you'll find around the next corner
Capp checking for Cobra's
Lookout, it's a Gaur...... oh wait, it's Capp!!
No more pictures after the thunderstorm... except this solitary one... so i'll throw it in!
