6th Jan, bangkok. 1646.3km.

Banrai coffee shop. the meeting place for the visa run. lots of ang mohs, and a few asians here and there doing the visa run. i was prob the only stupid singaporean around to cross from land and doing a visa run. all other logical singaporeans would fly to thailand.

gotta take a photo of my first trip to cambodia =D

you can see very clearly the poverty of cambodia jus from the roads once out of the border. paved on 1 side, and dirt track on the other.

technically, i can jus stay in thailand and let this man handle all my immigration stuff and get my cambodia stamp and all without even leaving thailand.

 came back from the visa run pretty late around 7pm or so. it was already dark when i came back so i jus cycled around and tried to find a nice plac, though had more ppl rejecting me this time. normally in the smaller towns, villages, i jus ask once or twice and get approval alr. in bangkok, everybody seems afraid of thieves and didnt want me to sleep there. finally managed to get a petrol kiosk after asking a few ppl.

saw this coffee shop along the road with alot of ppl at around 2pm or so. gotta be really good for it to be so crowded at such a time i guess.

the chili went reallly well with the fried stuff. had a tinge of lemon in it and it was spicy and sour. had a few other herbs in it but couldnt tell wat it was.

this bowl of thing was so good that i ordered 2 of this. + noodles. + another extra bowl of soup cause it was pretty yummy =P

saw lots of this tiny balls of diff colour along the road. but it was so bloody big that i couldnt possibly buy it to try. not even sure if it is food though i think it probably is.

5th Jan,Hua Hin. 1624.1km. Shit, GG. my Thai visa expires today!

the roasted roasted bananas looks like a really good mid-day afternoon snack =P

they serve it with this syrup that was a little sweet. the bananas didnt taste as good as i had expected it to be though. wasnt as creamy and melt-in-your-mouth as i had envisioned.

my host in Hua Hin, gary. really nice guy but sadly i didnt get the chance to take a photo with him. ps:gary, if you are reading this, i enjoyed the stay at your home and you are a great host. sorry though for not being able to say a proper farewell! =D

lots of bananas done in different styles. orange sauce, bbq style, yellow sauce, mashed up, wrapped in leaves...

gg... had this massage done by a blind man to relax. supposedely this(blind massage) is a Kings' project. was pretty good actually although it doesnt seem so.

cheap and nice quail eggs for pri sch kids. it was parked outside a pri sch around late afternoon and kids would rush there to buy a few eggs and eat it with sesame oil and a dash of pepper.

my fav porridge item, pork porridge with fried you tiao!

a creamy snack that prob had coconut in it. pretty sweet but it was great.

the time of revelation...

 while visiting this temple, i suddenly had the urge to take out my passport and have a look at it. i was looking at my passport pages when suddenly i realised that i am supposed to leave thailand by today! oh shit! guess i cant do much now anyway, so i shall jus enjoy everything while i still can. shall see how it goes later on bah.

another delicious meal... in the temple!

went back after that to check it out on the internet and turns out that singaporeans who enter thailand by plane are allowed to stay up to 30days. BUT, if they enter by land borders, they only can stay up to 15 days! strange, how come i didnt manage to read about this fine detail when i was back home. and the worst thing was that i didnt check my passport at the border when i entered thailand because i was pretty sure that i could stay for up to 30days... Plus, anyone who overstays will be fined 500baht/day. which is insane for me!

did some brainstorming and came up with a few plans.
A) wake up really early tml morning and cycle 200+km to bangkok, sleep there for a night, and do a visa run the next day which would cost 650baht(the cheapest one). prob had to pay an overstay fine of 500baht as well.
B) Wake up really early tml morning and take a bus to bangkok for 450baht. its a 4 hr trip so once there, do a visa run but this time, it will have to be 1000 baht( the cheaper one leaves bangkok earlier and i cant reach there in time). might have to pay a 500baht fine but i read on the internet that they sometimes waiver this fee if it is within 24hrs.
C) heck care the overstay, and jus continue on my original plans and cycle to bangkok slowly and visit the floating markets along the way. prob have to pay a lot of money for overstay charges.

ps, btw i decided on option B.

Moral of the story, Murphy is bloody smart to come up with his law.
"Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

3rd jan, 1516.2km

 

another majestic looking temple atop the mountain.

the view of the sea and the surrounding land was spectacular...

=D

finally, first sign of Bangkok. getting closer...

saw a sign that points to myanmar.

decided to try my luck and head to the border and see if i can sneak into myanmar. hopefully i succeed hehe

the quiet border checkpoint with only 2 security guards sitting/sleeping at the center.

felt like peeing so went to find the toilet. chose the urinal with the most bugs inside and decided to pee on all of them.

bad choice... the urinal was spoilt!

moral of the story. dun ever piss on bugs even if it sounds fun.

sian the 2 guards didnt allow me into myanmar. guess i have to head back. cycled about 30+km in vain...

monkey mountain

with at least 300-500 monekeys on that tiny hill. i m not kidding, there are that many monkeys around.

 

yet another majestic temple perched on top of the mountain. wonder wats the fascination with mountain temples.

1st Jan 2011, 1292km

arrived in Chumpon, which was a very popular stop for ppl going to the beaches of southern thailand. lots of cheap guesthouses around and lively night markets.

some really delicious bak kut teh with string mushroom(no idea the name), beancurd skin, mushrooms. too bad the soup was abit too sweet for me though...

dim sum the thai way. you choose watever you want and they steam it for u.

this really weird shower head that sprays water at everywhere except where you point it at. so you point it at your face to wash your shoulders, and you legs if you wanna wash your ass. i am not kidding you. heres a photo in case you think its a scam. it sprays water in all directions except where you want it to. looks like i could be a designer for shower heads as well =P

set up tent in this nice little wooden hut with a lake by the side.

a morning market set up shop behind my tent while i was sleeping. woke me out from my slumber...

the father-son duo who invited me into their home to shower and gave me bananas (yes, again. think i prob got 4 or 5 bunches of bananas in thailand so far).

had 10 of this bbq pork fats (literally fats) for breakfast

plus this pudding

plus a dozen of this. + bananas and 3 bread =D

 along the way, i saw alot of signboards for this temple that was about 20 or 30km away. a temple with signboards so far away mus prob be pretty huge or significant so i decided to visit the temple. bad decision... its freaking far... and high up a mountain. i think its prob 20km or so away from my main route and i was cycling against the wind along the beach which was really tiring.

managed to jump but exposure was too little

failed... i give up.

the temple that i had veered off course to have a look at.

freee lunch at the temple!

and delicious snacks!

you wun believe this but the first time i eat seafood in thailand is in this temple! it had crab bee hoon?! and fried fish!

i was too lazy to cycle back to the main route so i decided to hitch a ride atop some dude's lorry.

pretty fun to sit on the back of a lorry while travelling at 100km/hr hehe