40. Day / 4th winter trip
Start of our road-trip to Northern Thailand. The first day our plan was to drive to the city of Lom Sak in the province of Phetchabun, about 400 kilometers north of Bangkok.
After a relatively early breakfast, at which I enjoyed the fabulous Brioche French Toast,
(the best on the menu!)
we left the hotel around 09:30, Google Maps announced a journey time of just over 5 hours - plus stops.
From Bangkok, we quickly got on the Toll-Way passing Don Muaeng Airport. Unfortunately the Toll-Way ended shortly after and we were immediately in weekend traffic jam.
Somehow probably all Thais were on Road 1, the traffic for the first 150 kilometers between slow-moving and at all not-moving. Knowing we still had to drive quite a distance, V. said I would drive very aggressively. Maybe she was right, I drove the truck like my 600 hp sports car at home, which the Fortuner answered with extensive jarring when going around corners (actually it did even going slow).
To cool down my nerves we made a brief stop at 'Amazon'
drank a double espresso on ice, didn't touch the artificial, shining cakes in display - and went on.
Finally we turned from Road 1 onto Road 21, not as well developed - but with much less traffic, a speed of 100 - 110 mph was easily possible.
Since V. constantly complained about my driving, too aggressive, too fast... at a point I decided to give my nerves a break, stopped the car on the shoulder, went out and to the passenger side, to give V. a try.
When I reached the passenger side of the car, lightened a cigarette to come down, I recognized a capital flatfoot on the rear axis. I thought '....!!!' - but then recognized it was pure luck the tire didn't detract from the rim a few miles back when driving 110 mph.
200 meters in reverse to a small village, the car parked next to a roadside food stall.
As we just left the car three helpful Thais came over, offering their services.
Removed the bag from the trunk so the guys could access the tool kit, with the help of a long crank remove the spare wheel, which was fixed under the vehicle.
Surprise!!!
Thank you, SIXT! Thanks you gave us a rental car with a totally broken spare tire!
The guys took the broken tire from the rear axle, loaded it on a moped and drove off, 2 guys and a SUV tire/rim on a small 50cc motorbike - unfortunately I forgot to make a photo.
Now had time, anyway had no alternative, V. was hungry - as usual - and ordered something to eat with the chef of the roadside food stall.
There was a rice dish with vegetables, prawns, beef and squid, a light soup was served on the side, at only US $ 0.85 - and she said it was really delicious.
I called the hotline of SIXT Thailand, reported our problem, the lady promised to call back.
After 30 minutes the guys came back with the vulcanized tire, fixed it, stowed away the broken spare tire again. A lady, who spoke rudimentary English, told us the tire had been broken and vulcanized already twice, we should not drive too fast.
45 minutes after the car was parked, we were back on the road,
still waiting for a call back from SIXT. So I called again, again described our problem. The employee this time was competent, sent us to B-Quick in Phetchabun where we should get a new spare tire at the expense of SIXT.
After 1.5 hours we pulled into the parking lot of B-Quick,
called SIXT, gave the phone to the receptionist of B-Quick. Key was given and asked to take a seat. I was still able to examine the spare wheel in all its beauty.
After another hour we finally had a new tire on the back axle, the repaired had disappeared under the car as a spare wheel.
I took over the steering wheel again and drove the remaining 50 kilometers on a very good highway to Lom Sak - in 20 minutes.
The best hotel in the provincial town of Lom Sak was the 'Indigo' hotel,
quite new & stylish.
We had booked a superior room (the highest category) on the top floor,
really nice and spacious, with fridge and air conditioning - especially if you consider the price of 700 baht, so scary US $ 20 per night, including breakfast for 2 and really fast Wi-Fi.
Thrown the suitcases into the room and continued immediately.
Why did we decide to drive to Lom Sak, a town which has nothing to offer? Quite simple: when we had our house in Jomtien (South Pattaya), we had a dog, which I had picked up as a young puppy from the street. When I sold the house just over two years ago, we had handed him over to the care of the mother of our housekeeper. And she lives in Ban Sak, a suburb of Lom Sak. V, was begging already the last two years that one day we would visit him.
But I had not told V., wanted to surprise her. Instead I made up a story about a very important temple in a suburb of Lom Sak, one which is decorated with 10-thousands of stuffed animals which all the visitors brought along. And that's why she also had to bring one.
Unfortunately V. isn't completely stupid, already the day before googled 'Lom Sak Temple stuffed animals' - of course without result. But I made up a story why she couldn't find it - and hopefully she believed.
So quickly got a big stuffed animal, drove to Ban Sak, where I had already found out the location of the house visiting the complete village by Google Street View.
Drove through the village, looking for the 'Temple of Stuffed Animals', left and right. V. looked quite surprised when she suddenly saw our dog, bursted into tears.
After over two years the reunion was overwhelming, our dog immediately recognized us, kissed V. V. said that this surprise was the most beautiful gift of the year.
After spending 1 ½ hours with our dog,
walking & playing, we drove back to Lom Sak, bought dog food and other toys at TESCO. It is unbelievable that even in a provincial town like Lom Sak a TESCO, BIG C and countless 7Eleven are existing. In addition, incredibly many Thais spoke English, in the 7Eleven, at the gas station ...
Back to the hotel, changed and off to the city, we almost died of hunger.
Every Saturday in Lom Sak a night-market takes place, probably the highlight of the social life - because the huge parking lot was completely full. We walked to the entrance of the market,
strolled around, passing the usual China made rubbish. Over a bridge, decorated with hearts, where we arrived at the food area.
Right at the beginning we saw a stall serving a dish, which was so far unknown to us:
chopped pork meat, spices and soy sprouts were wrapped in an incredibly thin, crispy egg-omelet. It then was served with cucumber slices and a pot of sweet and spicy sauce.
Very tasty, and surprisingly without rice or noodles.
Onwards passing further food stalls, got some dumplings with crab and scallop, over which a brown sauce was poured, decorated with mayonnaise -
terrible, went straight into the bin.
A bit further baby-prawns dishes were offered.
We opted for the salad with raw baby-prawns. Spicy, spicy, crispy.
At the end of the night market the village-discotheque was in full action:
On the way back we needed to get our main-course, went into a very busy restaurant, which offered Pad Thai.
A table was prepared for us, supplements set up - and we ordered two Pad Thai Goong.
good, but by far not as good as the variation in Bangkok.
On the way back to the car, we discovered grilled songbirds, but were able, also because of the absence go hunger, to back off.
We came along a shop with a lively crowd, of course, had to find out what was on the menu.
A gentleman shoveled from various containers an ice-like but still liquid mass into plastic cups, then sealed them with an archaic-looking machine.
At our turn we asked what would be the best, the most popular choice? Without any comment - maybe he didn't understand at all - got a sealed cup & a straw, paid 10 Baht.
It was a then a very good fruit juice, which was frozen and shredded to a snow-like substance. Delicious, not too sweet and so cold the teeth hurt.
It was very interesting to see a local night market, one of which is tailored to Thais and not to foreigners (we only saw one - except us). The food was different, there was an incredibly amount of very sugary sweets, as well as massively artificial sushi. After all V. was an attraction for the locals, people here probably do not experience so many blondes in real (even more and more Thais color their hair blonde, male & female). Also for male 'long noses' on search of 'contact', I can strongly recommend the pampas of Thailand: at 7Eleven the two girls at the cashier-desk nearly beat each other in the question who should cash me off (I'm waiting for stupid comments ;-)).
To the car, looking for a massage - unsuccessfully (for the very daring visitors of Lam Sak, there was a bar street, which was located at near our hotel, where the women are bored to death, jump nearly on our car when passing). So back to the hotel, sat on the balcony and enjoyed the perfect temperatures.