Unboxing & Re-fitting

Friday 18th December

 

----

 

In Bangkok I had 5 willing Thai helpers to hold the bike when I took the front wheel off & then gently lower it to the ground. No possibility of that here, so needed a solo approach. Hmmm...

 

I decided to try & make use lf the center stand and so cut away the parts of the pallet that prevented it from lowering. I then cut the retaining straps and had a go lifting it onto the stand.

No joy - as it was sloping forwards, it meant lifting the entire engine weight upwards before it would pivot over onto the stand. As that was probably in excess of 100kg & I'd only had one weetabix for breakfast, ut didnt work.

 

So i set about cutting the plank that was supporting the back wheel, which duly dropped a few inches, oved the centre of gravity over a enough to allow the bike to be humphed onto the centre stand. The back lart ofthe pallet could then be cut away.

Re-fitting the panniers added enough weight to the back to lift the front end off up so that I could put the front wheel back on - success!

 

All that remained was to fit the brake calipers, mirrors, screen and make a few adjustments.

 

 

and there she is ... all ready for Xmas deliveries!

---

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everybody!

 

---

 

 

Return of the Tiger

Thursday 17th December - All's well that ends well.

-----

After a worrying 4 days the crate containing my bike was finally located lurking around southampton docks.  A further day spent in customs & then its was released for collection.

No-one in the logistics chain seemed able to explain what had happened, but it was found in a completely different container from the one it was alegedly loaded into.

They also neglected to say, and couldnt explain when & where the crate had been damaged, even though someone had clearly put a 'damaged' sticker on it & taken the trouble to shirnkwrap around the broken crate side.

Anyway, loaded up on a friend's trailer, the Tiger was finally heading home & 4 hours later she arrived.

 A bit of humping & heaving & the crate was in the garage.  Time to rip off the damaged sides & have a quick inspection.

 Everything seemed to be where I had left it and there was only minor damage to the spare fuel holders from whatever had crushed the crate.

Tomorrow I will start unpacking properly and figure out how to get the front wheel back on.

Relaxed now & time for a celebratory drink.

:-)

Anyone seen a Tiger?

Saturday 12th December - Trying not to Panic!

-----

After watching my Tiger being carefully packed into a wooden crate, I set off for the airport & 22 hours later was sat at home in the UK breathing cool fresh air & having a cup of tea.

That was about 6 weeks ago. Since then I've been twiddling my thumbs (well apart from some work, DIY, family outings & Xmas shopping) and waiting for the bike to arrive.

Excitement mounted a week ago, when I received a communication that the ship was due to dock shortly, detailing the container number, a website to track progress .... and a bill for £280 port handling fees :-(

The Tiger was apparently in a container on the NYK Helios just entering the English Channel, having transhipped from a regional boat in Singapore.

I checked the status update website each day until eventually I saw that the ship was finally in dock.

Following off loading, 'my' container was then destined to be moved to a handling wahehouse, unpacked and the various items customs cleared. My bike would then be available for collection, all being well.

Unfortunately, all was not well!!

The container was unloaded on schedule & moved to the clearance warehouse for unpacking, or devanning as it is apparently known.  However, that evening, I received an email from the handling agents to say that, 

'upon devanning it was found that the cargo in the container did not match the manifest'

... my crate was not there, even though the paperwork said it was ...WTF!  No explanation was given or further information available, an investigation was promised after the weekend.

So at the time of writing, the Tiger is missing!

 Fingers crossed they find her soon.

:-(

Shipping the Tiger

Thursday 22nd October

Shipping the Tiger

------

My last task before heading home was to take the bike for packing.   So I loaded up for the last time this trip & set off for the shipping warehouse.

Once at the packing agents, they started to build a crate around my bike, beginning with the base.

I rode the Tiger into this and then proceeded to remove the front wheel so that the bike would sit lower and take up less space - shipping is paid for by the cubic metre rather than weight.

Four Thai lads kindly lifted the front of the bike so I could remove the wheel and then lowered it to the floor.   I did wonder for a moment how I was going to reverse this process once home, willing Thai helpers tend to be quite rare in the UK!

Wheel, panniers, screen & mirrors removed and stashed, they then proceded to stretch wrap the entire package, almost including this little chap.

Next step was to build sides for the crate ....

..... strengthening supports 

... and finally the top itself 

And that was it, its off to the airport for me. 

Next time I see the Tiger will be in about 6-7 weeks time when it will be about 30 degrees cooler and most probably raining. Ah well all good things ....

Old friends & an anniversary

Wednesday 21st October

Britbike & a 10th anniversary celebration

---

After a few days winding down at my friend's house, it was almost time to ship the bike & fly home. Two more visits to make first though.

The first was to Britbike Triumph in Bangkok. 

When I moved from Indonesia to start working in Thailand in 2005, there were no Triumph's around.  Britbike set up as the first Triumph dealership in 2007 and I bought my Triumph Bonneville from them in early 2010. 

At that time all the bikes had to be 'imported' even though some were made at the Triumph factory in Chonburi near Pattaya, as the factory had been set up as an export only operation.   The net result was all bikes attracted import duty, which at +100% made them very premuim indeed.

So when I started riding a Triumph in Thailand (I had previously had one in the UK in 2002) I was part of a relatively exclusive club of less than 180 bikes in the whole country.  At that time big bikes of any kind were still quite rare.

They are a great team at Britbike and have since expanded to 7 dealerships around the country and Triumph is becoming much more visible as a brand.

I popped into the showroom to say hi and of course grab a photo.

Next stop was a return to the factory that I had visited the previous week, as one of my finish lines. 

PZ Cussons factory in Thailand manufactures, amongst other things, all of the Imperial Leather soap sold in the UK, Australia & many other countries.  I was responsible for building the new export factory in 2005 and ran the operation for several years until I moved on to work in Africa.

So 2015 marked the 10th anniversary and I was invited to join the celebrations.

The Thai's have a wonderful way of combining formality with fun at these sort of occasions ....

The factory had been closed for the day so all staff (about 300 people) could attend.   The day started early at 0730am with 7 local monks performing a religious ceremony and chanting for about 90 minutes, during which we had to sit cross-legged on the tiled floor in quiet contemplation. 

Suddenly the Tiger's seat seemed so luxurious!

 

Once that was done we served the monks with their breakfast.

Finally there was more chanting & the water pouring ceremony. 

A silver ceremonial jug is used to pour a continuous stream of water into a similarly styled bowl, whilst the monks are chanting.   All those present have to touch the jug or touch someone who is holding the jug throughout and the stream should be continuous.    I have done this quite a few times over the years and always found it quite a touching ceremony, for some reason.

Religous formalities complete, there was time to catch up with some old friends & colleagues.

.... and then we moved outside onto a stage that had been set up for speeches

Who gave this man a microphone?, they really should hve learned by now!

Speeches & formal ceremonies over, this being Thailand, there was of course food, music & dancing girls.    Sorry no photos, I was too busy eating, chatting & watching!

As the event came to a close, I was asked to ride my bike up to the stage area, which of course presented a photo opportunity, which many people for some reason wanted to take part in.

Here is a short selection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fame at last!

Thailand sure is a lovely place for making you feel special!

 A great day and a great end to my trip - thanks to all at PZ Cussons Thailand for letting me join your celebrations.

---

The last day & 2 finishing lines

Day 77 .... Friday 16th October .... 102 km (22678 km total)

 

Staffordshire to Bangkok, 17 countries, 77 days, 22678km - Job Done!

:-)

- - - -

So it's the last day of my journey, a strange feeling pervaded as I packed the bike up for the last time.

For over 70 days my routine had been shower, breakfast, pack the bike, ride all day, stop in the evening, unpack the bike, shower, eat, sleep & repeat. My daily rhythm was all about to change,

I had set out in August, in part, to break out of my 'comfort zone', but the journy itself had become its own 'comfort zone'. There is something to be learned there about managing change, maybe I will write something later.

I had planned two finish lines for today, the first was the factory I set up & ran for a number of years in Pathumthani, the second, a good friends house in the village where I lived with my family.

I also planned to visit a freight forwarding company to arrange shipping the bike back to the UK, which was placed conveniently half way between the other two.

Ayuthya to Pathumthani is only about an hour, so it was a more leisurely start than normal so that I could arrive during their lunch break.

As I pulled into the factory yard, I thought I recognised a smiling face staring back at me from a banner on the wall opposite!

Nice touch - thanks everyone at PZCTH!

More photos in front of the main building & then I went for tasty lunch by the river with the management team.

Next stop was the logistics company to finilise arrangements for shipping my bike next week.

I have been talking to a number of companies over the past few weeks and was hoping to get the bike air freighted so that I could arrive at the same time and then ride it home. But it was just proving too complicated and costly - almost double the cost of sea freight.

Incidentaly for anyone who is interested, this seems to be a Bangkok issue, as if I had been in KL I could have air freighted to the UK for almost the same cost as sea freight. The problem for me was this would add a few more days travel time & cost to the journey (to get to KL) plus they insisted in having a Carnet before shipping, which would have cost me an additional £700 to get from the RAC in the UK. Thailand does not require Carnet's but has much higher prices - go figure!

Anyway I had chosen to go with the freight forwarding company who had been consistently most interested and helpful throughout my protracted discussions, but just wanted to see them in the flesh so to speak.

The pretty staff there of course wanted a picture with me and the bike, or was it the other way around?

On the way to my final destination, I decided to stop for a photo outside the gates of the excellent school that my two youngest kids spent their teenage years at whilst we were living in Thailand.

The security guard recognised me and kept trying to get me to go through the school gates & into the car park, 'why is this crazy farang taking photos in front of the school entrance?'

And then it was just a few hundred metres down the road to the village that we used to live in.

... And to the gates of the hosue where our good friends live, where another surprise was awaiting

and the Tiger was ushered in to be suitably decorated for a photo ...

Along with his somewhat weary owner.

After 77 days and 22678 km in the saddle, it was definately beer'oclock

So of course on this occasion there was only one approriate beer to start the evening with...

Tiger!

Cheers!!

:-)

The biggest journey i have ever undertaken is now complete!

For those of you who have enjoyed following the trip, the blog is not quite finished yet.

I will be covering the shipping process and arrival in the UK (in 7 weeks time). I also intend to write something about my thoughts & reflections as I slowly process everything I have seen & experienced over the past 2.5 months, including comments on equipment etc, so keep an eye out for that.

Finally for today though....

A very big thank you to all who have donated to ShelterBox.

If anyone still wants to, my JustGiving page will stay active for some time, or if you prefer to use another method, email or message me and we can work something out.

.........

Thank you all for listening

.........

 

 

 

Kanchanaburi and Ayuthya

Day 75 & 76..... Wed 14th & Thurs 15th October .... 734 km (22576 km total)

 

A flood, classic sights, big statues, ancient ruins & elephants.

- - - -

I set off down the main highway from Kamphaeng Phet heading for Kanchanaburi. A flat straight road, good for covering distance but not much else.

Shortly before Nakhon Sawan, I turned right to take a short cut (through the small roads villages). Still flat but more interesting riding, particularly when I came upon this town, where it appeared to have been raining heavily.

 

A mile further down the road and things were more serious, this was definately a flood in progress. This picture shows a bridge over the canal, the level of which which would nornally be a metere or two below the road - it was flowing across the top!

 

I debated turning back, but hey, this is an adventure!

Plus, I do actually have some prior experience of riding in floods .....

This is me in the Bangkok floods in 2011, when we had ro evacuate our house

OK, so a mountain bike is a bit easier to pick up if you drop it in the water than my Tiger, but hopefully this flood won't be as deep.

But as I turned the corner, I felt my boots filling with dirty canal water, as it got deeper, 'oh bugger!' - thats going to smell tomorrow.

Also, where is everyone? ... It was getting spooky!

Apart from staying upright & not riding down a drain, one of the things you have to be very careful with is debris floating or sunk in the water. A stick or bottle caught in the chain or spokes can easily throw you off. So I had to constantly scan the water for anything floating around.

A couple more streets and I was back out of the village and on the main road, not much better here through ...

... And quite tricky when somethings coming the other way, their wash knocks the bike sideways.

The fun continued for another 10km, only really stopping when I came to the actual river & crossed over. The other side was bone dry.

After that I stuck to the main (&dry roads) to pick up time & allow my trousers & boots to start to dry out. Stopped at a nice spot on the River Kwai a few miles upstream from Knchanaburi.

Big portions for tea!

 

The following day it was off to the famous & iconic 'Bridge over the river Kwai' for a photo shoot.

Followed by a ride up the curvey 3199 to the top of the Sinakharin dam

Then I headed off towards Ayuthya using the local roads where possible.

They seemed to have a thing for big statues in this area.

A big Buddha ....

 

And a while later, a big monk!

 

And even an elephant for the Tiger to pose by, not a real one though.

These were real, but not elephants unfortunately - and even more muddy than my Tiger.

Another short cut, at least this one was dry ...

 

But then it turned into soft sand - remember what Russ said, keep the front light & power on through ... it worked this time too, bit squirmy but stayed upright.

And finally into the ancient city of Ayuthya, the old capital of the kingdom of Siam, until it was trashed by the Burmese in 1767.

I've been several times before, its a nice place to wander around for a few hours. The different temples & ruins are spread over a large area.

 

And they have real elephants!