Bangkok to Singapore

[Eric Apt-Dudfield]

0Post at:http://stormfieldsahead.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/bangkok-to-singapore/

Bangkok to Singapore

March 11, 2014

We are back in the US. Our trip is done!

All Photos - http://goo.gl/C8XtXF

Selected Photos - http://goo.gl/Vi7L3D

While biking in Nepal felt humbling, and in Laos felt adventurous, biking in Thailand felt much more like a vacation (albeit a vacation spent cycling in 90+  heat, 80% humidity, and chased by packs of hungry dogs). Thailand’s quiet, flat roads that run 20 feet from the ocean, white sandy beaches that stretch off into the horizon, and delicious simple seafood and soup were a refreshing change.

We started our journey through Thailand by biking south out from Bangkok. Despite hearing of the intense protests in the city, we see only mellow crowds of people gathered in the city center. From our point of view, they could be easily mistaken for participants in a convention or festival. Perhaps, at night, the protests grow larger and more violent. We make a pre-dawn start out of the city to avoid heavy traffic. Even so, it is a nightmare of narrow roads and cars driving way too fast. Thankfully, by mid-morning the roads slowly quiet and the buildings get farther apart.

Thailand is a Buddhist state. Every day we travel past elaborately decorated Buddhist temples. In the mornings, we often see Monks with their begging bowls, and neighbors giving alms. Occasionally, we catch them looking curiously at us as they ride past. They all look quickly away and it feels as if we’ve caught them doing something wrong. We learn from our guidebook that serving as a monk is a common right of passage for young Thai men. They stay for several years in more rural areas and focus on meditation or in more urban areas and focus on Buddhist studies. Although Buddhism in Thailand is clearly facing competition from modernity, it is still a strong force in daily life, and the saffron robes add a certain mystique to the everyday scenery.

Oddly enough for such a strongly Buddhist country (a religion of non-violence), kickboxing is one of Thailand’s major sports. I (Eric) take a lesson and thoroughly enjoy the mix of power and agility and physical nature of it. The instructor (a former champion boxer for the Thai army) is gentle and patient but I have no doubt he could knock me flat without effort. Often, I don’t even see his hands or feet move and then they are suddenly inches from my face or chest.

Food is mostly delicious spicy soups and all kinds of seafood – fish, squid, prawns with light balanced flavors. For a skinny bike tourist it can be a challenge to get enough fat and carbohydrates. I eat a half dozen bananas, piles of rice and several coconuts a day (when I can). The menus too here are sometimes a great source of entertainment. The garbled translations sometimes transcend gibberish and become little poems.

We take a train through the more violent southern states. The cycle of violence between the separatist insurgency and the Thai government makes it an unsafe place for travelers. At one point, a Thai women with limited English tries to warn us about traveling by bicycle through these areas. She slowly lists the name of each state (Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat) and then draws her finger across her neck. On the train ride, we see soldiers with assault rifles at every train station and road crossing. At this point, we have seen plenty of soldiers throughout our travels – on the Delhi metro, on street corners in Kathmandu, standing guard in Bangkok. Normally, they have a look that says “I’m paying attention but this is a boring job.” Here, the soldiers do not look bored. They are tense and appear to be constantly scanning and vigilant.  Though an ongoing struggle, there has been an escalation of attacks (bombings and shootings) that seem to be more indiscriminate in the past year, including December and January. Thankfully, the 200 mile train ride to Malaysia is uneventful.

In the southern states and Malaysia, the populationshifts from Buddhist to Muslim. Although male dress continues to mostly be the sloppy international outfit of jeans and untucked t-shirts, women all wear the hijab (headcovering), and cover their arms and legs. In populated areas, we hear the regular call to prayer and hotel rooms all have an arrow on the ceiling pointing to Mecca. Despite the obvious cultural difference, people are friendly and courteous.

The religious Sharia law here is somewhat relaxed. In the tourist centers, alcohol is served and westerners in shorts and t-shirts aren’t harassed. When traveling, we don’t have trouble following most of the basic Sharia law. Giving up alcohol and pork isn’t especially hard for either of us, and since we are married it’s no trouble finding a hotel room. Kate’s difficult hairstyle, means she almost always wears a scarf or bandanna headcovering in public, and she tries to respect local custom by wearing long sleeves and t-shirt, but her silly outfit (bought from a hippy tourist center in Thailand) may actually attract more, not less, attention.

Malaysia has one of the higher standards of living in Southeast Asia. Gas is cheap and the roads are filled with cars. We bicycle past oil refineries with burning flames coming from the tops of towers. In these areas everyone seems to work for the government owned oil company Petronas.

Development and industrialization mean much lesshappens along the roadside. People spend much more time in the various boxes of modernity – a home with AC, a car, a workplace. Very few motorcycles are on the road and cars zoom past. Although we find the occasional quiet country road, Malaysia is a less interesting place to bicycle tour. And some highways with no shoulder are downright dangerous- we don’t like testing our luck.

Eventually, we reach Singapore – the most expensive city in the world. It’s a very clean place with a solid public transportation system and has a few interesting museums. But it feels bland and empty and with our limited budget, we struggle to find inexpensive things to do (although their is no shortage of $45 breakfasts). It doesn’t help that bicycles are mostly unwelcome here, a shame since the city is flat and suitable for cycling if there were only bike lanes more slower roads.

Top 10′s – Bangkok to Singapore

Best

1. Sleepy side roads in Thailand skirting long stretches of sandy beach
2. Seeing the giant, reclining, gold gilded Buddha in Bangkok
3. Stopping to ask for directions at resort and being served coconuts for free because “they’re from our own trees!”
4. Spending the night in a fancy beach-side hotel where each room was made to reflect a traditional, stilted house of ancient Malaysian royalty. That evening, we took a boat ride and watch the synchronous fireflies against the night sky.
5. Regularly watching the pre-dawn sky change from black to rainbow to blue as the sun rises over the ocean.
6. Tomyam spicy mixed seafood soup in Thailand; and roti, curry, and homemade donuts in Malaysia
7. Morning cups of “iced Kopi” (Nescafe coffee) or midday stops for “te ice” (iced tea with sweet and condensed milk)
8. Scuba diving off island Koh Phangan in Thailand
9. Seeing large (4ft+) monitor lizards sneak across empty highways in Thailand and Malaysia
10. Arriving to our AirBnB room in Singapore after a long, LAST cycling day, and 5 weeks on the road- and seeing a giant heron on a canal at the final stretch.

Worst

1. Pushing our luck on our last day of cycling: starting with 20 miles on essentially freeway with little to no shoulder, then another 40 miles of negotiating the traffic and high speed roadways  of Johor Bahru then Singapore.
2. Riding past 1pm on any day, feeling at wits end due to dehydration, heat, and exhaustion
3. Seeing too much road kill to count: dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards, rats, oxen, and even puppies and kittens 
4. Almost not finding food for dinner after settling into our hotel rooms in small towns whose small restaurants/food stands are only open until 4pm sometimes!
5. Getting tired of eating white rice 2-3x a day for 5 weeks, and quite frankly, for the majority of the 6 month trip. We’re ready for wheat, barley, and potatoes! 
6. Riding past 1pm on any day, feeling at wits end due to dehydration, heat, and exhaustion.
7. Seeing small kids and even infants daily on motorbikes precariously clinging or being held by adults or even siblings WITHOUT helmets!
8. Coming across an injured, screaming man on the road with his motorbike on top of him- again, no helmet. Luckily his condition was stable, he was conscious, and he only appeared scraped and shook up- we cycled to neighbors for help.
9. Cycling on Malaysian highways: busy, with little shoulder and through smoggy cities like Kuantan. (My photos are only of the nicer roads, because I was too distracted to photograph these stressful roadways, which felt like the majority of the time).
10. Having my (Kate) chest groped by a motorcyclist as he sped by in Malaysia- terrible.
11. Having to cycle 20 miles further than expected, into the late afternoon heat and humidity, to get to a hotel after the above incident. This was our longest day of riding, 70 miles, for this leg of the journey. Luckily, it had a happy ending, as we luxuriated at the “fancy hotel” that night (above).

Final Thoughts

Top 10 memories:

1. Annapurna Base Camp- surrounded by the immense majestic Himalayas on all sides an amazing site to behold.
2. Reaching the Thorong-La pass at 18,000 on the Annapurna Circuit trail
3. Celebrating Mom in Kodaikanal, India on Christmas Day with the whole family.
4. Pushing emotional limits- scuba diving with family off Phuket in Thailand
5. Out with the old, in with the new- New Years burning Santa in Kochin (coastal Kerala, India)
6. Pushing physical limits-cycling up to Sapa town, 4500 ft elevation gain over 18 miles- our steepest day.
7. Visiting our friend Mikaela and learning about the great work of Maher in India.
8. Meandering down beach-side country roads at dawn in Thailand.
9. Cycling down a remote, jungle road in Malaysia, surrounded by the overwhelmingly loud nature sounds and exotic butterflies floating by.
10. Cruising down the mountains through the awesome karst landscapes of Laos with cheers of “Sabadee” (Hello!) from the village kids as we sped by.

Kate:

This trip was an amazing opportunity and wonderful adventure. Not only did we get to see incredible sights, and try something new, we got to learn about ourselves as a couple and as individuals. I also had the priceless gift of time and space for grieving, and moving forward in my healing.  And after 3 years of intensive study in Masters NP program, I got my wish to “bring things back to basics”: our daily stresses revolving around food, shelter, sleep, and physically moving forward.

Towards the end of the trip, though, days seemed to drag on and on the nearer we reached our goal (I started calculating how many pedal rotations I would do in a day- something like 20,000+ !). This helped me remember that even on an adventure, aspects can become routine (waking up at 5:30am, filtering water, cycling, finding food, finding a hotel, etc…) and mundane (pedal, pedal, pedal…). And that no matter what you are doing, finding balance can be a challenge. My hours of cycling have allowed me to reflect on this a lot. One important insight I will take with me on my journey ahead is that JOY lies in focusing beyond the daily stresses, towards the broader picture and intentionally basking in the gratitude of that space. And doing this whenever possible (and it’s certainly NOT always possible, like when you’re being chased at the heals by a vicious dog!).

And so, I feel extremely fortunate to have had this amazing opportunity to satisfy my “travel bug” (something I caught as a young child from my parents); to see new places and people by bike and foot; and to put my life back into global perspective. What’s more, these 6 months now make me look eagerly towards returning to Burlington to settle into home and work (hopefully soon!) and the joys of daily living.

Eric:

I shall leave you, dear reader, with the words of T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And to know the place for the first time.

Donation Update: We did not come across any particular charitable organizations on this final leg of our journey. However, as soon as we arrived home, we got word from Kate’s cousin, Lindsey Stormo. She (as some of you may know) is an amazing singer/songwriter who has been working hard to pursue her art, and now has an opportunity to travel abroad and sing harmony in a festival with her friend, Peia, and partner, Sean. As a “starving artist” she is raising funds to make this trip happen. The timing of this opportunity to support our cousin to travel abroad was perfect, and we have donated to her cause. If you know her work, and would like to donate too, please visit: http://www.gofundme.com/7auww8  .

Important back story: Lindsey, Sean, and Peia, through their music, have played an unbelievably important role in the healing process of me and my family these past months. It was the music of Peia, sung and performed by Lindsey and Sean that captured my Mom’s attention initially. Their songs were later used in both my wedding and her memorial service (“Blessed We Are, Agnus Dei, River Song”), and is now ingrained in our hearts and minds. These songs will be forever precious to our family, and our gratitude is unending.