Author: lindsay

Five years ago today, I turned 25. I admit, I felt a bit down that day, as I felt that life was slipping me by, and that at 25, I hadn’t really done much. I was single, only in my second professional job, had only lived in two cities, and had only visited one other country – and only Australia at that. I thought that by that stage in my life I should have seen and done more.

Fast forward five years. Still single, and living back in Auckland again. But I’ve lived in three different countries now, and I’ve visited over 30 countries – and more than 20 of them under my own steam. I lived in England and Scotland, I travelled around Europe, I travelled independently around the Middle East, including less-visited countries such as Libya and Syria. I’ve seen rock art in the Sahara, I’ve been to the great bazaars of the Middle East, I’ve walked “that street they call straight” in Damascus, I’ve been to the scenes of major WWII battles for NZ soldiers – Crete and El Alamein.

The last trip was of course the most challenging, riding a bike across the Eurasian and Australian continents. All worth it, to see the old Silk Roads, and to challenge myself in a completely different way. I’ve seen parts of the world that not many tourists ever see, and a different side to countries to that normally experienced by visitors. I’ve seen severe poverty, and I’ve seen extreme wealth – often in the same country. I also pushed myself further than perhaps I knew I could go.

I’ve met many people along the way, and, I hope, made a few friends. Things weren’t always easy, but if I looked around, there were people to help and support me, and I thank all of them.

So I’m happy with what’s happened in the last few years. Does this mean I’ve done everything I want to? No, of course not. But that’s what the next 60 years is for, insh’allah. I’m currently pondering my next major move – trans-America by bike is very appealing, but I like the look of Te Araroa – an off-road walk the length of New Zealand. Not quite complete yet, but getting there. Perhaps a different challenge to the bike. It can wait for a while though.

I went to get a physical check-up today, as required for doing a dive course. The quack seemed to think I’m pretty healthy, no problems there. I blew into the asthma tester, and it went off the scale “Don’t think we’ll bother doing that one again.” I seem to be a couple of kilos heavier than I was when I got off the bike – probably a good thing there, now I’m closer to a healthy weight. Been back at the gym too, the legs are fine, but the arms are so weak!

This is a roundup of some of the most common questions that people ask me – no particular order, and many of them have probably been answered elsewhere in my blog. I’ll put in what I can think of now, and add to it later.

• Why? It was a good way to see the world, to travel at my own pace, at a relatively low cost. It was a great way to experience people and places, seeing more than just the Lonely Planet-approved tourist sites.
• Are you mad? I don’t think so. But then perhaps I’m not the best judge of that.
• But wasn’t it hard? The body is an amazing thing, and it can adapt. At first it was tough, riding 100km was a very long day, and I’d sleep for 10 hours minimum, and eat a huge amount. But later on, 100km was just a normal sort of day, and I didn’t feel tired after doing it. I could ride for 100km, then just eat and sleep more or less normally.
• Or had your perception of normality shifted? Highly likely.
• Surely it was hard sometimes though? Yes, at times it was tough, struggling into a headwind, through thick traffic on rough roads, in 40°+, with water supplies looking a very long way away. But that’s only one part of it. The good times outweighed the bad by a long way.
• Is it easy to get back into normal life? Ask yourself. It takes a while to get back into the swing of things. Life on the bike is so simple, the “real world” is more complicated.
• Where did you sleep? Anywhere and everywhere. Hotels, backpackers, camping, sometimes in a tent, sometimes just under the stars. Under bridges, in ditches, abandoned buildings, forests, all sorts. Sometimes I’d go to a restaurant, eat dinner, then sleep on the table afterwards.
• How did you cross the water? For some reason this is one that many, many people want to know. I got a ferry from Dover to Calais, a ferry across the Bosphorus in Istanbul, and then it was overland all the way to Singapore. I then caught a plane to Darwin, and another plane from Melbourne to Auckland.
• How did you pay for it/How much did it cost? I haven’t worked out exactly how much it cost, but it wasn’t that much – probably a fair bit less than you spent on your last car (South Africans excluded). I worked as a contractor in the UK for a little while before leaving, and that was fairly lucrative. But it is a cheap way to live, especially in Asia.
• Wasn’t it dangerous/where were the most dangerous places? Central Asia was probably the roughest area, and it wasn’t just me – many others I met had problems there. But overall, no, I never really felt it was dangerous. Perhaps just a slightly elevated risk compared to living a domestic life and dying of boredom I suppose
• How far would you go in a day? It varied between 20km and 269km. But I would use 100km as my planning target, and it roughly worked out at that. Roughly 100km/day, 500km/week. It would depend on what was around – some days you might do 80km and find a nice place, other days you might need to do 140km to find a nice place.
• Are you going to write a book?/You should write a book. Hmmm. I’ll think about it. But probably not.
• How did you handle all that time on your own? Wasn’t it hard being by yourself for so long? Well, at times that can be difficult to deal with. You miss your family, friends, ex-girlfriends…but I am lucky in that I am comfortable with my own company. I had thought maybe I was a loner, but someone else pointed out that I enjoy being with other people, I just don’t feel I always have to be with them.

I’ve been in Whangarei for a couple of weeks now, off the bike, and trying to sort out my life. I’ve been going through the boxes of stuff I left here, somewhat amazed at the amount of stuff I had – although I can see that it will only increase if I get settled somewhere. After being so weight-conscious for so long, it’s a bit of a change to own more than one shirt, and to wear (shock) jeans. But I still need to avoid accumulating crap, as I’m still moving around, and I won’t settle in one place until I sort out a job. On that front, I have at least made a start – should get something sorted out there in the not too distant future.

I’m still thinking about my time on the road, and missing it, but for now I thought I’d list a few of my personal highlights

• Best Country: China. I knew that if I didn’t like China, it would severely hamper my overall feeling for this trip. I spent more than twice as much time in China as any other country. Of course, it’s so vast, that each province feels like a new country, but still, it was a long time without crossing borders. It was all plain sailing, with at times severe pollution, and delightful cultural practices like coughing up an internal organ each morning, but it was a fantastic, intense, occasionally overwhelming cultural experience.
• Best climb: Ala Bel pass in Kyrgyzstan. Climbing up 2000m in one day, up a narrow valley, starting off in lush bush areas, climbing to Alpine pastures with herds of horses, and people living in yurts (felt tents), finally making it over the top very late in the day. Coming down the other side, it opened out to a broad valley, absolute postcard scenery. Honourable mention to the Tuu Ashu pass the following day – 1000m up an open mountainside, through a long tunnel, and down a series of hairpins, racing down a narrow valley.
• Friendliest people: Iranians. Sometimes overly so – they are so keen to help you, they will try and help you out when you don’t even want or need any help. Don’t believe anything you see on the news about Iran. Their government might be mad, but they wouldn’t be the only country to have mad leaders, but nice people…America
• Best country for cycling in: Close one here, could be Laos or Germany. Germany rates highly for its bike paths everywhere, high quality bike gear widely available, beer gardens conveniently located every few kilometres, and great people. You didn’t need to explain why you were riding around the world – they just understood. Laos was great for the sealed roads with no traffic, exceptionally friendly children, and for being so laid back. After being constantly hassled to buy things in other countries, there was something refreshing about having to wake up the sleeping staff, to try and round up another beer.
• Best town that few tourists see: Plenty of candidates here, but Beihai is the winner. I felt it was somewhere I could happily come back to, and live in for a while. This is the town where I spent Christmas. We stopped just to look at a bike shop, and ended up getting invited to the Christmas party. If you ever do visit Beihai, go to McDonalds on Friday night, to help out with informal English lessons.
• Best beer: Belgium, for just about any beer style you could ever want, and more than a few you’ve never even thought of. Even the hostel I stayed at had a menu of different beer options. China rates a mention for the exceptionally low price, but I can’t say too much for the quality.

Maybe I’ll add a few lowlights later – or just continue to think positively about the whole experience.

Thanks for the comments people have left – it’s nice to know that people enjoyed reading my blog over the last year and a bit, and have supported and encouraged me along the way. Photos of Australia are now sorted out. At some point I’ll put some shots into Flick or similar, to make it a bit easier to view them.