FIRST IMPRESSIONS of THAILAND (Bike Touring Thailand Ep.1)
Hello there, and welcome to Thailand. Okay, the fish. So, before we start the Thailand Bike Tour series, let me just catch you guys up on how we got here. Last year in May, I started my bike tour in Japan. I cycled around 1,500 km from Tokyo to Shimonoseki.
You rode from Seoul to Busan? From there, I caught a ferry over to South Korea and cycled another 700 km right through the country from Busan to Seoul. What a legend. Oh man, I did it, I did it. After that, in mid-July, I packed up the bike and caught a flight to Bangkok to continue my bike tour series in Thailand.
Wow, thank you. What's your name? What's your name? My name, my name, my name is Bobby. I went to see an old buddy of mine that I met in Japan a long time ago who is living in Bangkok, but more on that later. What do you think of it? It's killer, man. One of my favorite bowls of soup that I've had in Bangkok.
So, what you're about to see are those videos that were filmed back in July. Hope you enjoy. Hello there, and welcome to Thailand. I made it.
Just got to Bangkok International Airport, and, uh, yeah. I'm in that, uh, all-too-familiar situation of how the hell do I get out of the airport on my bicycle? So, I got my bike box and my bags all over there. Look at the size of this thing. This is easily the biggest box that I've ever gotten. And, uh, it weighs the most too.
There's actually like a double-lining box to it, which I thought would be a good idea because the last box I got leaving Malaysia was tiny, and it almost fell apart. Man, it's been a long day. It's been a long day, and I'm still not quite there yet. I should probably just take a taxi to my buddy's house and, uh, and put it together there, I guess. But he's sleeping.
Also, I don't know what to do with the box when I'm done with it. There's recycling and trash here at the airport that I could just easily leave over there with all the other cardboard boxes. But, uh, kind of stuck here with the big box.
All right, let's do it. This is what you signed up for. All right, so this is going to be my plan of action. I actually like how they do it here in Thailand. Here in Bangkok, they have all the taxi drivers out here waiting for you, but they're not hassling you. They're not in your face the moment you walk out the door because you have to go to a kiosk over there.
You get a, uh, receipt with a QR code that tells you which lane to go to. So, I'm guessing you're going to get a more fair price as well. Okay, so what I'm going to do is, uh, I have my big taxi here, and the box is just huge. So, I'm going to take the bike out of it, leave the box here so I don't have to throw it away in the city, and then, uh, go from there. Let's do that.
Okay. All right, so we did it. The bike is in the taxi, and, uh, finally, we're, uh, getting out of here. I guess you can't take a bicycle on this road, unfortunately. So, it's going to be like a thousand, which I think is about twice as much as normal.
But I'm in a bigger taxi, and I got a bike. So, it's just like, whatever, just get you there. Oh, three waters.
All right, thank you, sir. All right, this is what we're looking at. So, I just had the taxi driver take me to a park that is kind of close to where my friend lives, apparently.
And, uh, I'm going to put the bike together here. So, it's really busy out here in Bangkok, as you can imagine. The roads are super busy. And, uh, instead of just being dropped off on the side of the road where my friend lives while he's working and setting up on the side of the street, I was like, no, no, let's find a park. And so, here I am. One thing you notice right away is it is extremely muggy here and humid.
Wow, okay. And it's only 8:30. All right, let's put this bike together. And we have a bike. We are done.
I am soaking wet. Man, traveling by bike is awesome. Getting around on a bike is awesome, but traveling with a bike sucks.
Having to break it down, get a box, pack it, deal with all the weight, and figure out how you're going to get it from the airport to wherever is just a headache. It sucks. I hate doing it, but we're good for now. We're good for now.
Hey, I caught this guy's attention too. All right, let's do it. Yeah, little selfie. Hold up, hold up.
Okay, all right, thank you. Okay, let's do it. Let's cycle Thailand. But first, I'm going to see a little bit of Bangkok with my buddy.
Can't wait to introduce you to him. お疲れ Dude. How was it, man? I'm exhausted. You got to be beat, man.
Always. So, as you can imagine, Bangkok is going to be a very wide and very densely populated place for miles and miles. Just getting out of the city is going to be probably a headache. So, that's kind of what I'm shooting for today. Heading kind of south to the coast to the sea. From there, I'll kind of make my way to Pattaya.
We'll see how far I get. Hello, hello. How are you today? Good, how are you, man? What are you working on? Job? Job, ah, big. What is that? A big crane. Got a lot of wire over here. I don't know if you can tell or not, but there's a boat in the river that looks to be scooping up trash and trying to clean it up.
So that's good to see. I'm going to the green lung. Huh? What? Going here, this area? Oh, it's straight. Yes, again, kick.
Thank you. Thank you. All right, so from here you can go to Bang Na Daeng, Theama, the 9th road, Daong, and Ch.
I think that's how it's going to be everywhere I go in Thailand. People are going to be making food just about everywhere you go. Hello, can I take this? Yes, it's okay.
It's heavy? Uh, it's okay, it's okay. Yeah. Round trip or one way? Just one way. On the other side, I can...
There's a bridge, bridge, so I can go there and then exit? You need to not... how can I say? Because on the map, it looks like... yeah, yeah, you can take it back to Bangkok. But other here is another province of Thailand, not Bangkok. This Bangkok, that not Bangkok.
Okay, and so be careful. Be careful, be careful. If you exit wrong, you go to another place of another province. That's okay.
I'm going to Pattaya. I'm going, I'm going to go. I'm not coming back to Bangkok.
So, I'm going to keep going. Okay, maybe. May, okay, right, maybe. Okay, so what do I need? How much? Forty Baht Forty Baht, cool. Okay.
Is it free to camp here? I'm not sure. Are there camping spots? They have like a hotel, I guess, but you cannot land on, just sleep, because they don't allow. Gotcha. All righty, thank you. Yeah, is see, what's your name? Cream.
Ice cream. Ice cream, nice to meet you. Welcome to ABC. Amazing cycling.
All right, have fun. So, what is the... hey Cream, what is the name of this place? Yeah, okay. All right, thank you. You're welcome to Bangaa area.
So, it's not that far from where Brian lives. It's only like five or six kilometers, if that, you know, maybe two or three miles. So, on the map, it just looks like a big green plot of land in the middle of, you know, the urban area. And so, I was like, shoot, let's just shoot over here.
And that's what I did. And it looks like it's a place to come and do little bike tours too. That was a pain in the ass to get my bike up here, that's for sure. But you can come over here, it looks like, and rent yourself your own little bike.
But let's just go explore this area. I'm sure it's going to be interesting. Damn, that's a lot of motorbikes. I'm guessing they're all for rent.
I don't know what else they'd be used for. I mean, there's not that many people here. So, I'm sure these are used for rent because there's hardly anybody here.
But maybe this is the place to come cycle. This is actually pretty wild. This feels like it is miles from the center of Bangkok. But no, it's just right here. And it feels like I'm in the middle of some kampung in Indonesia. Whoa, that's kind of cool looking.
Let's go look at that. This is the Get Growing Community Farm and Learning Center where you're greeted by goats. Wow, what an interesting place here. What is this? Let's go see what's going on around here. Yeah, this basically, it's just like a Boy Scout or like a summer camp kind of place for the kids. Talked to one of the dads over there.
He was like, yeah, my son's coming here to do the summer camp. And they get to play and climb on ropes and do all kinds of fun stuff, it looks like. Yeah, okay, let's keep going.
Honestly, this is really nice over here. Look at the roads. They're nice and paved. Yeah, if you're in Bangkok and you want to escape the city hustle and bustle, just shoot over here. It wasn't that far, honestly.
I mean, you, it was just five, ten minutes from where Brian lives in the middle of Bangkok. And you can be in what feels like rural Thailand in fifteen minutes. It's crazy. What is this? What is it? The name? New fruit for me.
I've never seen this before. Crunchy, not juicy at all. Maybe it's an acquired taste.
It's not that strong either. I think I'll pass. Okay, thank you. But I did get some dragon fruit.
Time for some lunch. I stopped at a steak and bakery. I've heard of a steak and shake. I've heard of wake and bake.
But never a steak and bakery. Look, let's see how it is. What is this? Yeah, bu, bu. Okay, like sweet. Thank you. Wow, okay.
Look at this. This looks not too bad. I think this is chicken.
Chicken and rice. Nice salad. I got these fried prawns.
It's kind of like a sweet and sour sauce, but it's more, a lot more sweet than sour. But looks delicious. Wow, okay. Yeah, wow. Thank you. Nice little pit stop.
Nice and full. Met a nice couple there at the end who called me over there. They're like, ah, can we buy you a drink? And chitchat with them. So, learned a few things about this area. Apparently, it is government protected.
That's why you don't see any tall buildings. That's why it's still very green and untouched. You know, this road right here is pretty busy. But for the most part, it's really, really quiet.
And basically, Bangkok and the government, they're protecting this land because they're using it for the lungs of the city, you know. And so, all the greenery and everything here, it's supposed to provide oxygen for the city of Bangkok. All right, I think we're leaving the island. Look at that bridge.
Wow, hello. only five baht, that's cheap. The first one earlier today was 40.
Wow. Definitely not as scenic as the area I just was in. A lot of factories and warehouses. Um, how much? One kilo, 60? Okay, can I try one? Yeah. Ooh, first Thai rambutan Uh-huh.
Those are good, those are pretty good. And there are zero ants on them too. That's rare.
Usually they're crawling with ants. Okay. And I was driving by a garage earlier, and, uh, they were playing some pretty good music. So I shazamed it real quick and found me some good Thai music to listen to while I'm on the road.
Hello. Could be leading me on some very adventurous roads, I would have to say. Look at this. Don't fall over. Thank you. What a place, what a place.
Hello, doing some fishing there? Fish? Yeah. If he's looking for a fish, maybe he's looking for one of them big lizards. Yeah, there are a lot of fish down there. You can see them jumping out of the water. Come on, do you get me? Yeah. Damn.
Nice. Wow, nicely done. Not bad, I'd have to say.
Yeah, this isn't some water I'd want to go swimming in necessarily, but it's not that dirty and polluted looking. Like, I've seen worse, trust me. I have seen worse.
You can eat? Yeah, take him home and fry them up and eat them properly. Nice. Yeah, there's one of them big lizards I was talking about. Look at that thing, like a Komodo dragon. Damn.
Wake up in my tent next to that thing, no thanks. Yeah, I don't think too many people are going to Pattaya this way. Nope.
Kind of reminds me of Batam, the little neighborhood I checked out on the other side of Singapore. It's kind of what it reminds me of. Have your own little shop here. Sometimes there's a water flood underneath the houses.
Sometimes? Okay, sometimes. Okay, about how many people live in this small village? Oh, 500. Okay, what do people do around here? Like, what are their main jobs? Most are company work or trading. Ah, okay, I see.
No fishing? No fish? Okay, right. Thank you. Thank you. YouTuber? Hi, hello.
Hello. Not sure what that says. Maybe that's the name of the village.
Look, we got another fisherman down there coming back after his catch. It's very safe. Hello. All righty, welcome to Samut.
Where it says I'm at right here. That's pretty good. Nice and hot. Only 10 baht. That's a steal. Well done, Thailand.
So, the main road is right over there, but they have this nice bike path right here. Nice and safe for walkers and cyclists. And they even have a lot of the bodyweight equipment that you'll find in Korea and Taiwan. So pretty nice around here. Something smells really funky around here. Okay, this must be where a lot of the garbage or something gets put.
Or I don't know, something stinks. Hello, thank you. So I found a road that goes along the coast, and that's kind of what I'm shooting for. It looks like it just kind of goes all along the coast towards Pattaya. And that's kind of where I'm heading first. But it put me here in no man's land in the middle of all these warehouses and factories.
Not smelling great. There it is. There's the ocean. Low tide. Oh, [__]. Oh my gosh, there are like seven dogs up here.
[__]. They're like going somewhere to the left because that's where they live, right? Yeah, maybe they're more scared of me than I am of them. So they all just went over there. There, it's okay. Yeah, okay, sweet. I guess that's the trick.
You got to get off your bike. Otherwise, they just start barking at you and chase you. That one's wagging his tail. So they're all wagging their tail and smiling at me now.
I was wrong about you guys. You guys are just little friendly guys, aren't you? Not going to pet you. But now, ain't this something? This is very random.
These are some parrots. Oh no. I hope they'll come back.
Yep, okay. They don't seem too worried, I guess. Wow. Okay, okay, okay.
I have a little PTSD here. They're flying right at me. Get out of here.
All right, thank you. They're beautiful. So many. Do. Heh.
All right, that's going to be no fun if they're nothing but dogs on this road. Jeez, what is going on up here? What are these huge containers? Yeah, look at all these dogs. All right, that was a mistake coming over here. Got an old Haikyo, akiya (ruins or abandoned house) Is that place open? All right, finally coming up on some civilization. Probably shouldn't have taken that road.
Found myself in a little fishing village, what it looks like. Wow. I mean, that boy's got to be like nine or ten years old out there, probably. There's so much to look at.
There's so much. I don't want to call it junk, but I mean, this is what it looks like, I guess, when a house collapses. There are fishing nets and buckets and all kinds of stuff everywhere. I mean, there's a lot to look at. Little doggy.
Hey. Hey. And then some of them are very beautiful. Nice pink home. Look at all the green and all the plants she has outside. The temple in the corner.
This one too, nice and colorful. Very pretty. Cats and dogs everywhere.
Hello. That's crazy. The boats go all the way up in here. Excuse you. See? Okay. Amazing though.
Look how narrow this waterway is. And the other boats too. I mean, how do you get that in and out of here, honestly? Thank you. Wow, that's a lot of shrimp. What are you separating out? Okay, the fish.
Fish. So I guess they're separating the fish and the shrimp. This is what they're doing right here. What is the best way to eat this? Shrimp fried, boiled, grilled? Fried, boiled, or grilled? I guess any and all.
Oh, right here? Okay, okay, okay. So they fry it up right here. I bet it's pretty damn good too. Wow. Okay, thank you very much.
See you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Hello. And right on the other side of that bridge right there, you have a nice colorful, nice-looking neighborhood.
Super clean. Hello. Very lively too. I'm kind of hungry. Maybe they have food. May, what do you have to eat? Yeah.
Okay. I can eat anything. Spicy is okay too. Okay, so. Okay, I'm not sure what they have here. But start off with some rice.
Mhm. Ooh, the shrimp? Yes. All right. Okay, perfect. Oh yeah, a little to them is a lot.
That looks good. I'm sure it's going to be good. Hi, baby, baby. Little cute baby. Oh, oh, oh, you got me. You got me.
Oh no. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I think I found a winner.
That looks so good. Mhm. It looks aloy. Looks really, really, really good. Let's see here. And then there's some scrambled egg on here, and I think he put shrimp in there too.
Yeah. Mhm. YouTuber YouTuber? Oh man, that is good. Yeah. Wow, that is good. Oh my God, that is delicious.
Yes. Wow. Yeah, it's not too spicy. It has just a little bit of kick to it, but wow, that shrimp tastes fresh. What's your name? My name, my name is Bobby.
nice to meet you. Nice. What's your name? What's your name? Bye-bye. Bye-bye. My name is. My name is.
What's your name? My name. One more time. My name is. Oh, nice. Nice to meet you. Your turn.
All right, what name? All right, see you, see you, see you, see. Thank you. I can get some rest yeah. Yeah, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
See you, thank you. Lovely people. What a nice little neighborhood.
All the plants, all the colors, all the nice people. And thank you for that delicious meal. It was amazing. All righty, so, now it's time to look for a place to stay. Because I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight.
And there's not too many hotels listed in this area. I don't think I'm going to be camping anywhere, unfortunately. So it's time to scope out a hotel. Get this, does not look fun.
All right, so I found a room in this hotel. Does it look like a hotel? You probably can't see, but it is a hotel. Let me show you what it looks like on the inside. This is basically the only thing I could find.
There's really not much out here on this stretch of road. And it's still, yeah, you know, it's not quite like the countryside yet. But there's not a lot of open space. And when there is open space, it's just like marshland. So you can't really camp on that.
And so, I found this hotel, which is basically like a love hotel, it looks like. Based on the setup outside. But it'll work. It was only 550 baht.
I'll be able to shower and clean up. So that's all I really care about right now. Because I am grimy. I'm dirty. That street over there is super busy. And yeah, it wasn't fun cycling on it at night, for sure.
So glad to be off of it. Glad to have a place to put the bike. And far enough off the main road too, so I'll be able to sleep. So loud. Anyways, that'll do it for today's video. Thanks for watching, and more to come from Thailand.
Peace. All right, if you've made it this far in the video, please give this video a like. And if you haven't already, please consider subscribing. It would be much appreciated. Thanks, and until next time.
2025-01-10 14:35
