2 beautiful people and a new record on tour.

Firstly a bit of an update about last night.  We both decided to go and check out the night market.  The sketch plan we received from the lady at the hotel who had good intentions, probably would have suited someone who was trying to navigate their way to Afghanistan.  We didn't make it to the market and ended up back at the hotel for a nice meal.  I'm still amazed at the price of food and accommodation in this country.  I went to sleep at 9pm and didn't budge till 6.45am just before breakfast.  Breakfast was a couple of eggs on toast, fried rice, juice and a cup of coffee. 

We were rolling by 8am.

As we rolled out of Buriram and hit the highway for the short trip to Surin we were accompanied with a gentle tailwind to help us along.

About 40 minutes into the ride Len pulled over at a 7/11 store which has a coffee shop attached.  Good time for a stop.  As we pulled into the service station Len rode over to this couple who were all dressed up in my favorite attire, Lycra.  After a brief chat, the couple joined us for a drink.  The gentleman was from Perth and has been living in Thailand for 9 years. He is married to a lovely Thai lady.

We sat and chatted for about 30 minutes and soon it was time to hit the road.  I asked the gentleman about his Buriram cycling jersey and where I could get one.  He said that if I followed him home which was about 5kms away he would give me one.  Before I left for this tour I payed my good friend Frank Soto a visit.  He ended up giving me a couple of jerseys for the tour.  Now Frank and I have raced together over the years, and he's the guy who always sat on me in the race. He tells a different story on that one. 

So, with a ride of 5kms which ended up about 8kms, we reached there home.  I exchanged a brand new Illawarra cycle club jersey for a new Buriram cycle jersey. I thought, 'what a bargain'.  We didn't stay long at the home as we needed to get going and off the road by midday.

We said our farewells and rejoined the highway with about 35kms to go.  Now the heat was really going through the roof.  We stopped once to refill the bottles and have a break before the final push into Surin.  I did have the intention of going to the golf driving range this afternoon, but having ridden in temperatures that topped our record for the tour at 113 degrees, golf is not going to happen. 

As we rolled along I found this person doing some painting and cement work on a new building.  What you will notice is no harness, no safety net, no scaffolding, nothing to prevent hitting the ground 3 floors below.  

It was now getting close to midday and when we stopped at the traffic lights entering Surin to check out our directions to the Maneerote Hotel the sun just cooked us.  I checked out my satnav  and the temperature at the 65km mark, midday, was 113 degrees.  A new temperature record for the tour.

Len's Garmin took us directly to the hotel, a hotel he and Colin stayed at on a previous cycling tour of the county.  For 16 dollars we have a huge room each, air con, WiFi and cable TV.

Yeh, I know some of you people will be saying, what type of holiday is this when you have the luxury's of home with you.  I say wrong, I didn't bring the kitchen, or the cook.

Tomorrow is the long ride to Si Si Ket, some 110kms away.  Len reckons we have to leave at 6am.  I say Bullshit Len, I'm sleeping in.

Safe riding till next time.