Welcome to Thailand

Clearing 15 motorcycles from Customs in Bangkok was always going to be a tall order, especially trying to get it all done in one day. Most riders will take one day to get just the one bike out! Everyone arrived at 8am, fresh for Customs who opened at 8.30am. Everyone (mostly!) patiently waited for their beloved bikes to arrive. By 9pm that night (and way past normal hours – thanks to the agent team!), it was done. We are all relieved that we are out and the trip can start for real. Except for the new guy, Martin, from Canada. His bike ran out of fuel before making it to the petrol station and was the first bike for this Section to end up in the Van to the hotel! Freight and Customs are never the best bits of a trip and many developing countries insist that each owner has to be there for documentation and customs.

Most riders are up today at 0500 ready for the start of Section 5, the final leg from Bangkok back to Europe. Add all the previous sections and this makes the ride the longest supported motorcycle tour ever undertaken. We leave Bangkok at 7am and it’s already 32c and 90% humidity, as 22 bikes make their way through the already heavy Bangkok traffic, trying hard to head north towards the mountains and motorbike freedom.

Sweat pours out of every orifice, as the sun starts to rise and the city traffic is oppressive, but after an hour or so, we leave the outer limits of Bangkok and reach a fast moving dual carriageway road north to Sukhothai. We take a break for beef noodle and we are all trying to acclimatise to this heat. Dinner and early night after all the works been done.

In the cool of the sun rise the next morning, we ride to see the ruins of Sukhothai and the Giant Buddha. They are incredible to monuments to times gone by. There’s no let up from the heat - 33c again - but at least there is no busy traffic to contend with. We stop off at the mountain side market for noodles with chicken – it’s cooler here are we are higher up, but the insects are buzzing around, all wanting a piece of you! Stand still for too long and prepare to be snacked on!

Our third day is a bigger riding day today - 250 miles of twisted roads through primary and secondary jungle all around. We stopped for a few coconut ice creams on route, which cost only 5 Baht (so 10 pence in GB money), better than or nearly better than a Magnum ice cream! What do you think, Gunter? (Our resident German ice cream connoisseur!)

The road skirts the Burmese border, where we passed almost permanent refugee camps. It looks an idyllic setting but these Burmese refugees are not allowed to leave the area – there are police checkpoints along the route, where we are waved through but the refugees are not. It remains hot and muggy – May is not the perfect time for Thailand, but on a round the world route, there’s always compromises to be had.
Tonight we are in Mae Hong Son, with a trip to the Lang Neck Karen (another refugee camp) planned for tomorrow morning.