Where tectonic plates collide, the kingdom of Bhutan soars. Rising up above the Indian plains, the land of the thunder dragon begins as dramatically as it stands. A land shrouded in mystery, closed to the world for years, only recently has Bhutan started opening its wide wooden doors to the world. There have been many people aid [...]
READ MORE »Posts tagged Steep Hills
On the Roof of the World
It was a joyful event to reach the Geermu – Lhasa highway. I could have kissed the smooth asphalt. We’d spent the last week cycling alone in a vast plateau that appeared to never end. The day before reaching the highway we managed to set up camp moments before a thunderstorm front rolled through. During [...]
READ MORE »Valleys of the Gods, Earthquakes and Paranoia
In Shangri-La we met up with some cycling friends and decided to ride north together. In the early morning, in the wet sleet-like rain we set off following the border with Tibet. It would take a month to ride to the northern city of Geermu and we’d have to cycle across three provinces and end up [...]
READ MORE »The hardy back roads of Laos – Part 2
… continued from a previous post. In the valleys, I pushed my bike across the gravelly river beds and usually ended up giving Ruby (the bike) and myself a bath at the same time. Fortunately, with the airtight panniers, the bike could float across if need be but, being the middle of the dry season [...]
READ MORE »The hardy back roads of Laos – Part 1
With an unusual rattling sound, followed by a ‘tink, tink, tink’ and a loud ‘SNAP!’, I knew I was in trouble. It was coming from the rear wheel and I hoped that it wasn’t anything major. The roads were some of the most gruelling I’d experienced on the expedition to date and both myself and [...]
READ MORE »A cycling legend and the small town of Pai…
It felt good leaving Bangkok. Between the noise, the pollution and the traffic, the week there left me feeling drained. Hannah, Gemma and I had a quiet Christmas at Hannah’s place in the middle of the city. I spent most of Christmas Day with Ruby (the bike) cleaning, repairing and doing scheduled maintenance on the Rohloff [...]
READ MORE »Tioman
I arrived in the small town of Mersing in the afternoon with the intention to spend a few days on Tioman Island. Getting there was going to blow the budget for the week, but I figured that if I could camp on the island then it would be okay. The next ferry wasn’t until morning [...]
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