A year ago I turned 23 in Turkey. I’d spent the night camping in petrol station owned by a lovely Kurdish family who invited me to dinner and gave me a sheltered pitch from the rain. On the 31st I woke up on my 24th birthday and started my day just as I start most … More Myanmar Part 2: Please, not the Police! (Dawei to Thailand 31/05/16-11/06/16)
I was more excited crossing into Myanmar than I remembered being at a border for a long time. Perhaps because it’s the first country on this trip that I never planned on cycling in. I’d considered it as a distant possibility before I left but it seemed like too complicated a country to ride. There … More Myanmar Part 1: Meditation with the Farting Monk (Thailand to Dawei 19/05/16-30/05/16)
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. That’s what I learnt in Chiang Mai. I’ve summoned the mental strength to cycle across vast deserts and over huge mountain ranges but when it comes to resisting a social drink in good company… I simply can’t. My plan after Songkran festival was to get back into … More Thailand Part 2: The Gypsy Curse (Chiang Mai to Myanmar 17/04/16-18/05/16)
I received my Laos exit stamp and walked out towards the Mekong. I crossed this same border 5 years ago – but last time you had to take a boat across. Now there’s a long ‘friendship bridge’ connecting the two countries at their most northern shared border crossing. I quickly jumped on my bike and started … More Thailand Part 1: Drowning in Songkran Festival (Laos to Chiang Mai 01/04/16-16/04/16)
The was a long no-man’s-land between Vietnam and Laos. It took me a while to cross as there was a mountain pass in the middle. When I dropped over the top I reached the first Laos checkpoint. I’d heard the guards from a mile away. They had crates of beer stacked up and were yelling at the … More Laos: The Dirtiest of Dirt Roads (19/03/16-30/03/16)
The last blog ended by the Yangtze river. From there I turned west to climb over the last mountains separating me from Dulong valley. I was advised not to take the road by the family I stayed with but as usual that just made me more keen to try it out. I guess that’s become … More China Part 7: Cock-fighting in Dulong Valley (13/02/16-25/02/16 Judianzhen to Lincang)
After a quick lunch break in Litang I turned south, to continue in the ‘right’ direction towards South East Asia. The last week had been incredibly hard work, but it was about to get even tougher. The minor road south would lead me over the highest roads of the trip so far and it certainly … More China Part 6: Descending from the Roof of the World (Litang to Judianzhen 27/01/16-12/02/16)
After almost a year of cycling around the world it was pretty weird to get on a flight. It felt a little surreal. After so many months of moving tiny distances on the map I was suddenly being transported hundreds of miles away in just a couple of hours. Had I cycled from Chengdu to … More Hong Kong: The Shambolic Visa Run (03/01/16-12/01/16)
One year on the bicycle. Blimey. Where do I begin? I normally start these blogs with a picture of the route being discussed in the post, so I’ll do the same here. Below is the line I’ve cycled over the last 12 months. Would you like some stats? Distance: 19,326km Countries visited: 27 Days cycled: … More One Year On The Bicycle: A Retrospect (16/01/15-16/01/16)
Langmusi was geared towards tourists, but clearly not receiving any at this time of year. There were a whole bunch of hostels in the village but every single one was closed. I haggled an open hotel room for less than a quarter of their ‘rack rate’ but it still wasn’t as a cheap as a … More China Part 4: Most Wanted in Chengdu (Langmusi to Chengdu 19/12/15-02/01/16)
JKB's Bike Ride 