Lars Goes Australia's

[renaw]

HE LARSJE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hier is het nazomerweekend alweer achter de rug. Dat was het afgelopen weekend. Weer heerlijk genoten!!
Uiteraard hebben we een flesje wijn geklonken op jou en alle andere wereldfietsers onderweg.

Nee, niet op iedereen 1 fles... hahaha

Groet, Rena

[lars de wit]

Nihau !

And again a lot has happened...
I had the most fantastic camp sites in forests, high up in the mountains and along rivers ...

Now in Lijiang, the old town is allready one of my favorite places on earth, so nice it is with the old wooden houses, small winding streets, streams and little bridges, great !

Today went to the PSB to get a visa extension without luck, it expires today so no problem
Think I will try to cross the border on my cancelled chinese visa, which was valid untill november. The cancellation stamp is unreadable so maybe I can play stupid at the border with laos.
The only other option is to leave china ( tomorrow ) and get my visa in for instance Hong Kong but this option I really do not like and so will not do.

Tomorrow I will go to Tiger Leaping Gorge ( no, no tigers this time hahaha ) to do a two days trek.
Then return to Lijiang to cycle to dali and further south.

Hope I can sleep at night because of my little visa ' problem '
If anyone has some good tips, let me know.
Will cross the border with Lao at Boten.

Cheerio

[lars de wit]

Gutentag !

Cycling out of Lijiang, out of the very nice old town on my way to Dali !
The road was nice, first part a gravel/stone road, think I took some shortcut or something.
After 50 km my rearwheel was sounding strange, like the last 2000 km but now even worse, I thought it were my spokes ( again ) but now my freewheel also happened to do strange ...
After removing my wheel, opening the cassette it turned out that in my ball-bearing one of my balls was broken, not good.
So I thought I brought my reserve ball gearings with me but thorough research in my bags learned me different, so a big problem was born ...
I went to two little bike shops, the balls they had were too small.
After 4 hours I decided to cycle further, hoping my axe would hold untill Dali, where I am now.
I found a terrific campsite in the woods, next to a little pool, really romantic all by myself hahaha no really ! Great spot !

My hope to get a new axe flew away the next day, visited some bike shops but they all said the same, had to go to Kunming, a 400 km detour.
So I will, with 5 weeks ahead on ' schedule ' and untill november on my cancelled visa, no worries !

Maybe I like Kunming, seems to be quite a modern city with skyscrapers and malls .

And while walking here in Kunming I met two dutch cyclists who I met a few days ago.
They asked me if I have seen another dutch couple, Marco en Lisette, who new me ...
I asked, ' Marco and Lisette, THE Marco and Lisette ??? ( They are also member of the ' wereldfietser ' and I know them very well )But they ought to be somewhere in Tibet ?!? They are here ? I was so surprised, could hardly believe it !
But later that night, wandering through the streets of Dali there they were, drinking beer on a terrace, what a surprise !
A nice evening followed, drinking beer on the same terrace, we had a lot to talk about.
They are cycling 3 months now and also on their way to Laos.
Same as me but I have to go to Kunming first, tomorrow I'll leave.

Maybe I see them on our way to the border or else in Loung Prabang, also nice !

Adios !

[lars de wit]

Haha, is my german as bad as my english ???

What I meant was, and hello by the way, is that my bike is fixed, AGAIN ...
The plan was to cycle out of Dali, to Kunming.
But after 50 km Du, my bike, said kggggg, or something like that.
Fact was I couldn't cycle no more. My rear axe, the ball bearings were in a little less condition as they were when we started ....
So I had to buy a new axe.
And so I took a lift to the first big city and from there a bus to Kunming.
Next day to the bicycle shop which had all the shimano stuff I needed, even swiss DT spokes ! So with a new axe and new spokes I hope I can cycle another 10.500 km, then I must be somewhere in Australia, hey, I have an idea !
Who can guess where I am precisely after 2 times 10.500 km, so 21.000 km I will give a bottle of very nice wine ! All I need is a name of a city or the nearest city, curious how many people will react
But then I have to tell my route a little bit : from here in China, Kunming I will cycle to Laos, Louang Prabang, take a boat to Thailand over the Mekong river. Then to Chiang Mai and from there all the way south to Maleisie and Singapore. Another boat to Sumatra and then island hopping all the way to East Timor where I hope to get a ride, ehhh, a sail to Darwin.
Then to Alice spings and east to Brisbane. A little south to Sydney from there.

Now back to here, tomorrow I will leave Kunming, going south west / south to Mengla at Laos border. Curious if I can cath up with Marco & Lisette, that would be nice !
Look forward to cycle again, with a 100 % bike, again !

Have I told you I like China and the chinese very much ?
No ? Well, I do ! China is beautifull and the chinese very nice, may times they do not even try to ask more money because I am white. And they do not look if I am coming from Mars No, really, they are very nice people, I definately come back some day ...

Untill then, I cycle further and further, every day, every hour a new horizon.
My bike and me in good condition, yeah, I am happy !!!
And thankfull I can do this great way of travelling.

With love, from russia, ehhh, lars

[fietsjunks]

Lars, veel plezier met de rest van de reis!

Succes met je fiets!

[Willem_V]

Sydney!

Behouden reis en veel plezier, groeten van een fervent lezer, Willem

PS: Ik houd van mooie rode Australische wijn

[johntelleman]

Ha die Lars,

En behouden reis gewenst vanuit een zonnig Georgie.

Zojuist per GSM gehoord dat Frank van Rijn door twee keffertjes is gebeten.
Hij is door de vader van de Georgische firstlady naar het ziekenhuis gebracht voor een stel prikken.

Ook wij hadden flink veel pech.
* Verbogen voorvork
* Gebroken zadel stang
* Scheur in plastic branderfles
Het meeste is weer teruggebogen, gelast en gelijmd.
Het is heerlijk om al je pech op te lossen en weer verder te kunnen.

Pas op als je in Thailand kom. Bert Sitters zit daar straks samen met o.a. handige Harm!!!

Lars, een behouden vaart!

John.

[lars de wit]

Hoi John & Gudy !

Ja je hebt gelijk, als je de ' problemen ' kan overwinnen is het des te leuker !
Jullie ook een hele goede verdere reis, groetjes aan Gudy en Frank !
Bert mailde mij de route van de reis, misschien, heel misschien kan ik een stuk meefietsen, zou geweldig zijn ! ( maar ik ber er waarschijnlijk een paar weken eerder, vandaar ... )

Heel veel plezier nog, doei doei

[lars de wit]

That night I got an sms from my dad : how terrible with Rampie ( my cat ), all the best.
I did not know anything so I replied : terrible, what ? What happened ?
No reply so I smsed my mother, also no reply.
Then my little sister : do you know what happened ?
I got two answers, one from my little sister and the same time from my dad...
My mam, who took Rampie with her to Spain, had found him in the morning in the grass, all wet and ver cold. Immediately to the doctor but he couldn't do anything, best was to make him put asleep, forever ...
There I sat, in my tent in China, not believing what I read.
I send another sms to my mom, to her dutch gsm nr and got an answer ...
Asked if he did make it to Spain and if he liked it, both answers were yes.
Shit, crying like a baby, hard to read the letters ...
And I had such a good feeling about my mam taking him to Spain, shit, he only enjoyed it for a few days...
But he made it and for that I am glad.
15 years of love he gave me ...

The day after it was hard to see the road ...

I am now in Mengla, 62 km north of Laos border, tomorrow I will go and see what happens, they cannot throw me in jail can they ? Yes they can Lars but I do not think so.
Lets hope for the best,

Lars

[Lisette]

He Lars, wat een toeval. Wij zijn ook vanmiddag in Mengla aangekomen. Zin in een biertje? Ik heb hier een hoop terrassen gezien. Heb net een mailtje naar je gestuurd met locatie.

Groeten,
Lisette

[lars de wit]

Hello,

Can a person get a little too much adventure ?
Yes, he or she can ...
Let me tell you what happened at the border.
I arrived early, 1430 hours and was stopped by an official who asked me my passport.
Sofar my ideas to avoid chinese post and cycle directly to laos immigration.
So I went inside, filled in a departure form, handed over my passport, then trouble began.
' Where is your entry stamp?' the young immigration officer asked. ( on my expired tibetan A4 size paper visa but that I couldn't tell, I just showd them my passport with the cancelled chinese visa )
I said ' I do not know, I came from Kathmandu '
I arrived 18 august I said also.
The women opposite of him was more clever and she asked me where my tibetan visa was.
I said that I never had one, only the chinese visa but SHE saw immediately that that one was cancelled. She repeated for 7 times I better find my tibetan visa or I couldn't leave the country. I repeated for 7 times that no one ever gave me this paper visa.

A higher official arrived and after 2 hours of using the phone they found out my tibtan visa nr ( the called the customs at nepal border )
One official said something like I have to go to Kunming or fly back home !
At that point I got so angry that I jumped on my bike and tried to cycle through the gate but 3 officials came running after me, grabbed my steering wheel and shouted ' stop, stop !!
Which I had to.
Returning to the office this officer said this was my second mistake, a big one.
Yes I said but what can I do ?
I want, no, have to go to laos and you will not let me, I was desperete...
After another hour and with the help of a nice woman and again, many telephone calls with district chiefs and other high officials they adviced me to go to Jinghong, 240 km away up north again. Not glad at all I accepted but not before a paper which explained my problem and my request for a new visa ( I was afraid they just send me away so it wasn't their problem anymore so I rally want to make sure I didn't go to Jinghong for the cat his cunt hahaha )

That night I stayed at the border but woke up several times.
At 1 o clock I went out of bed to see if the border was guarded.
I walked to the gate and two gurads came immediately to me, no way to sneek out ...

Next day I took a bus to Jinghong, which is a nice city by the way.
After insane troubles at my hotel ( I had to pay immediately for my room, had no cash so i told them I had to go to the bank but this very unpleasant woman wouldn't give me my room key before I paid her !!!. I said, look, I am going to the bank right now BUT I WANT TO LOCK MY ROOM ! But she didn't ( want ) to listen ...)
Okay, after this nice problem I had another one, I went to the bank but the stupid machine refused my card, tried 6 banks but without luck...AHHHHH !!!!

I went for dinner with my last money ( I finally got my room key leaving my passport behind ), sat very sad at my table, waiting for my food. All negative thoughts ran through my mind, I was not happy at all.
And then God send me his sheppard, okay a guy from germany then.
He walked to my table and asked how I was doing.
' Bad, very bad I told him the truth and told him my whole story.
'Look' he said, ' maybe I can help you, I can talk fluent chinese, I live here for 15 years.
So we discussed a new strategy, just play open card with police here.
He said many times a fine can be discussed. Just show them all your papers, including my tibetan visa and play stupid ( which was my idea
I can come with you tomorrow, what do you say ?
I told him I was verry happy with that and we agreed to meet at 0900 hours next morning in front of the police station.

So we did.

3 hours later, 200 euro shorter but with a new 7 days valid chinese visa we left the station ... They only fined me for 4 days instead of 24 days ( 50 euro per day you have to know and I KNEW IT BEFORE I LEFT HOLLAND )
I thanked my german friend a thousand times, now I could cycle out of china, something that was in my mind for the last 2 or 3 months, finally it was possible !

Jesus, I never do it again like this but I can also say that I am one of the few who travelled from Kathmandu to Lhasa and then cycled ( most of the way ) to Laos !!!

So tomorrow I will take a bus back to the border, chasing Marco and Lisette, two dutch friends of me who are I think 2 days ahead of me know. They also go to Laos, Luang Prabang.
Ahhh, Luang Prabang, finally I can visit you again. I was here 3 years ago and I loved this place !

So, very, very happy I am again that I can cycle on, to new countries, with only valid visas from now on hahaha.

Greetings

[Ralph]

Hello,

Can a person get a little too much adventure ?
Yes, he or she can ...
Let me tell you what happened at the border.
I arrived early, 1430 hours and was stopped by an official who asked me my passport.
Sofar my ideas to avoid chinese post and cycle directly to laos immigration.
So I went inside, filled in a departure form, handed over my passport, then trouble began.
' Where is your entry stamp?' the young immigration officer asked. ( on my expired tibetan A4 size paper visa but that I couldn't tell, I just showd them my passport with the cancelled chinese visa )
I said ' I do not know, I came from Kathmandu '
I arrived 18 august I said also.
The women opposite of him was more clever and she asked me where my tibetan visa was.
I said that I never had one, only the chinese visa but SHE saw immediately that that one was cancelled. She repeated for 7 times I better find my tibetan visa or I couldn't leave the country. I repeated for 7 times that no one ever gave me this paper visa.

A higher official arrived and after 2 hours of using the phone they found out my tibtan visa nr ( the called the customs at nepal border )
One official said something like I have to go to Kunming or fly back home !
At that point I got so angry that I jumped on my bike and tried to cycle through the gate but 3 officials came running after me, grabbed my steering wheel and shouted ' stop, stop !!
Which I had to.
Returning to the office this officer said this was my second mistake, a big one.
Yes I said but what can I do ?
I want, no, have to go to laos and you will not let me, I was desperete...
After another hour and with the help of a nice woman and again, many telephone calls with district chiefs and other high officials they adviced me to go to Jinghong, 240 km away up north again. Not glad at all I accepted but not before a paper which explained my problem and my request for a new visa ( I was afraid they just send me away so it wasn't their problem anymore so I rally want to make sure I didn't go to Jinghong for the cat his cunt hahaha )

That night I stayed at the border but woke up several times.
At 1 o clock I went out of bed to see if the border was guarded.
I walked to the gate and two gurads came immediately to me, no way to sneek out ...

Next day I took a bus to Jinghong, which is a nice city by the way.
After insane troubles at my hotel ( I had to pay immediately for my room, had no cash so i told them I had to go to the bank but this very unpleasant woman wouldn't give me my room key before I paid her !!!. I said, look, I am going to the bank right now BUT I WANT TO LOCK MY ROOM ! But she didn't ( want ) to listen ...)
Okay, after this nice problem I had another one, I went to the bank but the stupid machine refused my card, tried 6 banks but without luck...AHHHHH !!!!

I went for dinner with my last money ( I finally got my room key leaving my passport behind ), sat very sad at my table, waiting for my food. All negative thoughts ran through my mind, I was not happy at all.
And then God send me his sheppard, okay a guy from germany then.
He walked to my table and asked how I was doing.
' Bad, very bad I told him the truth and told him my whole story.
'Look' he said, ' maybe I can help you, I can talk fluent chinese, I live here for 15 years.
So we discussed a new strategy, just play open card with police here.
He said many times a fine can be discussed. Just show them all your papers, including my tibetan visa and play stupid ( which was my idea ;-)
I can come with you tomorrow, what do you say ?
I told him I was verry happy with that and we agreed to meet at 0900 hours next morning in front of the police station.

So we did.

3 hours later, 200 euro shorter but with a new 7 days valid chinese visa we left the station ... They only fined me for 4 days instead of 24 days ( 50 euro per day you have to know and I KNEW IT BEFORE I LEFT HOLLAND )
I thanked my german friend a thousand times, now I could cycle out of china, something that was in my mind for the last 2 or 3 months, finally it was possible !

Jesus, I never do it again like this but I can also say that I am one of the few who travelled from Kathmandu to Lhasa and then cycled ( most of the way ) to Laos !!!

So tomorrow I will take a bus back to the border, chasing Marco and Lisette, two dutch friends of me who are I think 2 days ahead of me know. They also go to Laos, Luang Prabang.
Ahhh, Luang Prabang, finally I can visit you again. I was here 3 years ago and I loved this place !

So, very, very happy I am again that I can cycle on, to new countries, with only valid visas from now on hahaha.

Greetings

Hi Lars,

Welk visum was nu verlopen? Het Tibetaans of Chinees visum?

Veel fietsplezier in Laos,

[lars de wit]

Hai ralph, het tibetaanse was verlopen, het chinese met een mooi onleesbare rode stempel gecancelled...

Saibadee !

Leaving China with mixed feelings, a) because the people were very nice, friendly. Not that interested and not acting like they never saw a white person before, resulting in staring with open mound at you for hours ( like in pakistan ) and b) very happy because after months of strugling with my visa problem it was finally solved and I could cycle into Laos, yahoo !!!!

And so I did, later we found out that Marco and Lisette were at the same border maybe half an hour or even less then me !

In three quite heavy days I cycled to Louang Prabang through jungle covered mountains although I thought not that much as a few years ago when I was here. I saw many farmland as well but one day I was eating noodle soup, what else and speaking to an agricultural teacher and I brought this up, that I thought there was less jungle but he assured me that no trees were cut to create more farmland.

When I arrived in Louang Prabang I looked for a nice guesthouse, found one ( 3 $ ), took a shower, walked 50 meters to the mekong river, bought a big bottle of Lao beer and sat on exactly the same spot as 3 years ago. On this little wall, 20 meters above the river, watching the mountains, the boats on the river and sunset, great !
That evening I walked the streets and suddenly heard : ' meneer de wit ! ' en ja hoor, Marco en Lisette ! What a surprise, I thought they were a few days ahead of me and so allready gone. We had a nice evening, drinking beer and having dinner.

Today they left and so will I, tomorrow I am on the slow boat upriver to Pak Beng where we have to spend the night and the next day I do not yet know what I shall do, another day on the boat to the border of Thailand or cycle to the border.
A new country to cycle, exciting !
And maybe I will meet a dozen of ' wereldfietsers ' in Chiang Mai, Bert Sitters is ' leading ' a group, they will cycle from Chiang mai to Nong kai. Problem is that I will be in Chaing Mai maybe more than a week before they are and I do not know if I want to wait, lets see what happens !

Greetings ( still have to learn it in laos ... )

[johntelleman]

Ha die Lars,

Mooi avonturen!
Als je week te vroeg ben kan je ook een week vakantie nemen!
Dat zal je nodig hebben als je met die ploeg wilt rijden!

Ben je al over de helft???

Groeten, John.

[lars de wit]

Hey John !

En Gudy natuurlijk hihi.
Ik denk dat ik weer met een sneltreinvaart door Thailand moet...
Wrom ?
Lees je hieronder wel
Jammer dat ik waarschijnlijk de groep niet kan ontmoeten, heel misschien wel als ik een nieuw visum in Chiang Mai kan bemachtigen...ach, zo blijft het wel spannend he hahaha.
Ga in ieder geval niet meer dezelfde fratsen uithalen als in China, misschien 1 of 2 daagjes overstayen maar niet meer !

Okay, in het engels nu dan maar ....

Saibadee !

The two day boat trip from Luang Prabang to Huy Xai ( at thai border ) was great !
Very relaxed, a lot to see and photograph and to rest / sleep.
The boat was filled with only 7 gringos on day one, the second day only three so we had had almost all the boat for ourselves !

Next day with a little boat to Thai border where I thought I could get a 60 day visa ...
No way !
Only ( free ) 30 day visa's at border, tha 60 day visa only available at a Thai embassy, the nearest someting of 600 km away, no option ...
So a 30 day visa I have ...
Heard / read I can extend this one for 7 / 10 or maybe 15 days, I hope so !
Because I want to lay on a nice beach in Phuket for a couple of days.
Also wanted to meet the dutch group of ' wereldfietsers ' but that's probably not going to happen, the 8 days I had to wait I do not have ...
Maybe, maybe I can get a new ( 60 day )visa in Chiang Mai, anybody knows ???

For now I am enjoing Thailand very much, start is good !
Also is the food, beer and the people, the weather and the nature, the horizon and the roads ...
Yeah, having fun !
All the best, see ya !!!

[lars de wit]

Saibadee !

Leaving Chiang Rai in full sunshine, an easy road southwards.
That was something different the other day, after having my tent eaten by ants camping on top of this hill just above an ants nest ...
Over 20 little hills I have to repair one of these days.
That day ...
The second day was one of the hardest of this trip sofar ...
It started when I had a marveless breakfast in my tent with coffee, white, fresh bread, bananas and ' hagelslag ' , climbed on my bike to face this mountain just in front of me.
The road climbed with 10 %, good to wake up huh !
But when it was 15 % , 20 % and even 26 % the fun was over ...
I never had to walk on an asphalt road ever before but here in Thailand I had to, so steep was the road !
I sweated and cursed myself uphill, jesus how tough !
Every 50 meters I had to wipe the sweat out of my eyes, the salt burning.
It only lasted for 23 km and took me 3 hours before I reached Phrao were I turned south.
After spending a nice night in a banana plantage I cycled onother hill but not that steep and or long, after that came the ' reward ' ...
A more than nice road, flat, the very soft wind in the back, the sun shining and people laughing and waving at me. Riding on this narrow road lined with trees so most of the time I rode in shadow. Lookin left I saw this ver beautifull Wat, a Thai temple. They are so nice to see !
So yeah, it was one of those days, feeling immense happy, me riding this great road on this great day ! Many times sticking the fist in the air and shouting happy as a child, Yahoo !!!

Here in Chaing Mai I got a mail from 2 dutch cyclists, Rob and Lucie with the great tip for my little second visa problem. I have to cycle to Ranong, 3/4 south of Thailand, its on my way, there take a little boat to Myanmar, get a stamp in my passport, take boat back and get another 30 day free thia visa !!!
I was and still am so happy with this !
Ranong is like 1500 km from here so unluckily I cannot wait on my friends from Holland.
Have to be in Ranong before the 18 th of november ...

Good thing is that I can relax on a nice beach somewhere I like it, take a nice picture of the most beautifull palmtree in Thailand and last but not least, lie under it with a nice cold drink , I hope served by a beautifull thai lady

Sounds good huh ?!?

All of you in Holland, all the best with cold weather, my thoughts are with you hi hi

Lars

[Marco Meijerink]

Hoi Lars!
Ok....probeer ons nu nog maar eens in te halen ......
Heel erg leuk dat we je zijn tegen gekomen in Dali en in Luang Prabang. Kees mailde ons een foto van onze ontmoeting in Dali.
Heb die even op je topic gezet....wellicht leuk om onderweg te bekijken.

Groetjes,
Marco en Lisette

[lars de wit]

Hey Marco and Lisette !

Haha nee bedankt, blijf liever hier !
Jullie veilig weer thuis ?
Tot volgend jaar dan maar weer he !

Saibadee !

Last one and a half week was almost holiday !
So easy cycling, flat roads most of the time, almost no wind or in the back !

The thais are competing with the turks and the iraniers ...
Chasing me by car or motorcycle, stop me and than give me or a cold can of coke, a bottle of water, one time 2 kilo of bananas of which I gave half away after 500 meters, too heavy !

It is very relaxed to cycle here, food stalls everywhere, 7 eleven supermarkets also.
Now they have bread !
Real bread, mjammie !
And I bought ' hagelslag ' and jam and peanutbutter and milk !
What a pleasure after months of noodle soup for breakfast

I visited Sukhotai, an ancient city with many ruins, very nice !
From there to Kanchanaburi where I am typing this.
Here is The bridge over the river Kwai, I was lucky, just when I took a picture the orient express, from Bangkok to Singapore , crossed the bridge !
Kanchanaburi is the town I like most sofar, my guesthouse overlooking the river.
There is a grass field with palmtrees, nice chairs and hammocks ( hangmatten ) , a little paradise !
From here I will cycle to Erawan National Park, according to my Lonely Planet one of the most beautifull of Thailand. And I think they might be right, the last day cycling to Kanchanaburi I saw these nice shaped mountains from far away, looking promissing !

And then I will cycle further south, on my way to Ranong and Phuket.
I hope I will find many campsites on beaches, under palmtrees !
Then every morning I will see sunrise above the ocean ...
Only cycled 13000 km sofar through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet and China, Laos and now Thailand.
So maybe over the first half, which I do not like that much hahaha.
I mean, I wish I was only 1/10 of my whole trip right now, such a good time I am having !
Yeah, Thailand is a country to return to, its great !
Temp is also good, around 30 degrees.
Hope the weather in Holland is good also

Greetings

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

What happened last week ?
Well, not much, visited Erawan N.P. where an beautifull waterfall is, great mountains also !
Day after stroked some tigers in the Tiger Temple !
Yeah, you could really touch them, how nice it was !
The tigers in this park were brought here by locals who found them when they were young, their mother killed by poachers. This monk just raised them so the tigers were very used to humans. It was also possible to get on a foto with a tigers head in your lap, but that costed 20 euro so I skipped that. But it was great walking among these amazing animals. They were hooked to the ground bu a 2 meter long chain so they couldn't run away but it still was great ! Probably the only place on the world where you can do this !

From this Tiger Temple I cycled in 2 long days 248 km to Hua Hin at the coast, where I am now. It is a little cloudy so no swimming, yet. Beach isn't very pretty also so the swimming and cocktails drinking under palmtrees have to wait.
Further south it is supposed to get more and more beautifull !
Look forward to visit some nice islands, one of them Ko Phi Phi Leh I think is the island where the film ' The Beach ' was filmed...
And I am going there !!!!
Great huh !

But now I am going back to my guesthouse which is located on a pier above the ocean, the waves rolling beneath my bed, yeah, Thailand isn't that bad !

Oh, op veler verzoek maar een keer een fotootje, genomen door een rotterdammer, Fer, bij de bridge over the river kwai. Hij is handiger dan ik met fotootjes op de computer zetten

Adios amigos, haste luego !

[lars de wit]

Sabaaidee khap !

That night I camped on the beach, under palmtrees and a million stars !
The days are long, each one over 100 km but I just cannot stop cycling, so easy it is.
Strong wind in the back and almost all the time flat roads and the scenery so nice ...
Before 1700 hours I buy myself a big bottle of beer and start looking for a place to camp which is so easy here. On a deserted deach or next to some houses, everything is possible here in great Thailand. When I camp next to some houses the people leave you alone, they do not even come to see me. Perfect safe and fine.
And is so good after a long hot day on the road to jump into the ocean !
And what about after this nice swim just to sit on the beach, watching sunset with a big bottle of cold beer in one hand, peanuts in the other ? Sometimes I think life couldn't be better.
There hasn't be a single day that nobody raised their thumb for me, out of a window of a car or from a motorcycle. Sometimes they stop and give me a drink, the thai are so nice !
So I drove very happy in 4 days the 460 km from Hua Hin to Ranong where I am now.

Today I set food on Myanmar !
30 minutes with a small boat brought me here, bying a one day visa for 10 $ and then I returned to Thailand to get another ( free ) 30 days here.
The boattrip was very nice, the aproximately 7 km of water filled with boats, travelling to and from Myanmar.

So, what are my furter plans ?
Well, cycling ofcourse to Phuket, camping on some of the nicest beaches and having fun, lots of fun !

Hope you have fun too !

Greetings from a lovely Thailand, one of my favorites sofar ...