RETURN TO THAILAND

With visa in hand it was time to head to the border town of Nong Khai. Presented my passport to the customs officer only to be told in a rather blunt and cold maner that my passport had been incorrectly stamped and not signed at the Chinese/Laos border. I was promptly marched into the office of the head of customs to the undertones of "This is a very serious offence and you will be charged for overstaying." A touch of nervousness, to say the least, overcame me as I sat at the table opposite the head honcho bearing 4 pips on his lapel.

Again in a a very cold and unfriendly manner not dissimilar to Arnold Schwartzenegger "Stay here, I''ll be back." Not a friendly "Would you like a cold drink while I go and check on your passport details."

An hour elapsed before the officer returned. Thinking I was going to have to dig deep into my wallet, he thrust my passport under my nose and said that I free to go. No explanation and no have a nice holiday.

Without hesitation I straddled my bike, road over Friendship Bridge and into a friendly Thailand. It was good to be back



Nong Khai is a sleepy town, sluggish in pace and stretched along the banks of the Mekong. Booked into a guesthouse for a couple of days to soak up the atmosphere before I summoned up the mental and physical strength to cycle the 700km south through central Thaland to the coastal resort of Pattaya.

With the lofty mountains behind me I headed south with a strong tail wind through the central plains of Thaland. With a stiff tail breeze and nothing more than speed bumps to climb over I was comfortably riding 100km before lunch. With the dangling carrot of lazing on the white sands and swimming in the aqua waters of Koh Lan I complelted the journey in 6 days - a little weary to say the least but comfortable with the realization that 10 days of relaxation awaited me. My main aim of coming to Pattaya was ato attend the wedding of my life long best friend Jeff Hunt.



OFF TO CAMBODIA
After 10 vey lazy days in Pattaya it was time to cycle further south and around the Gulf of Thaland and into Cambodia. Highway 1 followed the coastline through the scentic fishing villages of Rayon, Ban Pha and Trat. With the wind still on my back, the terrain flat and beautiful coastal views to my right it certainly made for pleasurable cycle touring. Was this what cycle touring was meant to be. It was certainly not a physically demanding as the previous 5 months of toiling over the mountains of northern Thai, China and Laos.

SIHANOUKVILLE



Once in Cambodia I headed for the seaside town of Sihanoukville. Knowing that I only had a few hundred kms of coastal road to traverse before I reached the border of Vietnam I slowed my pace down even more and spent the bulk of my time in Sihanoukville, Kampot, Ream National Park and Kep. From Kep it was only a couple of hours cycling to the border crossing of Prek chak where I would begin my journey through the Mekong Delta

REAM NATIONAL PARK