Trial by Fire

The Chinese border, is it left or right? Left.

That was my first thought, the second was, wow this bike is heavy! For the next block I traced a wobby, drunk path as I tried to maintain control of the machine.

The inaugural ride of Betty the Bike as she will be called was a 100.6 km epic out of Bangkok to the peaceful riverside town of Ayutthaya, former capital of Siam ripe with old ruined temples. She was great. Everything packs down beautifully, and everything works, and all the parts and equipment finally have a purpose (except that I cheaped out and didn't get a tire pressure gauge). But I can barely lift the bike over curbs (and there were some great curbs today). I think my downfall is the Chinese language textbooks. Either way it is terrifying to think about hills, which are days away. Tall hills.

Bangkok is a very huge city. It sprawls everywhere. You could spend an entire day walking from one edge of the downtown to another. A lot of people live here but it doesn't seem to have the density you'd expect. The traffic and roads are a mess, yesterday we spent over 2 hours on a bus that was in town before we just got out and took the skytrain, which, incidently, is a dream to use. The online jury is out on whether one should bike out of Bangkok or just train to the north edge of town. Just like the online jury is out on which of the salt and pepper shakers should have more holes. Two mysteries for mankind.

Biking through Bangkok was easily the highlight of the day. I'd compare it to a Cruising USA (racing video game) course, where you're bounding around corners and dodging traffic, all the time surrounded by the sights and sounds of the city. There were narrow crowded streets of Chinatown and tourist hoards near the temples. There were cars and buses and motos and tuktuks and much weaving, for a bike is actually much quicker around the city than a lot of vehicles. It took a bit of focus, but there weren't any near-misses and most drivers gave me plenty of room.

Eventually the buildings got more run down and took on a suburban feel. Golf courses, open air sewers, water filtration plants, powerlines. Leaving the city environs was very confusing and I do hope that subsequent days I have a higher percentage of time where I am certain of my location on a map. The Thai people are very friendly and helpful but the thing that sucks about them is that they speak Thai.

I ended up on a semi-large road for the second half of the day which didn't really showcase the landscape until the end. But considering the confusion of roads around Bangkok and the late start it was perfect. I saw many kite sellers. I can only assume they love kites.
The biggest problem here is going to be old behind. Certain angles are agonizing. I sat down for dinner: fine. Sat down on the toilet: almost fell in. I just hope everything works tomorrow, cause it's going to be another big one!

Back in Bangkok

And finally we are in Bangkok after two looooong days of travel. In there was a full day in Phnom Penh, the very active Cambodian capital, and more buses than I care for. It isn't easy to be on a time deadline here, or cross borders, or take night buses, but we did all three. We saw a horrible accident at the side of the road and endured a flat tire change on a dark road in the middle of the night. A shout out to Barb for enduring all the missed meals and cramped seats with a smile, it certainly was a voyage. She heads back tonight, after what amounted to a wicked trip to Southeast Asia.

Now a chance to shower, repack, and assemble the bike! Tomorrow I'll be on two wheels heading north, motivated by flat terrain and the hope that I won't have to bus again for quite some time...

The Beach House

Yesterday we watched the sun set from Dive Boat 1 while we chugged across the southern coast of Cambodia. We waved goodbye to Koh Rung, a peaceful island we had chanced upon to spend a few days.

We didn't go to Phnom Penh as expected, we went further to Sihanoukville, a beach town. We took an overnight bus that wasn't really an overnight bus, arriving at 1pm. Travel is pretty good in Cambodia, all things considered, but there's still an element of discomfort, delays, and miscommunication. On the mediocre paved roads, the bus shudders the entire time.

Sihanoukville is a nice enough place, the beach is lined with comfy chairs from different restaurants. Seeing, hearing, and swimming in the ocean is incredibly relaxing. The sunset is one of the best we've ever seen. Like most places out here, this seems like a very popular spot for backpackers to get hammered.

We arrived by bus, and then hired a tuk-tuk to take us into town to find a guesthouse. The first one we went to, on the water, looked busy. Went to check out the room: two rather large cockroaches on the ground. Cockroaches that would make a very big crunch. We found another place.

The next morning we go diving near Koh Rung, about 2 hours from the poor shanty town at the dock. The diving is shallow but stunning, we swim through fishies and gaze at coral. Barb says she's relieved that we have Western instructors and not Cambodian ones, and I agree.

Then we spend the next 24 hours on Koh Rung, staying at a wooden bungalow overlooking the sea. Imagine an hilly green island, too big to walk around in two days but small enough to hike to the opposite shore in an hour. Imagine a white sandy beach 8km long surrounded by a band of clear azure water, all completely empty. So ideal. Do we travel in search of some paradise destination? This just might be the closest place I've found. Right now there are maybe a few dozen bungalows centred around a small Cambodian village, so there isn't a lot of development. That said, our bungalows are new, and other visitors tell us that in a few years it'll be much busier and “just like any other island”. It's interesting to think that it's not just about where we travel, but when.

Pictures from Ankor

Temples of Angkor

We've spent the past two days at the Temples of Angkor, a huge complex of 800-year old temples in the Cambodian jungle. Maybe you remember them from Tomb Raider? They have been spectacular, and well worth the long trip to get here....

Saturday morning, we left Bangkok at 8:30am on a minibus that made some rather exciting passes on the two lane highway. Sometimes it's better to not look forward. We were ferried the last few kilometers to the border in a cramped little taxi. The border itself was a bustle of activity, a dusty, dynamic stretch of road with all sorts of trucks, pull-carts, tourists, vendors, and guards milling about. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainry. We cross the border the old fashioned way: on foot.

From there it's another bus to a tourist waiting area and then another bus and finally a tuk-tuk, a little passenger carriage attached the to back of a moped. All in all, we pulled into Siem Reap, the launching pad for visits to the temples, after 12 hours in transit. Also bear in mind that everywhere your bus stops you are accosted by people selling you things. Your tuk-tuk driver brings you to guesthouses where he gets a kickback. There's haggling too. So we were tired.

The first thing that made my jaw drop in Cambodia was the poverty. The differences on crossing the border are staggering. The place seems safe and everyone we meet is very friendly and when I look across the street as I write this I see people having fun, but they don't have a lot. Siem Reap is a shining light for this country in some ways because it attracts so much tourism money and provides employment. But I can't get the idea out of my head of each kid here looking at all the massive deluxe hotels that they pass on their way to school, and at some point asking their parents why their house has a tin roof.

Nevertheless, Siem Reap has a lot of charm and is quite a deal. We sit each night along the main pedestrian street and enjoy 50 cent beers. We hire a tuk tuk for the day for $15. As in we have a driver who naps while he waits for us and takes us whereever we like.

During lunch yesterday an adorable Cambodian girl who should have been in school came up to us on the street. We put on our "ignore" face, which unfortunately is more effective than politely saying no with a smile. The girl asks where we're from and I say Canada. She them recites from memory: "Canada. Capital is Ottawa. Prime Minister Stephen Harper." I was noticeably impressed.

And the temples. Each one we saw was better than the one before. Huge stone structures that tower over you. There are smiling buddha faces, steep stairs, temples surrounded by water, temples that are falling apart, temples that have been destroyed by hundreds of years of forest growth, temples for marvelling at the sunset, and temples for enjoying the sunrise. I must upload pictures.

But for now, a little rest. We leave Phnom Penh tomorrow, the capital of Cambodia and "the pearl of the Orient".

Arrived in Bangkok

That's all to report!

A 12 hour stopover in Seoul was excellent, and a very interesting place to see, especially since I arrived downtown pretty early in the morning, before the city had really woken up. Surprisingly cold place this time of year, around -8. I assume it's always like that in January but the Koreans I spoke to seemed to be really unhappy about it.

Korean Air was a dream. Great food and tons of movies but spent most of it sleeping, though still a little tired on arriving in Bangkok. Bangkok is huge but the people seem friendly enough. Met Barb and we walked through Khao San Road the backpacker hangout before checking into the hostel. That road is just basically a huge open air club for backpackers, with all the good and bad that comes of that. It would be unfortunate if Thai people assumed it is how all "Westerners" lived, but it does look like a good time.

Three things:
1. Korean Air flight was over the north pole but avoided North Korea.
2. Carried my giant bike box 3 blocks in New York City twice, and through the subway. The first person to offer to help me was some guy (maybe Thai) in the train station in Bangkok.
3. Traditionally Seoul was alerted of invasions from its surrounding provinces by a serious of fire beacons on various mountains in the countryside. So, that scene from Lord of the Rings with the beacons? Invented in Seoul!

12 hours in New York

Almost a perfect day in New York. Arrived early, watched the city wake up. Bag storage place was 3 blocks from drop off point, they had a bunch of parakeets and I think the girl slept there overnight but everything was there when I returned this evening.

What an incredible city. There are people everywhere it seems at hours of the day. And everywhere you look they are being New Yorkers and doing iconic New York things: diners for breakfast, cleaning windows, walking down 5^th while on the iPhone, jogging in central park, jaywalking. The vertical size of the city is substantial, but what strikes me most is the grandeur at ground level. It feels like New York was designed from the start to be the world's city.

I walked through Times Square and Central Park and spent a few hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (surprised to learn it is the 3^rd largest museum in the world and thus a few hours really isn't enough). Went on a really good tour of Grand Central Station and ate a delicious beef brisket on rye. NBC Studio tour was okay, wouldn't really recommend.

It would have been a perfect day if my rush ticket for Jimmy Fallon had materialized into an actual seat. It apparently was a busy day because I was shut down for both Jimmy and Dr. Oz. Next time!

I bought some earphones in New York today because all of mine are broken. Then I went to the airport and checked in and all that and ate dinner. Went to open the earphones. Well of course they were in that plastic packaging that you need scissors to open up. Being on the other side of security, I had absolutely nothing remotely sharp to accomplish this task. What followed was a clownish ten minutes attacking the packaging with a dull bike lock key.

Also, deciding on which shoes to bring is always something. I opted for the Birks and hiking boots, I figure that gives me some practicality (and bike shoes too). My hiking boots have of course been through a lot, including recently a 27 hour hike during which they were basically soaked the entire time. They smelt fine when I put them on yesterday. But I had to take them off at the security gate. Oddly enough they no longer smell fine, they smell unbelievably horrible. I was worried security wasn't going to let me through.

Blog Resurrection

The midnight bus to New York City. That's how this story starts, that's how this trip starts, and that's where I'm writing from right now. Apparently buses have internet now.

We crossed into the States at around 10pm. The old border guy who questioned me had a good laugh when I showed him my Chinese work permit with all its bright red Chinese characters. He passed it around and the other guards offered up their translations. There were questions and documents to show, but I felt more like I was explaining myself to one of my parents, not a suspicious border guard.

Then again the whole gettup does look a little ridiculous. I have my big orange backpack and it is full. I have a smaller blue bag that is also quite full. Then there is the box. At 4.5 feet long and 2.5 feet tall it is difficult to fit into our family van. It holds a disassembled bike and all the fixins you would need to enjoy a bike vacation: helmet, panniers, shoes, tools, spare tires. To move all this luggage I wear the orange pack on my back, then strap the smaller blue bag on my frontside, and heave the box through two handholds. I know that when I arrive in New York I will have to trudge about 200m in this fashion. Surely this is the worst way to travel.

The idea of biking across a country has been marinating in my head for a while. Everywhere I've gone I've biked to some extent, and it is one of my favourite ways of seeing the world. Passing through a giant landscape, outside in the wind, watching the world go by only as fast as you want it to. I agree with whoever said that the journey is the destination. My favourite part of travel is the traveling.

Case in point, embarking on the cheapest, and most convoluted method, of getting to Bangkok. Tonight is an overnight bus to New York City, followed by a day in New York. A midnight flight will take me to Seoul, South Korea, followed by a day in the city. Finally, an evening flight will drop me in Bangkok on Friday night, 3 days after initially leaving Toronto. I might as well be taking a steamship.

From there I'll meet up with my friend Barb for a week of touring the big Cambodian sights: the Angkor Wat temples, Phnom Penh, maybe a beach town. I'll then saddle up on my bike and follow the road north into Laos and eventually to the Chinese border. If all goes correctly, I'll be teaching English in China by February 20, a goal that caused a two week complication in departing and will thus reduce the amount of time for biking. In fact, the biking may end up being anything but slow.

The past two weeks spent waiting for visa documents I've felt like an astronaut who's just heard that his spaceflight has been postponed. The packing today feels like I am preparing to move on to another life. My room at home looks like a hotel room, the desk is empty. My car has been cleaned and left to be buried in snow on the driveway. I've said many goodbyes, wishing everyone a good year. More than ever before I feel like I'm moving out. It is a long time to be away from all you good people reading this.

There's been lots of time to reflect over the past few weeks, too much time to think, to worry, and to second guess my decisions. It was comforting to pass through US customs tonight and successfully complete the first stage of my trip. Finally, some action! I've started on a long journey tonight and I couldn't be more excited. The world is waiting.

This is my pledge to provide blog updates, not necessarily sweeping internal dialogue like this one (for how many more buses out there have internet on them??) but at least a sentence or a picture. At the very least so you can play connect-the-dots on a world map. And so on that note, good night, and I'll talk to you soon!