A visiting cyclist

On the road again, I felt at ease. It was my ‘un-comfort’ zone, not knowing where I was going to sleep, not knowing what lay ahead and in all of it, learning to say yes to it all. With Buddhist temples everywhere in Thailand, we could always find a place to stay if needed and food was available just about everywhere. Southern Thailand was flat and the roads were good. We followed the long golden stretch of beach for a thousand kilometres along the Gulf of Thailand. The sunny skies, coconut groves and light tailwinds made cycling a joy. Thailand was perhaps the easiest country I’d ever cycled through.

Gemma decided to ride with Hannah and I north, towards Bangkok. Now we were three. Living out of each other’s pockets took some getting used to. I enjoyed my own company, the freedom it brought and not having to ‘worry’ about others. This space now had to grow and include. At times I began to feel frustrated and annoyed, but in doing so I learned to cultivate patience  and started to enjoy sharing the experience.

While cycling through Southern Thailand we rode through Hua Hin (Thailand’s equivalent to the Gold Coast). It’s a stretch of beach jammed with hotels, resorts and hordes of tourists. There are places there that look like ‘little Scandinavia’ complete with large housing complexes with manicured lawns, big walls, even some local signs in Swedish. It amazed me that people would travel so far into such a beautiful country and culture and want to change the place to look like home.

A little out of town on the coast near a quiet village, I found Six Senses Project. It’s a chain of resorts that are designed to be as eco friendly as possible. We’d heard about the Six Senses Projects from a contact in Phuket. With everyone throwing around ‘green-wash’ these days, I was a little sceptical and decided to drop in to ask a few questions. As I sat down with the Community Manager, I found myself to be pleasantly surprised. I told them about the Expedition and soon had an invitation to be shown around.

Basically the resorts operate on the slow life principle: SUSTAINABLE – LOCAL – ORGANIC – WHOLESOME   LEARNING – INSPIRING – FUN – EXPERIENCES.  Apart from being a five-star resort and providing all the luxuries you’d expect, I discovered the resort grows its own food, incorporates water harvesting on site, uses recycled building materials from sustainable and local sources, is conscious of and actively seeks to reduce their carbon footprints (that result from transporting goods over long distances, including their guests). This I found out was just the tip of the iceberg. The organic food not grown on site is sourced produce from local communities and each resort gives five per cent  of  their profit to local community and environmental projects. Within all of this they keep guests informed of such initiatives, teaching them how to reflect the philosophy into their own lives, and how these intelligent alternatives benefit them individually and our planet as a whole. We talked for the whole afternoon and I came back the next day to give a presentation of the Expedition to the staff.

This ‘SLOW LIFE’ philosophy also extended to their management practices and, while I won’t bore you with the details, I was quietly impressed at how this all came together. I could really learn something here. A few weeks later I got in touch with Arnfinn Oines – Regional Sustainability Manager - about the finer details of the project. Interestingly during our discussion I asked, “Why go to all the trouble?” and Arnfinn explained, “… it’s not because it’s good for business, but because it’s the right thing to do.” During our discussions, I pointed out that the type of guests they cater to probably have expensive cars, eat at the best restaurants and have all the modern luxuries. What was it that was so special about this place? Interestingly Arnfinn pointed out something that struck a resounding chord with thoughts I’d been having over the past few months. He replied with the words “Redefining luxury – it’s intelligent luxury!” He pointed out that what they give their guests who have everything is time and space, making things simple, uncomplicated and, of course, incorporating this within the experience. I thought that spoke volumes about the world I was caught up in before I decided to ride a bicycle around the world.

Hannah and I also visited an Oxfam Project, at Pretchup Kiri Khan (the details of the project are available here). What struck me the most about the project was the passionate people and the way they described their lives had changed as a result of the project. An old lady perhaps in her 80′s was looking after the breeding of the crabs’ eggs and was the full -time volunteer for the project. I instantly liked her and her warm smile never seemed to leave her face the whole time we were there. Hannah and I asked why she continues to volunteer at such an age. She replied saying “… my body may be weak but my heart is strong.” I know that after out visit she left a strong impression on both Hannah and I.

I made friends with one of the guys in the village while playing Tak-lor (think volleyball with your feet and head). He was in his late 20′s and had a wife and two children. That night over our seafood banquet, I was asked a bunch of questions about my life, why I didn’t have children of my own, why I wasn’t married and I’m sure they must have found my answers bizarre. Most of them were young, perhaps 20, mostly sons of fisherman with one or two kids. For a small village with very little monetary wealth, Hannah and I were honoured that night with a feast fit for kings.

As my new friend, who hardly spoke a word of English, guided me out of the village to the main road the next day, we paused and I thanked him for his hospitality. As I departed, he looked me straight in the eye with a tender face and said something I may never forget for the rest of my life, “I love you. Don’t forget!” It made me laugh and for the next hour while I cycled along it made me smile. I don’t think any man has ever said that to me in the same way, with the sincerity and honesty in his eyes than that man did that morning.

I braved the traffic and decided to ride into Bangkok. It was dusty, hazy and the air pollution was rife. Street juice (a term Hannah coined for the water on the Bangkok streets that drips from air conditioners and generally smells foul)washed from paths everywhere and was to be avoided at all costs. There were no shoulders and I competed for space against suburban vehicles, motorbikes and the odd bus. It felt good to whizz past cars while they waited in a traffic jam. Despite riding through the traffic for about three hours I finally wheeled down the street Hannah lived in by two in the afternoon.

It felt good to have a safe haven in Bangkok. I met with a lot of Hannah’s friends and Oxfam friends in Bangkok. I had a bunch of chores to do, but with the hustle and bustle of the city, noise, traffic and pollution, I was content to stay in and relax for a few days. I tried to get a seamstress to fix some holes in my clothes, but the lady told me they were beyond repair and to forget it. I liked my clothes and decided to sew them up myself. Fortunately I had more luck with my shoes.

I spoke at the Head Office for Oxfam GB in South East Asia and at a nearby elementary school. The school visit I hooked up when randomly cycling through Bundaberg many months earlier. I met Robert while asking for directions and discovered he was an English teacher who lived in Bangkok. After a brief chat, we exchanged emails and I had an invitation to meet in Bangkok. Six months later I found myself giving a presentation to his English class full of smiling Thai students with an English translator. It was more difficult than I thought but, judging from the smiles and interest, I’m sure the kids had to stretch their imagination at least, learning that it is possible to cycle around the world on a bicycle.

(Apologies for the lack of photos. They are available on www.picasaweb.google.com/cyclestrongman. China blocked Picasa and so I can’t link to them in the blog.)