Asia (local)

A ride in Kurdistan, involving bad weather, great hospitality and harrowing stories.

Cycling Japan was my first journey on a bicycle. Outside the big cities, Japan is indeed a great country to cycle on low budget with heaps of free camping opportunities, great and affordable food and no absolutely tourist scam. The helpful and kind Japanese contributed so much to my experience. A few word of Japanese do make a difference.

We are a couple of young italian travellers and we are riding through South-East of Asia, exploring the area also by hiking and trying to know local traditions and cultures.

From Bangkok, we went to northern Thailand in about two months reaching the area of the Golden Triangle. Now we are in Laos and our travel goes on...We are planning to go to Cambodia and Vietnam next months... Follow us on our frequently updated website!

Wir wollten von Chiang Mai nach Süden Radeln, was uns wegen der ungewöhnlich großen Hitze nicht gelungen ist. Es war trotzdem eine schöne Reise.

We're Emma and Justin, two New Zealanders who have 'gone cycling' after six years working and living in London.

We talked about the possibility of a big trip quietly at first. We were on a train in England somewhere and we sketched a rudimentary map which plotted our way towards Russia. Our cycling trips became more ambitious, and we tested our enthusiasm for the idea by cycling the length of the UK (Lands End to John O'Groats) over three weeks in 2009. After 6 years living away from New Zealand we decided it was time to pack up London lives, quit jobs and go.

We have been on the road since March 2010 and intend to reach the edge of Asia by March 2012. Our website documents some of the places we've discovered on our travels.

My plan is simple: ride as long as it is fun!

In July 2007 I closed the door behind me to start my first trike tour. I had no idea how far I would get and this tour took me from Canada to Guatemala. I had such a good time I continued on spending 9 months cycling New Zealand and Australia. In 2009 I cycled through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

Quest for the celebration of 31 December and the New Year in the village.

This trip was as usual in the India-Bangladesh border of Sylhet Division. But this time the mission was to see how people celebrate 31 December and New Year in the village. Unfortunately I couldn't find any exception in their life then any other day of the year!! For them; every day starts with a fixed schedule.

(laces visited: Jaintapur, Kanaighat, Jakiganaj, Biyanibazar, Boroleka, Kulawara, Komolganj, Srimongar, Shyastaganj, Chunarughat, Madhabpur.

I was planning for a bicycle trip since April of this year. I am glad that finally I did make it. I started from Jaintapur, Sylhet and paddled up to Banglabandha, Tetuliya, Panchagar about 560kms. It took me 8 days to complete this trip. For me it was not just a cycle trip but also mastering my fear! I did this trip alone so that I can learn what it is after the fear. I took only the India-Bangladesh border road. And I have learned a lot. In the way I had to stay in the school veranda or sometime people gave me shelter in their house. I am thank full to all of them who have helped me to complete this trip.

Hope you will like the pictures. Don't forget to leave your comment! Thanks, Sudipta.

Nepal isn't just the Himalayas. Of course you have great views over the Himalayan mountain range while cycling from Kathmandu to Pokhara. Still what we most enjoyed was cycling through Nepal's medieval towns and across the Terai.

On our Cycling in Nepal website we show what it's like to travel through this ancient mountain kingdom.

Cycling in Indonesia gave us a new definition to the word ``green''. Green is overwhelming, multi-hued and... tropical. So it also means, ``dreaming of a shower'' after a long (hot?) and humid cycling day.

On our Cycling in Indonesia website we show what it's like to travel through this tropical country.

Which country do we keep coming back to? India! For India's diverse people, landscapes and religions make it a fascinating land to bicycle through.

On our Cycling in India website we show what it's like to travel through this enormous country.

Janos and I have cycled in Thailand before. The people are friendly, there are a variety of landscapes, the busier roads almost always have a wide shoulder, hotels and guest houses are inexpensive, the food is great. And so to escape the cold winter at home, we embark on our third adventure in Thailand. We get more hot weather than we bargained for ...

On August 25th, Yana & Mark Ivey, Brooks Sizemore and I did a Bicycle Tour of Hokkaido (the northern-most big Island of Japan). The ride totaled 1532.3km of riding and 15,300m of climb over 18 riding days, during which we got 2 flat tires, neither of which could be attributed to the condition of Japan's roads. (All tracks were recorded by my Garmin 76CSx, and you download all the tracks in a zipped package)

This three months trip by train, ship, minibus and bike was a really low budget adventure through whole Russia. Many decisions how and where I travelled depends on marginal money and time but also on locals help. By bike I passed in two month the Eastern part of Siberia (district Irkutsk, Buryatia and Yakutia): at first along the Baikal-Amur-Magistral from Ust-Kut to Bodaybo, than by ships on Vitim river to Lensk and from here again by bike (and minibus) to Yakutsk and finally Oymyakon, the northern ``Pole of Cold'', where -71,2°C were recorded in 1926. On last section of this 2800 km bike trip I experienced the onset of Siberian winter...

You will find a lot of photogaphs (``Bilder''), the mapped route (``Karte'') and informations about the route, day-km and travel costs (``Streckenprotokoll'').

In summer 2006 my university arranged a geographic field work and excursion in the central part of Mongolia (lake Ugij nuur and Changay mountains) which I extended with a six week bike trip. Because I didn't know how to transport my own bike there, I bought one in Ulaanbaatar on the local ``Black Market''. I passed Mongolia on the northernmost road connection from Ulaanbaatar to Ulaangom, crossed the Altay mountains to Siberia and finished in Bijsk, the first railway station. My 68 Euro bike survived this 2300 km trip but I had daily technical problems and more than one situation where I was dependent on locals help...

The tour report is written in German, but a collection of photographs (``Bilder''), the mapped route (``Karte'') and informations about the route, day-km and travel costs (``Streckenprotokoll'') are mostly self-explanatory.

A six week ride mostly around the Tajik Pamir. Fantastic high altitude scenery, wonderful people and unspeakable food. Highlight was the rarely visited Bartang Valley.

On Russian iceroads, the so-called ``zimniks'', I cycled in march 2008 three weeks along the frozen Ob-river. The trip started in Priobe (Chanty-Mansijskij district) and ended in the mountains of Polar Ural near Salekhard above the arctic circle (Jamalo-Neneckij district). At the beginning I had no knowledge about the exactly road course, because it isn't shown on maps. I also had no special winter clothes, but no really critical situations in coldness (-37°C minimum). This bike trip was an great adventure with breathtaking impressions of Siberian winter and some meetings with the Chanty, the natives of northern Ob-region.

The tour report is written in german, but a collection of photogaphs (``Bilder''), the mapped route (``Karte'') and informations about the route, day-km, weather and travel costs (``Streckenprotokoll'') are self-explanatory.

I've cycled in Indonesia numerous times on the islands of Raiu, Java, Bali, and Lombok. I love Bali and have been there a half dozen times. Bali is a small island so cycling is somewhat limited, but I still find myself going back again and again. I stumbled upon a magazine article about an Australian who did a bicycle tour on Sulawesi, and that peeked my interest. I did some research and decided to travel there and take a look. Sulawesi is considered an exotic destination and therefore attracts a number of foreign tourists.

The climate is warm there, much warmer than the usual winter temperatures in Northern California. The winter of '08/'09 through January anyway, has been very dry and not near as cold as past winters. My bike ride in Sulawesi will take 23 days, a couple of which I will spend in wonderful Bali before flying on to that island. I invite you to come along with me as I visit the sights to be seen in Sulawesi.

Summer has almost arrived here in California. The weather in May is nice and I should be happy to be comfortable at home and to cyle around the area where I live, but I get restless and bored with the same scenery and that is my problem. I haven't been on a multi-day bike tour since I cycled in Sulawesi, Indonesia, in March and I've had no additional tour plans until July, when I've penciled out a ride in Europe. What to do during the three month intern is the question. I love cycling and especially riding in my favorite county, Thailand, so why not return for one more ride. I've never cycled there in May though, and with good reason, as it rains a lot. The 'wet season' extends from April thru early November. The weather in May and June, when I will be there will be hot, 90 to 100+ degrees, and wet. I just hope it doesn't rain all day every day. My experience cycling there at other times of the year is that it rains mostly in the afternoons and at night. If that is the case, I will have done the day's ride and be settled in a nice hotel room by late afternoon and the rains would not be so much of a bother. That is my hope.

Trans Asia on a single speed bicycle with just a small backpack as luggage. The ultimate light weight experience. On Januari 10th we will start our Fixed & Free Challenge from Singapore. Cycling through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and China we are aiming to arrive in Shanghai in May 2010.

Already on our fully loaded expeditions we have been constantly minimising our gear and now we even go without gears. Although limited by our 25 litre backpacks we will carry more than enough for a journey like this including a Macbook and camera each.

We will cover this journey on www.osmosno.wordpress.com

A solo cycling journey from Shanghai, China to Padang, West Sumatra During the spring/summer of 2009 I determined to cycle departing from my pre-war apartment in Shanghai and to continue as far as I could in the three months time I had from April 11th until July 11th. 8000 eventful Kilometers later I finally reached Padang, West Sumatra.

Aside from only one ferry ride connecting Penang, Malaysia to the Port of Belawan, North Sumatra the whole trip was by bicycle. During the trip I encountered fierce rains and winds, steep climbs and endless mountains, roads that went from pavement to mud and rocks, monkeys jumping down from the trees, snakes the length of baseball bats, lizards the size of big cats, Hmong Guerillas with AK47's on a misty mountain pass. I experienced the kindness of strangers as well as the indecency of others. I pushed my middle-aged body to the limit and achieved a personal record in northern Thailand by cycling 263 kilometers non-stop in one truly eventful day of fast and hard riding.

It is difficult for the pictures I shot of myself (with my outdated 5 mega-pixel camera's auto shoot feature) to capture the true essence of this journey. They can't capture the nearly 2000 kilometers of continuous climbs from western Guangxi through North/Central Laos and the often steep ascents, fierce winds and heavy rains encountered there. The lonely days of riding up and up and the anguish felt after reaching a pass and realizing there are only more mountains to cross in the horizon. Nor can they capture the lighting fast descents on winding mountain roads with hair pin turns, where I have mastered the act of riding without my hands, singing and strumming along to the thumping tunes on my ipod. Pictures can't capture the restless nights sleeping alone in the jungle, in a bamboo hut open to all the elements, the night creatures taunting and wailing out load as if in mocking and the loud claps of thunder that drown out the sound of the jungle creatures. Pictures can't capture the struggle of lifting a fully loaded touring bike and hand carrying it over mud and rock slides which persist kilometer after kilometer during the rainy seasons in China's western regions. Pictures cant capture the taunting calls of 'hello mister' or 'tourist' by the locals in all of Sumatra or the endearing smiles on faces of Laotian children as I ride by, they can't capture the maddening and often dangerous traffic in parts of China and Sumatra and the disregard of truck drivers and other motor vehicles for the lone cyclist on the rode and they can't capture the army of bugs at dusk flying into my face, eyes and clothes, pelting me as if hail from the skies above. [...]

The Old Jaipur Road is closed so we are forced to take the New Jaipur Road, which is an extraordinary busy highway. Luckily there is a service road which is much quieter. Cyclists, carriages with oxes and lots of walking people with loads of all kinds of luggage on their backs or on their heads: it is the really slow traffic that makes use of the two lane service road. In fact we are the fastest traffic on the service road. The highway itself is used by cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, scooters and taxis and has got a minimum of six lanes on both sides. I have never seen so much traffic in one view angle. Still the traffic does not look like a complete mess. There are no dangerous situations.

Our first kilometers in Delhi are but the first of an overload of experiences on our India - Nepal journey. We will be cycling two weeks in Rajasthan, then we will go by bus and train to Varanasi from where we will be cycling to Nepal to explore the Nepal Himalayas.

Early in the morning, when assembling the bike I couldn't tighten the right pedal all the way into the crank. I took a closer look and discovered few scraps of aluminum in the crank thread. Oh my God! I ruined the crank! It seemed the tour was over before it begun.

The idea of freedom and not working is appealing to everyone. Tanya and I have quit our jobs and have left the country (our home, Canada) for a year. We are going to be riding our bicycles through many countries. Moving along at a slow pace, emerging ourselves in the culture. The only goal is to have a good time, not deal with schedules, or due dates and see a part of the world that has always intrigued us.

This is the journal of our travels.

People often ask why with budget airlines making travel so inexpensive I still plan on making a bike trip to Thailand. They say the journey may be physically demanding at my age (56) and dangerous as I would ride from Tumpat, Kelantan Malaysia right into the three hot spots in southern Thailand.

The southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani have been terrorized by regular attacks since early 2004, when a separatist movement flared after a lull of more than two decades.

Attacks generally take the form of drive-by shootings and small-scale bombings intended to frighten Buddhist residents into leaving the area. Suspected insurgents mainly target people seen as collaborating with the government, including soldiers, police, informants and civilians.

In the middle of the day I took refuge in the grove at the edge of the rice field. A couple of Pakistanis stopped their political debate, turned over to me and asked:

``What is the reason for your trip to Pakistan?''

``A mistake'', I replied.

Nachdem wir einige Tage in Bangkok verbracht haben, sind wir mit dem Zug nach Norden gefahren, wo wir von Nong Khai bis Sukhothai 580 km radelten. Anschließend haben wir Chiang Mai und Ayuthaya besucht.

Diese ist ein Bericht über eine dreimonatige Reise in den Ländern Thailand, Kambodscha und China, die wir zwischen Dezember 2007 und März 2008 gemacht haben.

A solo, unsupported and mostly illegal ride from Kashgar in Western China to Lhasa in Tibet along the infamous highway 219. There's already detailed practical information about this tough route available, but nothing I could find which described in detail what the route was like to ride and had lots of big pictures.

This is probably one of the toughest routes in the world a bike tourist could do. The road is terrible, there are long stretches without food or water, much of it is at extreme altitude (5400m max with several weeks over 5000m), many rivers have no bridge and much of the ride is technically illegal.

The reward is astonishing scenery, amazing culture and a sense of utter isolation.

a great report about south korea. i visit the country 2005 for a one month bike trip. the weather was hot, the people friendly...

Here are the day-by-day detailed route notes of the ten day, 248 mile, 398 kilometer ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Here are the day-by-day detailed route notes of the thirteen day ride from Bangkok to Phuket in Thailand.

The information that you will find on these pages is about cycling in central Japan and wild camping in the country. There are seperate links to different rides in Kanto, Kansai as well as Chuetsu regions with travelogues and photos. The main page contains also travelogues and pictures from bike rides in Ontario, Canada as well as a 6 month trip across Mediterranean Europe.

12 countries, 12,000 kilometers, five men and five bikes. This is the story of a remarkable bicycle journey across Asia nearly entirely by bicycle. At the time, we believed it to be geographically and politically, the most diverse summer ride the planet had to offer.

The website contains hundreds of high resolution photographs, extensive journals of each country and much advice on gear, immunizations, maps, routes and visas.

This was our first go at cycling in Asia. Our route along the Mekong and to Sukhothai was an excellent choice for a short bike trip in Thailand - villages, beautiful scenery, good roads and little traffic. We loved it. We also spent some time in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Ayuthaya.

I've cycled over a number of passes these few weeks, but if I will remember one, then it will be Zoji La. It stands between Alpine-like valleys near Sonamarg and more rugged mountain ranges of upper Kashmir. The road is cut into a steep mountain slope and it seems it's a one-way road. As a cyclist I was allowed to go in the wrong dirrection. Before that, going up to the summit, I had a sur-realistic encounter with incredible number of trucks (at least 200) that were descending the pass practicaly bumper-to-bumber. With dirt road and the headwind it ment cycling in constant dust and exhaust fumes. By the time all the trucks passed I was as white as a baker after a night's shift.

Questa volta dobbiamo ringraziare la perseveranza e la volonta` di Pierangelo che ci ha spinti e motivati nell'affrontare questa avventura.

Erano circa due anni che ci provava ed anche se non abbiamo fatto proprio quello che si era programmato all'inizio, siamo stati sul passo carrozzabile piu' alto del mondo (forse) ed abbiamo scorazzato per dieci giorni tra le montagne piu` alte del nostro globo.

We felt that we were prepared for our trip to Vietnam. We had read lots of guide books, stories of the wars and the peace and novels by Graham Greene and Marguerite Duras. Lesley had spent a year trying to come to grips with some of the intricacies of the Vietnamese language and its pronunciation. We had talked to other people who had cycled in Vietnam. We didn't expect to be surprised. The immigration police lived up to their reputation for being rude and abrupt but everyone else was so friendly and helpful that it was almost embarrassing. Only a relatively short time earlier our country had been involved in a bloody war with these people and they were welcoming us with open arms. It took us by surprise.