dshee's blog

Arrived in Yangon airport; bike still in one piece !

All ready to roll.. round Yangon 2 days on Foldie (Level of safety for biker is a bit lower than Bangkok, because there are more small trucks and taxis)

Surprise! met another bikepacker, he is from Holland!

After a few days of inactivity I suddenly felt I must ride again.  Opened up my booth and unzip my tiny Giant Free5 foldie and in seconds I was enjoying the cool and quiet ride along the kampung roads near my home town

Clean rivers and lots of trees; scene hasn't changed much since 30 years ago. 

3270m, 240km in 3 days, thats quite a feat ! (except for the leader and myself, most never rode long distance and never climbed any hills before!)

Started from Daan, Taichung on the west coast of Taiwan, passing Puli and Wushe town, before reaching the peak of Wuling at over 10,000 feet.  The descend down the narrow roads of picturesque Tairoko was tiring and very dangerous.  Pressed for time, we averaged 40-45kph for over an hour down Tairoko and a final 16km leg numbing 30-35kph home stretch to Hualien ! Phew, a ride to remember for life !

Aaron(lead), Max, Kevin brother-in-law, Yong Ren, Sam, boss Kevin, Dshee

Started 5am from Penang, arrived just in time for the Environment and Health ride in Alor Setar last Friday 16 Sept 2011

Elvin, Mei, Gerald and Dshee

Flagged off 7am from the Kementarian Belia & Sukan, I believe there were about a thousand over riders and except for a few gclub riders like ourselves and also few other non comformists, the rest were wearing their nice green jerseys (bright green stands out on the road)

Went up 1200steps.  Down at the Goddess of Mercy it was already dark

Dr, Sharon, Micheal and (cameraman DShee) patronizing Sam Yeoh's Sushi Bar in Sungai Ara

Special coffee treat from host Sam..Many thanks Sam! and thanks also to Sharon for the dinner scrumptious dinner !

Great and friendly atmosphere ! 

This morning when I woke up to ride with Well Tan and her band from KL, I said to myself while waiting for them to turn up, that the sky must have poured all thats left in the clouds yesterday night, there should be no more rain this morning.  20 minutes later Well Tan called me that they are getting into the van because its pouring in B Ferringi !!

We had yum cha at gurney drive before we started our round island ride.  Just before Queensbay it poured again.  But from there on it was clear and nice. A real great ride !!

Having a break at T Bahang from left Gan, Zeason,Well Tan, Justin, Gerald and myself

Guangzhou has this public rent-a-bike project sice 2009, a great green project that most cities should have !

But the lack of information is making hard for foreigners and tourists to make use of this facility.  

I was staying in a hotel close to an underground station (metro), where there was a bike for hire station, but believe it or not no one in the hotel or those living nearby knows about it !!

If I could carry a bike along instead of just my backpack, will the bike come in handy and useful in my backpacking trip?  (bikepacking is a term coined by me)

So I have decided to try out this new concept of bikepacking, in Thailand. 

My plan was to spend at least 4 or 5 days cycling around in the busy busy Bangkok.  And if I have a chance,I will try to cycle in some other smaller cities.  I will do a long distance trip, just to test out if my foldie and the panniers can stand up to wear and tear.

So I took a train to Bangkok...and also went up north

Met Ah Hock and his Aussie fren

CNY ride on the 5th Feb 2011. One last ride with Ah Loon before his epic Shangrila ride on the 12 Feb 2011

Started 6pm from Gurney with Ah Loon, met up with Wusolo and Gerald in Tanjung Bungah.  Had our dinner at Balik Pulau but Ah Loon had to break off to his BBQ party.  Way back we decided to try the dangerous stretch of jalan Tun Sardon. 

Cars seem to go quite fast along this stretch and the thought of half drunk drivers from CNY parties scared us stiff !

So long Ah Loon and ride safely ! Most important thing is to enjoy your ride. See you in couple months time and remember to blog in our site here !