Scott and Becky go East

2h45min, 50 km, Max Temp 42 deg C

We are on the road again. It seems like forever since the last time we were really riding, and yet once we were on the bikes, it felt like only yesterday we were crossing southern Italy. It is definitely hotter here, and much more humid, but so far we are surviving the heat.

We were glad to have scoped out the path out to Changi Village, as we were able to find a route that involved much less traffic (both pedestrian and car). At one point on the cycling path, we ran into Raymond on his tadpole trike again. We had met him when we were out riding on Thursday, but this time we actually introduced ourselves. His first comment was “you guys are still here?” Most cycling tourists don’t stay in Singapore for more than two to three days, and Raymond thought we were leaving when we met him the last time.

It took us less than 2 hours to ride the 33 km out to the ferry. There were so many tents and people at Changi Beach that Becky did not even recognize that we had arrived!

The ferry we took over to Pengerang is called a “bumboat”. Upon arrival at the ferry terminal, we told the receptionist that we wanted the boat to Pengerang. Once enough people arrive (12 people) the boat leaves. We waited an hour and it was not looking promising, but the boat left anyways with only 4 passengers. There were many people waiting at Pengerang, so the boat needed to make the run regardless of the number of passengers in Singapore.

The boat was pretty small (about 35 feet long). We were a little nervous about Scott’s bike, as it was just place lying down on the stern. Becky’s bike was placed inside the cabin, so there were no worries about it. It turned out to not be an issue, as even when the boat rocked over the wake of other passing boats, the bike did not budge.

When we arrived in Malaysia (after about an hour long boat ride), we were greeted by a female customs officer wearing hijab. She was very friendly and welcoming. Becky was immediately concerned about the skimpiness of her clothing (cycling shorts and short sleeve T-shirt).

Once out of customs, we ran into a large group of cyclists from Singapore. Becky was happy to see several female cyclists in standard cycling garb (lycra shorts and short sleeve cycling jerseys). She was afraid that she would have to adjust her riding outfit. That being said, it appears that the heat and sun will encourage her to wear long sleeve shirts and capris that protect the tops of her thighs from the sun.

One difference we immediately noticed between Malaysia and the Middle East was the number of women driving scooters. More specifically, the number of women wearing hijab and riding scooters. We also noticed that the women were quite outgoing and waved and smiled at us as we rode by. We also notice many people greeting us with “hello” as we rode by various small houses – amusingly it was often the adults shouting rather than the kids!

So far, we have found the Malaysians to be very friendly. People here are much less likely to speak English than Singapore, and we have found restaurants that do not have menus – something that will pose a challenge for us as our journey continues. For tonight, we were happy to find a nice seafood restaurant. The owners seemed to be of Chinese ancestry, and the food was close to what we would consider Chinese. We enjoyed a wonderful meal of steamed prawns, fried baby squid (the whole squid – eyeballs and all), veggies, and rice. We think we paid a “tourist rate” as the meal was more expensive than we anticipated and likely more than many locals could afford, but we quite enjoyed it. (Even with the tourist tax, it was still under $30 CAD – much cheaper than an equivalent meal in Singapore). Overall, we had a great first day in Malaysia, and are both very happy to be back on the bikes after our long hiatus.

(more…)

When we arrived in Singapore, we began searching for freighters that would take us from Southeast Asia back to Canada or the Northern US. We had heard many good things about The Cruise People in both the UK and Toronto, so we decided to try Fred in Toronto as our agent. We had also heard that the French CGM-CMA freighter line provided great service to passengers (including free wine at dinner – go France!), so we did not want to book directly with NSB, as that would limit our choices. In the end, we found a freighter that aligns well with our time constraints and will take us from Shanghai, China to Seattle USA and depart on or about June 1st. It’s the Hanjin Madrid, another NSB-crewed vessel, so no free wine, but there’s a chance we’ll see some of the crew from previous vessels again. So now we need to figure out how to get ourselves to Shanghai.

Unfortunately, we do not have an unlimited amount of time. Shanghai is a little further north than we had hoped, so it means that we will need to take a train in China. Our current cycling destination is Nanning, China. From Nanning, we can take a 30 hour train ride to Shanghai.

Our plan to get to Nanning is to ride North through Malaysia and Thailand, then west across Laos into China. We might chose to go into Vietnam and then into China – we will see what we are feeling like when we get there.

Through Peninsular Malaysia we plan to ride up the East coast to 36 km south of Kota Bharu. From there, we will ride across Malaysia to Georgetown. We hope to find a place to leave our bikes for a couple of days, while we visit Scott’s university roommate Jon in Kuala Lumpur. Once we return to Georgetown, we will make our way to Langkawi and take the ferry into Thailand.

We have no idea how much riding we will do once we get to Thailand. That will largely depend on how much time we have left and how much we are enjoying the riding.

We will need to skip a visit to Cambodia for this trip. In Singapore we were able to get a 60-day single entry visa for Thailand. We don’t expect to have an excessive amount of time, so we had to sacrifice something. With the single entry visa, it does not make sense to leave Thailand so early and then have to deal with visa extensions, as we expect to want more than 15-days after leaving Bangkok (the closed major city to Siam Reap in Cambodia).

So, roughly:

1. Malaysia (March 8 – 27) – 3 weeks
2. Southern Thailand (March 28 – April 18) – 3 weeks
3. Northern Thailand (April 19 – May 2) – 2 weeks
4. Laos (May 2 – 9) – 1 week
5. China – riding to Nanning (May 10 – 24) – 2 weeks
6. China – Nanning to Shanghai (May 24) – 3-4 days
7. China – Shanghai preparing for boat departure (May 28) – 3-4 days

Does anyone have friends in Shanghai who would like to meet some slightly crazy round-the-world cyclists?

In between running errands and going for a bike ride, we visited a few of the tourist attractions in Singapore: The River Walk, the Botanical Gardens including the National Orchid Garden, the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, the Jurong Bird Park, and the Night Safari. We really enjoyed the Gardens and the Bird Park as evidenced by the large number of photos we took.

The Night Safari was OK, but is definitely overrated from our perspective. We do not understand why it is voted as the best attraction in Singapore. Maybe most people are much more interested in nocturnal animals (or animals in zoos) than we are. Becky’s favourite part of the Night Safari was watching the large fruit bats (about 1 foot tall) eat. We both enjoyed the animal show at the end as well.

Our vote for best attraction in Singapore is the Jurong Bird Park. We only had a few hours, and could easily have spent another day exploring. Unfortunately, when we got to the “World’s tallest manmade waterfall”, we were running out of time and were getting too hot, so we did not get a chance to climb to the lookout.

Our vote for best “free” attraction in Singapore is the Botanical Gardens. We barely saw a quarter of the park before running out of time. We could easily spend an entire week walking the various trails throughout the garden. Unfortunately, they do not allow bicycles – so the only way to see most of the garden is by walking. Becky’s best memory from the gardens is the huge spider, about 5 inches (12 cm) long. We did have to pay to see the Orchid Gardens, but they were fascinating too.

At Scott’s insistence, we all went to the Raffles Hotel and had a drink in the famous Long Bar. He had fond memories from the last time he was in Singapore, and wanted to share with Becky. It’s air conditioned now, so the mechanical fans are mostly for show, and the drinks are definitely set for a tourist budget. We both had the Singapore Sling anyway, since it was invented here, but at $23 SGD (about $20 CAD), a beer or a glass of wine would have been much more reasonable. It was a very yummy drink though, and being able to throw peanut shells on the floor felt somewhat rebellious given the stringent anti-littering laws everywhere else in town.

We have been in Singapore for several days now, and we are getting accustomed to the warm weather. Yesterday, we had a nice visit with Chris – a local Singaporean and a cycle touring enthusiast. We first heard about him from his journals at Crazy Guy on a Bike. We contacted him and he was more than happy to give us a briefing on biking in Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos. Thanks Chris!

Today we decided to get up early (to prove it was possible) and go for a bike ride. Chris recommended riding out to Changi Village, where the ferry for Pengerang in south-east Malaysia departs.

Singapore has a bunch of great recreational pathways, and the East Coast Park is especially good, with wide-dedicated bike/roller blade lanes. The majority of our ride out to the ferry dock was through the park and along a couple of connector paths. This was a nice ride on a weekday, but may be a little crowded on a weekend. We will try to get out early on Sunday to avoid most of the crowds.

Part way along the path, we met another cyclist on a recumbent, the first recumbent we’ve seen since the Rye Recumbent Gathering in New Hampshire, back in September. He was quite surprised to see us as well, since recumbents are very rare in Singapore. He was riding a KMX tadpole trike – great fun, and good on the paths, but he agreed it wasn’t a practical vehicle in traffic, since his eyes were only 80 cm or so above ground.

When we arrived in Changi Village we enjoyed an early lunch from a couple of the different vendors at the Village Market. We are definitely enjoying the cheap and tasty street food available in Singapore!

After lunch, we headed back into town. Unfortunately, we had headwinds in both directions due to a wind shift, so the ride was longer than we expected. It certainly tired us out more than we had planned – but we survived riding during the hottest part of the day. We confirmed that we need to get up and on the road early whenever possible, so that we can stop riding for the day by 2 pm.

(more…)

Our first impressions of Singapore are that we love this city! It has a great multicultural mix that makes Toronto look homogenous (OK, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration – there are fewer cultures in Singapore, but more people from each culture).

Becky riding over a fancy river walk bridge

Riding around town, Becky was grinning and saying hi to everyone. She did not realize just how oppressive the Middle East has been to her. In the Middle East (Syria and Jordan particularly) she could not smile or make eye contact with men – especially young men. Anytime she did, she got hissed at or she was made to feel uncomfortable. She quickly learned to do as the local women and just walk looking at the pavement and not smiling – which is so out of her nature. It wasn’t until we arrived in Singapore and the men were giving her a thumbs up, smiling and waving that she realized how this affected her moods. It was wonderful to allowed to be visibly happy and friendly.

In Singapore, we are staying with our friends Gordana and Mark. They used to live in Ottawa, then moved to Atlanta, and only last month they moved to Singapore. This worked out very well for us, and we are happy to be able to visit with them. We had planned to visit earlier in our trip when our ship was leaving from Savannah, Georgia, but then we got redirected to Miami.

Upon our arrival, Gordana was on an airplane on her way home from a business trip to Toronto. Mark entertained us by leading us out for a lunch of a Korean noodle soup and dinner of Thai food. We are definitely going to enjoy the variety of cuisines while we are here. For Becky at least, SE Asian cuisine is comfort food, so she is happy to be able to sample local varieties of the food with which she is at least partially familiar.

We expect to be here for about a week. We need to visit the Thai embassy and try to get ourselves a 60 or 90 day visa. From all the reports we have read, Thailand is only issuing 15-day visas at land crossings, which is too short for us. We will also be trying to book our onward passage from someplace in the Middle East to someplace on the North West coast of North America.