Malaysia

Our last effort

These efforts were tougher than we hoped for. In this case more mentally than physically. After leaving the Thai paradise we have around 600km between us and Kuala Lumpur in just a few days. On a main road. Daily we stare at the concrete while we balance on the narrow left shoulder. The heat and humidity get worse every hour and we are not enjoying our selves. After four days we wonder for the first time of our trip what we are doing; this is no fun! Planner Maarten studies the map that evening and comes with the solution.

The next morning we charter a truck to take us up to the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia’s greenery. It is pretty, high indeed, and therefore cool and green. We relax for two days, hike in the jungle and across tea plantations and eat delicious strawberries.

Our very last stage is a (not so deserved) downhill, and a long one with fantastic views of the misty jungle and the large tea plantations. This detour to Cameron Highlands makes that we cannot cycle into Kuala Lumpur. The last 150km to the capital we sleep in the bus.

In Kuala Lumpur we celebrate the end of “the adventure of our life”. It has had everything: sweat, tears, suffering but much more happiness, astonishment, and ecstasy. We are very proud and very lucky that we could experience all of this.

No it’s over, we are heading home! On February 14^th we land on Dutch ground and will cycle the very last kilometres from the airport to our home.

Wie dot mij wat, wie dot mij wat, wie dot mij wat vandage.
'k Hen de banden vol met wind, nee ik heb ja niks te klagen.
Wie dot mij wat, wie dot mij wat, wie dot mij wat vandage.
'k Soll wel zeggen ja het mag wel zo.

Skik – Op Fietse

Maarten and Janneke

Thailand

Our Reward

Thailand is a great country for a holiday, specially for worn-out cyclists like us. The last months we have dragged ourselves through difficult moments with visions of Thai beaches, beach resorts and great food with English menus. Thailand more than lived up to the expectations, it was fantastic.

Nevertheless we cycle more than 1200km in 13 days on the bike, mostly on good roads, without mountainous obstacles and always with the dry north-easterly monsoon in our backs. Rice fields, forests, palm- and rubber plantations colour the country green. The people are as always very kind and helpful and in the south we recognise the hospitality we met in other countries with a Muslim population. The weather is great, but on our bikes we sweat in the humid heat on mid-day.

We have learned to use Google Maps to calculate our route with the option “walk” which leads us often over unpaved roads directly to our destination. We come across remarkable habits and customs. In the yard in front of many houses people show off their beautiful, big bulls. These bulls do not work on the land, people hardly eat meat and these bulls look very healthy and strong. After a few days we discover that these bulls are the men’s hobby; they hope to raise a good fighting bull to gain a lot of money. Those who cannot afford a bull raise singing birds. They gather on their scooters with their cages while a jury decides which bird has the best and longest song. People bet and the owner of the winning bird shows off while his friends encourage us to take a picture.

The other 24 days in Thailand we are in for other activities: celebrate New Years Eve in Bangkok, visiting our friends Robert and Monique in Pattaya, a kite surfing course, Thai massages, diving on Koh Tao and relaxing in a resort on Koh Lanta, snorkelling, exploring caves and natural parks and finally sea kayaking in Tarutao National Park. This truly is a reward after so much hardship!

After four days kayaking in calm, tropical water we raise an idea to our guide Tom. In these waters lives a fluorescent plankton that lights up in the waves when you paddle through in the darkness.  We want to kayak at night! Our guide thinks it’s OK. Under the starry sky the plankton lights up beautifully at our paddles. At the other side we notice that the wind has gotten stronger and we decide to return quickly. The waves and the wind make things difficult for us and we try hard to stay together in the darkness. We do not have a lot of time to watch the plankton this time as we focus on the lights on the island where we need to go. At the end we reach our paradise island safely!

From here it’s ten days in Malaysia and we will be back home again!

Luckily we still have our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/maartenhovers/Thailand#

Cambodia

One more trick

After cycling for two weeks on a flat road with the wind in our backs we start finding things boring at last. Upon arrival in Stung Treng, Cambodia, another 650km of boring road lie between us and the temples of Angkor. A prospect we do not fancy. There should be a short-cut, straight through the country-side and jungle, but this is a road less traveled and not well documented. We take a day off to collect as much information as possible: internet, travel guides, maps but most of all advice from the local people. Their advice varies from “absolutely impossible” to “difficult but possible”. So there is some hope and we decide to go for it. We buy supplies for three days and buy the best map we can find from the wall of an internet cafe. Our adrenaline level rises and when the alarm clock wakes us we nearly jump out of bed. Will it be possible after all?

In the early morning we cross the Mekong by ferry and we land with our bikes on a dusty unpaved road. With a little luck we find the right “exit” to our route, a real hiking trail through the jungle. It is bumpy everywhere as we cycle over treeroots, cross water ways, duck for overhanging branches and walk tricky tree trunk bridges. Once in a while a scooter comes our way or we see an ox cart resting at the little bamboo huts. We feel strong and fit and the sand of the road is solid so we go faster than expected. In this area are still a lot of landmines which makes camping in the forest not a real option. We are happy to reach a village where we a family allows a home-stay.

The second day however is a lot tougher with long stretches of soft sand forcing us to push our bikes and get dusty. We reach the town of Preaher Vehear affter all and we feel another moment of triumph: we will make it! The next morning as we start cycling we spot a grass field where people are playing football and we decide to take a look. Within a minute Maarten is invited to join a game at the local Christmas footbal tournament. Many team members play bare foot and the line referees wave a leafy twig as a flag, but they play fanatically and a crowd is watching. People laugh as Maarten touches the ball for the first time and call “Van Nistelrooy!”.

The Cambodians are well humoured and laugh easily and the whole day. As we pass a man on his bicycle he can hardly control his bike while he is laughing loudly for minutes. Whether they are making fun of us or not does not really matter, we laugh with them and feel good. A team member of Maarten asks in his best French where we are heading. As he hears about the Angkor temples he askes seriously: “what do all foreigners find so interesting about these old temples?”.

The third day we reach the first temple, Koh Ker, remotely in the jungle. The guards allow us to camp next to it and the neighbours show us where we can wash ourselves. I get a sarong and Maarten a kind of skirt, like that we scoop the water from a container and poor it over our heads with the family watching us. In the twilight we walk around and in the impressive temple. It is Christmas Eve and we enjoy a great camping meal in front of our tent at this wonderful place.

Also the next day we pitch our tent next to another old temple, Beng Mealea, on the veranda of the guard. In the evening we crawl behind a tiny lady though the temple complex in search of the beautiful spots. After five days of hard work, covered in red dust, but with a broad smile we reach Siem Reap and the amazing temples of Angkor. We've made it! This short-cut adventure we wouldn't want to have missed.

In the short time we were in Cambodia we got very enthusiastic about the inhabitants of this country. People are always cheerful and interested and able to show us their most beautiful smiles. From here it is two days to the Thai border, straight ahead but it is not boring. The road is in a terrible state and we even have to buy dust masks to breath. Those we do not need on the Thai side as we hurry to Bangkok for New Year's Eve.

Our pictures you can find here: http://picasaweb.google.com/maartenhovers

Laos

Jewel of the Mekong

What a transition! We thought Yunnan was a transition phase but as we pass the Lao border we know where transition is complete: exactly there! At the Chinese side people are industrious and modernising, in Laos people sleep in hammocks and simple bamboo huts. While China enforces a one-child policy, the Laotians seem to be in some kind of competition.

After non-stop cycling for 18 days we take a break at the River Ou, in a village only excessible by boat. We have a bungalow with hammocks next to the river and we enjoy fantastic views and three tourist meals a day. The evenings start with moonlight, bird- and frog sounds and end with fog and roosters yelling from all directions.

We bring our clothes to the laundry service, which we will enormously regret. The next morning the laundry lady thinks to see me hurrying to the boat and she wants to hand me the clean clothes quickly, afraid I would forget them. The tourist, who looks like me (!), thinks that someone who has left for the same boat has forgotten his clothes at the guesthouse and takes the bag. And off they go, all cycling shirts and pants...to find them never after. This seems to be a real disaster as finding these outfits in Laos is a near impossible mission.

We travel by boat on the River Ou and the Mekong to Luang Prabang, the complete city a World Heritage Site for obvious reasons. As we follow the mighty Mekong down from China to Cambodja we see the river broadening and increasingly powerful.

In Luang Prabang we find new T-shirts and we decide to try and cycle in somewhat tight referee shorts so at least our skin is less exposed. On our way south we tell the story of the lost clothes to three Austrian bikers. One of them offers me his old cycling pants...I hesitate. The other two assure me it shouldn't be a problem if I wash it two or three times and I take the offer.

The shortening days make us cycle the last kilometers in a dark forest on a few days. The forest lives as we cruise in the moonlight while the fire flies lighten our path and the frogs and birds encourage or warn us. Cycling in the dark is not something we would do on purpose but it is a remarkable experience.

On our way to Vientiane we break our climbing record that was still holding from day 1: an ascend of 2050meters. There is a good atmosphere in Vientiane, we enjoy Mekong BBQ-fish while watching a beautiful sunset. Here we find Janneke a fantastic Lao-style cycling outfit. After a day rest we go further south to the Cambodian border. We take a small detour to the caves of Kong Lo, which is more than worth the extra kilometers. It is a beautiful, few inhabited area with limestone mountains and thick forests. Somewhere down this road the bolt of my saddle breaks and I decide to cover the last 30km standing on the paddles to the next village. There we find a motorbike repair shop with a replacement.

In Southern Laos in the Mekong river are the Four Thousand Islands. On one of those islands we take a two day rest, refilling our energy reserves with good food and drinks and we relax in the hammocks under the palm trees. It has to be said that starting up the cycling after days like these is quite difficult.

After 600 flat kilometers we have almost arrived in Cambodia. In fact we are looking forward to entering a new country. Laos has a beautiful landscape and the life at the river is often very laid back. We find it a bit too lazy from time to time. Men are invisible on the land, they decide taking a shower anytime of the day, they play with their fighting roosters and relax in the hammocks in front of their houses. The women sit virtually jobless in their shops with a dozen products, they chat with the neighbors and take care of their many children, that is if they are not feeding them. But if anything can be called the Jewel of the Mekong, it is the children of Laos. They are always happily playing with the simplest toys, they do not seem to be bothered by poverty and are not in need of a PlayStation 3. If we pass by bike a wave of children's greetings travels through the village: sabaidee!!!!!!

We have altered our planned route slightly in order to visit the temples of Angkor in Cambodia. Also our final destination and returning date lie further ahead. On the 13th of February we will return to Amsterdam from Kuala Lumpur. Doing so will give us time to enjoy Southern Thailand like most travellers do.