{"id":5358,"date":"2013-12-03T22:12:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/?p=5358"},"modified":"2013-12-03T23:53:03","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T16:53:03","slug":"day-167-168-banglen-bangkok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/?p=5358","title":{"rendered":"Day 167-168 (Banglen – Bangkok)"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLEASE NOTE – the journey is over but the blog is not. We will update it with a few more articles before closing it.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

When I first arrived in Banglen back in March 1987 the place was much smaller and very unlike what it is today. There was for example only one phone in town and that was in a house at the market and a man clocked all calls with a stop watch. Roads were not good, there were no cyclists and certainly not any bread or coffee available. <\/p>\n

Today the situation is completely different. Banglen has grown from a large village to a small town. There are a number of factories around and traffic lights at the main intersections, people run around with smartphones and there are a couple of minimarts where for example bread and dairy products can be bought which would have been very exotic in 1987. Early this year a nice bakery and coffe shop was opened where pastries and coffee as well as pork chop with french fries can be bought. <\/p>\n

If I hadn\u2019t followed the development in Banglen and Thailand continously during the 25 last years I would certainly not have recognized the place by now. It is amazing what a big change that has been put through in such a short time.
\n

\"Riding<\/a>

Riding on small roads between rice paddies<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

In the western world it is not at all uncommon to take a sabbatical year and do something else for a change. Cycling across a continent is maybe an odd way to spend such a year, but as said it is not at all unusual. In Thailand the situation is different. People work hard, have short vacations and it is hard to get visa to at least the western world so very few Thais make long distance cycling tours in foreign countries.<\/p>\n

Apart from this blog Wej has been writing on a thai cycling forum and when we were about to enter Thailand she made an open invitation for anyone to follow us. One friend followed us from the border to Ayuthaya and we have also met a few other cyclist along the way.
\n

\"Leaving<\/a>

Leaving Banglen<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

When it was time to leave Banglen for Bangkok a cycling club announced they would escort us to the city. We made an appointment at the caf\u00e9 and I bet the workers there must have been as surprised when 30 cyclists turned up a Saturday morning as I would have been by finding a loaf of bread at the Banglen market back in 1987.<\/p>\n

The club leader had visited Banglen a few days earlier to check what route to take and he must have done a good job. The road we cycled on was very small and went past green rice paddies and orchid farms. <\/p>\n

Riding on that sort of road is much more interesting than going on the big roads. Since there was so few cars on the small roads it was possible to cycle side by side and Wej and I tried to talk to as many as possible of our fellow cyclists.
\n

\"Riding<\/a>

Riding with a well dressed lady<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

\"Curious<\/a>

Curious cyclists asking questions and checking out our equipment<\/p><\/div>\n

After some 10-15 kilometers another group of cyclists from Nakorn Pathom joined us and our escort had now grown to around 50-60 people. It was an amazing feeling to ride in such a big group knowing that they had come all the way to ride with us – or perhaps mainly Wej – into the finishing line in the midst of the mega city. Some cyclist had to return before we reached Bangkok and some parted to go to their homes, but we were around 25 people who rode into Wat Arun on Saturday at 3 PM. <\/p>\n

I have never been photographed so many times in one day and once at the official finishing line at Wat Arun the photo spree continued.
\n

\"At<\/a>

At Wat Arun (temple of dawn) together with the group that escorted us into Bangkok<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Thailand\u2019s biggest cycling magazine have interviewed us a week ago and turned up to take photos on our arrival to Bangkok.
\n

\"Wej<\/a>

Wej and the journalist from the thai Cycling Plus<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Kl\u00e4ttermusen<\/a> have been so kind to sponsor us with a jacket<\/a> and a pair of pants<\/a> each. These clothes are usually seen on Mount Everest, Greenland or the south pole, but now they have been spotted in downtown Bangkok too. We have had very good use of these clothes that have protected us from wind, sun, mosquitos, snow and even rain to a certain level. Thanks a lot Kl\u00e4ttermusen.
\n

\"Kl\u00e4ttermusen<\/a>

Kl\u00e4ttermusen Einride jackets – a rare sight in Bangkok<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

We then had to rush to the dinner we were going to host for our friends. Since we were a bit late we had to sprint as quickly as our legs and the traffic allowed and when we finally got there most of our guests had already arrived and received us with applauses and hugs.
\n

\"P'Mam,<\/a>

P’Mam, Wej and Bartek – our brother in arms in the central asian deserts<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

It was a nice dinner and although not everyone could come due it was great to finally see our friends. Wej\u2019s mother is getting older and doesn\u2019t want to go out late so she didn\u2019t come to the dinner. After mingle, dinner and a slideshow Wej and I stayed the night at a nearby hotel so that we could arrive to her home when her mother was awake.<\/p>\n

We finished my home to home trip in Banglen a week ago, then it was another 70 km to Wat Arun where we finished the G\u00f6teborg-Bangkok trip. The distance from the hotel to Wej\u2019s house is about 4 km. When we left for the last ride to her house we didn\u2019t really want our journey to end so we made a little detour and ended up on Silom Rd where we had lunch. <\/p>\n

\"Wej<\/a>

Wej bringing her bike back to its birthplace.<\/p><\/div>
\nWej\u2019s bike has now done about 50.000 km and was bought in Bangkok 8 or 9 years ago – we couldn\u2019t resist the temptation to take a ride to her bike\u2019s birthplace….. <\/p>\n

The distance we have cycled from G\u00f6teborg to Bangkok is roughly 15.000 km and luckily we haven\u2019t had any more accidents than Wej\u2019s fall in Georgia when she hurt her knee. When were cycling through Lumpini Park with about 2 km left to Wej\u2019s family house I almost got involved in a wildlife accident in the midst of Bangkok. It was broad daylight and we were biking very slowly when I heard Wej shouting loudly STOP….
\n

\"Mr.<\/a>

Mr. Lizard – if you were a cat, we would say that you only have 8 lives left now \ud83d\ude09<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

I braked quickly and discovered I had stopped about 30 cm from a large lizard. They are often seen in the park and I don\u2019t know why I didn\u2019t see it. That lizard now owes Wej a big thank you….<\/p>\n

\"Riding<\/a>

Riding through the Lumpini Park<\/p><\/div>\n

After leaving the park and a frightened lizard behind us we rode for about a kilometer on the huge Sathorn Road, before turning left into Soi Suan Plu into the area where Wejs house is. The first ones to spot us was Wej\u2019s nephews who were playing outside the house. Soon everyone who was at home came down. Wejs mother presented us with jasmine garlands and lots of photos were taken before we could enter the house.
\n

\"Finally<\/a>

Finally together with Wej’s mom and the rest of the family<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

This was the endpoint of Wej\u2019s journey from home to home. It isn\u2019t however the end of this blog…. We still have a few articles to write where we sum up things so check out the blog every now and then the coming week. <\/p>\n

P.S.
\nMost of the photos in this post is taken by Sakkapol Tungsongpaiboolya who has also designed our shirts together with Araya Ponkhumheang. Thanks to both of you for all your help.<\/p>\n

P.S.S
\nAfter publishing this post we got the link to a 4 minute long video from our last cycling day made by Ugrid Milintangkul who rode with us from Banglen to Bangkok. Enjoy<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/P1o99OFNfG4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLEASE NOTE – the journey is over but the blog is not. We will update it with a few more articles before closing it. When I first arrived in Banglen back in March 1987 the place was much smaller and very unlike what it is today. There was for example only one phone in town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5358"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5408,"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358\/revisions\/5408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}