Vientiane, Laos

Another border, another country and it feels great.  So much more satisfying than arriving in a new country by aeroplane.  I really felt the loss of continuity flying across Pakistan and Burma (with missing so much of India and Bangladesh as well).  It really is nice to do border crossings the hard way - and its my first ever "move to the other side of the road" border crossing.   Previously the Right to Left change occurred between Iran and India when I was in mid air.

 

Laos had a different feel to Thailand as soon as I crossed the border, the other side of the road would have contributed, but the French influence and other unexplainable things just felt good. - I liked it straight away.   There is one thing it has in common with Iran.  Your wallet fills to bursting with next to no value in it, and you become a millionaire very easily.

 

It seems like maybe I have a problem with Candida since my stint in the Indian hospital and the huge doses of antibiotics I was given to rid me of the infection there.  As a result I'm now on a Green Veg diet with no sugars natural or otherwise - so no fruit and no processed food.  I've even been off rice for a while as it seemed to be causing problems when I vist the little room.  This diet is not exactly good for cycling where you need lots of carbohydrates for energy and sugar for those bursts when you've just done one hill and meet another.

 

The section from Phitsanulok to Chum Phae in Thailand was hilly, has some lovely Thai National Parks in it and I found it very hard going - probably due to my lack of carbohydrates.  The hills were no worse than anything I've encountered in countries such as Iran, Turkey, or Nepal but my legs would really feel weak - so I'm putting it down to lack of carbs'.   Today wasn't hilly - coming into Laos, but I changed from 3 meals a day to 5 and I'm sure it helped.

 

My standard meals here at the moment are

Breakfast: Veg Soup

Lunch: Veg Soup

Tea: Veg Soup

 

To strictly conform to the diet I should be making it all myself as all the Thai soup bases contain 3 things that I shouldn't be having, Sugar, Salt and MSG.  Yes, MSG s in damn near everything here (except if you go to Khaosan Rd Bangkok where they know it scares off tourists.)

I've started eating meat with Breakfast and Lunch now too - what a hoot !!

 

Between meal snacks when riding consist of seaweed (yum), and dry cornflakes.

 

 plus  equals

No carbs and no sugar in a diet + hills = no energy and jelly legs

 

But after a couple of weeks, I have been cheating on the diet the past couple of days, getting into the Yakult - which is very common here, available in every drinks fridge - but in Thailand all the Yogurts and Yakult type drinks are rich in sugar.  I'm hoping the pro-biotic advantages for my stomach outweigh the intake of the sugar...

 

- Rice Paddies in Northern Thailand

- Not cheating, Miss Wasna is showing me the local home stay.

- My room at the home stay

- They tend not to believe a cyclist only wants veg soup for breakfast

 

I've been using the local establishments for food and accommodation a little more than in Europe where it cost so much.  In Thailand the food is generally very well prepared and the accommodation decent but cheap(ish) - not as cheap as the less developed countries but generally better too.

 

When however I do elect to camp - (I don't like committing myself to fixed distance days all the time - which you need to do if using accommodation) - I like the fact that in Thailand I can again get off the side of the road and dissapper into the bush (seeing nobody until I head back to the road the next morning.  Such a contrast to India and so good.

- Another good cook - the mother told me the daughter loved me - and the daughter blew a kiss as I left.

- Typical country northern Thailand

 

 

- Camping can again be a private in Thailand.

- A bungalow behind a very nice hotel complex but within budget. (Nong Bua Lampur)

- A taste of how the other half live - in the hotel complex (Nong Bua Lampur)

- The local town lake - I didn't think much of the town when I arrived, liked the hotel, and when I went to leave I found the gems, the lake and a lovely town centre off the highway.

 

Welcome to Laos

Lovely green rice paddies - freshly planted- Laos
 

Next Laos - well a tiny bit of it, as I head across toward Vietnam - I wont get to see the bulk of the country further north.
 

Continuing to love the trip

Jeff

--
www.whereonearthisjeff.com

Thailand - Phitsanulok

Happy New year to all, from Phitsanulok in Thailand.

 

I had a very quick trip to Australia from Bangkok arriving to Melbourne Airport on Christmas day.  After being picked up by my sister Lyn, the 3 "kids" headed around to surprise the parents.  And yes they were surprised...  Dads 80th Birthday is Boxing day - so arriving for 3 days meant I got Christmas and his Birthday plus one more before I had to leave ( lest QBE void the rest of my insurance policy. )  QBE very "nicely" allowed me 3 days when normally they'd cancel the policy as soon as I arrived in Melbourne.  Fortunately I'd planned it before I left, so I insisted before I'd open the policy.

 

 Mum, Dad & the kids Christmas Day

Lyn, Dad, Mum, Me and Wendy

The 80th Birthday was a celebration at "The Cuckoo" restaurant in the Dandenong Ranges.  For those not familiar, it is a Bavarian style place with matching floor show and fortunately, food not from Bavaria (who'd go there for Wurst?).

 

 Dad and Mum's Table

 

 The other Table

 Now he's part of the floor show.

 

On my last day in Melbourne (before heading to the airport) I bought a house in Melbourne - somewhere to call home when I return - I sold the last one before I left in March.  The new one is in Croydon. It was shortlisted by my intrepid property hunter Wendy, deemed acceptable and now she gets to do all the work re the purchase - whilst I'm over here.  Aren't family great...

 

Since then I have flown back to Bangkok, picked up the bike and luggage from storage and caught the train to Chiang Mai in the north, and reassembled the bike ready to ride.  Because my India trip was not to my satisfaction, sickness, km travelled etc I decided to do an Indo-China loop through to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia before I head south.

 

 

I saw in the New Year in Chiang Mai then met up with another rider and we have spent the last few days riding together as far as Phitsanulok - one of the stops on my way to Laos.

Tuk tuk to the train station Bangkok

Me in the train

Chiang Mai

Wat Lok Molee

New Years Eve in Chiang Mai - hot air lanterns

Thai Cookery School

 

Photos of the trip from Chiang Mai to Laos will have to wait till I get to Vientiane.

 

Sorry about the length of the update but I've got to go.

 

Jeff
--
www.whereonearthisjeff.com

Delhi then ... Merry Christmas - from Bangkok

Well I'm out of India...

 

I'm happy and sad about leaving India.   Sad that I didnt get to go south as I had intended, sad that I didnt get to Rajasthan as per my revised plan.  I ended up riding straight from Agra to Delhi to catch a flight here to Bangkok, Thailand.  I'm also sad that the green line on my map now has two very big holes in the trip home.  In all I think I've only covered about 1000km in India - and thats not much of India.

 

On the other hand, its nice to be away from the cold and very humid weather in that part of northern India. 

 cold and wet - until quite late each morning - Northern India

(not that hot and humid has ever been a favorite of mine either).   It's nice to get away from the dirt too - everything in India had a thick layer of dust on it - which seems amazing considering the monsoon season has only just finished.  All the leaves on the trees, every surface you touched was covered so if you touched something you got covered in it.

 

Unfortunately, my week long stay in hospital in Agra didn't clear up the bug i caught, so I really do not feel much better than several weeks ago.  I'm hoping the warmer weather here in Thailand will help.   So for the moment I'm spending a few days getting some R&R in the tourist filled Khao San Road. I'll head north on the train after Christmas to resume my southward journey from somewhere near Chiang Mai - a very popular part of Thailand that I've not been to before.

 

Delhi like all big cities was interesting to come into with no maps nor any idea where you were and where you needed to go.  I - for the first time ever - bought a city map from a book store after i'd given up trying to find a tourist office to dispense one free.   (I couldnt even find a posh hotel, which historically have been very good at giving me maps free without me checking-in - I think they all feel sympathy for the poor cyclist).   Eventually I found Connaught Circuit, I'd heard that was the central part but had no idea what it was ( a large circular one way road ) so didnt know I had already crossed it earlier.  Here I did manage to find an out-of-price-range hotel - How much out of range they would'nt tell me - I asked how much a room was, and they wouldnt say - they just asked how much i wanted to spend.  (If you have to ask the price - you cant afford it)  These people did give me a free map and showed me on the map the area of Pahar Ganj the place where all the "in budget" hotels are.  As is most often the case, the cheap hotels are near the railway station and yes there were plenty to choose from.   I went a bit up-budget at about $9 Aussie dollars per night in Delhi and had my own bathroom, double bed and TV (with pay tv channels that seemed to dissappear from time to time so I dont think they were quite kosha).  My time in Delhi included a couple of rest days and a couple of days riding around exploring the touristy and not so touristy bits.    

     

One of the Old Delhi gates / Raj Ghat - cremation site of Mahatama Gandhi / Auto Rickshaws everywhere

   Haircut, Delhi style

The electricity in Delhi is like everywhere else in India off for at least some of the time every day - usually several hours.  Being a more upmarket hotel they would generally start up the generator within a few minutes.  Good for someone resting and doing nothing than scanning for english on the TV.  Watched a few movies which tended to have english subtitles as well.  (probably so the locals can get used to the accents and improve their english skills.)

 

There is always a lot of interest in the bike - particularly in India where no bikes have gears (for the most part you dont need them unless you are up in the Himalayan areas).  The locals would often ask if the bike was indian.  After all, it is a steel frame (small tubes) and painted black just like 99% of the Indian ones.  I manged to go through all of india using the excuse "I'm not sure in Rupee's, I got it in Australia" when asked how much it was worth.  Doing a conversion from some form of dollar to rupee never seemed to occur to them, which I was thankful about.  I'm not as inventive as some when asked questions like that.  The swiss rider Roli I met a few times in Turkey & Iran always had a good answer - usually including a ridicularly cheap price when asked that question.

 

Packing the bike in Delhi I was a little worried about.  India manufactures its own bikes - so they dont get shipped in boxes from other cheap S.E. Asian countries like all the bigs international brand bikes do to the rest of the world.  But in the end I did find the local bike bazaar and for 150 ruppee helped a man pull a new Indian bike out of a box so I could take the box with me.   It turns out that bikes made near Chennai do get boxed before being shipped to Delhi.   The box was actually the best one I've ever had.  Most indian bikes are 28 inch wheel bikes - like mine and although this bike box had a 26" wheel bike in it the box was the same size they'd use for the large ones.  It made packing just a little easier with a bit more space inside the box.

 On the way to Delhi airport - the bike box hangs out the side, the panniers in the back and on the back seat.  Me sitting on scrunched up legs on top of the back seat.

 

The major forms of public transport (other than bus & train) are Rickshaws and Auto-Rickshaws and Taxi's tend to be very small, so I opted for an auto-richshaw (like a thai Tuk Tuk) to the airport - that way the bike could hang out the sides - no doors to get in the way like a small taxi would have.   It was a little chilly since i was heading to the airport for a flight at 1am. But with a couple of pannicky roll starts at traffic lights half way there I got to the airport and onto my flight. (after paying excess baggage for the first time ever -  One of the problems with an airline like the india "Jet Airways" is that it is a discount airline and hence more strict in any policy that involves passengers paying extra.    I was quite surprised to have free meals and drinks and in-seat video on demand - so they arent a "no frills" airline).

 

In Bangkok I arrived at the new BKK airport (new since I was here a few years back) in the early morning, had to wait for ages for the bike to show up at the oversize luggage counter then headed for Khao San Road in peak hour - but in a taxi - I was originally planning on staying in china town like I had a few years ago - away from the touristy strip, but I figured plain food would be a lot easier in the main tourist precinct of Khao San Road.  I am still very careful with the way I eat and am very much looking forward to being well again.

 

I enjoyed my little trip to a Bangkok supermarket the other day, getting all sorts of things that I've not seen since Europe, fruit flavoured Yogurt and the like.  It was just like a supermarket back home - except for not being able to read the labels - pictures on packaging & see through bags are a great thing.  The last time I saw a supermarket like this was back in Croatia, and prior to that in the Tesco stores the Czech Republic, and thats a long time ago.   I am determined to never enter a McDonalds or similar during this trip (not even as tourists often do to use the loo) but western style supermarkets I dont rule out.  It can be really nice for a change to have such choice.

 

Here I spend my time on the net or reading - yes me reading - I picked up a copy of the John Grisham novel "The Firm" to help me fill the time in Bangkok, but it isn't lasting very long.  I'm more than half way through and I only bought it yesterday.   Having done the "Palace" and other tourist traps last time I was here I am trying to rest more and therefore havent unpacked the bike.  For the next few days Khao San road is home.

 

A very Merry Christmas to all and I will be in touch again next year, from somewhere up north of here.

 

Jeff
--
www.whereonearthisjeff.com

Agra, India

Home of the Taj Mahal,

 

 Agra - the view from my real hotel roof.

 

Well I didn't leave Varanasi when I hoped to, I still hadn't (haven't) managed to beat off the bug that has been ailing me for many weeks, so I hung around resting. 

 

   early morning by the Ganges - Varanasi

Due to the time I lost in Varanasi I have also revised my India intentions and will now cycle west - yes West - to Agra, then Jaipur and on to Delhi  (health permitting -  instead of heading down to Chennai).   This of course means I'll be visiting the India Tourist haunts of the Taj Mahal and Rajastan. I'll be glad to have seen these places, but sad that I missed going south.

 

The roads in Uttar Pradesh have continued to be heaps better than those in Bihar were, much to my relief.  National Highway 2 is even divided, smooth and with a nice shoulder for quite long lengths in places.

 I can't believe it, a real highway  - Uttar Pradesh

 

For my last few camps before Agra I've taken to camping in service stations or beside police posts.  The advantage being that you don't have people standing staring at you for hours on end.   You still have a continual audience but at least they move on.   If it's a petrol station they are on their way to somewhere, and if it's a police post they tend not to hang around endlessly.   I had read of other people camping at police stations for security, I don't feel it as a security issue just a peace of mind and privacy one.    Of course, once you retire into the tent and do up the zip they get bored and disappear reasonably quickly, but as long as you are visible (even as a shape through a fly screen, they will stay and stare) .   It is different to the other countries I've passed through. Those that have read my Iran posts will know I commented about the crowds gathering around and saying I expect the same or more of it in India - but in Iran the crowd gathered around were, happy, smiling and eager to talk or communicate with you saying "hello tourist" or any other English they might have known ("what's your name", "I love you").  Here in India the crowd gathers around totally silently, with expressionless faces and they stand there 5 metres away and just stare for hours (literally) if you don't shoo them away.    The really off putting part is the totally silent expressionless faces.  It really gets to you.   You really do feel like a zoo animal or like you've just stepped off a space ship.

   camping police psts and petrol service stations

 

 

On the occasions when they do talk to you - generally in towns rather than beside the road - they ask you your country, you say Australia and they respond with "Ricky Ponting".  Cricket really is the national obsession here.

   The national obsession

 

As I said in the heading,  I'm in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal,  I visited it on my first day in Agra - several days ago and it really is a spectacular piece of architecture.  It was actually larger than I expected.  I have heard so many people say that it was smaller than they expected that I had lowered my expectation.  It is actually about the size I had always expected it to be.   Unfortunately like so many of the places I've been on this tour the famous fountains etc have been dry.  I did manage to get one beautiful reflection shot from a puddle in one of them, but I had to get the camera so low that you get the building and nothing else - no garden at all - so it doesn't have the appeal that the Taj Mahal shots should have.   But it's another place I can tick off my "seen that" list add to my photo collection, and it was great to see.

 

After self catering since Varanasi, cooking on the floor of my hotel room in Kanpur whilst I rested there for a couple of days - and being on Cold & Flu tablets the whole time - I ate out my first night in Agra.   I don't know if it was the food I ate or the fact that I ran out of Cold & Flu tablets that caused me to vomit endlessly that night, but my first night in Agra was not a good one.  As a result I once again headed to the doctor the next day.    The good and bad thing about Agra is that it has a reputation of being a wrort capital - paying commissions for just about anything etc.  As soon a I mentioned "doctor" to the hotel reception desk they heard the cash register sound and the dollar signs appeared in their eyes.  They rushed me free to the local full-service centre who quite early in the conversation used the words "tests" and "insurance".  I'll call it "full-service" rather than "over-service" because, (a.) over servicing would be a crime in Aus and (b.)  I couldn't fault the logic in the following argument - I've been to doctors in Varanasi and Kanpur and been given cocktails of drugs with no tests to determine what the problem really was.  And I havent got any better.  Here they would do the tests to determine the appropriate treatment.   So with many samples going to the Pathology labs for analysis, Chest Xrays & ultrasounds  (it just happens to be the Agra IVF centre). I've now spent a couple of days in the http://www.agratesttubebabycentre.com also known as the Amit Jaggi  Memorial Hospita l and will spend at least a couple more days in Agra before moving on to continue my journey.  I still suffer from the nasal congestion that I am sure was causing the nausea and vomiting - but started a new Antibiotic yesterday after some of the lab results came back.   Fingers crossed I'll be on the road again soon and properly well for the first time in nearly 2 months.

   Agra Fort / Repairs to the mosque outside the Taj

   The Taj / My other (full service) hotel room in Agra with I.V. drip

 

Jeff
www.whereonearthisjeff.com

Varanasi, India

Greetings from Varanasi

Well here I am in India after a couple of days climbing the hills of Nepal to get here.

The scenic route from Kathmandu to Daman and then to Raxaul Bazaar in India takes you over the Daman Pass - at 2488 metres it doesn't sound high but boy-oh-boy is it a climb - and a corresponding drop on the other side + more.
The morning I left Kathmandu it looked somewhat similar to the first time I was here in 2004. I'm not sure what the protest was and I wasn't about to hang around to find out - lest a another curfew be imposed.
The view from Daman

Daman
The view of the mountain ranges from Daman is reputedly the best in Nepal - as far as the the number of peaks you can see. The nine highest peaks being visible on a clear day - and yes it was magnificently clear my day. I did end up being in Kathmandu until the 13th - when the embassy opened for pre-poll, so I left Kathmandu about 11am - later in the day than I'd like to have. The good thing about leaving late was that it meant I ended up riding into Palung - below Daman - in the dark and staying there the night. That meant the climb from Palung to Daman was done in the morning not in the afternoon - really good news for getting views. The air is clearer and the mountains less likely to be covered with cloud in the morning, and it was a fantastic ride up broken up by a huge number of stops to take photos (and rest). With the photo/rest stops it actually took me about 3 hours to do just over 10km from Palung to the pass. The best views are from Daman township not the pass itself and the clouds rolled over the peaks as I climbed from Daman to the pass - perfect timing for Daman.

On the other side of the pass it's down, and boy is it....

"Down" from Daman to India

There's the occasional little piece of "up" to remind you that your legs have just done the climb but it is the longest down I think I'll ever do. (you do it at a controlled speed though as you really can't trust the road surface nor any drivers that may be coming the other way. I've seen way too many bus crashes here in Nepal - so many I've actually lost count - and I've only travelled the roads here on 4 days - head on collisions, roll overs, run off the side, you name it the buses here do it.)

The next night in Hetauda (Nepal) left me at the bottom of the hills, with just a relatively nice 10 or 20km "up" the next morning, then essentially flat all the way to where I am now. The hills are lovely and the road to and from Daman were spectacular for scenery - but the legs do appreciate the flat when they get it. My first two days out of Kathmandu I only rode 70 to 80km and I was (very) pooped. I wondered if the month of no riding had taken all my condition away. - But it was just THAT hill, the day from Hetauda south I did 100km reasonably comfortably - well as comfortably as 100km ever is with a heavily laden bike. (and on roads yet to be discussed)

The border of India is pretty much a free for all with large masses of people going hither & thither with no checking. There's a guy looking for anybody that appears foreign - like me - and he calls and beckons them over to Immigration - to do the paperwork. And yes Nepal and India both still do it as paperwork. A big bound book and you get to be one line in the book, passport number dates etc. On the India side of the border I actually had to look for the immigration office in amongst all the shops and things in Raxhaul Bazaar - they didn't have anyone grabbing the foreigners that passed. Even changing money I had to go looking. The road through Raxaul Bazaar I cannot describe and convey to you the condition. It is the worst road I have ever seen anywhere - either in the 12000km so far this trip - or at any other time. I think its even beats the Maasi Mara road in Kenya. The worst part is that the the road was typical of all the ones I used in the state of Bihar (and yes I was on the highways - I dread to think what minor roads are like)

At last some bitumen in India

The road takes its toll on my cheap rear tyre - Supervisors watching me change to one of my high quality spares. But the cheapy got me from Istanbul to here.

I think Bihar is also the mosquito capital - with its low lying flooded areas and lakes and rivers everywhere. I was in hotels the first few nights - but still sleeping in the tent (with the tent inner erected on top of the bed, and using hiking boots hanging by their laces to keep it up).


Bihar - mosquito heaven

The first night I tried to seal off the room and kill the mozzies inside, but it was fruitless, a few hours and two more killing sessions later i got the tent out. Now i just do it - and get a good nights sleep.

Fortunately I'm now in Uttar Pradesh and the roads are a lot better - I even saw a road sign today (in Uttar Pradesh). In Bihar there are no roadsigns of any description, nothing to say what road goes where, nothing to say speed up or slow down, no warnings about bumps or turns, no give way no stop, nothing !!! (the compass is your best friend in Bihar)


- A typical roadscene in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh
- Its not yet 9am but the cricket has started

Varanasi

The old and very holy city of Varanasi - and lots of Indian & International tourists. The Indian tourists in the Ganges, the international tourists watching from the side.

It's festival time here too. "Deep Dewali" which I believe roughly translates to "Festival of Light".

There was plenty of river side entertainment on the banks of the "Ganga" the night I arrived in Varanasi. And I finished the evening eating a meal from a high priced restaurant (180 Rs) with a local internet cafe owner instead of eating at a cheap roadside seller (20Rs) and spent the next 36 hours in bed. When I'm feeling a little more normal I'll be back on the bike... Maybe tomorrow...

Jeff
--
http://www.whereonearthisjeff.com/