our view from the jungle hut we stayed in by the lake.
our first snake in thailand
mohan overtaking an elephant.
the view of the jungle from the top of a nasty hill.
cycling past a beach near chumpon
morning time as the sun clears the mist.
us with the children at yaowawit school
We have made it to Krabi a nice town in southern thailand. The cycling has been at times a real struggle because of the heat. We recently found out why its been sooo hot.... its summer in thailand! Therefore weve been adopting new tactics such as getting up really early, cycling all morning until around 12.30pm when it gets to about 38degrees!!! Then sitting in the shade and eating until 3.30 when it starts to cool down. Then cycling until around 6.30 when it gets dark. With this new strategy we have been managing to cover around 120 kilometres a day. Weve had a few amazing nights in random places in the jungle such as last night, where we ended up in Yaowawit school of hospitality in kapong. It is an amazing place, a school for orphaned children who are educated there, european football coaches go there to teach the children and all the staff are volunteers. It was incredible as we were just about to camp when we decided to check out the strange sign for a lodge, an hour later we were in a luxury room, and were meeting loads of orphaned children. Its a non profit organisation and all the profit goes to the children at the school. Their website is www.yaowawit.com , they have an amazing hotel and restuarant in the centre of the school, i recommend it to anyone, and the jungle views are amazing. We were very unenthusiastic when we left them this morning but after a hard mountainous cycle weve made it to krabi. The thai roads are perfect so far not a pot hole in sight, weve been flying along, if it wasnt for the heat we would probably be in singapore already. We are heading towards the border now not far to go!!!!
We have started the wonderful cycle from Bangkok to Singapore. We started off central Bangkok at about 8.am The plan(ish) was to cycle out of Bangkok using a 3 page google map printout, which had the directions for us to get out of the city and onto the road which leads us to our next desired town, which our map of thailand shows (we don't have a map of Bangkok - only the whole of Thailand). However, we ran into a problem (as you do). We'd assumed the road out would be small enough for bicycles to be permitted to use. But we were wrong. Traffic police shouted and whistled at us as we tried to get through the toll gates which led us onto the main road. So then we were back to square one, but without the time of the night before to plan our route... We decided to TRY to use our map... after about 1 to 2 hours of hopelessness - asking taxi drivers who pointed us in what we thought was the right direction until we followed it and got pointed in another direction by the next taxi driver, we decided to get the train to the next stop out of the city. BUT this wasn't as easy as it sounded when we said it. We then had to find the train staion of course! But luckily we were about 1 km away and we were given correct directions. So we got the train to the next stop in that direction which was Phetchaburi, which was a really nice town! Nice people, nice scenery and no traffic or pollution. After a couple of days of nice cycling now, we're in a town called prachuap khiri khan. Which is pretty nice. On the first days cycling we did 60km to a nice town called Cha-am and then followed it by a 100km cycle to this town! We've had moderate headwinds on both days which isn't great as our legs are still re-adjusting to the cycling, after our break, but the roads are brilliantly smooth, and I have a new front wheel which I got in bangkok to replace my tractor wheel I picked up in India to replace my broken one. So now I have a new hub with new smooth bearing which makes it a lot easier to cycle! Finn also got a new front pannier rack, because it broke, and he was using it, bungee-corded to his handlebars. Mine is in a ridiculous state but the bodge should hold, I dont' think it's worth paying for a new one. But the wheel was important, because I couldnt even brake properly because the Indian rim was so wide it JUST fitted in between my brake pads, with about 1mm of leeway to use or not use the brakes.
Anyway on the whole, we're both happy to be back on the road and are enjoying the smooth roads, and jungle views and happy thai people, as we continue south, powered by the cheap roadside food of noodle soup with veg and meat. Give it a week and hopefully we'll have adjusted to the intense heat here. After a days cycle we feel sandy from all the salt on our skin from the evaporated sweat (and yes dont worry we're eating lots of salty food to replace it).
We've already got a few good pics, but will upload them on the next post. Hope you're managing to stay warm in England! ;)
We have been kindly sponsored and supported by: Mayo Wynne Baxter http://www.mayowynnebaxter.co.uk/o.uk 01273 477071 Mayo Wynne Baxter is one of the leading law firms in the South East with offices throughout Sussex. & Gossypium is a leading brand in Fairtrade-certified organic cotton fashion: All our products are Fairtrade & organic - we're the real thing We only use good quality cotton; organic, pure & strong We are responsible for how our products are made The eco-system & environment are never far from our thoughts We're independent: working together as a family - in business www.gossypium.co.uk & (click image to expand) & Located in the south lanes close to the seafront Terre à Terre is one of Brighton's leading restaurants and continuously retaining the prestigious AA Two Rosettes and Michelin: ” Bib Gourmand” awards. www.terreaterre.co.uk
we are now on the andaman and nicobar islands. Had a very interesting boat journey from chennai. Was three days long and we decided to save money and get bunk tickets.... possibly worst idea of the trip. The ship was massive and stuffed full of people, the bunks were at the bottom of the ship, really reminded me of titanic with the first class bunks at the top and the cheapest bunks in the disgusting hold of the ship. I (Finn) got ill after a day or so, this was mainly due to sleeping in the bunks. Cockroaches everywhere, no air con and because its the bottom of the ship no air really gets down there, we were sleeping with maybe a hundred indians in our room, rows and rows of bunks with no privacy at all. After 3 days it stunk! lots of the indians lived off grapes for the three days and they dried them out on the bunks so after 3 days they were mouldy, rotting and covered in insects!! But all this has made the Andaman islands all the more amazing and spectacular. we were planning to hitch a lift with a cargo ship or a private boat of some kind to thailand. But we discovered that the only boats going from the islands to thailand were small private yachts. We tried in Port Blair to find a suitable boat but most of them were too small and didnt want to cram us in their boat. We were advised to go to Havelock island, because most the private yacht owners anchor their yachts there, because it's meant to be the nicest. we spent a week on Havelock island (paradise island) lying on the beach snorkling the coral reefs and relaxing in hammocks! Was very rewarding after our ordeal on the boat from Chennai. We asked ALL the yacht owners in Havelock, by lying on the beach next to their dinghy boats which they use to get to their yachts which are quite far out from the land, and when we saw anyone getting in a dinghy we asked if they were willing to take us on. Most were not going to Thailand, but those who were didn't have a big enough boat, plus probably couldn't be bothered to take us on because it's not exactly a touch on the romantic mood having us with them (a lot of couples were sailing). We even braved it and swam to a couple of yachts, because we didnt catch a them off their boat at all. So eventually with no luck, we reluctantly decided to book a flight to bangkok. We are now flying tomorrow from Port Blair and are planning on spending a few weeks on one of the small islands off thailand before cycling from Bangkok to Singapore. This route is approximately 2000km long by main road according to google maps, but will probably end up at 3,000 for us as we will be on the smaller roads which are nicer but more zig-zaggy and have more hills. We have heard a lot (positive things) about the roads from Bangkok to Singapore and are both looking forward to it!!! Hopefully our legs will remember how to cycle. We are hoping to arrive in australia around mid April, but that is an estimation.
We will update the blog once again with pictures from thailand, we are all very sad to be leaving india and will be waggling our heads at everyone we meet in thailand.
We are now in Chennai. It's a big crowded city, parallel to Goa but on the east coast instead of west. We met my (Mohan) sister in Goa who is going to stick with us for the boat trips from here to the Andaman islands and finally to Thailand when she will fly off, and we will cycle on. We got an internal flight from Goa to Chennai which costed us 50 quid. The next boat from Chennai to the islands is on the 22nd and we have been spending our time here getting our Thai visas (which we collect tomorrow) and getting our tickets for the boat which is a lot harder than it sounds here. The boat takes 3 days to get to Port blair (the major town of the Andaman islands), and we've been told it's going to be pretty grimey. And of course we got the lowest class. Good times.
The plan from there is to enjoy the islands for a little, maybe try and hire a bike for Myvany (my sister) and go on a little mission around the small islands and then we're going to try and hitch a ride on a cargo ship or something similar to take us to Thailand, because there are no public boats which go from the islands to Thailand. We're not just doing this blindly - we've heard of people who have managed to do this in the past, so fingers crossed.
Here are a few pictures, as we havent put any up for quite a while!
Bengal tiger!
Some nice locals we met when we were pitching our tent next to the below pic.
This was the next morning after camping, there was morning mist on the river and a beautiful sunrise!
A road safety sign on the road from Mumbai to Goa which made us laugh. Very true though.
The 3 lads at the beach in Goa!
Anjuna beach, Goa.
Palolem beach, south Goa.
Palolem sea. View from a little wooden boat we were on which took us to a local mini island.
Anyway, all is well generally! We will update again when we get to the islands and fill you in on the gory details of the boat trip.
We made it to Goa around 2 weeks ago, and have spent time off our bikes, enjoying the beaches, meeting new people and relaxing. Our plan is to stay here until after new years, and then head for Chennai, on the east coast to get the boat to the Andaman islands around the 5th of Jan. From there we will get our Thai visa's, get the boat to the islands, and try and hitch a ride to Thailand. There are no public boats which go from the islands to Thailand, but a lot of regular cargo goods ships etc. We met a cycle tourer in Istanbul who's friend had done this ok, by just throwing the people a few hundred rupees so we will see. Goa is not really like India, it's more a western county plodded in India. Everything is different, there's LOADS of tourists maybe around half the people within Goa aren't Indian. We've been enjoying being able to talk to people, as 99% of the people here can speak English, which is a huge change from all the countries we've spent the last 4 months in. Apart from that, not much to report, we've got some decent pictures, which we'll be uploading on here in a couple of days when we come to the netcaf with our cameras.
Heard about the snow in the UK. Seems mad to think that it could be snowing somewhere.. we spent xmas day lying on the beach which felt a bit weird, but no complaints!
we are now in the town of sawai metaphur. the roads have been horrendous mostly so far so has been really slow going. lots of pot holes and tracks. our bikes have been feeling the strain and moes front rim which was old when we left england, has finally bent. so we had to buy an indian front rim... about 4 inches thick, made of steel so super heavy. its hilarious but very strong built to withstand the pot holes of india. However roads did get better as we went further south, and we finally reached ranthambore national park. It is amazing here the landscape is incredible. we went on a safari a couple of days ago and out of sheer luck saw two wild benghal tigers only 15ft away from us!! so amazing got lots of cool pictures. As the roads are ridiculously bad hear and we wont be able to get to Mumbai for another 2 months at this rate we have decided to get a train. we are planning to get to Mumbai and then cycle down to goa and then to chennai. hopefuly the roads will be better down south and we will be able to actually cover distance without destroying our bikes. However we will have to face the 24 hour train journey with our bikes in the luggage appartment, it should be very stressful. We also stumbled across the maharajas palace whilst cycling to this national park. the hotel is called banwar villas in karauli and is probably the best hotel ive ever stayed in! We met the princess who kindly treated us to free meals and a massive discount on the price of rooms. The staff were all amazingly kind and i will definately be returning. the website is www.karauli.com and i definately recommend everyone should go there. The town of karauli is lovely we visited the local temple and experienced the intense hindu ceremony. Another cool place we stayed at on our way a cool little hindu temple near karaugon. the hindu monk raguberdas let us stay there and fed us. Everyone here is very kind and we have been treated well everywhere we go. Sorry we havnt been updating the blog regularly their are very few computer caffes around this area and most of the computers dont actually work. But hopefuly when were down south their will be more computers and better roads!
Mayo Wynne Baxter is one of the leading law firms in the South East with offices throughout Sussex.
&
Gossypium is a leading brand in Fairtrade-certified organic cotton fashion:
All our products are Fairtrade & organic - we're the real thing
We only use good quality cotton; organic, pure & strong
We are responsible for how our products are made
The eco-system & environment are never far from our thoughts
We're independent: working together as a family - in business
www.gossypium.co.uk
&
(click image to expand)
&
Located in the south lanes close to the seafront Terre à Terre is one of Brighton's leading restaurants and continuously retaining the prestigious AA Two Rosettes and Michelin: ” Bib Gourmand” awards.
www.terreaterre.co.uk
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR US, YOU STILL CAN!
We are obviously trying to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross, and the default sponsorship donation goes 50/50 for the Red Cross and towards the costs of the trip (Visas, Food, Internet Cafes, Maps etc). We are budgeting as much as possible but it is still difficult to keep the costs down because we cannot control the majority of our spending which is not on food or any other variable but on things like VISAS (It costs £95 for Iranian VISA alone) and maps and unexpected repairs such as my front pannier rack which has given way. Any excess sponsorship cost covering money will go to the Red Cross once we have finished the trip if there is any too. If you would still like to sponsor us you can by:
Emailing me the amount you have sponsored us, your name, and the amount you want to go to the Red Cross and amount you want to put towards covering the costs of the trip, if any. The bank account I have set up for the sponsorship money is:
You can pay money into that bank account via phone banking, online banking, cash (in bank) or by cheque. I'm set up with online banking and will be basing my budgets and checking balance/transferring money with it throughout the whole trip, whenever I'm near a computer.
You can also pay via Paypal to: Moohan13@gmail.com
Thankyou!
Blog update:
We are now in India! There's a lot to mention since we last updated... I dont know where to start. Firstly from Turkey. We had to pinball around a bit in order to get our Indian VISAs. We had to buy a letter of recommendation from the brit consulate for 70 quid. And then wait around for our visas to process, meanwhile we were fishing around for flights on phone, finding out different airlines policy on bicycles and excess baggage etc as this, alongside the actual flying price is the main thing really, as most airlines were charging about 30 euro per extra kg of luggage over 20kg which is a big prob for us. Anyway, we got a good deal with emirates in the end, with 37kg of free allowance, so just stripped our stuff down which maybe was a good thing anyway. And booked our flights as soon as our VISA processed (7 days). We got the flight cheap and last minute which was a result, and flew to Delhi! As we were waiting around for our VISAs I spoke to a friend in England. Miguel who had been checking our blog etc and wanted to join in from Delhi til somewhere in Thailand, going back alone when he felt like it. Me and Finn thought it would be sweet, but we were flying to Delhi in about a week from when we were speaking, and asked him how it would work, seeing as he didnt even have a bicycle etc! I half didnt think he was being serious but this changed as he desperately started asking me stuff about kit, jabs, malaria tabs, insurance etcccc. So two days after we arrived in Delhi, he joins in, with a good bike and full kit! He must of had had a manic week... As me and Finn were waiting, in Istanbul, we were speaking to Thomas (management of Gossypium), and filled him in on what we were up to. Then, out the blue, told us he would treat us to our first night in Delhi, at Ashok country resort, a luxurious hotel in Delhi as a welcome present to India from Gossypium! Me and Finn were very chuffed and grateful as you would be! We jumped on our plane, had a 17 hour wait at dubai for our connection which was grim, but we didnt really care as we knew we had this to look forward to. We had a couple of hours sleep on the airport marbel floor (in our shorts brrrr) And the time of our flight eventually did come. We enjoyed the comfort of the plane and got picked up in Delhi at 8pm by the hotel driver, our bicycles coming out the other end (practically) markless, which was a relief. We then got to the hotel and were told that not only had Gossypium paid for our room, but also a dinner and breakfast! We were the happiest of happy. And enjoyed a lovely, hefty meal which sent us straight to bed... Next day we swam, ate an amazing breakfast, and set our minds on getting our first day done.... This stalled completely when we went to set our bikes up - we had to repump our tyres as they had been deflated (as a requirement of bringing them on the plane) and found that BOTH our pumps broke at the same time, completely unprovoked, just didnt work anymore when we tried them (valve attatchment was messed up on mine, and the connecting tube on Finns had split). The hotel didnt have a pump so we ended up taking our wheels off, getting a lift with the friendly hotel staff to a tyre pumping station about 1km away. By the time we were on the road it was late afternoon, and this was our first introduction to Indian traffic. As the hotel was a bit out of the main town area of Delhi, we had about a 35 km cycle to the main bit again, and we made plans to adjust a bit, while waiting in a cheap hotel near to the airport, waiting for Miguel. When Miguel arrived, we stayed another night there to allow him to recover from the time difference and flight, and then set off, towards Agra. We started off slow to allow Miguels legs to adjust, and for all of us to adjust to the different culture and way of cycling. And how to deal with the MASSES of people who bombard you, trying to speak to you, taking pictures of you etc. This makes us feel like celebrities/freakshows. Most the people out of the main towns seem to have never seen a brit or something. They're all very curious and want to speak to you etc, which is nice, but it has quickly lost its novelty as we ended up covering hardly any distance, and ended up speaking more than cycling. One of our favourite things about this amazing place is our 'pit stops' - chai men every few hundred metres haha. We LOVE indian chai, and it is the perfect energy booster, and tastes amazing. And costs around 4p a cup which is a bonus. The road conditions are nothing but mad. Sometimes it has been like cycling on a a road full of rubble, sometimes it has been like a european road (rarely). So this is another 'obstacle' of cycling here. But even though the place is absolutely MAD in some ways, once you adjust to it, its calmer than european traffic. Everyone spends about as much time not beeping as they do beeping, which at first gets on your nerves, but we soon learnt the difference in meaning between English beeping ''you f**cking twat! get off the road!!!'' and here, where it's ''I'm here, and I'm overtaking you, so dont randomly jerk out to the right and bash into me please''. After lots of mad times, meeting loooads of friendly people, sleeping in the courtyard of a hindu church (with permission) and sharing our cooked dinner on our now working stove, we are in Agra. We went to see the Taj Mahal yesterday, which was amazing. And we bought a nice, loose, cotton indian-president (apparently) style suit each. We look pretty funny to be honest, but it had to be done. And its soooo comfy. We wore them to the Taj, and got indians coming to us and asking to get pics of us haha. Anyway, the story on the whole is... lovely country, lovely people, perfect weather, dodgy roads but just about cyclable on (so far), and operating day to day on far below our budget! Miguel brought the latest edition of the India lonelyplanet guide which was a good move, and we have partially planned our route around this. We're thinking of heading towards bombay from here, though we're not sure if we actually want to pass through it, because all it means is lots of traffic, beggars and pollution. But thats our rough direction from here (south-west), and we will head south from the down the coast. Then we are thinking of heading east, towards channai, where we are going to give hitching a boat to the Andaman islands a shot, and then to Thailand from there, as we spoke to a cyclist in Istanbul whose friend had done this with ease. But we will see, at the moment we're soaking in the difference in culture and enjoying this amazing country.
START FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AND CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE.
Me trying to get some kip in Dubai airport
Cheeky monkeys
Miguel explaining his gears on his bicycle to the indians.
The people who we befriended while we stopped for chai at their stall
Cute elephant!
Miguel after his first day cycling, struggling to stay awake during dinner.
Some nice kid we met at a chai stall...
Camel! They're so big here!
Egg man!!
The decorators we made friends with at the hindu church where we camped one night.
Setting up camp in the grounds of the church.
They swapped belts haha.
Their brothers (the next morning)
Us outside the hindu church with their youngers.
One of many thousand chai man!
The Taj Mahal!
Beautiful.
The tomb of the emperors wife (If you know about the Taj you will know what I'm on about)
Finn, me, Miguel and some random people who wanted a pic with us, in the grounds of the Taj Mahal. In our legendary Indian cotton suits!
