Heading South

So where were we when I left last time off?

Ah yes, that's it - getting my new wheel hub. I'd ordered the replacement hub I'd desperately needed before Christmas and returned to find that not only was the hub not at the shop, but that it hadn't even been ordered yet. Customer service was definetely not this guys forte but as his was the only half decent shop in Vientiane I was pretty much stuck and he said to come back tomorrow and he'd try to weld it.

He didn't show up.

I went back the next day: 'Ah yes, leave the wheel now and come back tomorrow'.

On the 4th morning he finally reappeared only to tell me the welding hadn't been a great success, that I would have to tread lightly to Phnom Penh and that 'You won't get the hubs or the inner tubes (I needed some replacement tubes) outside of Bangkok round here'.

Happy just to be leaving Vientiane I set off on the wobbly wheel, accompanied by Jean and Francoise, a father and daughter cycling together around South East Asia whom I had met in Vang Vieng and with whom I'd hoped to cycle to Phnom Penh with.

This didn't last long as 6 kilometres out of Vientiane my back tyre blew, and as they dissapeared off into the distance I was left to trudge back to town, check back into the hostel and, with tail firmly between the legs, head back to the bike shop to get a replacement tyre.

True to form, he didn't have one. But I did manage to get a fairly worn out tyre off of a pile of old ones - it looked in terrible condition but in truth I had no choice so on it went, and the next morning I was off into southern Laos - the first flat land I'd seen in pushing 3 months - and here I was on a broken hub and a rubbish tyre. Going painfully slowly with other cyclists flying past me, the closest thing I can liken it to is being behind the wheel of a fast car but not being able to quite reach the accelerator.

Putting on the dodgy tyre

I thought I'd lost my French Canadian friends because of the extra day lost, but after meeting some Dutch cyclists coming the other way I was told that they'd taken a day off in the next major town along so I pushed on, caught up with them and although the hotel was fully booked Jean and Francoise were kind enough to let me sleep on the floor of their room that night. However all my effort seemed in vein the next morning as we set off together on the road to Cambodia, only to find that with these guys, carrying around 30kg less weight than me, were a hell of a lot faster! They'd dissapeared over the horizon twice before I admitted defeat and we arranged to meet in Seno, the next town, later that day.

Once again, it didn't happen.

28 km short of Seno the hub finally bit the dust entirely. The realisation that I hadn't ridden a fully functional bike since mid November set in and I was left to flag down a truck to take me to the next town.

An all too familiar sight by now

But I didn't stop there - knowing I couldn't get the parts I needed in Laos I went right on a further 28km Savannahket, the border town with Thailand. This was easy to do as visas aren't required to enter Thailand, so I figured I could enter here, order in the parts I needed from Bangkok and be on the road maybe in a weeks time and head in 'the back way' to Cambodia and Siem Reap. It turned out however that like most of the things the Frenchman who owned the bike shop in Vientiane had told me, his idea that I wouldn't be able to get the parts I need outside of Bangkok was, for want of a better word, bullsh*t. The town I crossed to had not one, but 2 quality bike shops where I was able to not only select from a range of hubs, but also pick up some much needed inner tubes and in the blink of an eye I was back on the road.

Putting on the new hub

Let me make this clear - I have never wanted to visit Thailand.

I know you should always travel with an open mind but for me this was difficult: we all know the stereotypes, particularly about the type of 'tourist' that Thailand attracts and some of the behaviour that goes on in this part of the world. As opposed to trying to form a coherent opinion on it all based on experience, in planning I'd simply preferred to stick my fingers in my ears, shout 'lalalala' and not go.

But now here I was - in Thailand. And to my surprise I really liked it! Yes, I did meet some unsavoury characters from different parts of Western Europe, and yes I saw a fair few Western men in their 40's, 50's and even their 60's with young Thai girls on their arm - particularly painful to see was some of these western men doing their utmost to avoid contact with a fellow westerner; crossing the street when they see you coming, avoiding eye contact, doing their utmost to avoid conversation - read into that the level of pride these men have in what they're doing out here.

But when you get past that I had a great time - the food was great, the people friendly and there was even paved roads, so with a full stomach and functioning wheel I was back on the road.

As I said earlier I'd hitched 56km to the border in Laos - and so with that when it was time to start cycling again I went back to the border, cycled 28km the wrong way and then the 28km back to the border (no-ones going to accuse me of cheating on this!) and then off on the flat roads of Southern Thailand.

Of course by now I'd given up on the idea of cycling with Jean and Francoise, but in the middle of my second day on the road in Thailand I got an e-mail:

"Hi Matt, How's it going? We got lost and couldn't find the border between Laos and Cambodia so we've decided to head into Thailand and cross the back way into Cambodia. Maybe see you on the road"

Apart from asking the obvious question (In a country that only has one road how the hell can you get lost and not find the border?) I was delighted - with my new wheel and good roads I was now flying and doing over 100 miles a day so reckoned I could give them a run for their money on keeping up this time. However they had e-mailed 2 days previously and hadn't planned where they were going to stay - my calculations had them at either 40 km ahead or 40 km behind me. With that in mind I pushed on and after another day of over 100 miles I stopped to check my e-mails to see if they'd been in touch to tell me where they were. They hadn't but I lost track of time and when I finally left the internet cafe it was pitch black - in need of a place to sleep I cycled out of town (I was 30km from the Cambodia border) and sat down in a countryside bus stop.

I thought I hadn't been seen but soon someone came over - I lied and said I'd be carrying on soon but I knew she didn't believe me, and when she said she was a police officer I knew that any say in where I would stay that night had just dissapeared. I feared being taken back to town and forced to pay for a hotel but to my surprise I was taken to the Police Station.

Hastily, a make shift bed and a mosquito net were erected on the balcony, I was shown where the shower was, offered a cup of tea and as such my last night in Thailand was spent asleep on the balcony of Pursat police station! Fair enough, the service wasn't quite as good as the Police Station I'd stayed in in China (kidding!) but when I woke up I was greeted by a breakfast of Thai Green Curry, Rice, Dried Fish, Marinaded Boiled Eggs - even Nescafe!

Breakfast Thai Style

I made my way to the border, surprised at myself that for a country I'd never wanted to visit, I was a bit dissapointed to be leaving.

The border at O Smach

The Cambodian border at O Smach is famed for corruption, so I was amazed at how I'd managed to get through without any problems in just 20 minutes - until a further 20 minutes down the road when I realised I had infact got my exchange rates wrong and had just conned myself out of $13. Hmmmm.



The Cambodian side was a different world: the road dissapeared, replaced by a dirt track, it was obvious for all to see how poor and how little the people on these back roads had and most harrowing of all was the constant reminder that you shouldn't stray from the footpaths due to there being anywhere between 4 - 6 million land mines still in the countryside.

I got the impression they didn't see many foreigners on the back roads in Cambodia

Another day, another struggle through bad roads before arriving at the highway. The National Highway was the last 50km to Siem Reap and the famous temples of Angkor - I thought it would be plain sailing - I was wrong. I later found out that one of the worst kept secrets in Cambodia is that a certain airline pays certain Cambodian Authority figures to keep the road in bad condition so people would fly instead - welcome to the way Cambodia functions.

Around 30km from Siem Reap I heard a voice from behind me - after 4 days of wondering where they were Jean and Francoise had caught me up. They were still faster than me but we all rode to Siem Reap together, found a hotel and had a well earned rest.

New friends - Jean and Francoise

After the day off we were off to SE Asia's main tourist attraction - the famous Temples of Angkor (where Tombraider was filmed, for the younger readers out there). Although impressive enough, you get the feeling a day here was more than enough and that the whole experience would have been more rewarding were it not for the thousands of other tourists stood around saying 'oooh look how beautiful it is' and the following day it was off on the road to Phnom Penh.

My Dad had arranged a friend for me to stay with in Phnom Penh and we'd set a time of 11 am to meet - this gave me 2 and a half days to cover the 300km. This would have been a push anyway but just at the end of the first days riding, just as the light was about to go and I was looking for a place to camp, the dodgy, worn out wheel I'd put on in Vientianne blew. I tried to sneak out of the town it happened in to find a place to camp and fix the problem in the morning but I'd got barely 50 metres before a local came over and pointed me to follow him.

He took me to his house, where I met his wife and 3 children and between us we fixed the puncture and put part of an old tyre inside the broken tyre to cover up the hole in there. I wasn't sure if it would work, and when I went to test it he told me to wait for the morning as it was to dark.

Attention now turned to where I could sleep - I was laughed at when I asked if I could camp in his garden and with that a 3rd mosquito net was erected up stairs and that night I slept in the same room as the entire family, enjoying a raw fish dinner and even acting the English Teacher for the cheeky little scamp in the picture below!

The next morning it was up and out, and it wasn't long before the tire blew again! This time the locals I was with decided instead of one, to put two old tyres inside and hope for the best. It held for the rest of the day, but after pushing it to hard I was once again left to look for a place to sleep in the dark.

How the tyre looked when I finally made it to Phnom Penh

My luck was in when I spotted a barn under construction about 50 metres back from the side of the road with a hammock already erected in. My time in China, where camping had been hard, had taught me how to not only find places to sleep in urban areas, but also how to get to them without being spotted: I pulled over to the side of the road under a tree, waited for the car headlights to dim and walked along the darkened wall to the hammock.

I was sure I hadn't been seen and duly fell asleep.

I was wrong - half an hour later someone (I don't know who) came over and woke me up and shone a torch in my eyes, at which point I learned another valuable lesson - the importance of looking weird. After the torch had shone I bolted up right, he took one look at the foreigner, who hadn't shaved in months, wearing only cycling shorts and socks, asleep in a hammock by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

He stopped, rubbed his eyes, muttered what I can only assume was the Khmer for 'I need a lie down' and left me to my new home.

So there we have it - the next morning I was up and out - the tyre held and I rolled into Phnom Penh with 10 minutes to spare and to be fair to John there are fewer better sights than arriving to see a QPR shirt in a far away place (pictures up when I get my card reader working!).

Note to anyone who anyone who is considering hosting in the future - this is how to dress!

I'm here for a couple of weeks so the next up date may be a while, but enjoy the snow I hear you've been having back home and I'll enjoy the 30 degree weather out here.

More pictures to follow

Watching as the wheels come off

Greetings and a happy 2009 to all!

After realising I hadn't written for so long when I wrote the last blog an early New Years Resolution was to get more writing done - unfortunately that ended up coinciding with a 2 week lay-off from cycling (but we'll come to that in a bit) so here we are, 1 month down the line and finally the next blog is here!

But where were we last? Ah yes, Kunming - a strange place for a Chinese city; clean, relatively quiet, friendly and multi-cultural - like none of the other places I'd seen in China and for once I was meeting local people who spoke English and weren't trying to sell me things.

This was great for me as I finally got the opportunity to pick the locals brains on certain issues and as over the journey I've perfected the art of getting people to talk about their local communinites and issues without giving too many of my own opinions away I was able to find out what the young people I was sharing the Hostel with thought of their country and of the current situation in China.

I have to admit I was slightly surprised by the ecclectic mix of responses I got but a few things stood out more than other and the three main topics people wanted to talk about were:

1) Learning English - Why do Chinese people want to learn English? Based on the people I spoke to it was so they could leave China. Why did they want to leave China?

2) Parents - Thanks to the 'One-child' policy that used to be in place you have a fair few who are desperate to escape the view of their parents. I met people who had been told they couldn't visit certain countries, wouldn't be allowed to go on 'dangerous' cycling trips and some people who were still having to call home at certain times of the day to let their parents know where they were, even though they were into their 20's.

3) Tibet - Now here is the one people love to talk to about. 'China deserves so much credit for what we have done there', 'Without us Tibet would be nothing', 'For what the Chinese have done in Tibet, we are heroes' and 'You shouldn't shop at Carrefour because of what Sarkozy said about Tibet'.

You get sick of it very, very quickly.

Nationalism is ingrained into people in China from such a young age (anyone who disagrees only needs to look at a Chinese school and see the massive murals of military personnel saluting the Chinese flag towering over every set of school gates) and it was dissapointing to see that the Chinese Propoganda machine had seemingly had such a high success rate in the average people I met in China.

I foolishly did try to offer an alternative (ie a Tibetan) point of view on the whole situation and it took all of 2 seconds to realise this mistake and I decided it was best not to get involved in a discussion with people who's minds were largely closed and instead I got back to my plans for the ride to the Laos border.

I'd heard a lot about the hills of Yunnan but I thought it would be simple enough - I'd taken on the sandy deserts and the snow-capped mountains so how hard could a few hills be? Well it turns out very, very hard and after 6 days of covering barely 40 miles each day I was still 4 days away from the border and it's here we need to travel back through time to the last blog and talk about the chain tool.

One of the less glamorous places I've stayed

A chain tool is a small tool which takes out links of a chain, enabling you to swap chains etc. The chain tool I had left home with had broken in Chengdu. The problems I had had previously were because I didn't have a chain tool with me. Therefore you'd think the common sense thing to do in Kunming at a bike shop would be to buy a new chain tool, yes?

It would be hard to disagree with that logic, however I knew that in Vientiane I had a package waiting for me which had in it a brand spanking new chain tool and after looking at the meagre ammount of money I had in my wallet, the cost of the repairs I had already had to have done, the likelihood of the chain breaking again and finally, the plummeting pound (the exchange rate dropped 20% during my 3 months in China) I decided to go against splashing out on a tool I would theoretically never use.

Clever me.

Some days in cycling the world can't get any better - the sun is out, the birds are singing and even the drivers don't seem to be aiming for you as much as usual. My sixth day out of Kunming was one of those days, and then in the space of 5 minutes my front gear mech fell apart, my chain snapped and I nearly broke another rear derailleur.

When researching quotes for this trip I'd always liked the one of "It's scary when there's no-one else to blame" and as I walked the 3km uphill to the next town this was ringing in my ears, only with the word 'scary' replaced by 'frustrating'.

Once there I was lucky enough to find a local mechanic who managed to put the link back together using a hammer and chisel but I knew it wouldn't hold and I was now treading on eggshells until I got to Laos.

After this I'd realised how desperate I was to leave China as I hadn't stopped to talk or get a photo with the guy who'd fixed the chain and I'd left without saying much more than thank you - I was now very, very ready to leave China.

Elephants - renowned for drink driving

And as such, treading on my pedals as lightly as possible I was able to cycle very slowly, all day, everyday for the next 4 days and after a mountainous 140km day I finally arrived at the border town of Boten in the dark. It was getting late when I arrived, and with barely a penny to my name I spent my last night feasting on my last pack of biscuits before falling asleep in a shop doorway. It somehow seemed fitting.

The last night in China

Just like my last border crossing I was up early and the first over the border and after encountering what must be the most laid back border in the world on the Laos side (1 guard, no weapons, no blockade and your ushered through this as the part where you get your visa is 50 yards further on) I was free to enjoy what was a personally big moment from me - I was in Laos! That's Laos - In South Asia!

It took a minute to settle in that when I'd planned my original trip that SE Asia was pretty much the end point - and here I was - it felt good but at the same time I was very happy I'd decided not to stop here!

And then I was off into Laos and all I can say is wow - what a difference, the place is amazing! The contrast to China in just the 10 miles over the border was mind boggling. People no longer stood at the side of the road shouting 'foreigner' at me, instead they were waving! Shouts of 'Sabaiiiiiiiideeeeeeeeeeee' (hello) came from all around, people took an interest in the bike and in turn I got the pleasure of their company. Children no longer stood dumbstruck at the sight of foreign man with a different colour skin, instead they were all running after waving and lining up for rows of 'high fives' as I sailed through their villages!

The carnival atmosphere stayed throughout all the little villages as over the next 2 days it seemed you couldn't pass through a small town without seeing another gathering somewhere or other - however it wasn't just the locals that were different, I was meeting other cyclists too! Laos is full of them - on my first night in the country I met The Velomads in Oudomxai, with them even helping me find a great place to camp outside the local monastery and I've lost count of the number I've met since then.

Some of the better Laos sleeping spots

However back to the ride and the one thing Laos was not is flat, and on my 3rd day in the country the inevitable happened. The broken link was put under to much strain again and this time it wasn't just the link that snapped.

The link snapped, went into my derailleur, which in turn went into the spokes, which in turn ripped my hub apart. Woops!

It had happened 110 km north of Luang Prabang and I was now left with no choice than to hop on a Sawngthaew to get there. I didn't find what I was looking for there (although I did bump into Matt and Mary again, a couple I'd met in Kazakhstan) so after a couple of days rest I had to hop on to a night bus to Vientiane, only to find that the only shop selling good quality components was closed for the next 5 days due to the Laos national games! Great!

After a 5 day wait I was able to get the bike road worthy again, only the hub couldn't be replaced as one had to be ordered in from Bangkok, and with that I asked the guy to order one in and hopped on a bus back to where I'd left my luggage in Luang Prabang.

It just so happened that this had co-incided with Christmas Eve and with the inevitable delays I then arrived back in Luang Prabang at 11.45 pm and I then woke up at 7 am Christmas morning - in a bus station!

Christmas Dinner

A fairly quiet Christmas which mainly consisted of continuing my Cornetto-Beer diet came and went and the day after Boxing Day I was back on the road - taking 2 days to cycle the 110km back to where my bike had broken, and then the 110km back to Luang Prabang (This more than made up for the small cheat section in China!) and then it was on towards Vang Vieng for new years.

After 2 frustrating weeks off the bike it felt good to be back riding again, and on the 29th of December, exactly 8 months to the day since leaving home I had the satisfaction of watching my odometer hit 10,000 miles and in turn, my high spiritis hammered back in to place with 3 different climbs of 16km, 20km and 18 km as I slaved my way towards the New Years I deserved.

Vang Vieng is a place that had been slated by pretty much everyone I met: A hole full of people who had flown half-way around the world to get as drunk as possible and sit in a bar all day watching Friends.

Any other time I really wouldn't have gone, but arriving at 6 o'clock on New Years Eve when I hadn't had a proper night out as such since my first day in Kazakhstan I was ready! The night came and went (I think) and on the 1st of January 2009 I woke up, decided not to cycle and spent the next 8 hours in a bar watching Family Guy.

I hadn't had a hangover in nearly 5 months, I hadn't had a proper cheeseburger in longer - I felt I'd earned the veg-out day but I have to be honest, I couldn't have stayed for longer - it really isn't a nice place to travel (and it's depressing that at the age of 22 you see people getting wasted in the street and think 'I'm too old for this') so the next day I moved on and coasted the 150km to Vientiane - which is where I'm writing from now!

So there we have it - welcome to 2009! I promise to try to keep the blog a bit more up to date over the next year (and I've set a target of £5,000 to raise by the end of the year so any help with that is appreciated!) and also thanks to my Bulgarian friends I've also got a shiny new website on the way (with more and better pics too) - so please keep reading and keep the e-mails coming in as I'm enjoying the ones I've got so far!

Ok, signing off now so a happy new year to all - here's hoping the best of last year is the worst of this.

More Pics!

Above and below - Cyclists everywhere




Painting the town in Luang Prabang

No idea what this is, saw it at a Temple and liked it!

10,000 miles - satisfying!