The Lung of Bangkok....by DB

Hi everyone.  It is finally me taking my turn at the blogging-wheel.
Much to my great surprise, amazement and delight - Jer arranged a bike tour in the country-side for my birthday back in April.  For many that may not sound so special...nice maybe...but not that special.  But for those who know how long I have been tryng to get Jer on a bike, they know this is very special to me.  I am one of those that have never grown up-or-out-of experiencing the first summer thrill of pulling my bike out of the garage each year.  That first spin around the block or up to the plaza or down to Port Credit...or wherever, is total freedom to me....and feels just like when I was 7 and could suddenly and easily get from one end of town to ther other, and all points in between,  in no-time-flat.  And lucky me I get to feel that, every single year...all summer long.

As Jerry wrote previously, our bike tour in the country was fabulous.  So much so, that we decided to someday do another bike tour in the city in what they call the 'Lung of Bangkok'...and this is that story.  As we learned, the area referred to as the Lung of Bangkok is a vast area of the city, on ther other side of the Chao Praya river that remains very green....and helps to feed the rest of the city with much needed clean air and oxygen. What we didn't know was that much of this area is only accessable by a hugh network of raised sidewalks or paths.

Well I have to tell you, this was a little daunting at the start.  There was very little looking around at the scenery, and a lot of concentration on the path ahead.  At one point Jer said that he was going to need a massage after our ride because his shoulders and neck were so tense from this 'concentrating on the path'.  I was feeling exactly the same.  But after a while we settled in and could relax a bit....but only when were not going around a hair-pin turn, or going up a steep ramp over a canal, or going back down a very steep (ok...I guess it was the 'same' steep as the up part!!) ramp on the other side of said ramp, or getting off the bike entirely because a motor bike was going to squeeze by (and they NEVER got off their bikes, or really slowed down all that much).  I think this paints a pretty good picture.  It was indeed a bike ride that made me very happy, in the green area of Bangkok that we had never seen or hear of....but it was a bit nerve-racking and about to get a little more so.

As you can see from the pictures, there are no barriers or rails on about 98% of this raised sidewalk.  But at one point we take a sharp left turn, and directly in front of us (or now along the right side of the path) we notice that a barrier or fence has been constructed for about 40 feet.....of barbed wire.  Yikes.  For the split second when I first caught sight, I realized that I would vastly prefer the previously dreaded fall off the path...than running up against this very rusty fence.  Then just like the cop shows tell us that sometimes people (usually who have been drinking) when they see a flashing light on the side of the road to warn them to stay away....they instead drive straight towards it.

Don't ask me why or how.....because I really, really don't know.  All I do know is that suddenly I was hung up in the fence, the front wheel of my bike dangling down between the path and the fence, the back wheel still on the path along with my left foot. I was fully leaning into the barb wire with my arms caught up in it, but I couldn't push myself up and away as my right foot was caught up and I could not get any leverage.
Jer was ahead of me and heard my yelp....jumped off his bike and in a flash was behind me and we frantically started to call out possible moves.  He freed my right foot so that I could find a non-barbed piece of the fence to put it on to support myself, and then he pulled up the bike and freed me from this tangled hell!!

A few tense and then shakey moments followed....cleaned and stopped the bleeding from a few puncture wounds...then walked our bikes out of the raised path maze...back on bikes once we hit a road.....then into a clinic for some more cleaning, a small incision for better cleaning, then a single stitch for the worst of the wounds. Actually the clinic experience was very impressive...they did not even ask me my name...and would take no money after they had done their work.  They said no, Thai goverment looks after all people.

So that is our story of a little bike ride in the Lung of Bangkok.  And for full impact, I also include pictures of the various scratches, cuts and punctures.  

Jerry thinks this part is a bit dramatic....but I know that my friends would want to know all about this adventure...and too, that I am healing nicely.          Lots of love,  Deeds