My return to China was flooded with a kind of reverse culture shock. The dirty, run down city of Kathmandu had cows shitting in the street; the rivers ran full of rubbish; chaotic traffic spilled in all directions around every corner and intersection. The tangled cars often sang in a symphony of horns. In contrast, [...]
READ MORE »Posts tagged Cities
24th September 2011
Friends of the Cycle Strongman: Remember this date. A few days from now people all over the world will come together to say enough is enough. We want action on Climate Change and need to make our voices heard. This expedition is about helping foster the inspiration needed to make this change. And that change [...]
READ MORE »Breathe deeply, be immersed, surrender
Never in my life have I seen such amazing beauty and diversity as I did in Nepal. At the foothills of the Himalayas, the country is wedged between India and Tibet, rising from low sweeping plains in the south to the highest mountain in the world in the north. ‘Incredible’ doesn’t come close; ‘rich’ falls [...]
READ MORE »Epic Valleys and Blue Skies
I spent nearly a month in Lijiang staying with Hutch helping with preparations for cycling Tibet. I met a lot of interesting people, spent a long time sorting, cleaning and fixing gear. I had a new floor sewn into my tent, making it twice as strong and twice as heavy. I got my rack rewelded for [...]
READ MORE »Black markets and cold smiles
Crossing into Southern China was another milestone. China was a country that sounded so strange and foreign, like it was in its own remote corner of the world. With a few billion people, China was big and, for the last five years, we’ve constantly heard people talk of China, China, China. But, what was it [...]
READ MORE »The ugly side of tourism
Luang Prabang was an interesting place. The town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, cycling around, it was easy to understand why. The city has a charm all of its own. It was also easy to see why the UN was contemplating taking the title from them as it was changing very quickly. It seemed [...]
READ MORE »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 [...]
READ MORE »Asia for Beginners…
A small winding road led through thick undulating forest and past flat swampy areas. Few cars passed this way and I had this quiet road all to myself – one hundred and twenty kilometres through thick jungle and open grasslands. Gliding through small villages, passing the odd gravel quarry and natural gas wells nestled in [...]
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