Back on 2 wheels

What a relief to finally get back under pedal power. One, because it feels like time is short on this leg of the journey as we have lot's of miles to cover into Delhi, and two, because it transpires that our grotty guesthouse (see 2 posts ago) was not just a guest house, but also doubled as a brothel for the Karaoke bar downstairs, (music finished 3am, if you are interested).

So early start at 5.30am, to make the most of the comparatively low humidity and cool temperatures. We headed 40 miles east in the direction of Phanom Sarakham. A bit tired but none the worse for our sleepless night. As the morning wore on it became witheringly hot but at least on a bike, once you get up to speed (about 13mph on a reasonable road) then the air flow means it's not altogether unbearable.

We arrived in Phanom Sarakham by just after 9.30 in the morning and after a bit of snooping we checked into a hotel. One which would give us a higher class of accommodation from than the night before, even if it had seen better days. The place looked like it had been shipped concrete slab by concrete slab from eastern European and showcased the very best of that regions architecture circa 1973. At least it was clean and didn't have a “karaoke” bar below it.

Then we went out to spend some time in a beautifully air conditioned web café, and returned to the hotel to do some reading before getting a bite to eat and an early night.

We went downstairs to enquire about food, and were told that we could eat in the restaurant, lovely, lead on I thought. So we were promptly led into the hotel restaurant, cum karaoke bar, cum massage parlour..... I'm starting to despair of getting a good night's sleep in Thailand.

Another early start took us out of town along the eastbound 304/359 highway and for all of our hotel issues of the last couple of days the cycling here is wonderful, other road users, who are used to dealing with slow moving cycles and mopeds are giving us plenty of space. The topography is flat to undulating and the roads well surfaced.

As we were nearing the end of a 50km straight stretch of the 359 we noticed an advert for a resort guest house and as we had nearly reached our intended destination of Sa Kaeo we pulled over and asked to be shown the rooms. OMG! How fantastic were these little bungalows?! Naramon Gold Resort. If you ever pass by, and you need a great place to stay, I can't recommend it enough.

45 miles east we've arrived in the border town of Aranya Prathet, we trawled a few guest houses and hotels looking for a favourite and we ended up opting for the Market Hotel. Rooms are clean and basic, but looks like after last night and tonight our standard of accommodation has turned a corner. Off to explore now. Have seen a few other westerners here so hopefully tonight we'll know what we're ordering off the menu rather than taking pot luck with our ropey Thai language skills.