Lost in Laos - Day 3
What a restful night. Even though it was less than 6 hours, it felt much, much more. I just hope it’s enough to solve all the problems that are to come. Premonitions of a wrongly diagnosed bike problem was never far from my mind, but banishing negative thoughts from my mind enabled me to keep my wits thus far. I’ll just have to take things one at a time.
William’s arrival was greeted with great cheer and wide smiles. I’m still amazed at the lengths William is going to help out a fellow biker and this includes a 700km journey through the middle of the night. Even though William and Juanita merely brushed it off saying they could need a holiday in Penang, it is how they gone out of their way to help which makes me feel lucky that I’m surrounded by such friends.
The mechanic who is to help me fix up the coil is one of those mechanics that Rosli needs. Rosli’s bad luck with helpers he hired is legendary but this guy gives me the impression that he is more concerned about the bike, rather than the money. The first thing he did when he came was to check the bike again. He did not dare to speak out against his boss the day before as he IS his boss, so he called his “Master” in Singapore to tell him of the bike's symptoms and the possible problems. The diagnosis was not good and they suspected wiring problems rather than that of the charging coil.
Checking if it were the wires...
Early in the morning..waiting for William
Just then, William the Saviour arrived and happy smiles broke out all around.
William the Saviour
The new charging coil and gasket - Kruzer Kouriered!
the burnt charging coil
But once the goods were out, work commenced immediately with all the necessary changes. Once all was done, fingers crossed, we tested. And tested again and again, unbelieving that there was still no charge. Wire problems seemed very likely now. Out cam the handphones with me calling Rosli, and Ryan (the mechanic) calling his Master. Both mechanics came to the right spot at the same time: check the starter relay socket and fuse. It might be burnt..... and both were right.
The socket is a piece of plastic holding 4 wires and connected to a relay. Without this relay, there was no way a bike could start. The plastic socket had melted in the holder, encasing the metal contacts with molten plastic. It was a messy sight.
melted plastic coated the contacts
melted plastic fused the socket to the holder and after much prying, here's all that remains...
The fortunate thing was that this socket can be sourced from another bike and the store had a brand new SYM scooter with the exact same socket. Now, all Ryan had to do was to make sure that a replacement socket can be found for him. With the new socket fixed, and the test completed (charging at last!! - hooray!), we could officially move off from this phase into Thailand. One ordeal is over and what awaits us across the border could be another. Now, we got a train to catch in Hatyai and we moved off at 1200hrs local time. .
Hatyai, we’re a day late but here we come.
(AF: Ryan did have problems finding a replacement socket for the scooter. Nobody sells the socket on its own but through his means, he managed to get somebody to bring a couple of them up from Singapore. Once again, the willingness to help, even though they could refuse, impressed me. Thinking back, he could have installed the coil and left me alone to enjoy his Sunday off. It was enough said. 2 thumbs up. Rosli could really need someone like him to help out at his stall and I am not shy to admit to say that Rosli has truly been vindicated. I think my trust has grown that much more.)
AAF: Rosli tells me that the socket cannot even be found in Singapore! They usually come in a set of wire harness. I hope Ryan's friend is resourceful enough to get him some anyway!)
20 Dec 2009, 1330hrs local time, Hatyai,
“Sir, there’s been an accident. No more cargo containers.” Pom said to me as we were lounging around the train station, waiting to load up the train that was to arrive in an hour’s time. Negotiations were in its fullest fury now as I probed (no pun intended), cajoled and finally tested if it’s money they want. But really, the problem was simple to begin with. No more space.
Pom is a local porter that luN suggested we speak to. Well, he was the only person we could speak to because he’s the only person in the whole cargo office who speaks a little English. He’s also a fixer for luN’s group on Tuesday and from the looks of it, he also earns money packing cigarettes in his free time. The corrupt sure loves Thailand.
all ready to load up the train - only to tell us that all cabin space is taken up
It’s very apparent that we need to stay in Hatyai for another night. It's 2 days wasted now and after a quick phone call to LuN, we decided to tweak our plans to meet our extremely tight timings. We are to meet at Vientiane now in 2 to 3 days time
LuN's group will travel up to the north on their own while we will take Route 2 up to Udon Thani from Bangkok. Regrets on missing Southern Laos will always be present but to jeopardize the trip schedule will be criminal, especially when we are on a tightrope on the timings.
With the schedule sorted, I needed some assurance that we are able to get the train the next day and persisted with confirmation for the next day’s cargo space. They relented to ask me to come again at 0600hrs the next morning. We are to meet the cargo cabin master and ask for his help to confirm. This southbound train at 6am is the same train that is heading back northwards later in the afternoon. All that was needed was some coffee money for the cabin master.
At the train station, we also met another interesting character. A fellow Singaporean who is on his solo trip to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and bits of China, in a month. On a scrambler, a Honda XR400. He was to ride with his riding partner who unfortunately passed away the week before. He’s completing the ride in memory of his friend. Being a newbie to these regions and sticking with us throughout the train episode, I felt he had the right attitude of asking for help and making friends to make his trip a strong success. He is also stuck with us in Hatyai and we decided to stick together. His plans are to continue his northward sojourn by train to Chiang Mai and take it from there.
Wei Jie - riding in memory of his friend who was to ride with him for this trip
His journey reminds me of another friend we've lost in 2005, Benny. An avid rider, he travelled up to the northern most Thailand -Myanmar border in his 400cc Honda CBR but always in sight of the 1300cc Yamaha FJR leading the way. He had wanted to upgrade to an Africa Twin to tackle Laos the following year but it was not meant to be. I remembered how hard it was for me to ride back from Koh Samui to attend Benny's funeral when I heard the news, stopping several times to compose myself before continuing. I guess the same must be said of Wei Jie.
With the same attitude of enjoying whatever shit was thrown at us, we proceeded for an early dinner at 1700hrs and then a solid 2 hour Thai massage. Those cracked bones and bruised muscles, freed from the lactic acid from riding stiffly (again no pun intended), never felt so good. We had to have an early night as well as we need to wake up at 530am to get to the train station. Again, uncertainty reigns but in a funny sort of way, we were getting used to it....
(NB: Video uploads were unsuccessful. I was hoping to show some vids but couldn't...it would be great to show you how the porters move the bikes up the train. :) )
bitched Vanwacoireion the Elven Adventurer at 11:47 PM
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