This was written yesterday (Tuesday) morning, but a further update will appear very soon, we promise!
It's just been a touch difficult to find functioning internet over the past few days, but that's what happens when you're out in the Thai/Khmer boonies. But all is well, have no fear, other than tired legs and a bit more that you'll have to read about below, all is going fantastically.

We're currently beneath a yellow rain shelter, approximately 7 (or 8) km from the Cambodian border. Internet access isn't exactly available here, so the actual posting shall occur later, but given that the rain doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon, typing seems like a good way to pass some time.

If you're at all familiar with Thai geography, you're realizing that we're nowhere Ko Samet, and that's definitely true. We were delayed from departing the island first by our love of sand and sea, and then second by Blaise's recent illness of the liquid-out-both-ends variety. Thankfully he's being quite the trooper, despite our rather brutal cycling schedule over the past two days.
We (finally) left Ko Samet mid-morning on Sunday, hearts heavy as our adopted dog, Mama – 'ma' conveniently means 'dog' in Thai, so when we called her 'Mama dog' we were sorta calling her 'dog dog dog' – stood by the pier and watched our ferry depart. Unlike our arrival, our departure was smooth sailing as the waters were very calm. After breakfast in Ban Phae, and the acquisition of a reasonably cheap used Lonely Planet Cambodia, we then headed due east on the beach road, opting for better scenery and fewer cars for as long as we could. We eventually rejoined Highway 3 (Sukhumvit Road, still) in the town of Klaeng, but since it was only mid-afternoon we decided to soldier on for at least a few dozen more kilometers. As darkness began approaching, and no hotels were on the horizon, we stopped at a random gas station to inquire about a hotel.
Between our gestures for sleep, the word hotel, and some broken Thai phrases that Yan had written down for us the week before, we eventually made our request clear, but when the lengthy Thai explanation failed to be understood, a kindly woman on a scooter agreed to escort us to our lodging. A half kilo up was an intersection, called Na Yai Am, and then a further kilo off of the main road, essentially completely out in the countryside, was a nice modern (for Thailand) hotel, with A/C and a fridge, for 400 Baht/night. It was exactly what we needed, and without the woman's help we would never have found it. We imagine her directions, that we failed to comprehend, went something like this: go straight until you see a 7-11; at the next intersection turn left, then go straight for at least a kilometer; then turn right at the enormous poster of the King, go straight on that road until you see the panda bear statues and it's on the right. Duh.
Anyways, after showering everyone but Blaise (lounging in internal agony) went out to the night market for dinner – but only after the amazing lightning performance had pretty much concluded, and several bouts of rain had been waited out. Dinner was great, the cheapest food we've had yet, and quality was not sacrificed for price. Coming from a well-touristed island, 15 Baht pad thai was literally ¼ the price we had been paying! One beer was all we could handle with dinner, something about sweating out liters of liquid makes barley and hops a bit less appealing.
A decent night of sleep ensued, and the next morning came all too soon, but at least we'd bought breakfast provisions the night before (all hail the mighty 7-11) so we had pastries and coffee in addition to our usual Lara Bars. That's right Stacy, we really eat Lara Bars for breakfast :-). And they are delicious!
Little did we know that our most brutal day yet was beginning, for it felt quite low-key and easy cruising through the Thai lowlands on flat well-paved roads. We skirted around Chanthaburi, opting to keep a more direct route to head into the mountains rather than seeing an unnecessary city. To our female members' dismay we later learned C-Town is arguably one of the diamond capitols of the world, supposedly one-third of all the world's shiny see-through gems pass through the town en route to all the globe's jewelry stores.

Turning north on Highway 317, the countryside immediately changed, as cool, lush, and cloudy hills were visible on all sides of the still flat road. Pushing onwards, we set our goal for Khamen, a town we eventually realized was imaginary. On the map, but not on the road. To seek solace we checked out a beekeeping site, part of Thailand's apparently growing Agro-Tourism industry.

The beehives themselves were perhaps not the most exciting, but the lotions, shampoos, and lip balms made from honey – and priced for local Thais and not foreign tourists – were spectacular. We got to sample the two varieties of honey, as well as the uber-pricey and uber-healthy yet uber-nasty Royal Jelly.
Then the hills began. And they were rough.
Having already biked around 75km, the last ten proved excruciating and sweat-soaked.

The climate was at least cool (we'd waited out the now-daily monsoon at our lunchtime eatery: rice, egg, and spinach never tasted as good), though the incline was nasty. And lengthy. But we're hardcore, apparently (!), and we had no choice but to continue up the mountain to Pong Nam Ron, the last Thai town before the border at Ban Pakkard / Psar Phrom. Arriving energy-less, the 7-11 was a welcome and familiar neon glow. And then a miracle occurred – we met, in the rural mountains, the one local foreigner (from the UK) and his kindly Thai wife. We got helpful directions for the town's two hotel options – we opted for the cheaper bungalows, the satin sheets were a nice touch – and then ended up having a great dinner with them at a local restaurant where people go to 'eat street.' The food was super spicy, so much that the smoke from other people's food literally choked us. But it was also super tasty, so the trade-off was worth it.
He regaled us with stories of enormous spitting cobras, his dog that was stolen by Cambodian fruit pickers to eat for dinner, and the general joys and pains of running an almost self-sufficient fruit farm in Thailand. It was a quite enjoyable dinner for everyone, since he usually doesn't get to speak much English, and we were pleased to have some company so far off the beaten track.
Whoa, we just saw a car accident as I'm typing this. Car on truck, but both people are full of smiles as they sort it out. The damage seems minimal, though the car's grille is currently unattached, and the truck definitely has a huge dent in its side, but apparently all is well today in Thailand. Must be the rain chilling everyone out!

That's what was typed previously, there will be another post soon to get you all caught up – we've definitely covered a lot of ground, albeit bumpy ground, over the past 2 days, but you'll have to be patient to learn exactly where we are in the Kingdom of Cambodia!

Peace from Kampuchea,
AEBCL

Posting blog entries is sorta a paradox – we want to write them all the time, but we have to actually have the time do so, which means there has to be a break from the daily awesomeness of such length that some diligent and self-retrospective thinking and typing can occur. Yes, Thailand is undergoing a bit of “awesomeness” right now, something about body-surfing between drink specials on the beautiful island of Ko Samet combined with having biked over 175km already is making us feel pretty grand.
Obviously there's a few days of insanity that you need to get the down-low on – so here we go.
Last thing you read we were going to bed, ready to arise early and begin our much-hyped cycling adventure. Well, we did it.
It may have taken us a bit longer than planned to eat breakfast, get all our bags strapped down, and take a few take-off photos, but by around 8am we were cruising through congested traffic, going south-east on Sukhumvit Road. Frankly, it was hot, all day long, which combined with the rampant noise and air pollution, was a bit much at times. Thankfully, a multitude of people honked, waved, and smiled their ways into our hearts the entire time. Seriously, almost everywhere we go we are greeted enthusiastically, despite our sweat, stench, and silliness – after all we are often biking on rather major roads, full of trucks and other large vehicles. Thais ride bicycles, but not across their country, so we definitely stand out at all times.

Disaster struck almost immediately, which was nice to 'get out of the way:' Christine blew a tire 90 minutes into our ride, rubber losing out to an invading nail. Blaise stepped up, despite a torrent of sweat upon his brow (and thus on the ground), doing an Indy 500-worthy job. Our current cycling schedule then emerged – ride for an hour or so, and then take a well-deserved break, which might involve beverages (almost always plural, we are sweating liters of water out so quickly that it's hard to earn a trip to the toilet that's not 'curry scurry' oriented), street food which is either rice or noodle based, or just pure standing satisfaction.
Right now we are averaging a bit over 16km/hr, which ought to be faster except we are carrying many kilos of stuff – Blaise's bike w/luggage weighs just under 30kg. His is the only weight we know, since so far no one else has bucked up the 1 Baht to weigh their ride. Perhaps soon.
Back in the heat, tire repaired and water consumed, we fearlessly rode onwards until hunger struck. Finding food proved to be a touch more difficult than craving it, as the first three places we stopped at were not able to provide any vegetarian food. Then a pad thai stand appeared, almost like a mirage (OK, that's a bit of exaggeration, but we were quite ravenous and drenched at the time), which ended up being the first in a series of unusual events.
Wading through the usual language barrier, we managed to sort out our order of two vegetarian meals and three non-vegetarian meals (chicken), and as much water as we could drink (!), before the whiskey-drunk-at-noon local man started asking us questions in Thai. Yep, he was already wasted, needed help opening another bottle, and wouldn't stop yammering even when we were eating. Thankfully, the karma police were keeping a lookout, as seated at the next table was an extremely helpful Thai man named Yan.

Yan spoke excellent English, wrote down a bunch of helpful Thai food phrases for us, and offered to meet up with us later in the evening, once we'd biked to our destination Chan Buri – which was located about 20km away. He gave us his business card to call him, and we figured we might as well since Chan Buri isn't exactly a tourist destination.
As luck would have it (well, when you're traveling you don't really want to concede it's luck, perhaps good fortune), his 1:30pm appointment was canceled, so perhaps 45 minutes later he drove back to the restaurant, where we were still relaxing in the shade, and offered us a ride onwards. With about 50km under our belts, and the afternoon sun still shining away recklessly, without much debate we loaded up his truck-bed with our bikes, and the truck-cab with our bodies. Despite the cramped conditions, the air-conditioning felt blessed, and the kilometers flew by in comparison to our usual pace. Without us really being aware Chon Buri flew right by (it was about 20km or so from where we had stopped for lunch), and soon we started seeing signs for Pattaya. It was there, about 80km later, on the outskirts of town at a petrol station, where we landed without much knowledge of our location.
Well, we certainly figured out quickly that we were in one of the sex capitols of Asia. Getting directions to the backpacker-friendly part of town (that means low prices, and perhaps equally low quality), we soon found ourselves on streets full of cat-calling and scantily-clad women, all at bars with cheap drink specials and flexible hours of operation. Our hotel, somewhat surprisingly, was rather upmarket for being only 400 Baht/night, especially since they let us pack three people in one room. They even changed our linens, and gave us new soap and shampoo – perhaps necessary given the usual clientele :-).
We spent one day relaxing on Pattaya's beach, which was, perhaps fittingly, a bit nasty. However, the sun felt great, Liz got a pedicure and a manicure beach-side for a mere 200 Baht, and our rented (30 Baht) beach-chairs provided good comfort for reading. As for the water itself, between the garbage, the glass, and the jellyfish (both dead and alive), we hardly spent anytime in it.
Being so Westernized, Pattaya had all sorts of chains, both restaurant and hotel. So Blaise got to eat some of his beloved Subway (could be the last time for a long while), and we got to see a scenic Holiday Inn looming over the skyline. On ground level the streets were full of bars, shops, and go-go bars.

“Comfort women” - if you will, were everywhere, and older white European men, rarely alone, were omnipresent. It was a strange environment, but we had fun with it, and all the workers (of all types) were friendly and polite to us, a few even recognizing us from our initial cycling about in search of lodging.
One night of partying late was plenty for us, though we could at least somewhat understand why most visitors stay for at least a month, so our second night ended around midnight so that we could start riding in the morning's cool. Things actually worked out well for us on our lengthy Saturday ride (Pattaya to Rayong = 70km and over four hours actually pedaling), as the sky overhead remained cloudy-yet-rainless the entire time. We kept a good pace, and the road (Hwy 3 primarily, which was still technically called Sukhumvit Road) was well-paved and flat, so the kilometers passed by. When we stopped for an early lunch, at 10:30am, we had already taken care of 50km. We ate at a fantastic place, owned by a Westerner and aimed at foreign tourists/golfers/businessmen, so the food was very well-prepared and yet the prices were wholly reasonable – most Thai dishes were 50 Baht, cheap considering that even out on the street they are thirty.
We took our time eating and drinking, and when the owner of the place recommended a non-touristy temple a turn up off the main road, we figured we'd check it out. Late last night this became Anderson's first collage project using Picasa, so hopefully it turned out to your liking!

We got to “relax” with blue Buddhas, and cute puppy dogs, too, before ascending a flight of steps through a bit of forest/jungle to get to the temple. We could see an enormous green Buddha towering on the hillside most of the way up – the hideous radio tower behind only became visible when we actually got to the temple. The entire temple was strange: everything seemed fake and cheesy, like leftovers from a Disneyland Buddha ride that never quite materialized. To add to the delirium, families were faithfully worshiping in our midst. What they thought of the herd of sweaty cyclists, in tight black shorts holding handkerchiefs, snapping photos and chugging water, we can only guess.
The final 20km or so went by quickly, though most of it was spent cruising though a series of adjacent towns, so we did take a pair of fast stops for more liquids. We got into Rayong just about dinner time, which means a little past 4pm, and after some city cycling and direction-asking, we found two great deals: 10 Baht/plate food at a corner store, and then the city's only real affordable hotel, the Star Apartments. Located in the shadow of the pricey Star Hotel, they were a bit dingy and ant-filled, but passable given the circumstances. Finding dinner was even a tad difficult, as our desire to actually sit down to eat turned a task into a chore. Blocks later we finally found a restaurant, only to have one of our meals forgotten (which has actually happened several times so far), but at least the eats were actually good.
We didn't realize internet was available at our hotel, else this would've been written/posted a few days ago, but so it goes. The night passed quickly enough, so quick we slept in a bit, so after we'd finished our rice breakfast, it was around 11am. But the 26km wasn't too big a deal at all, and after getting intentionally misled by a boat tout to an alternate pier, we found ourselves waiting for the public ferry. Cycling down the pier once the boat had arrived, we then had a bit of an ordeal getting our bikes actually on the roof of the boat. The only access point was a wooden plank walkway, so we had to take all the luggage off of our bikes, and then dangerously pass it over the open water while choppy seas swayed the boat every which way. Literary license aside, it was more intense than we'd expected – as was the actual ride, which really made Liz wish she'd taken some Dramamine.
We'd done some beach research about Ko Samet before arriving, so we were aiming for either the main Hat Sai Kaew (aka Diamond Beach), or Ao Hin Khok right next door. The former ended up being too upmarket for our needs, but the latter, after we'd finally found a way through the maze of shops near the beach, was just our style. Not too many people, good enough waves for body-surfing, and a nice white beach all awaited us, we just had to locate an affordable hotel. That proved difficult at first, as everyplace we checked out had prices double what we wanted to buy, but finally we found some dumpy bungalows for 300 Baht/room directly up the hill behind the beach. While not glamorous, Tok's Guesthouses are certainly functional, and with the fan blowing on us it actually feels quite cool in our rooms.
We arrived in the mid-afternoon, so we got several hours of immediate beach-time in. We also got numerous hours of dancing in that night at the Silver Sands Bar, where everyone drifts to for pounding dance music until 3am.

Monday was much more beach-time, sunning, swimming, and lots and lots of body-surfing. Plus plenty of eating, the food at our guesthouse is really quite amazing, and with a plethora of happy hour specials the drinks are also reasonably priced even if we weren't on an island.
We'll try again for internet usage on Tuesday - which as you can read has been successful, our attempt today (Monday) was met with “it's broken.” At least that's about as stressful as it gets here in paradise.

More blogging when there's news to blog about,
Peace
A&E&krew

Just a quick post to say that we have gotten our bikes (!), survived the 10km bike ride through the hectic city streets to our guesthouse, and that we will officially be departing Bangkok tomorrow morning. If all goes to plan we'll be leaving in about 7 hours - that's why this post is so short, it's definitely bedtime - and be riding approximately 80km or so to Chonburi, Thailand. We may stop earlier if we get tired or whatnot, but given that it is our first day we really want to get in a good days worth of riding.
We also got our bikes all pimped out today at Bike Zone: new saddles, water bottle holders, mirrors, bike bags, etc. Together we've spent almost $2000 just on our bikes and basic accessories (not counting panniers and such), but all money well-spent as far as we are concerned. Our bikes look nice, they rode great today, and we're very excited to get a move on!
Brian also departed for America today, we know he's having a wonderful time in the air right now in business class - in his new suit! We definitely had a great time with him in Bangkok & Chiang Mai, and are wishing him the best of luck in his upcoming job search!

It's officially bedtime
Peace
A&E+BCL