Author Archive
Monday, August 18th, 2008
Crossing into Laos
228km Kratie to Don Det
You’d think we’d be well trained by now after nearly two years on the road. We’ve been across our fair share of deserts and up high mountain peaks but the wilds of northern Cambodia still managed to give us a run for our money. Hot. Desolate. Almost no shade. One account we read online of this section even described it as a route without scenery. The assessment wasn’t far wrong.We started out in cool air at 7:30am from Kratie, with a packed lunch in our bags from the market. Soon the sun was rising and we were working against a headwind to cover the 150km to the next town. Slipping under a tree for a rest wasn’t easily done. Our first priority was to steer clear of landmines left over from the civil war and that meant sticking to marked paths but a bigger problem was finding a tree at all! Land had been intensively cleared for farming. When we eventually got to Stung Treng we’d see the heavy wood furniture made from these former forests – a profitable business for those with access to the land.
The day continued with little to distract us from the road. Normally we are surrounded by village life. Children yelling hello. Chickens being transported in their dozens, hanging off the handlebars and sides of a single motorbike. Men drinking iced coffee while staring transfixed at the latest boxing match in a local cafe. Women out working in the rice fields. (more…)
Comments Off - Posted in Cambodia, Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Laos by andrew
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
Riding the back roads of Cambodia
236km Phnom Penh to Kratie
Wednesday was one of those days. We woke up late, struggled to get our bags packed and after we rode away we realised that Friedel’s glasses were still at the hotel. When we remembered that our health insurance was about to expire it was the final straw. Cycling without good medical cover isn’t an option so we aborted our departure and laughed as we returned to lug all our stuff back up the stairs and check in for another night.
We were in much better shape on Thursday and even a few early showers couldn’t put us off. We cycled along the waterfront, took the Japanese bridge over the Mekong and started the journey north to Laos. Just a few years ago this route would have been a tough ride on almost entirely dirt roads. Things have improved a lot recently where Cambodian roads are concerned and our spirits were lifted when we turned off the main road and found the asphalt continuing ahead. This didn’t last long, of course, but even when the dirt road appeared it was reasonably smooth and hard packed. We rode happily along the river, through strings of villages and waving to the hordes of children who appeared out of nowhere to shout “hello” at us. Add to that the crowing roosters, squealing pigs, men watching movies at top volume in crowded cafes, the general buzz in markets, Buddhist monks chanting and Muslim calls to prayer and you’ll understand why we could call these villages just about anything but tranquil! Fascinating they certainly were but not as peaceful as you might expect for rural Cambodia. At lunch we must have been the talk of the town. No sooner had we sat down at a roadside stall when four locals arrived to stare at the strange foreigners. We never knew we were so enthralling. Maybe they were just hoping for a bite of our rice and tofu. Well, it was some of the tastiest and cheapest Cambodian food we’ve found yet. We couldn’t blame them for being envious. (more…)
2 Comments » - Posted in Cambodia, Cycling Trips, Journal Entries by andrew
Monday, July 28th, 2008
Cyclists on the move in Canada
A little public service announcement here 
We have two sets of friends, both couples, who are currently cycling through Canada. One couple - Son & Ali - have been on the road for a while and are going down the west coast and through the U.S. towards South America. The other couple - Scott & Becky - are just starting on their world tour and are currently in Newfoundland, heading for Nova Scotia and the eastern side of the United States before they catch a freighter ship to Italy. Life on the road can be a bit trying at times, made much more fun by the people you meet along the way, and we know we have a lot of readers in these areas. Maybe you’d like to offer a tip on the terrain ahead to our friends, meet them for coffee or even let them pitch their tent in your backyard for a night? We’re sure they’d appreciate it. Or maybe you’d just like to follow their blogs. More inspiration for your future cycling trips!
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Random Ramblings by andrew
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
On the beaten track
170km Ayutthya to Pak Chong
“Twenty baht for photo,” said the man on the elephant as he strode past, looking at us hopefully. What seemed like half a house of things – a table, some chairs, a washing basin – was piled on the elephant’s back and we couldn’t help stopping our bicycles to take a better look. That’s when the clever fellow recognised an opportunity and tried to get us to pay for the honour of taking his picture.
We were disappointing customers, refusing to get out our camera and encourage the idea that all tourists have money coming out of their ears. For us it was a wake-up call, that escaping off the beaten path of backpacker hotels and karaoke bars in heavily-visited Thailand was going to be harder than in any country we’d visited so far.
That morning we’d left the city of Ayutthya, famous for its temples, and headed out on rural roads along a small and winding river. Under a beating sun, which had us covered in sweat before 9am, we watched as little by little the population disappeared, leaving just thick forest on either side of the road and grazing water buffalo to look at. (more…)
No Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Thailand by andrew
Saturday, May 24th, 2008
The bumpy road to Karakol
672km Taldykorgan-Karakol
Where to start on a journey that’s taken us across some of Kazakhstan’s more remote and beautiful places over the past eight days and through the back door into Kyrgyzstan, where we sit now on the edge of one of the world’s largest alpine lakes. How about with the sound of two hundred hoofs thundering on the ground around us as a troop of at least fifty horses, their glossy coats gleaming in the afternoon sunshine, raced past us in a high mountain pasture?
Or maybe we should begin with thunder of another kind; thunder and lightening that chased us over bumpy dirt roads into Kyrgyzstan where we dashed for shelter under the eaves of a farmhouse. As the rain poured down from the heavens, over the edge of the roof and into our shoes, we found a local teenager standing next to us, eyeing us up with surprise and a smile. Apparently they don’t get many tourists in his tiny village.
Then there was the lady who insisted we come in for tea when we arrived in her shop to buy some food. “Chai, chai,” she said, beckoning us over with a wave. Out came two cups of tea accompanied by bread, sausage, cookies and candies on the small and rickety table in her crowded kitchen, which served doubly as her bedroom. (more…)
