Great Asian Journey

2006-12-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys

Before i get into the trip details, I'll make some general comments about India.

1. There is no order. Streets can be a nightmare, espetionally the narrow ones with the constant horns.
2. More people can speak English. This has its upside and downside. They all seem to try and be friendly to the cyclist and ask what is your name,where are you from, what town, are you married, are you alone. After a will it can get tiresome.
3. Transport can be a nightmare. Locals will lie about what station you are at and forget about triing to read signs. Direct busses can be hit and miss and are often need connectors even though they say all the way no changing when you book. Getting tickets besides general tickets are really fun at train stations, well general tickets can be fun too with all the Indian people pushing in front of you if they get half a chance.
4. Your belongings are generally very safe here. Locals will love to play with the gears of the bike but that is it.
5. If you are having any trouble at all with locals the police will help. Inluding when a restrant will try to double the fee.
6. They need to invent the rubbish bin.

My general impresion of India is that they have some of the most beautiful man made objects I have seen. They have some very nice people but they also very tricky people trying to get anything they can out of you. Expect trash to be littered where ever you go.

Ok from Khajuraho i headed up to Jhansi via bus to get a train to Agra ended up past my station and had to come back to Agra in the morning. I spent my first day in Agra visting the fort and watching the sunset from behind the Taj Mahal. The next moring I got up earlly to watch the sunrise around the Taj which was well worth it. Even if it did cost like 750 rupees to go into. I spent most of the day here only leaving to have lunch so missed the sunset from inside. The morning glow is nice but the brillant white of full sun is also impressive.
I then headed to Bharatpur on the bike via Fatehur Skikri, an impresive castle. The next day was spent riding around Keoladeo Ghana National Park but without water there was no migratory birds so wasn't really impressive but the local birds were still nice to see.
The next day i headed into town to look at the old palaces in ruins before heading to Jaipur.
Taking it easy i only visited the City Palce and the Hawa Mahal before heading up to watch the sunset from the sun temple. More monkeys and even a trained cobra.
The next day was spent visiting the museums, palaces, temples and the royal cenotaphs of this nice city before heading to the religous city of Ajmer where i treated myself to a midlevel hotel which they gave me at budget level price. Can't complain and the room service was great. After seeing this city i headed to the quieter but more tourist filled town of Pushkar. With a beautiful lake surrounded by ghats i got up earlly to enjoy the morning activities before heading up to the Pap Mochani Temple to get away from the people and chill out for a few hours best thing i could have done. That night (last night) I caught a bus down to the lakeside city of Udaipur. Being still dark when i got there I found the hotel that i had decided i liked reading about and then sat on the nearby lakeside and ate breakfast while the sun came up from behind me shining an orange colour on the Palaces and hotels accross the water. I spent the rest of this morning at the city palace complex looking through the various museum collections.

Hope thats been an interesting read. Theres not much point going into more details without the pictures to show you so more stories later.

Simon

2006-11-26T05:18:00.000-08:00

Namaste (Good Morning/ Good afternoon or if you are a child they think it means the same as bye bye)

Hey Guys

I tried to get online the other morning but the power went out before i could finish typing up the email. (this happens a lot in Nepal and India)

Well since the last email I've found out that my Uncle was killed in a tractor accident so things were a bit sober for a while.

One thing i forgot to say about Nepal before is that every town is surrounded by checkpoints left over from the warring tims of a few months back. They don't bother foreighers but some locals are checked. The other thing about riding the Nepal is the screams of bye bye you here from local kids. I prefer the Hello from china and tibet. I really don't like being greeted by bye bye when i really even use it at home.

Well anyways I went to the 20,000 lake and got to see the back end of a one horned Rino as well as some spotted deer, crocs, and monkeys (not the ones u se everywere) and lots of birds and frogs. The day was flat so the 100km i did today was easy.

Getting a taste of the wild i decided that i would actually spend some money, I don't have to be too stingy, and spend a day and a half wondering the park. It only cost me 1650 (about AU$30) for the two days with 2 guides and and park entrance fees. so they were only working for $5 a day inlcuding paying for their accom and they are highly payed people here most work for 100 rupees (about $2) a day. Well inside the park i was treated but i will say one thing i hate not being able to see what i am taking photos of. I missed the Sloth bears. Noooooooo. Well least i got to se them, A mother and her two cubs. I also saw a family of dark faces Monkeys, 3 more rinos 2 from 2 metres away. One of which was no happy when we accidenly woke it up. The guides were a little to quick to scare it away. I so wish they were a little carmer so it would stay a little longer. I guess they know what they are doing and they feared for my safety. Some more wild crocs sunbaking. We also heard another 2 rinos but not wanting to scare them we didn't go into the long grass. This grass was like 3 metres plus so seeing the animals weren't the clearest at times.

After leaving the park I headed to the turnoff to Pokara at Narayanghad, and then up the creek line to Muglin 30 odd km by nightfall. Stayed in this dodgy little restraunt and hotel. Least it was cheap. The next day was a long day so earlly star for the 90km ups to Pokara. Most of the day was spent averaging around 10 km per hour. I get to Pokara to find the place surrounded by cloud so no seeing the promissed hills. Least the Lake was nice but being really tired I forgot to take phoos in the afternoon sunsetting. Just had a shower, ate dinner and went to bed. The next morning I woke up and the clouds were still there. This is bad as it means they aren't going away until it rains. So i get moving up the hill to the South out of town. Nice you spend a day and a half climbing up to Pokara and you still have to climb to get out of the place. At 4 pm I had had enough of climbing up and up and a little down Nepals roads. I know that for every 1 hour of up hill you only get 10 minutes of downhill just because of the speed diffrence but I am sure there was more up this day than down. This day i made it 60km. The next day I headed off to find out how far it actually was to Tansen the town i was trying to get to the day before. Nobody in Nepal knows distances to anywhere and most are more than happy to send you in the wrong direction it seems deliberatly although other locals make the excuse that they don't know english but they surely should know the town names. Anyways I spend the next morning and most of the afternoon to continue to climb the hills the views along the creeks are beautiful. Rice fields and water and misty air. A lot of the time the smog gets a bit thick to take photos so i don't have a real lot. Also i tend to take less photos when i am struggling up the hills. I eventionally fnd out that Tansen wasn't even on the main road and that it was 7 km up the hill, which was the was somone said Butwal was even though i find out after climbing a few kms that it was the other way. I soon find out why it seemed more uphill than down. I now get 35km straight of downhill to butwal. Well it was interuped by a few small uphil sections but it was mainly downhill. I also found a beautiful litttle waterfall and spring. Get to Butwal before dark making the distance today about 90km.

The next morning i only had to make it 26 km along one of the busiest sections of road so far to India. The smog was so bad here. I eventionally made it to the boarder crossing and had no dramas getting across. Total distance of teh ride from Kathmandu to the India boarder was 620km. Now it was time to catch some busses. I Caught a bus to Gorakhpur to get a train to Varanasi. The bridge just before Gorakhpur was out so traffic was going along back dirt trails through the rice fields. Now that was fun getting busses past each other. I got to Varanasi at midnight. I only bought a general ticket, so techincally i had no seat but i just sat with the locals. I had lots of police with riffels and the like making sure that i was OK. For the last 2 hours or so they even sat with me and made sure nobody took anything. Gtting to Varanasi at midnight made getting a hotel fun as most owners had gone to bed. The streets had hardley anybody on them except the police with riffels and boy there was a lot of them. Eventionally I found a place to let me in.

I wake up the next morning, climb the stairs to the roof type to see one hell of a view. The sun had only just risen and the smog was really thick but with all the monkeys everywhere the place was great. After a while headed downstairs to walk the ghats of the Gangi. Its was an amazing way to spend the day, the cowds, the colours, the sights, ghats, flowers, people bathing, washing, even cremations all taking place along the water edge. And what better way to finishe the afteroon than to sit at the end drinking 2 rupee a glass milk tea ( about 6 cents). After a while i headed back to the hotle to take photos from the rooftop while the air was clearish, and to take photos of the sunset as well as sampling the sweets available in the streets.

The Next morning I caught a train to Satna to get a bus to Khajuraho although that was going to have to wait till the next morning. Which is where i got this morning. The Temples here are so cool. Very erotic sculptures cover the exquistely carved temples in stone. A great way to spend the afteroon.

2006-11-16T04:14:00.000-08:00

Kathmandu

What to say, Kathmandu is one of the craziest cities ever. Thinest streets, motorcycles rushing past hitting people on the way through, constant horn blowing by cars and bikes triing to get past only to be stopped a few metres in front. The streets are walking pace only and the still insist on getting past. The government should ban motorised transport in the heart of the city like Lijang China has.

Anyways I left Kathmandu on the 14th headed for Daman. Stopping by Patan on the way through. Great on main highways busses will stop in the middle of the road without warning not good with a loaded pushbike. Ok 15 km of small hills and then down for 10, miss my turn off 7 km the wrong way down the hill had to ride back up. Mind you i did ask locals which way to Daman and they all said keep going it wasn't till i met a car driver did he point me in the right direction. O well another hour later back to the turn off. Now 50km of uphill fun. Didn't make it before dark. Only made about 25. Found some friendly locals to spend the night with. Next morning get up earlly to finish the ride only to find the Himalaya Range under cloud Damn Damn Damn. Was going to spend the night here anyways. Spent the afternoon laying in the sun with glances at the range. It was still beautiful. I wake up the next morning to one of the best sights ever. The range. couldn't see all the way to Everest though as that way was into the sun so it was failly dull. On the other hand, the other way was so good. I have so many pictures.

I Then rode down the other side to Hetauda. Only 60 odd km mainly downhill after climbing the final 5km, 150m vertically up the hill. More views of the range but the clouds have come in now. Tomorrow i set out for Chitwan where the Rinos are and hopefully i will get to see some without going into the park which i have heard costs a fortune. After that Pokhara and down to the boarder of India.

2006-11-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

Wow what a ride. Total distance ridden 1175km. Countless 1000m passes. ok at least 8 and then some 500m plus ones. If you haven't been gettign my other emails sorry you can find a summary at www.blogger.com/tgwslfb

Hears a short review. Times Sunrise 8:30am, Sunset 7:30pm

Just starting to get over the news of Sarahs death in a car accident i set off with two people i had met, Roland and Maya. We made good time in the earlly afternoon and so tried to make the first pass. At the bottom though ran over a patch of thorns and i had to throw away my first and only tube (at least 10 holes in one hit) and also patch up the front tyre. We then set off up the pass. I soon left my friends and keep going while they were walking. Its soon got dark well not soon but before i got a chance to make it to the top. Good things my mates got on a truck and came up. We got to the top to see the lake in the moon light. Not as beautiful as it would have been in day light but still nice. 93km and climbed 700m.

Easy day to Nangartse round the lake taking photos every 1km or so. The Views were amazing. Getting settled in a guesthouse and having lunch I then headed up to Samding monastry and to the ridge behind for some really nice views. Both great. Get back to hostel Dark with friends worried. Those that know me wil understand what i am like. 73km farly flat road except the ridge behind he monasry which was a 500 m climb on foot and the climb to the monasry 200 m on bike

Day three. The dirt road starts today and Karo-la Pass 5045m. Slow going with lots of roadworks. Made it up at 1:30 pm and my mates at 3:17pm. Hard to breath up here and while waiting for my mates headed towards the glacier but was stopped by a big revine not happy. Head down the other side and stay at a villagers home in Longma. Wind was crazy headwind making downhill very slow. Distance 59km 700-800m

Bad sleep last night. The animals kept us all awake. Easy pass today only about 400-500m but more road works. I ride trails through the forests of Newcastle in better condition. One inparticular was a streep sandy road into creek bed where i fell and broke my camera screen. Still took pictures just now viewfinder and no screen. Get to Gyantse earlly afternoon have lunch. Distance 46km.

Long day but good road to Shigatse. 92km total of flat road not too bad. This area is very dry. Still the villages made for great views.

Another big day today. We bought some stuff that we needed like patches for my friends and bread and stuff. And set off. This area was full of rolling hills and made for a nice day. We found a bustop guesthouse at 98km from Shigatse. Dirty but sleepable.

Smaller day today with a short pass. I pass the 5000km mark in the road earlly and the 500lm trip distance. I also hit the top speed for he entire journey today of 72km/hr. Amazing what you can do without a headwind blowing you back up a hill and no dirt. We made it to the small Monastary town of Sakya and found a cheap hotel that had a toilet on the verandah. 60km today

Another easy day today. We spend the morning walking around the monastries well the ruins of one watchin the sun rise and the real one. Chanting monks make for a great experience. We set off for Lhatse in the earlly afteroon to ride 55km.

A big pass today which my friends knew they weren't wanting to do. Without a tent we knew we had to make it to Shegar. Just after the checkpoint i left my friends as they were going to hitch hike up the hill while i wanted to do it. I make it up the 37 km climb at around 3pm with a killer head wind. The same headwind i get every day. I just wish it would stay away. The climb through the creek path was nice with high cliffs on both sides and locals mining the slate roacks. The next 50 odd km was scattered with dirt road works and other bad roads making it still take 4 hours. 90km today

Today I left my friends as they decided not to come up to Everast Base Camp with me. They way would be too hard as believe me it almost killed me. 101 km over two days of the worst corregated road. Day one was a long pass of which took me 4pm till i made it to the top. The view was cloudy so i didn't even get to see the himilaya Range. Least the 20km down the other side to the village at the turnoff was easier. 60 km today.

The final day of climbing up to the base camp. The clouds slowly disappeard durring the day giving me great views of the area. I now get to see the mountians for what they are. Amazing. Although it was a very hard day today. I have not much energy left as the altitude seems to zap it away.

Waking up to Everast made my day. Decising to take the short cut to Tingri was so worth it. Even though you have to walk some of the time the road was still better than the majority of the main road. Still it took me all day but still the afternoon was my favourte time of riding so far. The last 10 km being really bad road with creeks all the time. Wet shoes and dark in Tibet make for very cold time. I got to Tingri around 7pm, found a placew with hot showers and warmed up. 70km with a 500 or so m climb

Getting up this moring was hard. It was 11 before i left Tingri and I had 89 km to do with a pass. All dirt road all with headwind. Make it up to the guesthouse in the saddle between the two passes at 8:30 pm. Well and truelly dark. Only get to see sillottes of the Himilaya range in thae darkeness at 8pm when i get to the top of the pass. The restraunt was a instant noodle shop. Not the food for cycling.

Man its cold when your are up around 4500m. I get up and get goign at around 10am and make it up the pass by 11:30 to see a half a dozen 4x4s. Alll cheering me on. This time I did get to see the range in all its glory. I set off down the hill to be greeted again by a killer head wind rushing up the valley. This time it was so cold had to but on the down jacket and rain pants. Bairly able to move makeing a whole 5km per hour downhill is heartbreaking. You really feel like crap. There is nothing to describe how bad i felt this morning. It was just horible. Cold and sad. The afternoon treated me with a blizzard to make things worse for me. God must of gave up torchering me around 5pm because he let up on the wind and the snow and gave me some sun. There was still the occational horztal flying snow flake but it wasn't shaking the jacket so much that i couldn't hear the trucks. This afternoon made for great riding with beatiful cliffs covered in snow. What a sight. I made it to the Tibet boarder town of Zhangma to find the roas covered in trucks making it a maze going through the town, which was only one street that ran back and forth down the hill. Had some bad pasta in a restraunt. 98km today

Setting off for Nepal today i make it through Customs at around 1:30pm (thats the both ends and the 10km or so of bad road between). Nepal being scared that the Chinese may invade them like Tibet have made the next 20km or so of road worse than that of the 4x4 road from sugarloaf mountian to Freemans Waterhole. It was so bad. Steep downhill and travellin at 5km per hour. I really don't know how the busses do it. I heard they can only get there in dry weather so don't think you wil get up in in the wet. At around 6pm the road leaves the creek that runs through the range and heads west. I decide to stop in the next town and do the next 60km the next day. Todays distance 73km.

This moring I awoke to be surrounded by cloud. This area is tropical rainforest making the small villages very scenic. 10 km of fairlly level climbing along a creek then 27 km up a hill side. From the top you can see the thousands of farms growing rice like Longsheng was and the Himilaya range sitting up in the sky. Due to the haze you could only see the white snow glaciers. I get to the outskirts of Kathmandu and call Ashok who arrange for me to stay with his uncle who is very nice.

Well thats the 16 days worth may tell you guys more when i get home.

2006-10-22T02:55:00.000-07:00

As I sit in my Hostels internet cafe sipping a great hot tea i deceid to give you an update. After exploring Lijiang for a few days I headed north to hike along the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I know know why it is one of the must do things. Although i wish th locals had put up less graffiti saying where the next gues house is. The Glaicers are really something else. The power of the might river forced into a small gorge also makes for a nice way to waste a few hours listing.

My next stop was Chengdu. A place to get a train to Lhasa. Later i find out a couple didn't even get asked for a permint when buying their train tickets. Owell. After a few days in Chengdu I caught the 48 hour train to Lhasa. The train if far from direct and has to travel North for one day before heading south west. Least it gave me a chance to see the area. Snow capped peaks, dersert landscapes, hills and valleys, rolling hills like mid western NSW with sheep. What an area. The best thing is I'm away from the huge crowds. Although Lhasa does have a fair few people still. The cold winter hasn't quite set in even though I did get some snow today (just a little). I spent today putting my jumper on and off wheneveer the sun came back out or hid.

I set out for the Nepal boarder on the 25th. At the moment planning on 15 days now that i have a nice bike to ride.

2006-10-11T05:18:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Lijiang.

The photo in the book doesn't do this place justice. Its amazing how this town can exist in the middle of a bigger town. The ancient city of Lijiang is heritage listed so that its still got the charm of the twisted, cobbled streets and old style buildings. Very nice. I also went in to visit the the black dragon pond which has a steep cover charge but still a must see. 60 Yuan normal price and 30 for students. I like that i can use my student card everywhere. I just wish i has used it earllier. O well. I've burnt my first dvd so i should start putting on pictures soon.

Later Simon

2006-10-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Dali A great little town on the side of a lake. The area I'm staying at is actually called old dali and it has a stone wall surrounding the main part of town although there is a lot of town outside the walls. Todays been the wettest day so far.

Since my last post, I've headed from Yangshuo North to Lonsheng, then to Ping An (the rice terraces), back to Guilin (not for long) down to Nanning,
Across to Kunming now up to Dali. The cities don't seem to be too
interesting but the countryside is. Although some of these areas can be quite expensive as they charge through the nose for tourist spots. Like the rise terraces at ping an was 50 Yuan, Moon rock 15 Yuan, Silver cave 50 Yuan, Longsheng hot springs 98 Yuan (didn't go there just had a look around the river nearby). For
accommodation and food 1 yuan seems to buy about the same as AU$1 back
home so eating and sleeping is cheap. Travel is one of the biggest
costs with the travel so far costing me 30, 230, 15, 23, 7, 7, 6.5, 6.5, 23, 88, 195, 80.

As you would expect from a developing country there is a lot more segregation between classes. The farmers are always had at work if not in the fields, they are in the markets trying to sell them. There are rock miners everywhere, ladies selling their handycraft, touts trying to buy stuff they organise, shoe polishers, people that sort through the garbage finding things they can use. And of cause there are the snobs happily getting a ride up the side of Ping An getting carried by 4 guys. The bussines men in suits. So far the scenery arround Yangshou is still the nicest. Although the creeks at Longsheng were still very nice. The parks in the cities do liven the areas up so there is always something to look at.

Until next time Laters Simon

2006-09-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

Well its now Friday (I think) and I've now spend 2 days exploring the limestone peaks and I have to say the are something special. I just wish I could see a little further that 1km. I spend Thursday climbing at 2 different crags, one in the moring and in in the afternoon. I lead a few 5.8's and toproped some 5.10s and 5.9s a total of like 10 climbs which in this heat was challenging. Doesn't help that I hadn't climbed that much in the last few months either. I can now say that the rock is very grippy and doesn't get too slimy with the sweat.

I spent Friday on a push bike exploring some villages of the main roads. This are doesn't seem to get many foreigners so they were all excited to see me passing through. I Also visited this really cool cave called silver cave and you will know why when you see some of the phots I took in there. Its a pity the chinese don't have the same level of protection for the caves as we do. Least they made sure nobody touched the really good bits so they were still white.

2006-09-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome from Yangshou a village in mainland China. Actually its more like a city back home with a population of 300 000.

I spent the first 5 days of my journey in Hong Kong touring the city via mtr which would be very expensive if i didn‘t have and unlimited travel pass for three of the days。This travel pass being on one of the best ideas ever the octopus card. It means you never need change as all services can be paid for, including coke veding machines by this card. After visting the peak on Hong Kong Island and doing the whole city tour， I went out to Lantau Island which has some big hills to climb。I walked up Lantau Peak （934m ） then down the other side and off to sunset peak （869m）so i ended up walking like 1200m vertical and down like 1500m。I told Johnny what i did and he couldn’t believe it。 He hasn‘t even walked up Lantau Peak。

I didn‘t end buying a bike in Hong Kong so I’m going to hire them in the villages for now although I will be missing my clipless pedals。 Anyways after the last of my shopping i headed off to the Hong Kong Boarder to catch a bus to Gulin but after talking to people decided to stop at yangshou first。I was going to vist the area anyway and seeign as the bus was stopping there first it saved me a trip back。The whole area is surround by limestone peaks。 The bus ride was supposed to take 10 hours it ended up taking something closer to 20。There is a lot of road construction on the existing hyway so 2 lanes of traffic went down to one and when a truck got a flat tyre along it we ended up waiting like 4 hours。 So i spend the first 4 hours of daylight stuck in traffic not moving anywhere。 I plan to to spend a few days here before heading up to Longshen to vist the rice fields and then off to Kunming if i can get a train ticket as its a national holiday for a week。

Travel

2006-09-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

After Leaving Newcastle on the motorbike for Brisbane Tuesday morning with lots of tears, I made it to Brisbane Wednesday Afternoon after spending time with my Parents. After waking early Thursday I arrived at the airport to one hell of a long line at check in only to find that the bag I planned to carry on was too heavy. Anyways so had to check that in. The plane trip was good pretty smooth without much turbulence and some good movies to send my eyes square for the last time.

The flight landed on time to Hong Kong and I got my bag without dramas and heading for the island to have a look around at night. The air is so thick and stuffy. Good thing won't be spending much time here. I found me a dorm at 11 pm at night and tried to get some sleep. (Still trying to get in touch with Johnny). Although being Hong Kong everything was still loud down stairs so took a while.

Time for sight seeing later.