I'm safely back in Bangkok after finishing the SE Asia stage of my ride.

 After exploring Angkor Wat for several days, it was time to brave the bad roads and head back to Bangkok.  I got an early start on Sunday hoping to avoid some of the heat and traffic.  I missed some of the heat but wasn't so lucky avoiding the traffic!

 The road back from Siem Reap to Poipet and the Cambodia border was just as bad in this direction as in the other.  It was hot and dusty and all the passing vehicles kicked up clouds of red dirt that coated me and the bike.  Before I was too far into the ride my bike and I were covered with red muck.  Before the ride I had bumped up the preload on my shock and added more air to my tires, which helped somewhat.  Still, it was a bumpy hot ride to the border.

 At the border I was stamped out of Cambodia in about 5 minutes!  I pulled right up to the customs booth, handed them my passport, they stamped it, and because I hadn't had my carnet processed upon entry I was done with Cambodia!  At least I thought I was done, but when I turned back around to the bike, there was a crowd of about 20 people gathered around it, pointing and shouting.  I had to explain where I came from and where I was going and what was that funny unit on the handlebars (GPS).  Of course, I explained all this as best I could given that I don't speak Cambodian and no one there spoke more than a couple of words of English.  Eventually I waved goodbye and rode into Thailand.

 I expected the Thai border crossing to go smoothly, but I was in for a surprise.  I was hoping for a quick crossing since I had a long way still to go to Bangkok.  For some reason, Thai customs at this border decided that they didn't want to accept my carnet.  Now it's true that Thailand officially does not accept the carnet, but every other Thai border crossing had happily accepted and processed the carnet.  Here they gleefully pointed out that Thailand is not listed on the back of the carnet as a country that accepts it, then proceeded to fill out several customs declaration forms in the slowest handwriting I've every seen.  All this while I'm standing in the sun, fuming because they could have just stamped my carnet and sent me on my way.  And for the pleasure of all this, I had to pay 10 Baht because it was a holiday (Sunday?)  And yes, I did get a receipt for the holiday charge so I assume that the extra charge was valid.  I wonder if any of this was payback for running the customs gate earlier in the week?!  Regardless, throughout it all I stayed pleasant and thanked them when they were done.

 After about 1.5 hours I was through with Thai customs and heading to Bangkok again.  It was a very windy afternoon and I fought a headwind all the way into Bangkok.  Then as I approached the city it started to rain, just to make things more interesting :-)

 This time I knew where I was going, and I had planned out a route to the hotel.  My plans quickly went to hell when the road I wanted to take wasn't where the map said it would be :-)  But I had the GPS coordinates of the hotel I was staying at and I used the GPS to get me there with only one wrong turn, which I quickly corrected with an illegal U-turn.

 Speaking of my hotel, I must mention this little oasis in the middle of Bangkok craziness.  About a year ago I read a review of the Atlanta Hotel in the Denver Post Travel section.  They raved about it's friendly staff and excellent vegetarian food.  I took note of the hotel and decided to give it a try when in Bangkok.  After having stayed at the hotel for several nights now, I can say that it is an excellent place.  At one time it was a premier hotel in Bangkok.  It's a little tired now, but still provides all the amenities I need, and the staff is very friendly and helpful.  They allow me to park my motorcycle on the sidewalk in front, locked to a street sign, and watched by the receptionist.  But the thing I enjoy most about the hotel is the food.  They've got a menu full of vegetarian meals, all in authentic Thai style, such as red curries, dry curries, musselman curry, etc.  The meals I've had at the hotel have been the best vegetarian food I've eaten in SE Asia.  What a pleasure!  And as an added bonus, the hotels and meals are both reasonably priced - the room costs about $12.50 a night and the meals with a large beer are about $4.  The hotel has a strict anti-sleeze policy which keeps the unsavory characters away.  If you're looking for a budget hotel in Bangkok I would recommend the Atlanta.

 Since I've been back in Bangkok I've been busy arranging things for my hop to Nepal.  Yesterday I serviced the bike with fresh oil and filter, new tires, clean air filter, etc.  Tomorrow we're crating the motorcycle and then it will go to Thai customs to be cleared for shipping on the 7th.  I've purchased my plane ticket on the same Thai Airlines plane on the 7th.  I also researched hotels in Kathmandu, and am pursuing getting an Iran visa.  Lots of things to take care of before this next stage.  And somewhere in the next few days I plan to do some sightseeing around Bangkok itself.

 When I'm not running around doing errands, I'm trying to relax a little and appreciate the completion of this second stage of my RTW trip.  As I expected, the SE Asia stage was much more difficult than the Australia stage.  The roads were more challenging, the traffic was insane, the weather was more extreme, and the language and food barriers were daunting.  But the extra challenge makes the completion of this stage even more rewarding.  It feels very good to have successfully navigated 4,000 miles to the end of the stage in Bangkok, still healthy and strong.

 And now that we're into July, this has officially become my longest trip, at least in terms of time.  I'm starting my 3rd month on the road, which surpasses the 2 months I spent in South America.  It seems like I'm still just starting this trip and I've got so much more to go, but hopefully I'll stay healthy and mentally sharp on the next stages.

 More news from Bangkok later.

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