I followed the GPS directions and it meant backtracking along the good road past where we had come out of the sandy desert track. Then it continued on for another 50Km or so before I had to turn off onto another road. It wasn’t a tiny track but it wasn’t a highway either. It was a pretty rough road and it had several wet river crossing but nothing I was at all concerned by given what Id come through over the last few days. But it did eat up the time as I rode along slowly nursing the bike (the luggage attachments had been pretty much destroyed by all the falls in the rubble of the last few days.) The bad road eventually ended at about 5pm and I got onto a very good quality dirt road that I could really pick up the speed on which I did with about 120Km to go. But I found I had to really slow up often as I passed livestock on the road. There were lots and lots of small herds of goats and cattle about the place. And lots of people too, often with the animals or in little villages along the way… I was out of the harshest of the desert and I was in a farming or at least herding area. So Id just get the bike up to about 75Kmh or so and then another herd would appear and Id have to slow down to 50 if there was space to pass or to 20 or so if the animals blocked the road (usually the case)… After all the slow progress of the day it was again quite frustrating watching the sun getting lower as I made such slow progress. But I pressed on as best I could and just accepted that that’s how things were here… People use the roads to herd their livestock along. And so I progressed for another 50Km or so before I very unfortunately managed to clip a goat… Well in my defense, I had taken sufficient evasive action to clear the little fellow by quite a margin but at the last second the goat decided to make a desperate bid for … well Im not sure if it was for its mother or its home, or what but it suddenly sprinted directly toward the line that I was taking… away from the rest of its herd and away from the near side of the road and directly toward my chosen evasive line… still I nearly missed him and I thought I was clear as the front wheel went passed him and my leg cleared him… but the wide rear luggage box clipped him right in the head … poor little guy went down in the dust as I went by! L And the hit was hard enough for me to be pretty sure that the goat was dead… I felt very bad…
Now hitting some ones livestock in these sorts of places is a recipe for big troubles. And to add to the situation (in my mind at least) were two other factors as well… First that I had just in the last 15 minutes ridden past two or three other herds with their local owners visibly escorting their charges and also visibly with large AK47s slung across their backs!, And secondly that the herd of goats that the one I hit belonged to didn’t have a visible owner right there that I could talk to… … … Hmmm… No question that this was my fault and that I was responsible for the animal… But did I really want to be trying to sort out how to deal with it with an angry and quite possibly heavily armed owner while not being able to speak the local language (and likely no one local could speak English either) in the remote country-side of a strange land whos customs I know none of?... Call it paranoia but I think you can probably see what was going through my mind…. So, in the two seconds after the hit, I made the decision to not stop and to ride on. Im not proud of it but I effectively decided to leave the scene and if I didn’t see an obvious police station in the next 50Km or so Id just “let it be”… Im sure its not the first and wont be the last goat that’s been hit in the area!
So, I rode on. I continued to avoid lots more goats and cows as I went and the sun continued toward the horizon. After another 20Km or so I came to a road junction with a tarmac highway and a few shops and lots of people who looked a lot more like regular town people rather than herders. There was no apparent police station and so I rode off along the highway and thought no more of the incident… My thoughts were on the sunset… I figured I had about 15 minutes before it was down and then maybe another 15 more before it was dark. And along I rode, but progress was little better since the livestock on the roads is equally a problem for paved highways. And the sun did indeed set and I was still riding. And twilight was gathering strength and I still had about 30Km to go. But the light was really fading so there was nothing for it but to slow up even more and just tough it out… a long day but I would get there eventually.
And I was just coming into a smallish town riding at about 60Kmh when a guy dressed like any one of the other local town people that are around the place walks out into the middle of the road in front of me waving an AK47 and saying stop… I slow up immediately but I try not to stop and try to keep moving forward/past slowly because Im thinking this looks very much like an armed robbery and I want an out!!!... And when I don’t come to a full stop the guy immediately loads a round into the chamber and shouts stop and points at me and moves further into my path!!.... OK, loaded gun and angry owner… Ill do exactly what he says now… I pull over and stop!
There are a few other people around but I cant figure out what is going on from them and it looks like they don’t understand either… Looks more and more like Im about to be robbed as far as Im concerned… Im a bit out of ideas and rather concerned of course but I try to stay calm and in my most polite and pleasant voice I try to ask “Is there a problem?” “Why cant I go?”… The guy with the gun is looking agitated and looking around as if for someone else to come help him. The other locals are looking agitated too and are talking a bit to the guy with the gun but they are clearly scared too… Im thinking “yep, Im being robbed… may as well just accept it and try not to get hurt”… I try to talk with the guy with the gun and ask what he wants and how can I help. I keep my nice voice and stay quietly on the motorbike. But the guy with the gun keeps looking around and wont talk to me and wont come closer than about three metres. Ive stopped the bike but the engine is still running and Im trying not to take off my helmet and gloves… who knows??? Then there is another guy with a gun who comes over to the first… There is a shout at the gathering towns people (clearly a go away) and they back off and leave me with my captors… Then there is another guy who comes over to the two and they confer and then Im told in bad English to stop again to which I say yes sir Im stopped, how can I help, what do you want. There is a bit more conferring and another guy shows up and this guy has no gun but seems to have vestiges of a blue uniform on… So now I think there is some lone cop who is maybe “owned” by some local bandits and hes somehow trying to help me or maybe them or I dunno… its just very confusing and highly loaded! (no pun intended)?? And after a bit more chatting between them I get clear instructions with a point of the gun and a single word “Move”! to drive the bike slowly where they want it… It is about 20m up the road and over to the other side… through a gateway into the yard of a crappy little building… and there is another guy in the doorway there who also has a bluish set of pants and maybe a blue shirt…. The light is really gone now but I finally figure out whats up… Im being arrested! This is a huge relief to me since at least its official and not random bandits… There was not a single badge or proper uniform or sign on the station or a police vehicle, but the guys with the guns are real legitimate police officers and Im being pulled over for the goat thing… They still have not said more than a couple of words to me and its apparent that their English is pretty poor.
But at least I understand now and so I sit quietly till they have their stuff together and someone else turns up who does speak English. It takes a while for someone to come along who can translate well enough before I try to start explaining my side of the story. There are also some phone calls going on too… Im happy its not a mugging but Im by no means thrilled at this turn of events… It can be a really big problem killing someone’s goat and then running away in a place like this. I have no idea how deep a pile of dodo Im in so all I can do is wait and see and try to stay nice and cooperative. Eventually a guy shows up (along with quite the crowd gathered at the gate) who can speak English pretty well. I again ask what is going on and I get it confirmed that these guys are the real police. I wait till they tell me Im here because Ive “made a mistake” (which is a mistranslation of “had an accident”) before I start in on my confession/explanation… who knows it could be something else entirely that’s going on?. And then its clear that its about the goat and only about the goat and I carefully explain why I didn’t stop and that I am definitely responsible and am hoping that I can compensate the owner through the Police but was afraid to try to do it in person etc… It takes about an hour and a few phone calls but it turns out that yes it will be possible to do things that way. Im told it will cost me 1000! And Im thinking Crap! that’s a lot of $$$ but I really don’t got much choice and Ill swallow it if I have to, but then its explained that that’s local money and my overstressed brain does the calculation badly at first and I think its still $500 but I recalculate and its only $50… Its amazing how simple division by 20 can be so hard after a day in the hot sun struggling with a motorbike in deep sand… or then again it could have been the loaded AK47 waved in my face! J … Anyway I meekly agree to the charge but tell them I don’t have the 1000… to which they say I can be let go and take a taxi to the town (which I have explained I was heading to) and I can come back in the morning but the bike must stay impounded… I say no Id rather sort it all out now if I can and that Im sure the goat owner would prefer it that way too… They say but “you don’t have money”… and I say “no no, I don’t have 1000Bir but I do have US$50 if that can work”… a few exchanged words and that seems OK… We all stand there looking at each other… The translator guy says “do you have the money now?” I say “yes, Can you give me receipt?” He says “yes yes, bring the money inside, we write receipt”… I get the money and we go inside… About another hour later and a long hand written and copied and signed and stamped letter of apology/ receipt is created (in incredibly bad pseudo-English by the way… But Im not going to correct their grammar at the best of times and certainly not at the moment!). The money is stapled to the letter. I get given a copy; then there are some hand shakes and I thank the translator guy (a civilian) very much for his help and everyone seems happy… I ask one more time that “there wont be any more problems and Im free to go … with my bike right?”… Yes… And the gate bar is lowered and Im allowed to ride out into the night J
And so incredibly exhausted and still dehydrated and running on the aftereffects of a substantial dose of adrenalin, I head the big bike once more along the now pitch black highway for the last 25Km to town. I ride quietly along and come to the town as the GPS says I will… Its not all straight forward though… The GPS doesn’t know about the road works I hit and I have to use dead reckoning to get over to the town centre through a maze af little muddy dirt streets. And then I have to find somewhere to stay but where to start??? I just ask a local moto-taxi guy to suggest a place that is cheap and reasonable which amazingly he understands very well (lucked out there and got someone with good English)… and he doesn’t even ask for money for the 30second drive to the place 100m up the street (yep he really is a nice guy). I look at the room and its very dingy and the outside bath/toilet facilities are atrocious (There’s just no way Im gonna use those!) but I haven’t the energy to resist any more… I agree to stay if I can pay in the morning… fine, Im in. I bring my bags in and slump onto the bed. After a few minutes I peel off the riding gear, unfurl the mosquito net, pull back the bed covers… sheets are pretty clean… light off and to bed I go…. I don’t need dinner tonight.
I lay there for a while before falling asleep… inexplicably with a silly grin on my face… no doubt lingering after-effects of that adrenalin hit… the “crossing” finally completed!
