Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lottie and I have been touring round Eastern Europe for a month. A great way to finish of the trip. The Croatian coast was fab.

Spent 4 days in India in transit between Thailand and England.I did a trip the to the Taj Mahal which was very worth while the workmanship on the building is spectacular .

I have tried to capture this details in the following photos.

We arrived in town late on Monday evening and used Teds guide book to find good value rooms for two nights.Each room cost eight pounds and so we pushed the boat out and had one each.

We spent our day shopping in the local market under instruction of our cookery teacher,then we learnt how to prepair some of the local dishes. The ingredients were so fresh and unusal to our western eyes it we good to finally have a local explain what the items were that we had been seeing in our food for the last few weeks.I hope that I can find some of the same food items when I get home.It was fun to be able to cook again, it has been some months since I have had a kitchen to work in.

After eating all of the dishes which had been prepaired we were stuffed. The first job we did was book our place on the bus back to Bangkok, a journey WHICH WILL LAST ALL OF TONIGHT. THE SECOND THING ON THE AGENDA WAS TO GET SOME EXCERSISE, SO WE FOUND THE TOURIST HOTEL AND JOINED THE GYM. AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER WE BOTH FELT BETTER, IT IS FUNNY HOW YOU GET USED TO DOING SOME ACTIVITY EVERY DAY AND IF YOU DO NOT DO ANYTHING PHYSICAL YOU MISS IT.

OUR ROOMS ARE ADJACENT TO THE LOCAL JAZZ CLUB  SO WE HAVE HAD LIVE MUSIC AT THE END OF THE DAY , WHICH TED ASSURES ME IS OF THE HIGHEST STANDARD. I HOPE TED GETS IN TO PLAYING IN A BAND AT UNIVERSITY, HE WOULD REALLY ENJOY PLAYING JAZZ TO A LIVE AUDIENCE.

OFF TO CLEAN THE BIKE AND CHECK OUT THE LOCAL TEMPLES.

TWENTY EIGHTH OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN I GOT OF THE BIKE TO END THE TOUR OF NOT QUITE THE WORLD.

WE STOPPED FOR A LATE LUNCH OF FRIED RICE AND THEN CALLED LOTTIE TO HAVE A CHAT. WE HAD RIDEN UP HILL ALL MORNING IN TO THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OUT OF THE BOARDER TOWN OF MAE SARIANG , THE DAY WAS O OVERCAST WHICH WAS A NICE CHANGE,AS WE PEAKED AT 2000 METERS THERE WAS A CHILL  IN THE AIR AND WE PUT ON ANOTHER LAYER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS. PERHAPS THIS IS GETTING ME USED TO THE WEATHER BACK IN THE UK.

I HAVE SPENT 8 MONTHS SEEING PLACES THAT I HAVE BEEN WOWED BY AND MET PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN GENEROUS WITH THEIR TIME AND HOSPITALITY. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PLEASED TO SHOW ME THE BEST OF THEIR COUNTRY AND EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE PROUD TO LIVE THERE.

I HAVE SEEN SOME MANY SMILING FACES AS I RIDE PAST THEM, I MAY NOT SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE BUT THEY ARE VERY PLEASED TO SHOUT AN ENCOURAGING WORD OR TWO AS I RIDE ALONG.

IT WAS WORTH EVERY TURN OF THE PEDDLE, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY MILES I HAVE TRAVELLED , BUT I DO NOT THINK THAT IS THE POINT OF THE CYCLE TOUR. I WILL LET YOU REACH YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS AS TO WHAT IS THE REASON FOR SPENDING 8 MONTHS ON A BIKE.

We have been on the road for a week and seen some great sites and had some very different experiences. We stayed in a little house in a National park , we had a lovely walk in the park to visit a waterfall. On the way down the hill we had a fresh swim in the river.

We tried to find a resturant in the evening but there were none, the police man gave us a lift in his van back in to the park and the local stall served us fried rice and beer- it was delicious.

The next day we rode up in to the MOUNTAINS . I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THE TEXT HAS CHANGED TO CAPITALS, WHAT THE HELL.

TODAY WE RODE FOR 80 K AND THE AFTER LUNCH GOT A GREAT LIFT WITH A GUY WHO WAS HELPING TO BUILD NEW ROADS. ON THE THI/BURMESE BOARDER THEY COULD REALLY DO WITH SOME NEW ROADS.

EVERY DAY THERE ARE SOME AMAZING THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO US OR THAT WE SEE. AT BREAKFAST WE WERE TALKING TO A VOLUNTEER WHO IS WORKING WITH THE BURMESE REFUGES. THERE IS A MASSIVE PROBLEM WITH THE PEOPLE IN POWER IN BURMA AND AS A RESULT MASSIVE HUMAN SUFFERING. THE CAMP WHICH WE SAW AND RODE PAST IN THE HILLS WAS A REAL SHOCK, VERY BASIC FACILITIES AND THE PEOPLE LOOKED VERY HAPPY.THE SOLUTION TO A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS LIKE THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT,THE SAD FACT IS THAT THE ODDS OF THINGS IMPROVING ARE SLIM. BURMA WAS HIT BY AN EARTH QUAKE 3 DAYS AGO AND ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE WERE KILLED.

WE ARE 190 KM FROM CHANG MAI AND THEN BACK TO BANGKOK AND TED GOES OFF TO MEET MATES IN CAMBODIA.

I AM ENJOYING THE QUITE AND COOLER AIR OF THE HILLS, I AM SITTING ON A WOODERN VERANDA OVER LOOKING A RIVER WHICH IS THE BOARDER BETWEEN BURMA AND THAILAND, THE COCKREL IS CROWING IN THE BACKGROUND AND TED IS TRYING TO GET SOME MORE SLEEP.

Finally after two days of riding a long flat straight roads we have got to the mountains.

We had a great coffee stop at a local market where the hill people where trading a wide range of products , their dress was very distinctive from the rest of Thailand and their faces full of character.

We both enjoyed the day , non stop up and down with some great views. We found places to get drinks and food along the road .

We are staying on the Thi – Burmese boarder in a great place, very quite and good AC, the Thi beds are very firm, which takes a bit of getting used to.

Ted is fantastic at riding and he has the tittle of King of the Mountains now.He is loving the sun and fresh air and the roads are very quite.

He has booked his flight on my credit card to Cambodia to visit the young people of Cambridge who are all in Asia during their gap year.

We should reach Chang Mai on Tuesday and then we will do the sites on Wednesday and catch the over night train to Bangkok on Wednesday.

The food is great , all very fresh and spicy. Thailand is a very easy country to be a tourist in. I understand that there is military action in Burma , I hope none of it comes over the boarder. There was an earth quake in Burma last night, we did not feel any thing even  though we were only a 100 km away.

We have been doing a lot of the tourist things in Bangkok. We visited the Palace , water market and the cheap  suit maker. I will look very smart when I get back to the UK , managed to pick up a suit for 150 pounds.

Met with teds friends Nick Hazel and Richard and we toured round the city together, it was good for Ted to have some younger company.

After 3 days of being a tourist in Bangkok it feels good to get the bike out and start back on the road with ted. I am very happy to have a cycling partner for the trip to northern Thailand. We have rented a bike from a local shop called Spice Cycle Tours, it seems like a fast bike – or may be its the rider.

We escaped the city by train yesterday afternoon, arriving in town as it got dark.

THE LAST TIME I SAW TED WAS AT 3.00 AM IN A HOTEL ROOM IN VANCOVER IN SEPTEMBER. I WAS OFF TO EQUADORE AND TED WAS DUE TO RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE. HE HAS NOT CHANGED , MAY BE A BIT MORE WORLDLY WISE BUT THAT COMES FROM WORKING IN A SCHOOL IN SENAGAL. HE LOOKED A LOT MORE CONFIDENT AND GOOD LOOKING AFTER 6 MONTHS OF LIFE EXPERIENCE.

IT SEEMS THAT THE WHOLE OF THE CAMBRIDGE HILLS ROAD SIXTH FORM COLLEGE HAVE COME TO BANGKOK  FOR THEIR GAP YEAR ASIAN EXPERIENCE, I SPENT THE DAY WITH NICK HAZEL AND MATE WHICH WAS GOOD. WE VISITED  A FEW TEMPLES AND THE FLOATING MARKET.