The cyclists network

When we camped in Mt Cook Village we used - as we usually do - our ABUS loop cable to lock our bicycles. That night there was no tree near by our tent so we grabbed a thick branch of a bush and tied the cable around it. The next morning after we had checked the place for possibly forgotten things we continued to Twizel, some 70 km from Mt Cook Village.

In Twizel we were setting up our tent. Suddenly I noticed that I had forgotten the loop cable. It was still in the bush. Ahh, what a painful moment! Again such a moment when you think how stupid you must be. We had forgotten several items on our journey but most of the time had got it back ... somehow. The steel cable had been a good piece of gear and it was gone now. Since we arrived in New Zealand, we have been touring with only one lock. So the loop cable was helpful to lock all four wheels or to lock the bicycles to something. We considered taking the tourist bus shuttle from Twizel to Mt Cook Village but a quick gain-loss calculation told us that it wasn't worth it. We let it go, RIP cable!

Two days later we came over the Lindis Pass and stopped at a free camp site. It wasn't a DoC (Department of Conservation) campsite but the sign read 'campers welcome'. Very nice! We met Adam on this campsite. Adam just started his bicycle trip and plans to cycle from New Zealand to Switzerland. We had dinner together under the trees while it was pouring down. Adam was heading to Christchurch and wanted to make a stop-over in Mt Cook Village too. When he heard about the loop cable story, he promised to look for it. And we were confident that it was still there, hidden in the bushes.

Getting back the loop cable

More than a week later at a different place, now on the west coast, I was holding the loop cable back in my hands! Again we have got something back. Adam had mailed it to Hokitika. Thanks so much, Adam! The cyclists rescue and mail service network worked perfectly!

New year in Thailand

Total distance: 7194 km
Pang Nam Ron - Chanthaburi - Laem Sadet

Our first days in Thailand were full of little surprises. After the border we arrived in the first bigger town, Pong Nam Ron. Since we have entered Thailand, we are again in a country whose language we don't know. We are back to the lingua franca, English. The first thing we did in Pong Nam Ron was to have lunch. Ordering food was already difficult. People didn't speak English although the menu was in English. Helpless as we were, we tried Khmer and, hey, the people were Cambodian! The waiter was actually from Battambang region. Second surprise was 7-Eleven. Thailand is full of them and they always pop up when you need water, snacks or a great ice coffee. 7-Eleven makes cycling in the heat definitely more pleasant.

From Rose's and Marcin's blog - we met both in Samarkand in Uzbekistan - we knew that there was a resort with bungalows in Pong Nam Ron so we could stay one night at this rather boring place. When we arrived at the resort a road with a 24% gradient led to the bungalows that sit on top of a hill. It was nearly impossible to push our bicycles up the hill. Sarah went to the reception to check the price. Nobody spoke English but Sarah noticed that these people were not Thai but Cambodian too. When we talked to the manager of the resort, a former world champion in wind surfing, it turned out that he spoke some German and to our surprise he had even lived in the city where we studied.

For New Year's Eve we planned to stay somewhere at the beach. From Chanthaburi we cycled to Laem Sadet. We didn't expect it but there was a camp ground! We hadn't camped since Kazakhstan and were very surprised that we could actually camp here in Thailand. Nobody in Cambodia would ever think of camping but the Thais seem to love it. We pitched our tent and went straight to the beach. The beach was full of Thai families and we were the only foreigners at this beach. There was a striking difference between us and the Thais. We went swimming but many Thai adults preferred to stay dry. Those Thais, who went swimming, went into the water in their complete dress - jeans and T-shirt. So we felt strange to strip down to swim shorts and bikini and went swimming in our cycling shorts and shirts instead. Very strange! A popular dish in Thailand is papaya salad and the Thais also want it at the beach. So what do they do? They take all the ingredients and the heavy mortars to the beach and prepare fresh papaya salad. Very cool!

One thing that we notice again and again since we have entered China is the Asian's love for loud music. Chinese, Laotian, Cambodian and Thai likewise believe that their songs are the best. So all people around them have the honour to 'listen' to their music. At the beach in Laem Sadet young Thais and their rolling discotheques in form of huge speakers in their pick-ups appeared. Their cars looked like those ones in MTV's show 'pimp my ride'. One more indicator for Thailand's wealth compared to Cambodia.


Midnight! Fire works! But even more beautiful were the many lanterns that flew up to the sky. Happy New Year!

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Xishuangbanna

Total distance: 5600 km
Mengman - Menghai - Jinghong - Menglun - Mengla - Mohan

Yunnan's southern part is a special one. It's different to what we have seen so far and the name already sounds strange: Xishuangbanna. Sorry what? I simply refer to it as the Banana Republic and nomen est omen there are even more banana plantations than anywhere else in Yunnan. We rode through so many wide banana plantations that you couldn't see anything else.

2 cycling days before Jinghong, the capital of the Xishuangbanna prefecture, we were welcomed by a gate that didn't look Chinese any more but rather Thai style. Besides the Chinese signs and English letters a third language - is it Thai? - appear on road signs, shop signs etc. The buildings are more and more wooden houses built on stilts. Every now and then monks in the orange robes whiz by on their scooters.

Our next stop was in Jinghong where the Mekong flows through. After we checked into the International Youth Hostel we went out looking for food. And Hallelujah, people here use fish sauce! Fantastic! It feels like home. We had cold rice noodles and fresh papaya salad. Apart from "exotic" food Jinghong's architecture and streets are "exotic" too. The big buildings look absolutely Southeast-Asian. Streets are full of palm trees like in Cannes or Nice but there is a significant difference. Here in Jinghong you have to watch out for coconuts!

Jinghong

We stayed in Jinghong for 4 days, relaxing and enjoying the benefits of the last big Chinese city on our trip. On our last day there were suddenly two bicycles besides ours. Hmm, they looked very familiar. Surprise, surprise, the cyclists' world is so small, they belonged to Regula and Reto, two Swiss cyclist who we had met some weeks ago on our way from Chengdu to Leshan. Their plan is to cycle to Laos as well. So it's certain that we'll meet them again, probably in Luang Prabang.

When we left Jinghong it was a nice ride along the Mekong river. Since we have entered Xishuangbanna we can truly say that we are in the jungle. It's hot again and we can hardly believe that it is winter in France and Germany when we speak with our families and friends. Cold? Winter jacket? Impossible! At least on this year's tour! Did we mention bananas? On the way from Jinghong to the Lao border there are even more banana plantations. If not bananas, you find pineapples or rubber trees.

In Menglun we had to squeeze in an emergency pause. No idea what was wrong with our dinner or water but the night was horrible and dinner ended up in the toilet. That was the start for my distaste for Chinese food. Don't get me wrong, Chinese food was delicious, but after 50 days in China and that dinner in the toilet I was glad that our days in China were coming to an end.

Yunnan said good-bye with some serious stretches of climbs. While in the North of Yunnan we moved between 1000 m and 2400 m above sea level, Xishuangbanna ranges between 500 m and 1200 m. It sounds like only downhill all the way? That's far from it! There were countless mountains in between and we climbed and climbed and climbed... well, we had some pretty awesome downhill parts as well :)

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Bikeproject2010 Spendenprojekt - Charity

www.bikeproject2010.de

Wie ihr wisst, sind wir die letzten 3 Wochen mit Holger unterwegs gewesen, dessen Reise ihr hier mitverfolgen könnt. Holger unterstützt mit seiner Reise ein Spendenprojekt und sammelt Geld für ein Kinderheim in Brasilien. Das Spendenprojekt unterstützen kann man, indem man zum Beispiel 'Streckenabschnittspate' für einen Teil seiner Strecke wird. Da wir diese Idee wirklich toll fanden, haben Peter und ich beschlossen mitzumachen und die Patenschaft für die Strecke zu übernehmen, die wir gemeinsam gefahren sind. Falls ihr also die Idee genau so toll findet wie wir, könnt ihr euch auf Holgers Seite weiter informieren (hier klicken) und dort auch nachlesen, wie ihr euch beteiligen könnt.

As you know we have travelled with Holger for the last three weeks. Holger is collecting money with his journey for a charity project, which supports an orphanage in Brazil. One way of participating is to sponsor parts of his trip. Peter and I found this idea really great and so we decided to become sponsors for the part of the trip which we cycled together with Holger. How much you give is totally up to you. So in case you find the idea as great as we do and maybe want to participate, you can find more information on Holger's blog (click here), which is however only in German. But if you have any questions, just contact us or Holger and we can give you more information in English as well.

Small cyclist world

Xavier, Sarah and Holger

Again we were reminded of the small world of cyclists. Do you remember Raphael who we met twice, once in a hostel in Tashkent and the second time in Almaty during a couchsurfing event? In Chengdu we met French cyclist Xavier on his way from Tajikistan to Laos. When we told him about Raphael the surprise was big. Raphael was actually one of his brother's friend.

Back home, even before we had started our trip, we followed a German cyclist on his blog. We can't remember exactly how we found his Bike Project 2010 blog. But most likely it was due to his itinerary. He cycled Central Asia and the Pamir Mountains that was initially our plan as well.

In Chengdu Xavier was waiting for a fellow cyclist that he had met in Lanzhou before. When this fellow cyclist arrived in the hostel, he introduced us to Holger, a German cyclist, on his way from Germany to China. After hours of chatting we suddenly figured out that Holger was the Bike Project 2010 cyclist!

Isn't that funny? It's such a small world. Somehow we are all linked.

We'll be cycling with Xavier and Holger out of Chengdu tomorrow. Next destination is Leshan and its 70 m tall Buddha. It's still very wet in Sichuan. Fingers crossed for better weather!

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