Biking 12 000km from Singapore to Hong Kong in 180 days

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Hong Kong at last!
And finally we caught a high-speed ferry across the bay from Macau to Hong Kong and cycled to our final destination – a smart backpackers hostel on Fashion Street.
Hong Kong - Super Civilisation and skyscrapers on steroids....


Bright lights, money and endless merchandise. On Fashion Street...








The End of 10 000 glorious kilometers...
We have added some lists below with statistics, biggest mind-shifts and an overview of best and worst by country:

Basic Statistics
- Total distance covered by bicycle: 10 381km
- Total days cycled: 150
- Average daily distance: 89km/ day
- Average hours in the saddle per day: 8 hours
- Number of rest-days: 31 days
- All-inclusive budget: R150 or $22 per person per day
- Very few illnesses: 2x stomach bugs, 3 times dentist, 1 set of raw butt-cheeks, 1 case of flu
- Very few bike breakdowns: approximately 15 punctures in total, 1 snapped aluminium pannier, 1 broken gear shifter, 1 loose headset
- Average weight loss: collective for both of us of around 10kg
- Most important items on the journey: cable ties, sunscreen, phrase book and a sense of humour

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Our biggest mind-shifts
1.We began to appreciate cities – the bright lights and pavements and good roads and supermarket-convenience - especially after the harsh Laos mountains
2.After 6 months of grease and grime and sweat, we realised just how much we love smelling nice and wearing make-up and dressing up and oh, how nice it is to have long, long hair
3.We came to the unmoveable conviction that having access to proper paved roads is a basic human right
4.We fell in love all over again with and gained renewed gratitude for our families and friends
5. And realised that freedom is overrated – yes, that six months on a bike can get very, very long…
6. And that having a home, a job and chores like bathing the dog, doing the laundry and grocery-shopping is a blessing…
7. We came to the deep conviction that, at heart, man is innately bad and needs salvation (reference personal catharsis and witnessing torture camps in Cambodia, the ravages and scars of war in Vietnam and the lack of compassion all around)
8.And that meat is meat is meat and that anything can taste great if you are hungry enough 9.And finally that six months on a bike through a foreign country changes a woman forever

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Tips for bikers
1.Avoid anything aliminium - only steel can be welded out there off the beaten track
2. Down-grade, down-grade, downgrade - take the simplest parts and get rid of shocks, fancy break systems and anything more than seven-speed shifters
3. Put a sofa on your seat-post. Never compromise on your saddle - it will get you in the end if you do.
4. Take a pair of decent gloves - our hands took the most strain
5. Waterproof, easily detachable ortlieb panniers are a must - make sure it is quick and easy to get your bags on and off - otherwise packing and unpacking becomes an endless pain
6. Even is it is boiling hot, keep one decent rain-jacket or poncho for when the weather turns bad - ours saved our lives
7. Take a waterproof and shockproof camera - mine barely survived until the end of the trip
8. A hat and sunglasses and good sunscreen are life savers
9. Do not leave home without a decent bike-stand that can handle the weight of 50kg of extra kit - we did and never regretted anything more
10. Cable ties are already or will soon become your best friends as they hodl the universe together.

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Overall impressions of South East Asia
It is the paradoxes that got us, the conflicting states of mind co-existing in harmony, the yin and yang…
Asia is alive, chaotically vibrant and full of colour and noise. But individuals are soft-spoken and gentle in their interaction.

The people are poor, but not destitute. There is abundance of food and the safety-net and richness of community-living.
Families look after each other – parents, children, aunts, uncles and grannies plant rice, raise buffalo, fish and run their small businesses together, generation-after-generation.
Yet, all through SE Asia compassion for the weak, the defenceless, for animals and the environment seemed to be considered a weakness in itself.

There seems to be more joy and less stress and more time for being together. The Asians are easily satisfied and can make much from little – as long as they have rice and bamboo they can live – and live well.
Yet, Mammon is King in Asia - having money gives ultimate power – it can buy you not only goods, but jobs, respect, wives, favour, fame, a promising future - and having no money is the ultimate trap – the child-trade is still well and alive there.

The Asian people have a much higher tolerance of risk. They plan less and live more. Their lives seem to flow naturally without worry or constraint – everything just seems to work out. There are no obvious rules. Nobody wears a helmet, electricity lines resemble manic crows nests, 6-year olds ride their parents’ motorbikes on bustling highways, busses hurtle down passes at break-neck speed and everybody overtakes on blind rises and nobody has insurance.
Yet, despite the absence of overt LAW, we felt safer than anywhere else in the world.


In our view the Asian women’s beauty are unrivalled and yet Asian men appear utterly sexually indifferent (in comparison with Western standards that is). We were baffled by the chaste public behaviour required and yet by the explicit sex-trade and the abundance of brothels.
It is the paradoxes that define Asia and that makes it so special…


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A summary by country

Singapore - Sophisticated glitz
Distance covered - 50km
The people - Go getters
Favourite food - Juicy Rambuttin (litchis on steroids)
Biggest highlight - Broiling China Town vs. slick, squeaky clean uptown
Biggest challenge - Getting started

Malaysia - Dignified and moral
Distance covered - 950km
The people - Extremely courteous and welcoming of foreigners
Favourite food - Curry Pow (steamed buns filled with beef curry and quail eggs)
Biggest highlight - Spotting between 10 – 20 snakes on the road every day
Biggest challenge - Not offending the Muslim elders in our cycling kit

Thailand- Smooth as velvet
Distance - 2980km
People - Happy and super-friendly Thais forever saying ‘mae pen rae’ = no worries
Best food - Nata de Coco yoghurt and Thai green curry
Biggest highlight - Wow – everything – the sea, the people, the food, the mountains, the beautiful roads, the tailwind…
Biggest challenge - Leaving Thailand

Laos - Like dried, rough buffalo hide
Distance - 1980km
People - Kind and shy and in a way innocent and unspoilt
Best food - Wicker baskets of steaming sticky rice and whole-grilled Mekong Fish
Biggest highlight - Three days of pushing our bikes up and down the muddy and dynamited ravines they called ‘Highway 3’
Biggest challenge - The mountains – climbing and dropping on average 2000m a day for 13 days non-stop.


Cambodia- Rage brewing beneath the surface
Distance - 920km
People - Friendly, but deeply disgruntled and desperate to hide it - saving face is all important
Best food - Crisis off the beaten track, but in tourist cities great bacon and cheese backpackers sandwiches
Biggest highlight - The 25sq kilometre temple complex of Anchor Wat
Biggest challenge - Getting off the beaten track

Vietnam - Millions of dollar-mad merchants
Distance - 2390km
People - War-&-dollar-fixated merchants
Best food - Vegetable spring rolls and sweet chilli sauce and Pho Bo = beef noodle soup served with peanuts and mint leaves
Biggest highlight - The cool highlands of Dalat, boating Halong Bay and leaving Vietnam
Biggest challenge - Avoiding the overwhelming hordes of hawkers and the bad weather of the north

China - The giant waking from its slumber
Distance - 1080km
People - The younger generations full of hope and healthy curiosity; the older generations full of deep suspicion and fear
Best food - Steaming pow filled with sweet peanut sauce and sachets of hot soya milk
And weird and wonderful dried and salted fruits
Biggest highlight - Finding Macau – not for a 1000km did we see a single signboard indicating the presence of the Portuguese colony
biggest challenge - Finding food and a bed for the night and the driving headwinds and never knowing what meat is in your stirfry

Macau - A Portuguese theme park
Distance - 10km
people- Portuguese Chinese love Xmas!
Best food - Portuguese egg-tarts
Biggest highlight - Christmas lights and cobblestone streets and McDonalds!
Biggest challenge - Finding accommodation in the bustling Centre of Macau on Christmas eve

Hong Kong - Glamorous glitz
Distance - 20km
People - Babylon – a simmering hotpot of nations…
Best food - Kentucky, McDonalds, Starbucks and Burger King
Biggest highlight - The tram-ride to Victoria peak and Hong Kong’s bright city lights viewed from up high.
Biggest challenge - Believing that it is the end – at last!