I've Gone Soft

Yesterday I Carlos gave me a lift to Red Baron. They had finished his bike, changed his tyres and oil and repaired his leaking fork seals.

When I arrived they had already checked my valves, repaired the leaking slave clutch cyclinder and changed the oil and filters. I set to work dismantling my wiring loom whilst my assigned mechanic set to work dismantling and rebuilding my frame. He did an incredible job, grinding down and redrilling sheared bolts and bodged previous repairs from Pakistan. Later it had transpired that they had done the oil change wrong (the reason why I kept insisting that I would help work on the bike) so we had to redo. When it was time to start the engine, and he saw that the starter motor didn't work, it took him 5 minutes with a multimeter to figure out the problem and modify the wiring loom with a small piece of wire. I was amazed since I had spent literaly hours pondering over the wiring diagram in a bemused state wondering where to start.

He made all sorts of small modifications to my bike, including turning my front axle on a lathe to make it easier to remove meaning I now longer have a need for the little bit of wood from the end of a broom that I carry everywhere to bash it out. He also modified my wiring loom to give more power to the starter motor and, after much explanation, made an addition to my radiator to give it a greater capacity - his insistent idea, not mine.

When it was time to fit new brake pads, I discovered that I have carried the wrong size all the way from England, thus I shall have to wait till the KTM dealers in Malaysia. Typical.

The total cost for 3 days work came to about £65. Normally I would pay that for 2 hours labour in the UK. I had to ask whether they had made a mistake.

Last night we went out drinking to celebrate, for a change. I lost a bet playing 'spot the Ladyboy' and am now sporting a rather attractive bright orange dreadlock. On my walk back to the hostel, about 2am, I was stopped by a policeman on a motorbike. Clearly he thought a man with a peculiar hair piece was up to no good. I decided to be polite and asked for his officer number and ID. He seemed taken aback that I would ask but complied, then asked for mine. I showed him my driving licence. He then asked to search me, I knew he was after drugs (Marc already has experience of the Thai police's determination to arrest people for possession) so let him search me. He prodded and poked and produced a tube of colgate toothpaste from my top pocket which I had just bought from a conveniently placed 7-11. He looked at me extremely suspiciously for this heinous offence then let me go. I think, thus far, I have been stopped by the police an average of once every two days. It won't be long till I have to pay a bribe for some trivial, self conceived riding offence.

I now have a pair of Ortlieb soft panners that I bought from www.k-trade-international.com. The owner, Uwe, was extremely helpful in trying to get the straps extended to fit my rack. Since it is a holiday, we were unable to find anywhere to do it, so I shall get it done in a few days in Chaing Mai. For now I will ride with the bags on either side of my seat, giving better weight distribution.

Tomorrow we will probably head off, first the the Bridge over the River Kwai (pronounced Kway, NOT Kwii) then further north.