Thailand  -  Bangkok  vs.  Koh Mak

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.  –  Ernest Hemingway

Bangkok was a milestone on this journey and to dive in the city with your own motorcycle was somehow special. The traffic is not very much relaxing though but you wouldn’t expect a laid back atmosphere in a metropolis of 8 million people, would you?

I had to organize a whole lot of things here. First I had to find someone who could weld aluminum and who would help me to stiffen my panniers. My Touratech boxes needed some kind of revision. Considering the price level of those panniers, I would have expected a much higher quality in the upper frame of the cases … but “expectations” were little helpful when being in Bangkok. However, I still believe Touratech should have a critical look at the manufacturing process. There is room for improvement …

The bike spent the first two days with Dynamic Motors. The small workshop is a good place if you are looking for someone in Bangkok with enough experience to work on big bikes. Yut, the owner organized my new tires and took care of a few smaller jobs that needed to be done. The pannier in my right hand, I was cruising with a mechanic on a scooter through the streets of Bangkok, looking for the guy who could weld aluminum. After the frame was fixed we riveted a thin steel plate to the backside of the right case in order to increase its stability. When the job was done, I went to BMW for the 30,000 kilometers inspection.

The BMW dealer BKK Motorcycle was about ten kilometers away but it took me 1.5 hours to get there. Slow moving traffic and 34 degrees let the air-cooled boxer constantly run on the upper limit of the allowed temperature range. I turned the bike off as often as possible in order to prevent the engine from overheating. Besides the service at BMW, I also had to replace a broken brake lever and after a long time, my GS finally received a decent wash. If I am not mistaken, the last time the bike saw some kind of a car wash was in Hanoi. Anyway, the bike looked like a shiny beauty queen when I picked it up the next day.

The plan was to go from Bangkok to Koh Mak, a small little island near the Cambodian border. But before I could leave Bangkok, I still had to trigger the biggest logistic transaction of the trip. I had to find someone who could help me shipping the bike from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Although Myanmar (Burma) slowly opens its border to foreigners, it was still not possible to cross the country independently with your own vehicle. Hence, I couldn’t travel overland to Nepal or India. This wasn’t a big surprise. It just meant I had to follow the original plan which required to fly the bike to Kathmandu.

THAI Airways operates daily between Bangkok and Kathmandu, but the airline expected me to work together with a local carrier, who was supposed to take care of all the necessary paperwork and would ensure compliance with the required conditions. This carrier needs first to be found. Besides, I had to tailor a really big package. I decided to work with P.T. Air Cargo. The company was already experienced with shipping motorcycles around. It was a good choice as our collaboration turned out to be very professional. Even the guys who later built the crate, made a good impression. It was obviously not the first time that they carpentered a box around a motorcycle.

After I had made the necessary arrangements in Bangkok and fixed a potential “shipment date” on the calendar, I went to Koh Mak. The island is pretty much laid back and since the wet season wasn’t over yet it was even more relaxed and peaceful. Originally, I intended to take the bike to the island and according to local skippers, there was a boat that could transport a big motorcycle to Koh Mak. However, when I showed up on the pier and I saw the boat, it took me seconds to realize that I would not even give it a try to get my GS on that barge. The crew on the other hand, didn’t see any problem … Well, maybe you can bring a moped this way on a hooker. I suppose you can balance a scooter with one hand. But my bike would probably not have survived this juggling act. Let alone that I had no idea how to get 260 kg on a small ramp, which practically began in the air. Not to mention, it was totally unclear how to get the motorcycle back on the mainland … the artist must first be born who can push a 1200 GS uphill a narrow ramp …

After a few days on the island I met Parker and his wife Judy. Parker lived and worked for several years in China and both took a short break to enjoy the beauty of a tropical island. The time we spent together was a welcome change on Koh Mak. When Parker learned that I was traveling by motorcycle, he told me that some years back he had a motorcycle accident in Taiwan where his left leg was literally smashed by a car. He spent the following three years on crutches. The many scars on his slighter shortly leg tell their own story. Knowing how insane and little predictable the traffic in Asia can be at times, I can not say that such stories leave me without any affect …

While Judy attended a private cooking class, the boys went playing outside ;-). Parker and I took the chance and rented a canoe on the sunny afternoon to paddle to another small surrounding island. Just before we placed the boat into the water, I decided to leave my backpack with the camera behind. Good idea. We capsized twice and fished all our stuff out of the water. On one of the islands we found a coconut at the beach and tried to peel it with the help of rocks and sharp stones. Boy, that costs a lot of trouble. You can slam those nuts on the rocks and they just laugh at you. Those things are really stubborn. However, with enough patience we managed to crack the coconut open and enjoyed the fresh juice in its originality and in front of a truly tropical scenery. That was well worth the effort.

A few days later I went back to Bangkok. Saturday morning I met up with Ratchaneewan from P.T. Air Cargo and together we drove to a warehouse where a few guys were waiting for me to build the box for the bike. To reduce the volume I disassembled the front wheel, the mirrors, the windscreen and pulled the bike deep down in the springs. Two hours later, the BMW was packed and I was ready for the last big chapter of my journey: Nepal and India. As much as I had enjoyed my time in Southeast Asia despite the rainy season, by now I was very much looking forward to the gigantic mountains of Nepal and the Himalayas, certainly a unique “playground” …

Flight TG 319 from Bangkok to Kathmandu had Tuesday morning some special cargo on board. While I took my seat in the passenger cabin, the bike rested on the lower deck. Before departure I asked the steward to check the cargo list to make sure my “package” was actually on board. He gave me the green light. If everything went smoothly, then the streets of Kathmandu would listen to the sound of 1200 GS in the evening …

Stay tuned !

.