Posted on January 4, 2012 by Robert Beal
Hanoi sunset by West Lake
I decided to leave the bicycle in storage in China while going to Vietnam as a respite from cycling. I would also be spending Christmas and New Years there, so wouldn’t have a chance to cycle much. Flying to Hanoi wasn’t the cheapest option but the alternate option of doing a 22 hour bus ride (with Chinese size sleeper berths) was beyond me. I had already clocked up over 30 hours. Getting there turned out to be something of a nightmare. Upon leaving China, Jingwen (who was coming to spend Christmas with my brother and I) was stopped and not allowed to depart. Feeling awful in my decision, I left her standing at immigration and still took the flight. I felt bad as it wasn’t the most pleasant experience for her first trip out of China. It took her an additional week to get everything fixed and purchase another flight before she made it to Hanoi.
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Posted on December 21, 2011 by Robert Beal
Yongxing
Firstly, this isn’t my whole opinion, rather part of it. Nor does it apply to everyone. On a difficult day when I’m feeling negative the points do resonate with me more than normal but that doesn’t mean I don’t see the positive side of travelling. Just in the last half a century travel has become much more available, so much so that everyone is doing it… or so you’d think. If so, you’d be wrong. Also just because “everyone” is doing it, does that make it right? Are we abusing travel? Seeing and meeting many travellers and the impact they have on the areas they visit (myself included) has left me somewhat pessimistic. Could travel be a bad thing?
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Posted on December 21, 2011 by Robert Beal
During my time in Japan I met a American-Korean guy called Mike. He was an interesting character who firstly liked to do CrossFit sessions wherever he travelled to see how it differed (and also to keep in shape), and secondly, got to many of his destinations accumulating and using air miles. Simply put, current travel was helping fund future travel. We’ve both written articles for each other’s blog (mine being Cycling Across The World – Troubles And Tips). Here is what Mike wrote for me…
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Posted on December 11, 2011 by Robert Beal
Noppharat Thara beach
I cycled my way back up to Krabi from Satun (it taking two days) to return to the Pak-Up hostel I had previously stayed at. Given I had spent longer in the deep south, and wasn’t cycling back to Bangkok I had several days to kill in Krabi before heading to Bangkok. I didn’t really have any plans apart from wanting to have a rest and see the Tiger temple. In the end my days typically were made up of long lie-ins, plodding around during the day then drinking in the evening (my first real nights of drinking on the whole trip). Once in Bangkok I had to get a new Chinese visa, repair my bicycle and do any typical touristy stuff.
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Posted on December 9, 2011 by Robert Beal
Having cycled nearly 7,000km across Europe and China I was all but set to tackle India. This all changed when my brother, who currently resides in Hanoi (Vietnam), invited me to spend Christmas with him. Given the choice of a spending Christmas with a family member in a home, or spending it somewhere in southern India (probably cycling on Christmas day) I opted for the former! The last time I saw my brother was in Hong Kong (!) over a year ago.
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