In a medical clinic this morning in Malacca, we got chatting to the receptionist, a cheerful lady in her 50s. She was a curious woman, far more interested in the rare sight of two tourists in her office than filling out forms.

Where were we from? Were we on holiday? Working? We let slip about the bicycles and instantly her mood went from curiosity to disbelief. “But you cycled… from Canada?”

We just smiled. For us, pedalling a few thousand kilometers seems normal - no more unique than the routine of making a coffee in the morning - and we’re always amused to see the wheels turn in the heads of people who aren’t bicycle tourists. They often can’t fathom travelling from the next nearest city by bike, let alone one or two continents away.

Despite this, and rather illogically, we are as fascinated as the receptionist by other people’s bike journeys. They always seem so much more exotic than our adventures.

One cyclist we’ve followed for a while is Peter Gostelow, drawn in by his stunning photographs and beautiful writing. We’ve swapped emails for the better part of a year, very nearly crossed paths in Syria and now we’ve learned that Peter’s launched his own website.

Take a look. Trust us, you’ll love it.

We were wandering the streets of Kuala Lumpur, when we looked across the road and spotted a motorbike. No ordinary motorbike - this one was decorated with stickers, flags and photographs and a big sign that advertised its owner’s hopes to go around the world.

Of course we couldn’t resist investigating further and a few minutes later we were shaking hands with Vladimir Yarets.

Vladimir turned out to be one of the most inspiring characters we’ve met in quite some time. Both deaf and mute, he’s riding around the world to mark his place in the Guinness Book of World Records. What was most amazing was how he could convey details of his trip, using only a few posters as props and a multitude of hand gestures.

We don’t speak a word of sign language but Vladimir told us all kinds of stories about his trip, just with his hands and facial expressions.

If only we’d been so creative and capable when staying with so many good samaritans in places like the Middle East, Central Asia and Morocco, where we were separated by language! We spent a good half hour talking to Vladimir and came away very much impressed by his determination and joyful personality. An inspiration to us all.

244km Tanah Rata to Malaka

We’ve seen it all over the past few days, from the fantastic to the frustrating and even the downright frightening.

Beginnings are almost always good and the ride from the gloriously cool Cameron Highlands back down to the muggy Malaysian coastline was a joy. A winding road took us past tea estates, waterfalls and vegetable fields, on one of those downhills that eliminated any need to pedal but stayed gentle enough that we didn’t need to grip the brakes the whole time either. It must go down as one of the best descents the world has to offer.

Better sense prevailed at the bottom and we decided life was too short to ride into Kuala Lumpur. With a little help from the locals, we quickly found the bus station and then the Chinese restaurant around the corner selling tickets to the express bus.

“When does it leave?” we asked the owner, who was already writing out our tickets, even though we’d just asked if any were available.

“NOW!” came the urgent reply. The owner ushered us across the street to get all our bags off and the front wheel. “This bus isn’t going to wait for you,” we were told in a serious tone. (more…)

You saw it here first!

When we were on Langkawi Island, we met 43-year-old Alan Bate, a British cyclist who’s planning to race around the world in 170 days. If he succeeds, Alan would beat the record recently set by Mark Beaumont. Alan is hoping to start his trip in summer 2009 but first he’s looking for a sponsor - not the easiest of tasks in the current financial climate. So, if anyone out there has $20,000 to spare, get in touch. Here’s our interview with Alan, telling us about his dream to be the fastest man around the world on a bicycle.

 

 Interview with Alan Bate [10:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

135km Gua Musang to Tanah Rata

First, a confession. Today we were rescued by a vegetable truck. Yes, a vegetable truck. So we didn’t actually cycle all that distance. We got halfway and put up the white flag. Now that we’ve bared our souls, here’s what happened…

The day actually started quite well, with a top notch breakfast of rice, topped with a multitude of curries. Squid, chicken, mutton. Delicious! We can hear ‘eewwwww’ sounds out there at the thought of squid curry to start the day instead of cornflakes but the Malaysians do a fine squid curry and we didn’t intend to pass up a chance at another serving.

Stomachs full, we stopped at the market for emergency provisions in case we needed to camp and headed out. We knew the last part of the day would entail a few climbs but we were hoping for easier times at the beginning. It wasn’t to be and we barely got past the first junction when not one but three killer climbs presented themselves.

We weren’t even sure we were on the right road - it didn’t match our map at all - and more mountains were ahead so we stopped at a cafe for verification. “Cameron Highlands?” we said to the men sipping their tea. They burst into laughter with a look that said yes, but are you crazy? Their hands started moving in all kinds of wild up and down motions that only mean one thing: there are big hills ahead.

At least we were going the right way. “No problem,” we said confidently, smiling as we rode off. It wasn’t a problem for the first 30km or so. There was even a brief shady stretch through palm oil plantations but sometime around noon and a few dozen hills later we hit a wall. (more…)