April 29, 2005
Just Pick One!
Nong Khai - the Thai-Laos border along the Maekhong River
Total KM 2852
From the beginning, when this bike expedition was just a pipe dream, I wanted this ride to be for charity. I'm embarking on another year-long adventure, why not make it enriching to other peoples' lives as well, I thought.
In my selfish, egotistical thinking, I wanted to make a noticeable difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Aids/caner/diabetes charities? Those charities, although very important and worthwhile, already recieve millions of dollars a year, so the amount that I hoped to raise wouldn't really make a difference (in my twisted thinking anyways.)
I decieded to raise money to build a drinking well in Africa. I contacted __%@__ _&_ _*__ _*__@_ __+@_ . They seemed very happy that I wanted to help. However, at the time, they didn't have any projects in Africa to start on, but they did have contacts and would see what they could do. About two weeks later they told me that everything was set up and that I could start sending in money. They would never answer questions that I had about the charities administration costs, well costs, or even the, would-be, location of it. All they would ever reply with was with a bunch of facts on Africa that were clearly just copied/pasted from their website, the mis-matched font and font size is kind of a give away. I was feeling quite reluctant to get on board with them and then I read an article written by a guy that had been working with charities in Africa for over 20 years and my mind was made up. NO WAY
Now I can't find that article that changed my mind, but I stumbled across this the other day:
An excert from "The Nation" Saturday April 23rd, 2005
"...A bank is supposed to make a profit on its loans. That's how it stays in buisness and avoids it's own bankruptcy. Mr. Toussant's stated goal for the World Bank is to violate these basic principles, and illegally confiscate US taxpayers' earnings to bail out losers in the third world.
Unfortunately for Mr. Toussant, history has unequivocally shown that for over the last 40 years, soft loans, and, yes, even direct gifts of money to the third world has actually retarded development. Futhermore, the US taxpayers' money, amounting to trillions of dollars, thrown at the third world, has often ended up enriching despotic rulers, filling their Swiss bank accounts and buying Mercedes. This has enabled despots to keep their people oppressed...
... Poorer nations at various levels of evolution are best served by internal political changes that create freedom for both sexes, and free markets, with free trade of their primary agricultural and fishery products. This promotes job creation and wealth for all citizens, so they don't have to wave their begging bowls under the noses of the developed countries... ...Beware the harm inflicted by the wealthy do-gooders, who boost their own egos and status by continually meddling in other peoples' lives, oblivious to the human wreakage left in their wake."
W KNIGHT
After that, I contacted numerous charities (none involving the third world), all very different but all extremely worthwhile, but to no avail. Most didn't respond, the ones that did said that they didn't want to be associated with my trip in case something bad happened (ie. kidnapping, death) en route. Haven't they heard that all publicity is good publicity?
Due to my scary bout of temporary blindness earlier this month, I've finally made a decision in the great charity debate! The ride is for The Canadian National Institute for the Blind. CNIB
Posted by tyler at 01:39 PM
April 28, 2005
Wheat Kings
Total KM 2737
I got a flat last night as I was racing through a small village, trying to beat the setting sun, in my search for a decent campsite. Last night marked the last of my illegal camping, for a while anyways. I will be quite reluctant to pitch my tent in Laos due to the landmine presence.
Posted by tyler at 02:49 PM
April 25, 2005
salt deficiency
Total KM 2423
I had a horrible headache and an awful campsite last night. Malaria? I doubt it, more likely a salt deficiency. Did 120 km today. Good day but very hot. I got a double pinch flat while looking for a campsite in the dark.
Posted by tyler at 01:31 PM
April 23, 2005
Slept in
Total KM 2303
Late start today, due to sleeping in. Hey, I gotta take advantage of the hotels, they are few and far between sometimes.
Posted by tyler at 01:24 PM
April 22, 2005
Ready to Roll
Auythaya, Thailand (80km north of Bangkok
Total KM 2235
"Find out what you want, find something you really care about. When you know what you want the rest follows. But don't just drift off into something because it offers security. Security is never worth a damm. We're meant to live, and to live means living dangerously, half on the edge of trouble and half on the edge of achievement."
Hammond Innes,
"The Strode Venturer"
Sorry I haven't updated much in the past month, if you lok at the "April" pictures than you may think that I've been doing nothing but taking pictures of monkeys,but actually I did manage to squeeze a a litte cycling in there. The "Burma" pictures are of a day trip I took to Myanmar from Ranong (southern Thailand) to get another 30 days stamped into my passport.
The bike is all cleaned and greased up! She's ready for an early start tomorrow. I won't get to update until The Laos-Thai border and I'll probably be there on April 30th (when my Thai visa expires.)
Posted by tyler at 12:45 AM
April 21, 2005
I'm blind!
Bangkok, Thailand
Total KM 2235
I was on a city bus going to the Loas embassy and I went blind - it was 39 degrees celcius outside and probably 45 on the bus, I got drunk the night before and didn'tget much sleep. I was standing at the front of a dangerously crowded bus and the outer portion of my field of vision started to go black. Slowly getting larger and larger until I can it looks as though I'm looking through a hole in the wall, and then that vanishes. Total darkness, I can't see a fucking thing! I had one hand holding onto the railing while the other was holding my bag. So there I stood while the bus pushed on in gridlock. I'm seriously blind. I just stood there not moving - not like I could, it was shoulder to shoulder on the bus- so there I stood,on a bus, in a strange city, not speaking the language, sweating my ass off and to top it off...BLIND! So yes, I just stood there, trying to figure out what to do. DO I pretend to faint so I can get off the bus? How can I possibly explain to someone who I can't even see what is happenning. Wait, now I can see a little bit, it's coming back! No, gone again. Shaking my head helped a bit, slapping my face even more, but it was still a good 15 minutes before I could see again. Just like it came on, it went away. A pinhole of light! Bigger, bigger, yes I can see again. Holy shit, I've gotta get off this bus and guzzle afew litres of water. This really isn't good. Seriously scary stuff.
Got to the embassy an hour later, got my visa after another hour.
True Story
Posted by tyler at 07:00 PM | 1 Comments
April 20, 2005
House Sitting
Bangkok, Thailand
Total KM 2235
I'm in Bangkok staying with a friend. I've had a change of heart (back to my original plans) and I'm going to skip Cambodia in favour of getting closer to my goal of (for now) England. I'm also skipping the Muay Thai (Thai kick boxing) training.
There is only one key for my friends place and I had it on Sunday night while she was at work. She never came back on Monday so I finally called her on Tuesday and woke her up (at noon.) I assumed she was with some other guy so I just kept the phone talk to a minimum, she said she'd be home on Wednesday. It wasn't a big deal that she was gone, but I was just worried that I'd be out and she'd come back and have to wait around all day for me to come back with the key. So it turned out she had gone to Pattaya (sleazy beach vacation spot) with a friend who owns a bar there. Then she comes back and tells me how much she missed me and how sad she is that I'm leaving.
You just took off for 3 days without telling me and now you tell me how much you care about me? LOL
We're just friends I keep telling her.
Posted by tyler at 06:16 PM
April 12, 2005
Songkran Festival
Auythaya, Thailand
Total KM 2280
I took a train up here to avoid the legandary traffic that makes up Bangkok. The Thai New Year (Songkran) is under way. Basically it's a 3-day, nation-wide water fight! The first day I cycled around town, getting water thrown on me, and stopping every few feet for someone to smear a talcum-powder/water paste on my face. On the 2nd day of the festival I was going to head (by train) down south to see a friend in Bangkok and get my Loas and Cambodia visas sorted out, but my guesthouse had a pick-up truck that was going out to drive around with a barrel of water in the back. I couldn't decide what to do so I flipped a coin and ended up staying another day and driving around with them and taking part in the water play. Good fun. This is an awesome time of year to visit Thailand - April 10-13th.
Posted by tyler at 06:06 PM
April 11, 2005
Traffic trouble
Hua Hin, Thailand
Total KM 2230
I'm resting in a beach town south of Bangkok. I've been pigging out at the Indian restuarants across from my 150 baht a night guesthouse.
I'd love to learn to kite surf here, but I can't justify the time/money commitement. That's really sad, because you should never make excuses based on those two resons. I do have time and I do have money but I don't really know what I want...
The traffic is really crazy now, there isn't exactly a plethora of choices for road travel around this area of Thailand. I think I'm gonna take a train up north to avoid the Bangkok maelstrom. Bangkok must have the worst traffic in South-East Asia and there is no way I am cycling in it, or near it for that matter.
Posted by tyler at 05:58 PM
April 08, 2005
Food Poisoning
Total KM 1580km
I was in the middle of a quite tranquil dream - in the woods, next to a beach in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park - when I was jolted into consciousness by a beast within who started to plan its escape. It knew how it was going to get out and and wasn't gonna take no for answer. This required some quick action on my part if I wanted this to remain a somewhat clean affair. Whith my chest and shoulders puffed up, and one hand on my ass, asif to hold the beast at bay, I speedily hobbled from side to side the 100m to the washroom. That was that, or so I thought anyways. No sooner had I gotten back to my tent and layed down did it rear its ugle head again. It's not finished yet, shit, this things just getting warmed up.
It felt as though my stomach was being kicked, punched and scraped with a scouring pad from the inside. I've had food poisoning 3 times before (only once was it self inflicted :-) ) and each time, although very unpleasant, I don't think I'd ever describe it as seriously painful. Well, this was a seriously painful experience. The rest of the night saw me continually dragging my self from the confines of the tent and into the Malarial zone, the forest, in an effort not to dirty my campsite - or my tent- with my stomach contents. Actually it only took about 10 sleepless hours to exorcise this demon and I finally got to sleep just as the sun was rising. So much for going hiking on my rest day. I spent my recovery day doing little more than rocking hither and tither in my hammock and listening to the waves lap up on shore.
Food poisoning sucks, food poisoning while camping by youself with dank, dirty squat toilets with no running water really sucks.
Posted by tyler at 12:29 PM
April 05, 2005
My B.O. smells like curry
No, the title of this entry isn't the name of the latest hit from Hindi rockers Raj, Taj, and Maj. It's fact. I suppose I should start at the beginning- I'm picky about deodorant, keep that spray on away from me. The gel? What's that about? It's sticky, gets all over your clothes and it just doesn't feel natural. The "ball-point" roll on? It feels even worse than the gel, not to mention it's a bit feminine. So this leaves me with 2 options - "speed stick" and similar designs or ignore everyone else's desire to breathe fresh, fragrant air and just forget about it. I have banished deodorant from my life and it's great. At first I was scared to see (smell?) the effects of cycling 100km a day in 35 degree weather. It's bound to be horrific, right? Sure, in the beginning there were some teary eyed girls, some shrieks and nose cringing by passer-bys, but it really wasn't too bad (of course it wasn't bad for you, you fool, no one finds their own bodily functions offensive.) It's been two months since I've kicked deodorant out of my life and my body is adjusting to it, the stank glands seem to be taking a vacation. Plus, I'm eating so much curry that the fragrance is eliminating itself through my pores. I always thought it was a joke when people say that south-Asians smell of curry. I'm not even on the south-Asian sub-continent yet and I smell of curry. It's nice though, not at all pungent and repulsive like run of the mill, foul smelling B.O. So yes, My B.O. smells like curry and I like it! Although it is now kind of a circle - I smell of curry, I want curry, I eat curry, I smell of curry, I....
It's just like the spitting problem that's common in large, crowded and polluted cities - they spit because they are sick, they spread disease by spitting, disease makes them sick, the spit because they are sick, they sprea...
Posted by tyler at 03:48 PM | 6 Comments
March 31, 2005
Super Stardom
Total KM 1581
Imagine the opening scene in a bad movie where a man, his name is of no importance so let's call him Mr. ________, is walking out of his suburban-house towards his car. First there is the sexy next-door neighbour tending to her flowers-
"Hi, Mr. ___________"
Next, the milkman rolls up-
"Good morning Mr. __________"
Then we have the paperboy-
"Hello sir!"
Finally there are some children off to school-
"Good morning Mr. ___________"
A nice, friendly neighbourhood. But imagine being Mr. _________, and living out this above scene all day, everyday, with total strangers greeting you. This is what cycling the broken-glass encrusted roadways of Thailand is like. The novelty of it wears out faster than a cheap Chinese condom. You can't keep a train of thought going because you have 5 kids repeatedly screaming "Good morning!" at you until you are out of sight, regardless of the fact that it's 6:00 in the evening.
Then, when the screaming kids are finally out of earshot, you come across an extended family all sitting out on their front patio and every single one of them is determined to say hello.
"Hey you!"
"Where are you going?" - I always point in the direction that I am coming from.
"Why are you here?" - I've actually been asked that, in a very friendly manner, by a few people. I assume it was a mistake...
and my personal favorite-
"Where are you?" - What is this, a fucking game of Peek-A-Boo?
You can open you eyes now, I'm right here for Christ sake.
What am I complaing about? Most people are really happy to see me and are quite friendly. Almost annoyingly friendly. I should start charging the staring squads - which I muster up just about everytime I stop for water- 5 baht a head.
5 baht for a lookie look
10 baht to grope my bicycle
and 20 baht to rip a chunk of hair out of my arm.
A man actually did that to me on a bus, sort of. He came up to me, stared for a minute and then stared pulling at my arm hair. I pushed his hand away and ripped out a few strands to give him - as proof to his family that he met a foreigner- which he immediately grabbed up and thrust into his shirt pocket. I demanded 20 baht be he refused to cough it up.
But I am learning how to better ignore people, which I think should be very useful should I ever get duped into marriage.
Posted by tyler at 12:05 PM
March 22, 2005
safe
After 10 minutes in southern Thailand I had forgotten all about the threat of violence, I was too busy worrying about the traffic. I entered the country at Sungai Kolok and within 5 km I was almost hit by a scooter and then I saw some unconscious guy being thrown in the back of a truck while his scooter lay in the dust on the side of the road.
I'm now in Songkla province away from most of the violence of the south.
Posted by tyler at 04:26 AM | 4 Comments
March 16, 2005
Wildlife in Asia
The FAQ section is ready as are some new pictures of Malaysia and Thailand. Check them out.
I'm in Bangkok and finished with my beach vacation and tomorrow I've got a 22 hour train ride back down to Malaysia to look forward too. Woo-hoo. Can you feel my enthusiasm? I've been lounging on Ko Chang and Ko Samet for the past two weeks and I am quite antsy to get back on my bike for some detox.
Both of those islands are National Parks but you could hardly tell. I felt kinda bad for being there. Ko Samet is littered with trash and all the reefs that I visited in the Ko Chang vicinity were dead (I can only assume from snorkellers and divers alike)... On 3 seperate occasions I witnessed 3 boats anchored at the same time near a single reef and there were at least 75 snorkellers in the water at the same time in a really small area. I was getting kicked in the head, the feet, the ass, it was horrible. People were standing on the once alive reefs taking a break. It is a sad situation with some National Parks but it doesn't have to be, if you are not happy with this current situation then avoid these places. If you really want to go, seriously consider the consequences to visiting such a place. I'm not just talking about the dead reefs that I saw, it goes alot deeper than that but I don't have the time nor energy to go into it.
Posted by tyler at 05:35 PM | 1 Comments