Every day is adventure, and today is a slightly more memorable one.
Today's schedule was to head up North towards Nakhon Sawan, ending at Sukothai with a distance of over 500KM to cover but I decided to first make a detour because I've heard about these tigers and have been wanting to see them at Kanchanaburi Tiger Temple!
I tried to ride faster too, full throttling at high rpm all the way, going at 100kmh for around 3 hours. Halfway through I did notice some weird noise coming out from the front of my bike, so I stopped and checked my brake discs, my tyres, and everything visible to my eye seemed fine. Plus, the bike was still running so I assumed everything was okay.
By the time I reached, it was slightly past noon time. I had all my baggage with me on my bike and can't possibly leave it there. There weren't any lockers at the temple too. I told the staffs and they so kindly let me put all my baggage in their office while I went in to find my tigers.
Ticket cost: 600 THB
Visiting Hours: 12:30 - 3:30PM
Take note of the short visiting hours, this is due to ensuring the tigers have enough rest time and necessary training sessions if required.
Kanchanaburi Tiger Temple, or also known as Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, is a Buddhist Temple located in western Thailand, very close to Myanmar. Founded in 1994, it served as a sanctuary for wild animals in the forest and majority of the tigers here are Indochinese.
When you're aware of the strength they possess and how lethal their jaws could be, you tend find them unapproachable and feel afraid. But these tigers are actually very well behaved and tame. Sometimes being playful too.
They are so adorable I would bring one home if I could, and very nice to hug too cuz they're like huge! Spent an afternoon lazing and playing around with them, until one tiger cub got attracted to my blue hair, his paw lifted up towards my head but immediately, the marshals on standby held it down.
Maybe the tigers here have to read and memorize this "The Way To Peace" daily to be this tame and calm.
Bumped into a bunch of Singaporean auntie and uncles who were on a tour group here and one look at my T-shirt, they asked if I was the girl riding to Everest Base Camp. I was so surprised and nodded my head in disbelief that they were aware of my humble expedition. They gave their words of encouragement and told me to press on in this hot weather!
Support from family, loved ones and even strangers really means a lot to me.
Every one of them counts.
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| A local helping me push my bike across to the bike shop |
Looking at the time and considering I still had to make my way back up North to Sukothai with quite a lot of distance to cover, I left the Tiger Temple, feeling contented that I finally managed to interact with them.
Barely 20KM after leaving the Tiger Temple, the unexpected happens.
This is only Day 6 of my one month long journey, and I've clocked just over 2,400KM so far.
I recalled hearing some weird noises coming out from my engine just this morning, and now..
My bike broke down.
Shit happens. Nobody wishes for it to but we must always be prepared.
I was only prepared with basic mechanic skills and after doing some troubleshooting, I realized its a bigger problem where there wasn’t any way I could salvage it myself.
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| The bike mech fixing my bike |
In the middle of nowhere, out in the open and the heat, my
bike breaks down. You can call it luck, I’d call it a blessing, because it broke
down right opposite a bike workshop. He was the only shop there, which a local pointed out to me and even helped me push my bike across as I carried my baggage and walked over.
Seriously, what are the chances? Really..
Feeling thankful yet inevitably worried, I cast my bike into the cares
of this honest bike mechanic.
You definitely don't want is a shop that takes advantage of your situation and extorts you, knowing you're a helpless foreigner traveling alone.
The mechanic couldn't really speak English, and neither can I speak Thai, but through hand signals, we somehow managed to communicate as he helped me understand the problem and how he was gonna help me.
What exactly happened?
You definitely don't want is a shop that takes advantage of your situation and extorts you, knowing you're a helpless foreigner traveling alone.
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| His son got upset when he returned from school and saw his dad (the bike mech) using his Angry Birds underwear as a rag to wipe oil from my bike. His dad explained it's already torn, how to wear? So use it as a rag better than throwing it away ma. |
The mechanic couldn't really speak English, and neither can I speak Thai, but through hand signals, we somehow managed to communicate as he helped me understand the problem and how he was gonna help me.
What exactly happened?
So apparently, my engine oil was completely wiped out and of course, without it, there is no lubricant for my piston to work, causing it to scratch my cam shaft and eventually, it got stuck.
What caused it?
NOT Liqui Moly Engine Oil
Firstly, it's definitely NOT due to the engine oil type I am using, which is Liqui Moly's 10W50 fully synthetic oil because just a month ago in May, I used it for my dry run to/fro Singapore - Hat Yai Thailand, covering about 2,000KM in total and not only was my bike perfectly fine, it felt way smoother than before. #truestory.
NOT Piston / Piston Ring Condition
If it's not the oil, naturally we'd look at the mechanical side of things. If the piston is no good, it would've jammed which in this instance, my piston is (THANK GOD) still fine. If my piston ring is no good, it will cause the engine oil to "escape", resulting in it depleting real fast.
However after thorough checks, the mechanic has confirmed that both my piston and piston ring is OK.
My Negligence In Monitoring The Engine Oil Level Daily :(
This happened purely due to my negligence in checking my engine oil level daily as I was so hyped about my trip, all I remembered to do were simple things like checking my bike's brakes, lights, tyres, battery voltage every morning before moving off, and changing my engine oil at every 3,000KM mark.
I travel at 100 - 110kmh all the time so far and because my Suzuki DR200 is not used to traveling at such high rpm for 6 - 8 hours daily, clocking so much mileage, my engine oil was used up really quickly.
Now that I've learnt this about my bike, I monitor my engine oil daily and make sure it's always full. Also, I don't go above 95kmh now.
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| From Left: TAT Kanchanaburi, Myself, The kind bike mechanic |
Though it gave me a fright when my bike broke down because I was worried if the problem was major and spare parts were needed, it will delay my schedule and affect my entry dates into China which they are very strict in.
Curious at why I was riding alone, the Thai mech asked why and I shared with him my story. We talked about bikes, and family. It was amazing how even without much words or a common language, two people can still understand each other, leaving me with a deep impression.
After 8 hours at the bike shop, from watching the bike mechanic carefully handled the parts that caused my bike to stall, to seeing his wife and children come home from work and school as he continued to work tirelessly on my bike, with all of them telling me not to worry as he always does his best for his customers.
I could see that because over that few hours at the workshop, I witnessed other locals who came with their bikes and how they talked just like family because of how genuine he was with them.
Furthermore, after so much effort and time he has spent on my bike, the fee he charged was unreasonably low.
Not everything that happens is good, but there's always something good out of everything :)
Not only is my bike now finally back up and running, I've been moved by the kindness of the locals who have so genuinely expressed towards me.
By the time my bike was done, it was already midnight and as advised by locals, riding at night in Thailand is a no-no because its very dangerous. It's the time where big trailers and trucks come out doing their shift work and crime rate like robbery is high.
I decided to stay one night in Bangkok (not the city) before playing catch up tomorrow.
Now that I've missed my destination Sukothai for today, I've got to head for Chiang Rai the next day to be back on schedule.
What a day! I'm completely beat.
Time to rest for tomorrow's long ride.
1,000KM, let's do this.
[Singapore.Malaysia.Thailand.]
[Mileage Clocked: 2,427 KM]
[Weather/Temperature: Sunny/38°C]
[Terrain: Road/Average Tarmac]
Next stop: Chiang Rai, Thailand