Cycle Tour Day 1 - 75km, average 25km/h, showers and storms in the afternoon. Great early brekky in the motel followed by an 8am briefing by our Tour Leader, Bouen, who looked after the tour most of us were on in 2012 (Bangkok to Saigon). It was then onto the bus for a transfer out of this bustling city of 11 million people. Riding a bike in Bangkok would be close to suicidal. Stopped at Saraburi, about 2 hours out, where we were issued our bikes, brand new strai...

Noy had ordered her taxi-man for 7am so we got up early for brekky and coffee. It was so sad to leave their lovely house and garden. David and Noy had made us feel so at home. It was also nice to meet Noy's sons even for a fleeting visit on the way to their new term at boarding school. We really missed our early morning bike ride with Dave. He showed us his interesting area with its contrast between absolute poverty and absolute wealth. Like most of Asia, apart f...

Nice sleep in till 5am (finally kicked the jet-lag) then on the bike for about a 15km local ride. Called into a temple, a golf driving range, a building site (OH&S nightmare) and just a whole lot of interesting local stuff in the back streets. It was straight into the spar when we got home and after some brekky we headed out with tour guide Dave to explore the local sights. Pattaya marina was first where we all picked our favourite 60ft $100mil yacht. Dream o...

Awake at 3am again but as I went to bed at 8:30am it didn't matter. So just read, organized my gear, did my morning exercises and then joined Dave and Noy for coffee at 5am. It was then on the bikes and down to Pattaya Beach to buy some fresh prawns direct from the fishermen. A$20 a kg but huge freshly caught. Back home and into the spar to cool off. Brekky of fresh fruit, coffee, rbacon and eggs followed. We then drove to the Nong Nooch Village Thai Cultural &am...

Once Phil had risen the 3 boys jumped on the bicycles and did a great ride around the local area. It was then into the spar with a cool drink. After a nice brekky of fresh fruit and cereal we went for a drive to check out Pattaya. It's the Gold Coast of Thailand, without the surf. A busy and interesting place. Lots of stalls, hawkers and bar girls but no one approached us to sell anything unless you asked them. Phil and Dave bought some shirts. We then drove to a...