| Hi and welcome dear
reader, |
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| Below is a brief
description of some of the trials and tribulations, the
highs and lows and the glorious memories I have of the
places I journeyed through and the people I met on my recent
trip. |
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| During this trip I
travelled a minimum of 31124 km (19339 mi) by bicycle. I say
a minimum as unfortunately I often forgot to put the
speedometer into its bike holder and occasionally the
magnets were loose and failed to accurately record all the
km I endured on the road. During my trip I travelled through
18 countries including Hong Kong and rose through pedal
power alone to a maximum altitude of 2575 m (8448 ft) above
sea level. I spent a total of 389 days on the road. I took
time off the road and relaxed for 125 days in places that I
liked or had to while waiting for visas. I met rich and poor
people alike, visited both beautiful and ugly cities, got a
flavour of countries I passed through and met many wonderful
and interesting characters on my journey. I was able to
achieve many things I had planned to do from the start, but
a few concessions had to be made on the trip. |
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| Perhaps the most difficult
concession I had to make was when I was involved in an
accident, where I hurt my wrist and had to abandon a 300 km
(186 mi) stage of my trip from China down to Hong Kong. I
was forced to take the bus as X-rays showed that I had
damaged a bone in my wrist, forcing it between my joints. I
unfortunately could go no further… and so I had to take the
bus to Hong Kong. While sitting on the bus with a broken
bike, one hand in plaster the other arm grazed and bruised,
a bit battered and slightly concussed I felt a massive
regret that I could not carry on by bike…However, as it
turned out, this bit of bad luck brought me some luck in the
end. I arrived in Hong Kong, two days ahead of schedule and
was able to spend a couple of days and nights walking,
exploring the city and stopping off for an occasional, and
well deserved drink of dark cool Guinness on tap. This time
off rehabilitating from my injuries also gave me ample time
to repair my bicycle. And the luck did not stop there…Days
before I was scheduled to originally arrive in Hong Kong a
fierce typhoon hit the region. I do not know the scale
(strength) of the typhoon that hit, but trees were snapping
like twigs, billboards and roofs were being ripped off and
the weather was stormy with lashings of torrential rain,
gales, thunder and awe inspiring lightning. The sea was so
rough that all naval traffic stopped. When I realized that
under my original and ‘accident free’ plan I had wanted to
travel down and camp on a mountain peak ahead of arriving in
Hong Kong that very night. I realized that I would have had
to face two days of fierce headwind while cycling, (this
makes pedalling several times harder) into the strong rain
and spend the night camping miserably under trees with the
typhoon howling around me. Dangerous to say the least as the
heavy onslaught of wind would have undoubtedly put me my
tent in harms way…well when I thought about this I was both
relieved and happy to already be in Hong Kong out of harms
way. This kind of luck met me several times on my tour. I
was very lucky many times on my trip with the people I met,
the wonderful nature I saw and the weather I experienced,
the memories I now have but also in many other different
ways. |
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| When I
was riding through the Gobi desert in Mongolian I was caught
in a strong sand storm. Due to the lack of things to see in
the desert and the barren landscape I was not looking
around. I was simply riding along looking straight ahead,
travelling south towards China. After about 7 hours in the
saddle, I just glanced behind me and saw that a huge wall of
sand was behind me, fast catching me up. The sand wall
reminded me of a sea tsunami apart from the fact that it was
over 200 meters tall (656 ft)! One of my great ambitions in
life was to experience a proper sandstorm and suddenly it
was there, right behind me. Due to being alone in the
desert, without any support, with a sandstorm bearing down
on me, I had a number of problems to contend with. The first
of which was that this was only the second day I had been in
the desert, and I had another 5 planned days to go with
nowhere to hide or seek shelter. I only had water supplies
for 2 days, food for half a day and no GPS reading for my
present position. From what little I knew about sandstorms I
knew that I had more serious problems to contend with. Such
sandstorms can last for up to two weeks and have been known
to claim many people’s lives. Probably the most famous case
of this was when archaeologists found an entire army of
soldiers buried beneath the desert sand. Research proved
that all the men, and there were hundreds, died in a
sandstorm from lack of drinking water. They apparently
became lost in the desert, further disorientated in the
sandstorm and ran out of drinking water. A harsh fate, and
when I reminded myself that they were not alone and had
water supplies for many days and still came to a sticky end,
well…the only thing that struck me was that I should change
direction and so I immediately turned left. I knew that
there was a railway line to the east of my location. This
railway line was one of the reasons why I ventured by
bicycle across the Gobi desert. The railway line runs across
the desert and was invaluable as I knew that if I lost my
bearings, while heading south, then I could turn east and
find it. I did not want to risk being stranded in the desert
and die a slow painful death so without a second thought I
turned to the east, and cycled as fast as I could till I
reached it… |
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| It was 5 minutes to twelve
(in the afternoon) when I finally came across the railway
line and the sandstorm was almost upon me. I quickly jumped
from my bicycle, weighed down my equipment and unpacked and
raised my tent, securing it firmly. I was unable to secure
my bicycle as by this time the wind had picked up and sand
was everywhere and so I retreated into my tent. The sand in
the Gobi desert is so fine that a cloth is needed to cover
the mouth and nose so that one can breath normally and
glasses to protect your eyes from damage when out in the
storm. Fortunately I was safely in my tent and so did not
need this protection. My tent was downwind and endured more
than I expected. I knew that the wind would be strong and I
was not disappointed! I had not taken any professional
equipment on my trip, but rather conventional everyday
camping equipment. After two hours of the tent withstanding
the sand and fierce wind in the desert, the inevitable
happened, the tent collapsed. It was a pretty good tent, but
designed for rain, grass, and normal conditions. This was an
extreme event. Instead of the tent lying on grass it was
pitched in a hurry on stone, instead of rain there was sand,
and the fiercest wind sweeping across an open and barren
desert. Fortunately I still had a bicycle cover which I
wrapped round myself and waited for the sandstorm to pass. |
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| Due to the fatigue of the
days travelling I fell asleep wrapped up with the sand
howling around me. When I awoke the next morning, the
sandstorm was gone and I was grateful for the wonderful
experience and even more grateful that it had only lasted
one day. Before I was able to set of I had to clean all my
equipment and get rid of the sand. It was everywhere. I also
had to dismantle my bicycle and oil and lubricate the cogs,
chain and other necessary parts. This took me over 3.5
hours, which in the desert is a very long time as I was
losing water through perspiration. There was no more food
either as the last of it had been devoured at breakfast and
I had many kilometres on the road before me. But that is
another story, which I wont go into now as you will be able
to, if you want to, read about my complete trip in detail in
a book that I am now compiling. I am writing this article
for you to get a flavour of my travels. The book will
include interesting experiences of the countries I rode
through including a chapter on the people and characters I
met along the way. I have so many wonderful experiences that
I do not think that I could do them justice by just cramming
them all into one long article… |
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| While searching through
the internet it appears that I am unique as no-one has ever
attempted the same journey that I undertook and so I do not
want to condense all the information into one article.
People have travelled by bicycle before and have undertaken
various journeys, through numerous countries and continents
but they have used trains, buses and trucks to navigate or
pass through dangerous or inhospitable regions/areas. They
have also usually ridden in a company of other riders. I am
unique in the way that I set out on my own, without any
sponsors or support vehicles, I rode through many dangerous
and inhospitable sections (Siberia, the Gobi desert, the
Pakistani mountains, the jungle, etc.). All on just a
bicycle, using my own saved finances, always relying only on
myself to get me through, both physically and emotionally. I
also undertook this tour without any previous experience of
long distance cycling. The fact of the matter is that this
trip deserves a book to fully illustrate my experiences.
Once I have been able to source a publisher or funding to
write the book, it will be my pleasure for you to read all
about my experiences, the good and the bad, on my year long
‘tour.’ There are many and it feels like I have lived
through 50 lifetimes when I recollect all the adventures I
had. A new dawn always brought a different experience and a
new memory that I am so glad that I now have. This article
is just a collection of some stories and facts which people
most often ask me and like to hear about. For instance, what
was the most significant climb of the trip, the best and
worst experience, the most beautiful place I visited, or
what was my personal record of kilometres in one day. |
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| There are actually two
records of note I would like to tell you about; the record
for least and most kilometres (km) achieved in one day. The
first record for least km in one day was only 17 km (10 mi),
in the most demanding terrain I have ever travelled through.
This occurred in the Laos jungle. The elevation above sea
level was 1000 meters (3280 ft), and I spent the entire day
riding up and down thickly forested hills, in the blistering
heat, with no food and no water. Pedalling past the
Vietnamese-Laotian border I could not exchange any money and
so I had to survive on the food and water I still had left
after leaving Vietnam. In the few villages I passed through
no dollars were accepted for payment and so I had to drink
water from mountain springs when I came across them. After a
day and a half with no food my energy started to plummet.
According to my map I was only 20 km (12mi) away from a
local town where I could change my money, restock, and
recover but I could not make it there. I was so exhausted
that in 2 hours on my bicycle I had only ridden 3 km (1,86
mi)! The only thing I could manage was to assemble the tent
and go to sleep. That would, at least, let my body recover
and give me renewed energy next morning. I did not get a
chance to sleep as even at night it was extremely hot and in
the tent the temperature was a further 3-4 degrees higher. I
woke early and after more effort finally made it to the town
of Sam Neau. I managed those 17 km (10 mi) and I was done, I
could go no further. I waited for the bank to open, to
change some money, and then fully enjoyed a well deserved
high energy packed meal. Once finished I found a little
hotel and reserved a room with a shower and more importantly
a fan and remained there for the next three days as I liked
it there. Fully recharged and rested I was able to embark on
the next leg of the trip to the city of Luang Prabang and
visit the fantastic cascading waterfalls, but that again is
another story ... |
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| On the other hand, the
best record I had in the saddle was in Turkey, where I
managed to ride 220 km (136 mi) in one day. I rode for
fourteen hours, and the road was a bicycle riders dream. It
was a straight path, with no headwind, on a good surface and
only slight hills to go over. I managed to break the 200 km
(124 mi) a day barrier many times on my trip and in some
cases managed this back to back in the same country. To ride
400 km (248 mi) over 2 days as you will agree is not a bad
effort. My bicycle on its own weighed about 15 kg (33 lb),
with an additional 50 kg (110 lb) of equipment, food and
water. The weight of my bicycle depended obviously on how
much water and food I was carrying. So with only the use of
pedal power I had to drive 65 kg (143 lb) of equipment as
well as 80 kg (176) of my own weight. To do this and travel
200 km (124 mi) a day was a pretty good effort I think. On
many occasions I thought that my tachometer was playing up,
but my maps and signposts on the road confirmed the
distances I was travelling as did many people I met on the
road. On the Russian-Mongolian border, I met three
Frenchmen, who were also travelling by bicycle, and thanks
to them I was able to confirm the distances travelled and
set my tachometer for the next leg. This occurred again when
I met Boštan in India where I again confirmed the accuracy
of my tachometer. Boštan was a man from Slovenia, who had
also embarked on a similar tour on bicycle but had left out
a number of countries I had ridden through. It was good to
compare our views on the different countries we had visited
and the various problems we had both faced. We both found
out that we had many similarities and it was amazing for
both of us, to bump into each other, as we were taking a
similar route and travelling in the same year. I had
however, started sooner and from somewhere else and was
taking it easy unlike him, but it was an unbelievable
coincidence that we just happened to come across each other
both trying to sort out travel visas in the Iranian Embassy
in Delhi. He rode on similar equipment and had similar
ambitions and so I took heart that my ambition of completing
the trip was achievable, and that I was not the only
‘nutter’ on the road. For people who are involved or have
experience of long distance and remote travelling, the
number of kilometres are understandable, but for others the
distances travelled are incredible. |
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| The same can be said for
my brother. We had agreed that when I arrived in Saigon (now
Ho Chi-min) in Vietnam, he would fly out from Scotland and
accompany me on bicycle for a few kilometres. On his first
day with me he rode 90 km (55 mi) without any prior
training. By the end of the week he had recorded his
personal best of 158 km (98 mi) in one day. He did have it
tough though, as he had to contend with a bicycle not as
good as mine and I was already well accustomed to travelling
long distances, but he still managed it. Even more so when
you are not in a rush, have no worries and stop where you
want, ride for over 8 hours and still manage 158 km (98 mi).
In the end my brother completed over 3200 km (2174 mi) and
finished, with me in Delhi, India. We also managed to ride
to the island of Phuket in Thailand to enjoy a couple of the
fantastic beaches and indulge in a mini holiday. I did not
however count these km in my trip, because we used other
means of transport (plane, train, tuk-tuk, bus, scooter and
boats). I also did not want diversions like this to multiple
locations to be counted in my overall total. This mini break
to Phuket was further complicated as I unexpectedly returned
to Hong Kong for the second time. I had told my brother of
the amazing time I had had in Hong Kong and so he invited me
(all expenses paid) to return with him to Hong Kong for a
few days and then from there back to Phuket again. While
cycling with my brother we had plenty of spare time to make
diversions and visit many other interesting places. This
ties in with another concession I had to make on my trip. I
had planned my journey to go through Burma and Bangladesh,
but it is not possible to ride through Burma on a bicycle. A
person can only legally fly into and then out of Burma. If
you want to travel into Burma on the ground, you must return
to the same place you entered within 24 hours and leave your
passport at the border. Due to this I had to redo my
scheduled route and fly over Burma. I also flew over
Bangladesh as there was only 140 km to the border with
India, and so not really worth it. The hassle free airline
ticket instead of the worries with a visa and finances also
made it easy for me to miss Bangladesh out. I knew that
Calcutta is roughly the same as Bangladesh, so we flew
direct from Bangkok straight to Calcutta. But that is yet
another interesting story – one which you will be able to
read in my book about my trip. |
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| To find out where it is
really like hell on earth to ride, what country in my
experience, is the worst, why China has become the place of
my fondest memories, why Hong Kong met and raised all my
expectations, the reasons why I was forced from the Pakistan
mountains, - 12 km (7 mi) away from the Afghan border and
had to spend a night involuntarily in Kandahar, why Iranian
officials confiscated my passport and forced me to travel
with an escort, how many good and decent people helped me in
Russia, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Vietnam and Romania, why
I cancelled a visit to Tunguska (a Russian region) where
even today the inexplicable Tunguska mystery rumbles on,
what I learnt by chance in Hong Kong from an old man, and
really did not want to find out, why I rented a Bay Ha Lon
boat for 80 people just for myself in Vietnam, why I lost 22
kg (48 lb) within 2 months, how many toys and money I gave
to children and people on my trip, how I navigated with maps
with Russian and Chinese characters, Arabic script and how I
deciphered road signs in local languages, why I could only
buy items in certain shops, the frustrations at various
embassies and border crossings, what the most difficult and
easiest parts of my journey were, and why I would certainly
return to China and Pakistan …These and many more
experiences will be documented in my book but I will tell
you three more stories form my travels now… |
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| A lot of people ask me why
I took a photo of a dog in Slovakia and included it in my
photo collection when I returned? The photo is a reminder of
another bizarre event that happened on my journey just after
setting off. While riding through Slovakia I met a dog lying
in a ditch, under a branch, by the roadside. Slovakia has
its fair share of aggressive and dangerous dogs, many of
which bothered me while I was riding and I was happy, that
at least this dog wasn’t attacking me. A lot of dogs that I
met looked nice and docile until I was close and then
started to attack for no reason. After a few miles I turned
around and returned to where the dog in the ditch lay. It
occurred to me that he may have been hit by a car and may
have been injured. This was not the case as when I
approached I could see that he was a small puppy who someone
had no doubt abandoned. I though this due to the remote part
of the countryside as the villages behind and ahead of me
were far apart. The puppy also started to growl when I
approached, which suggested to me that he had been
mistreated by his previous owner. I got over this by using a
lot of guile and two biscuits and a bowl of water – soon we
were firm friends. The puppy was very hungry and thirsty and
so I decided to take him with me. I tied him on a long
string lead and went slowly on my bike so he could keep up.
Having this puppy caused me problems because I knew that the
nearest large city was over a day away at my usual pace and
so very far away at the snails pace I was going with the
puppy. During the evening we both camped and shared supper
together. The next day I bought a few cans of dog food in a
store and made him a large doggy feast. The puppy was very
happy and affectionate after the slap up meal of fine
gourmet dog food and water. In the country where I come
from, there are dog shelters but unfortunately according to
the local Slovak police I met these were few and far apart
in Slovakia. Due to this I handed him over to the police and
they promised to take him to the closest dog shelter where
he would be properly looked after. It was sad to leave him
but I could not have taken him across the border never mind
the thousands of kilometres I still had to travel. I hope
that he is doing well… |
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| The penultimate story that
I wish to tell you about relates to a dream I had when I was
a child. When I set out on this trip, I purposefully
packaged some toys for the poor children I would meet on my
travels, so that I could give them a bit of joy. Money helps
in many ways but a toy in a child’s hands is something very
special. Every parent knows this and nothing is better that
a smile on a child’s face. I do not have any children,
but everyone understands the joy that a present or toy can
bring to a child less fortunate. When people ask me about
the best experience I had on my trip, it is difficult to say
as there were so many, but one of my fondest was while I was
travelling through Mongolia. While travelling there I passed
through vast deserted sections of the country, completely
remote, isolated and hauntingly beautiful. The remoteness of
the countryside in Mongolia reminded me a lot of Siberia in
Russia but on a grander scale. After a very difficult day on
the road I passed a single yurt (traditional Mongolian
movable home). Two Mongolian children were playing outside
and when they first saw me they froze – they were obviously
asking themselves who I was, what I was doing there and on
what strange contraption I was riding. I must have seemed
like an alien had suddenly appeared on a strange craft right
next to their yurt. I was also staring back at them, asking
myself how could two children be content to play outside in
such inhospitable surroundings – there was no grass or water
there, just the desert as far as the eye could see. Searing
temperatures, stone and sand and undoubtedly a really hard
life waits the people who live like this in Mongolia. I
waved at the boys to come closer but in some countries it is
hard to communicate even by using hand signals. They
probably did not understand me, and so I did a trick on my
bicycle, and at that moment they rushed towards me and tried
to catch me up. I stopped and quickly hunted through my bag
to find some toys – I found the last bundle of animal toys I
had. I had already given away various other bundles of cars,
boats etc on my travels. The children came closer, but they
were still afraid and did not get too close so I threw the
bundle of animal toys to them. When then picked the bag from
the ground they stared wide eyed at each other in amazement
– what kind of unexpected treasure had they been given?
Smiles for ear to ear started to form on their faces and
they ran back to their yurt. At that moment they could not
care less about the ‘alien’ propped up against his bike
yards away but instead wanted to go home and open their new
bag of goodies. They seemed happy and I was happy as well as
I had given away my last packet of toys and now only had
money left. This ties in with my childhood dream – a dream I
had that someday I would receive something I had never asked
for and was given freely. In my childhood I dreamed of toys,
then later winning the lottery and then later finally
realizing what I wanted to know about life. When I reached a
certain age, I realized that it was better to give rather
that to receive and that people in different countries, from
different backgrounds and who have different religious views
also have similar outlooks. I am not preaching wisdom and
there are many things I do not know about life - I am not
rich enough to throw away money or goods but it is fantastic
to see how small acts of kindness are rewarding and are very
much appreciated. To give someone joy and to fulfil
someone's wish is wonderful and happens I think, for a
reason… |
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| The last story of the
journey which I wish to tell you about in this article
occurred during my travels through the jungle. I had been
able to save some money, had a fair chunk of the journey
behind me and plenty memories and experiences swimming
around my head. I often had seen handicapped or old and
infirm people or children growing up in difficult conditions
on my travels. Where I could, I tried to help them with
food, toys or money depending on the situation. As stated
before I am by no means rich and actually by American and
European standards I am quite ‘poor’ financially. To other
people however I am very ‘rich.’ Rich in health, rich in
opportunities, experiences, adventures, knowledge and rich
in time - in the way that after saving I could afford to
take a year out of my life and travel the world. On this
planet however there are those who are incredibly poor and
who have a very hard life which some of us cannot imagine or
even relate to. I experienced this firsthand numerous times
and once saw a farmer in a particular country, where
conditions were very hard, leaving his work and going home
at 9pm after a hard days manual labour. People have it hard
all over the world and conditions are terrible everywhere
from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa,
etc. . Working every day, 7 days a week, for at least 16
hours a day with no chance of a break and unable to afford
to be sick. This is a terrible situation. Some have no
access to any water never mind any clean hygienic water,
which should be a standard for everybody in this so called
modern world we live in. People simply toil around the world
from birth to death in horrendous conditions and have
nothing else. This peasant farmer I mentioned earlier, who
had just scrambled out of the valley with his cart, now had
to push it uphill ( which had a 60% slope) to where I was
riding down. It was to be his lucky day... I stopped him,
and given that I did not know his language just smiled,
bowed and gave him some of the money I had on me. He watched
me cautiously and then a huge smile spread across his face.
He had just won the lottery. Afterwards I just shook his
hand and carried on. For him it was undoubtedly a large
amount of money, because he came from a poor country and
toiled on the land, but for me it was not that much out of
my budget. You never know who you may bump into in life, who
will change you outlook and preconceptions! This was the
last story I wanted to share with you and thank you for
making it this far! I hope that you will be able to return
to this website in the course of your lives and that you
will read about my full memories and experiences in my book
detailing the journey... |
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| Finally, I would like to
leave you with a funny episode that occurred on the journey,
there were many more! This happened in Siberia in Russia.
During the summer months in Siberia it stays light pretty
late and even at 11pm there is still enough light. This has
its advantages and disadvantages. You can ride a bike a few
hours longer and travel a few more kilometres, but on the
other hand, you do not meet many cars on the road and it is
a long monotonous day in the saddle. Normally, you come
across cars, trucks or other forms of transport as you
cycle. This is good for the psyche as it keeps you alert and
switched on. However in Siberia you can ride for several
hours/days without meeting anybody. The local forests are
huge and you only encounter a village once every 3 days or
so. The roads in Siberia are usually not made of asphalt,
but rather dirt tracks with muddy puddles when it rains and
when it is dry the dust kicks up and it is terrible to ride
through. If you add in the millions of mosquitoes and flies,
wolves and bears and in some eastern parts even the Siberian
Tiger then you are in for a very disconcerting ride. In my
case the greatest danger posed was from the wild bears. Many
live out there and roam free and attack people for a number
of reasons. They become frightened easily, defend their
young, or simply attack and kill out of hunger. I had to
take this into account and the worst was when I had to set
up camp. Whenever I stopped and went into the forest to
pitch my tent the concentration of insects multiplied. The
swarm of gnats, mosquitoes and other flies was always more
intense than when I was on the road. I always had to wear
full protective waterproof clothing, get my mosquito net up
as soon as possible, use gloves and most importantly seal
and isolate myself completely in my tent. It was always a
battle to pitch the tent as fast as possible as the
temperature inside all my protective gear rose rapidly. I
was using gloves in Siberia in summer that I had bought
specially for use in colder countries later on. I once tried
to pitch my tent without any of my protective clothing and I
lasted about 2 minutes in the Siberian forest - it was just
impossible, I was almost eaten alive! |
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| So once I eventually
pitched my tent I had to make as much noise as possible to
scare any bears away and then quickly jumped into my tent.
Inside I spent the next X minutes hunting for any mosquitoes
that had managed to get in – there were usually tens of them
and only after that could I undress and go to sleep. I had
to repeat the same procedure only in reverse when packing my
tent up before quickly jumping on my bicycle and heading for
my 'friend' the road. Thankfully this only happened to me in
Siberia. I now completely understand why bears are so bad
tempered in Siberia. They have to contend with all the
biting flies and mosquitoes every day! The bears also have
to roam through the forest searching for food, constantly
being attacked by flies, and then to top it off are hunted
for sport by humans. Anyone would be aggressive after a day
like that :o) |
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| Now after explaining the
situation I found myself in Siberia I can fully tell you
about what happened to me there. After several hours of
never ending ‘roads’ through the forest without a living
creature crossing my path, I started to zone out. Even the
birds had stopped singing and it was getting quite dark. I
was still riding as I hadn’t come across a proper place to
pitch camp. To the left and right of me were marshes and
wetland and so I just kept pedalling. To improve my mood,
but mainly because of the bears I just started my shout,
scream and sing. I started off singing and shouting various
poems, proverbs and songs but mainly I was just making
unrecognizable loud noises. Suddenly as I rounded a corner
in the road I came across a broken down Russian truck with 2
Russians standing there. They both watched me cycling
towards them and looked at me as if I was some kind of idiot
or simpleton screaming his head off in the forest. They must
have though what kind of a madman was on his own, cycling
through Siberia and shouting at the top of his lungs? The
moment I saw them I shut up and the look on their faces was
priceless and improved my mood 100%. I rode towards them and
due to knowing a few Russian phrases, sentences and words I
explained why I was making such an idiot of myself and what
I was doing out here. They completely understood and we all
started to laugh. They agreed that since they were in a
truck they had no need to make any noise to scare away bears
meanwhile I had to, as my bicycle made no noise whatsoever.
We all thought it perfectly reasonable to scream and bawl at
the forest. The up side of this encounter was that the men
showed me a more detailed map than the one I had bought in
Volgograd (I had bought a basic atlas of Russia). They
showed me that less than 15 km away was a small village
where it was possible to sleep without insects or bears.
That was one of the best nights sleep I ever had in Russia. |
| |
| That’s everything folks in
this article and if you are still interested in the book
detailing my trip, you will be able to read it either on
this website soon or hopefully you will be able to pick up
your very own copy in a bookshop in the future. The book is
a project I am working on and as I said earlier there will
be a need for me to source a good publisher or to find extra
finances to realize and properly catalogue my journey. I
will keep you informed. It may come out as an eBook on the
Kindle, iPad, or other electronic reader devices. I will see
what options are available and what the response will be
from this website. |
Thank you very much for reading this article and taking an
interest and I hope you have an entertaining and adventurous
rest of your day and lives…
HIGHLIGHT: The highlight of my trip was this photo taken in
China where I was able to pick my own green tea leaves. The
original idea behind my journey was to be able to personally
pick green tea and in the future enjoy it on special
occasions. I picked the best tea that I could find in this
region of China. Only the very best and freshest young
leaves were picked and I only partially distilled the
leaves, giving the tea a very delicious and distinct taste…
The first opportunity I had to try my tea leaves was in
front of my house when I finally returned home. I arrived
alive, healthy and with lots of beautiful experiences that I
will have for the rest of my life and promise to share with
you soon! |
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