The 4-6-3-4-6-4 Ride (Pt 2)

…cont from Pt 1

So…at last we have arrived at Patong. But we were not "home base" yet. We were on the street with our bikes and were without a clue where the hotel was at! After having rode around for a couple of minutes, we found that the authorities have changed the flow of traffic for some of the roads, probably to better control the higher volume of traffic from the visiting bikers, and to route them to the correct destinations. Feeling lost, Kwa came to the rescue again. He spoke to a tuk-tuk man, had him get on a kapchai and led us to the hotel! Simple and effective solution. Some say men don’t ask for directions. This one asked to be led there!!!

RayaBuri is a very nice small intimate hotel. Nothing done overboard, but enough of elegance to make it feel posh. After some wrangling, we even had a dedicated parking space for the 4 bikes, complete with security guard. Now, this is customer service! And Kwa, who shared the room with LoneRider was able to see our bikes from his balcony. This was the added bonus to the security situation.

The hotel reception informed us that the bike exhibition was at Jungceylon while the party’s at the beach. So the 4 of us quickly settled our luggage into the respective rooms, got ourselves cleaned up and we were ready to take on the Bike Week.

First stop was Jungceylon, which was a mall. There's a little booth outside the entrance of Jungceylon that sells the bike week T-shirts and the entrance pass (Bht150) for the party at the beach. The cost of the pass was inclusive of dinner and it’s happening that very night as we stood there. Looking at the time (about 6pm local time) we decided to forego the pass and headed into Jungceylon to view the bikes. There was another booth promoting the bike week stuff next to the bikes on exhibition. This time, we decided to muse around since it was in an air-con environment. I bought 2 bike week T-shirts but could not find the bike week sticker for 2009. Going around the bike exhibition was a breeze. It’s over in minutes, since the exhibition consists of less than 10 bikes. Very much like sex….lots of expectation and over in minutes!!!

Since we could not find the sticker, we went to the booth outside at the entrance, but still no luck. All sold out!

Well, what else was there to do? Let’s fill our stomach, and LoneRider again showed us his favourite place call Dang; reasonably priced in spite of the many Mat Salleh tourists around. While taking dinner, we noticed that people were already starting the water soaking activities, though not so prevalent. The peddlers were really promoting the water pistols/guns of various sizes. I asked and they were not cheap ~ 250bht. Decided not to buy.

After dinner, we decided to walk around and LoneRider showed us his Soi Eric. Great! We’re going to get free drinks. But that was fat hope. Showing off Soi Eric was all that we were going to get! Bummer! Then LoneRider showed the famous Bangla Street. This one he cannot claim! Bangla Street was one place where the happenings were at. Lots of eye candies, pubs bars, etc. As long as you are willing, this place can empty your wallet in no time! Of course, being a prudent person (not kedukut OK!), I decided to stay away from these places. Also no money la.

Soon we were heading out to the beach (Loma Park) and found that we did not need a pass to get in. There were the usual rows and rows of stalls selling biking merchandise and a rock concert going. It was really loud and full of profanities in the lyrics. What else to expect from an event like this.

After a while, I came across a stall that sells the same thing as the bike week stall at Junceylon, but this one still has the bike week stickers. I made the purchase. Moving around, it striked me that most of these stalls were selling the stuff targeted at the cruiser/easy rider market. Those riding DP bikes have very little to see there. Sad.

Then, another thought came to mind…this place was full of people and very few bikes. It’s different from other bike week events where the bikes and riders congregate into a single location. For this event, it seemed that Patong was the congregation point and the bikes are spread all over i.e. decentralised in Patong! This feeling was so much different from say the HatYai bike week, where everything was happening at one place, the bikes, people, the stalls, concert, etc. The atmosphere was totally different. But I guess it was due to the tourists who came to Patong for the Songkran and that had made the atmosphere different, since their focuses were different. After having gone around Loma Park for a while, we decide to head back to the hotel for the much needed rest. This was the end of 11th Apr. 09.

12th Apr – the 4 of us got up, had breakfast and naturally headed out to Loma Park, where we were the night before. It looked very much different in the day. No crowds or loud music. Just the early risers and riders like us and a couple of stalls that had opened early, i.e. the T-shirt stall. We decided to take some pictures and LoneRider got a call from Chan, saying that he was going to join us. So we hung around at Loma Park for a while and then Chang came by. As all of us were all geared up to ride while waiting for Chang, it was an anti-climax when he said that he wanted to look around at the park. So we waited. But it seems that our friend was really taking his time to look over the stalls, T-shirts, etc. So we decided to move out on our own after having informed LoneRider and Chan. We are now 3 bikes.

Looking at the map, we decided to take the “coastal” road north from Loma Park. This road took us thru some very nice sceneries, small towns, the FantaSea and even some very unique road signs that you don’t get to see at home, e.g. the Tsunami sign (click on picture to enlarge).

Eventually we stopped at Thalang town. Here, we decided to have lunch as it was close to midday. Found a small shop with lots of locals by the main road and decided to do lunch here. A family operated stall, the owners were very friendly. Asked where we were from and in a mixture of sign language, a smattering of Thai words, we somehow managed to communicate with them. There’s one particular dish that I can remember so very well. They had these steamed bowls of soup and one of them was Bak Kut Teh! Our Mr. Kwa can be seen here in the picture trying to promote our famous BKT to them.

After lunch, we decided to ride towards Phuket town, but on the way, the dark clouds gathered and it prompted us to head straight back to Patong. Back in the hotel, we freshened up and decided to walk about in Patong. Somehow, we ended up at Jungceylon again and after spending some time there and contributing to the economy, we started to walk back to the hotel when we saw LoneRider at Dang having a meal. All of us sat down for a drink while LoneRider finished his meal. Looking around, I noted that the water splashing and fights have escalated! Of course, we are now coming to the eve of the Songkran, when it would officially begin!

After Dang, we continued to walk, trying not to get wet and saw that Bangla Street now was a war zone. Water shot off from hoses, water guns and whatever container that may be used, and it was all along the street. Of course, this was all in good fun and the place had been cordoned off so that it was only accessible to pedestrians. It’s a riot there. We continued to walk but did not manage to stay dry. Almost every Mat Salleh had a water gun, even the more senior ladies. They were all really dressed down and ready for the soaking. After all , this was Songkran. Found our way back to the hotel and we were all wet. Walked to the back of the hotel and there was a shop who welcomed us, wet and all for dinner. After dinner, we retired as the next day, we would be riding back from Phuket to Hat Yai and we wanted to start early so that we may have more time at Hat Yai looking for a place to stay.

…. to be continured - IHVR