Sarah and I have reached our first national park of Thailand - Khao Sok National Park. Yesterday we rode to the city of Takua Pa and were surprised to learn when we arrived that no one knew of any guesthouses within 30 kilometers of the city! It was already 1pm and scorching hot out and the thought of riding any further was absolutely dreadful, so we hunted around and asked half a dozen people before we were finally directed to a room for rent about one kilometer outside outside of town. When we found the place, our hearts sank as the caretaker told us the room was already booked for the night. But then his eyes lit up and he told us we could sleep in his open-air hut for free! We quickly agreed and spent the next hour or so hanging out with the caretaker, Mr. Jut, and his friend Mr. Lek as they avoided the hot afternoon sun. Mr. Jut was an extremely gracious host, supplying us with cold drinking water, peanut crackers, juice drinks, and even Thai whiskey and soda water! 

After our socializing, we decided to let Mr. Jut get some work done so we headed back to the city to have dinner and kill some time before retiring for the night. We found an open air market in the town and dined on fresh fruit, fried noodles, and murthabak. Here I am using our phrase book to attempt to order some fried noodles.

When we arrived back at Mr. Jut’s place, we realized he had invited the neighbors over and was cooking up some fresh crab with homemade chili sauce for us! We couldn’t believe how generous he was. The dinner of crab and Thai beer was delicious and we spent the night listening to the Thai conversation and trying to use our phrase book to join in. It was pouring down rain at the time, so we were able to say, “My what dreadful weather we are having!” and “Do you think it will rain tomorrow?” with success.

We woke up very early to avoid the heat today and were glad we did because the rode to Khao Sok from Takua Pa is very steep. It was only a 50 kilometer ride, but climbing hills in this heat and humidity is like doing aerobics in a steam room. The park itself is beautiful rainforest and steep limestone cliffs. Gibbons, tigers, and elephants live here!

When we arrived at our bungalow, we cooled off with some fresh watermelon and pineapple shakes. Delicious!

We’ll spend the afternoon resting in our bungalow and then tonight and tomorrow exploring the park.

We arrived in Phuket, Thailand yesterday morning after an uneventful flight. We ended up purchasing two extra tickets for our JetStar Asia flight for an extra 20kg of baggage per seat. Thanks to the extra seats and extra 40kg allowance we were able to get on the flight with no hassle.

We landed at 7:30am and put our bikes together outside the airport. We had quite an audience – every single taxi driver, bus driver, and valet waiting for his passengers was crowded around watching us put the bikes together. It was a funny feeling because in New Zealand there were cycle tourists every where you looked, but it seems that we’re much more of a novelty here in Thailand.

The main tourist resorts and beaches are South of the airport. We weren’t really in the mood to pay high prices to look at fancy hotels we can’t afford, so we decided to cycle north to the less popular beaches. Our map wasn’t too helpful for the Phuket area so we had to ask for directions a lot. This was very entertaining because (not really a surprise) most people don’t speak much English. We’d ride up to people on the sides of the road and announce the name of the place we were trying to get to: “Mai Khao…?” Then people would gesture and we’d try to figure out what they meant, or they’d say “Left, Right, then Right, then Left”, or something really crazy like “One kilometer, U-Turn, then airport, then another U-Turn, then left” I was left wondering if they really knew what a U-Turn was…otherwise weren’t they telling us to go in circles?! We’ve been very impressed with how incredibly friendly and helpful everyone has been so far. As we ride down the road almost everyone looks up to wave and yell “Hello” or “Sa Wat Dee” (hello in Thai). The roads so far have huge nice shoulders for the very popular motor scooters that people ride around. As they pass us on the shoulder the scooter drivers are very polite and friendly, usually even giving us a little beep to warn that they’re going to pass.

At one point we turned down a side road that ran through a tiny little village that was full of young kids hanging around on their bicycles. They were very excited to see us. They all started yelling Hello! hello! hello! and jumped on their bikes to follow us. The road eventually came to a dead end where we stopped to consult our map as a mob of about eight grinning kids surrounded us. I finally tried to ask one of their mothers where we were on the map, but she wasn’t really sure.

Many roads went through groves of coconut palms:

We road in circles for awhile and finally found Mai Khao beach where we stayed in a very adorable, but overpriced, bungalow on the beach.

Road to the bungalows:

We ate lunch and dinner in an open air shelter right on the beach, and we also spent some time reading in the hammocks. The beach wasn’t very good for swimming we were told – it gets deep really close to shore, has huge waves, and a vicious undertow. Yikes. We just stuck our feet in and were shocked at how warm the water was!

Bungalow and bikes:

Hanging out in a hammock:

Water buffalo on the side of the road! This mother didn’t like us at all – she aggressively started us down as we rode by, and was careful to keep herself between us and her baby.

Today we rode 35km north and ended at 11am in the beachside town of Thai Muang. We’re going to have to start really early in the morning here because by 11am it was starting to get too hot to bike. We ate a delicious lunch at a local restaurant where we tested out what happens when you say you like spicy food. Yesterday’s food seemed to be custom made for tourists – very bland. So to avoid that I said “We like spicy food” when we placed the order. The cook was a little nervous and held up 4 chili peppers, saying that’s how many she was going to use in our lunch. We said OK (then looked at each other nervously)! The end results was food that was delicious and definitely edible, but we also had runny noses and sweaty faces the whole time. We learned from the restaurant owner that we just missed the 10 day giant sea turtle festival. Shoot! We are going to check out part of the beach later tonight where sometimes giant turtles can be spied.

Lunch – Red Curry Shrimp:

Digging in:

The food in Singapore was definitely one of the highlights. Especially after arriving from New Zealand where things cost the same as they did in US, driving us to cook rice & beans or peanut butter sandwiches for every meal.

In Little India we went to a southern Indian restaurant where you were served a scoop of rice on a banana leaf surrounded by a bunch of little cups of sauce. You pour some sauce on the rice, mix it around with your right hand in an attempt to form little balls, and then pop it in your mouth. Using your left hand is rude and eating rice one-handed was a huge challenge – but very entertaining. The locals sitting behind us were opening cracking up as Jamie took this photo. Thus, the look on my face:

One of my favorite things in all of Singapore were these cute little flower shaped steamed rice cakes filled with coconut. They were made fresh when you ordered them so you got to watch the woman fill the mold with rice flour and coconut and pop them under the steamer. We asked to take a picture of her, but she was too shy and said no.

The was a little bun filled with sweet red bean paste. At first it tasted odd to me because I was expecting it to be more sweet and less bean-y. But then after I got over the initial shock I loved it:

Our guidebook claimed this is one of the most popular desserts in Singapore. It is shaved ice with different fruit syrups, a little coconut milk, and then a sprinkling of sweet red beans on top. Buried in the bottom was an assortment of brightly (and I do mean neon) colored gelatin cubes, circles, and droplets. Each part on its own was tasty, but I’m definitely not used to eating all these things together in one dish:

The dragon fruit is bright pink with green spikes and is about the size of a softball. It is served chilled then cut in half. You scoop out the flesh and edible seeds with a spoon it is almost like eating sorbet out of a real fruit cup! It has a mild but slightly tangy flavor and the crunchy seeds are very tasty.

I am still working on the improvements to the Gallery, but we have begun to archive our photos to Flickr, so you can now view our New Zealand photos and Singapore photos there if you are interested. I’ve also added a link to our Flickr photostream to the home page.

It is hot here in Singapore. So hot. And amazingly humid too. We are at 1^o 18′ N and only 136 kilometers North of the Equator. Right now it is 82° with 89% humidity. Every time we leave the air conditioned condo and step outside, we are amazed at how sticky it is. We constantly ask each other, “Am I sweating?” as we walk down the street and then burst out laughing because we both look like this.

It’s going to be interesting bicycling in this weather. Very interesting.

I have updated the Finances page with the cost of our time in New Zealand. We ended up at $57.34 per day for a total cost of $4013.78. The total cost of our trip is now up to $18,902.29.

We arrived in Singapore on Saturday without any more problems. Our flight even arrived 30 minutes early, and Singapore customs was basically non-existent. I was expecting to be searched for illegally imported chewing gum but we were waved through by the lone customs guy without a second glance.

We are really enjoying staying at my friend Jennifer’s condo, in the heart of Singapore. This place is amazingly gorgeous – I feel like I’m at a resort! There’s even a pool outside, a private balcony where we’ve been eating breakfast, and a private hot tub on the top balcony which we haven’t used – it is too hot for that! We leave for Thailand in only two days, and Jamie and I are both going to be sad to leave.

View from the balcony:

The pool:

We have been spending most of our time eating and checking things off our To Do list so we’re ready for the next bicycling segment of the trip. You know, exciting things like buying spare bike parts and laying the tent out to dry so it doesn’t get all moldy. Jamie’s also been spending tons of time on the website.

Food is definitely the highlight of Singapore. The city is known for its ‘hawkers’ which are food vendors that gather in an area to create a kind of outdoor food court. Everything is freshly made, exotic (to us), and delicious. Each meal costs only S$3-4 so we are in cheapskate heaven! Our favorite areas so far are Chinatown and Little India. There are also tons of fruit and vegetable stands all over the city. I am addicted to mangoes.

Drinking coconut milk out of a fresh green coconut. The little old lady I bought this from (for only S$1.20!) expertly hacked the top open with a gigantic meat cleaver, stuck a straw in, and handed it to me. Yum! That’s a street in Little India in the background

Here’s a dish I do not plan to try. Now I just have to hope I do not accidentally order this when the menu does not have English translations. Quick, memorize those Chinese characters!

Outdoor market and hawker area in Chinatown:

There are a few Hindu temples scattered around the city. They are so colorful and beautiful!

Another Hindu temple:

Colorful building downtown:

Today we’re on a mission to take pictures of the delicious food we spend all our time eating, so check back tomorrow!

I’ve completed the first round of updates to the Route page. We now have dynamic maps with selected journal entries marked on the map. These maps will be continuously updated as we travel and write new journal entries. The next round of updates to the Route page will be drawing our actual route on these maps and possibly incorporating our photos as well.

Hello from … Sydney?! Australia? Wait, weren’t we planning on skipping this continent? Yes, but yesterday was quite the trying travel day and we are currently sitting in a hotel outside the Sydney airport. Let’s trace back the sequence of events that led us here.

Yesterday morning, we got up bright and early to begin our journey from New Zealand to Singapore. The day before, we purchased some packing supplies to construct our makeshift luggage: two boxes to serve as suitcases, two rolls of packing tape, and one 60 meter roll of bubble wrap. Yes, 60 meters. You see, at the packaging store down the street from our hostel everything was cheaper in bulk. Two rolls of tape were the same price as one and the colossal 60 meter roll of bubble wrap was cheaper than a shrimpy 10 meter roll. So, we supersized everything, figuring it would be better to have too much than to run out. Here is Sarah transporting the tape and wrap back to the hostel.

By the way, Auckland International Backpackers is by far the most disgusting place we have stayed so far. Every table in the kitchen was stickier than a vinyl car seat in August. The kitchen was not cleaned a single time during our 5 nights there and the couches in the TV room were noticeably wet to the touch. The smell of mildew and mold was everywhere – so much so in the shower that it was nauseating.

Transporting the supplies from the hostel to the airport went smoothly. The boxes created a nice platform for the massive roll and we even had an orange flag just like the ones you get at the lumber yard. The day definitely went downhill from here.

A few days earlier, we had called the Auckland Airport to enquire as to whether or not they sold bicycle boxes. They did, for $NZ30. Expensive, but we figured it was worth it to not have to transport a huge box to the airport and we had also heard from other cyclists online that the bicycle boxes sold at airports are usually huge. We were giddy at the thought of dropping our bicycle into an enormous box with room to spare. When we arrived, we were surprised to learn that the boxes the airport sold were the used ones discarded by cyclists who had arrived at the airport. $NZ30 for this?! You have got to be kidding me. We picked through the pathetic lot and chose the two biggest boxes, but they looked like they were designed to hold children’s bicycles. The next two hours were spent disassembling, packing, and repacking our bicycles into the dwarf boxes. We were lucky to have all the tape and bubble wrap because we used most of it. Sarah gave up on getting her bike to fit about halfway through and focused on creating some avant-garde packaging sculpture with her box. Her inspiration for the piece was the natural form of the rhinoceros.

With our mutant boxes in hand, we sidled up to the Emirates counter to try check in. We began to get worried when the clerk insisted on weighing each and every bag we were carrying. 10 kilos, 40, then 80. The numbers kept climbing and our hearts kept dropping. We were also told that since Emirates has an allowance for golf clubs and fishing rods, but not bicycles, we were going to be charged a bicycle fee in addition to being charged for the weight of our bicycles. What?! “What is the bicycle fee for then?”, we asked. Silence. The clerk then proceeded to punch some numbers and then got a pained look on her face. She didn’t have the heart to read out the total to us, she just swiveled her computer monitor around to show us. $NZ850. Panic.

After Sarah peeled me off the floor, we began to weigh our options. Shipping some of the gear on a cargo flight was a possibility, but it could take quite a while to arrive in Singapore. We decided to check it out and were directed to the “nearby” office. I guarded our belongings while Sarah made a mad dash over to the cargo office, which was actually close to a mile from the terminal. Three days and NZ$350 is what they told her. She rushed back and after about 2.5 seconds of deliberation we decided to bite the bullet and pay for it. She pushed the cart of bikes back toward the office like a bobsled pilot at an Olympic trial and I waited for her to return.

Over an hour later, I was still waiting and was sure we were going to miss our flight. I kept staring off in to the distance, straining to catch a glimpse of Sarah’s head bobbing through the bushes as she raced towards me. Here is a visual depiction of how I felt at this point.

Finally she did return and as we raced back to the Emirates counter she relayed the details of what happened to me. When she returned to the cargo office, the clerk had informed her that since our bicycles were large but light we were going to have to be charged for the volumetric weight instead of the previously quoted weight. Be honest, how many of you have even heard of volumetric weight? How much was that going to cost? Surprise, surprise. NZ$850. After enough bitching and moaning by Sarah, she got the supervisor of the warehouse to agree to only charge her for the actual weight. This must have been quite the no-no, because it involved several approval forms and then some destroying of evidence so no one would be able to figure out who actually charged her the cheaper price.

The only positive thing to come out of all this was that we learned that our bicycles plus all of our gear weighs just a hair over 99 kilograms (218 pounds).

When we reached the counter, we had only 30 minutes until our flight departed and our clerk had told us to come right back to her, so we budged right to the front of the line. “Excuse me, but were you in this queue?”, a woman asked Sarah. Sarah explained our situation and turned away from the disgusted woman who then stared me down. The lunatic look on my face from the preceding events must have intimidated her, because I could literally see her sucking vile words back into her mouth.

With our boarding passes, we rushed through customs (after paying a NZ$25 departure fee each. Another what the?) and made it to our flight to Sydney just in time. On the way, we passed a clueless young guy making his way towards the Emirates counter with a kayak wrapped in bubble wrap. I cannot express in words the pity I felt for him.

When we arrived in Sydney, we learned that our Gulf Air flight to Singapore had been canceled. At this point, nothing could faze us so we just listened in silence as the clerks told us they would provide us with a hotel room and food for the night. We had to pass through Australian customs and in doing so lost our delicious New Zealand apples and our precious pepper spray.

So now we are spending the day in Sydney waiting for our flight and enjoying the comforts of a hotel. A king size bed, private bathroom, and free restaurant meals are so luxurious it almost makes the troubles worth it. Almost. Tonight we will fly to Singapore and hopefully our bicycles will arrive soon after us.

Moral of the story: Do not fly Emirates with excess baggage unless you also wipe your ass with twenty dollar bills.

On Saturday we took the train from Wellington to Auckland. It was a full day’s journey – 12 hours! The day started with a few moments of panic as Jamie and I realized we were riding our bikes all the way around the gigantic Wellington train station…but we couldn’t seem to find a way to get in to the actual terminal. After a few kilometers we did a desperate U-turn, raced back around the station, and finally found the entrance.

Next we hung around the baggage car with our bicycles waiting to load them onto the train. We were getting nervous because the baggage worker was nowhere to be seen but then at the last minute he came strolling down the terminal, strumming some other passenger’s checked guitar, and looking extremely drunk. It was only 7:20am! Jamie tried to hand him our baggage tickets, but this guy’s brain seemed to be working a bit slowly because he didn’t quite understand what was going on. He held out his hand to shake Jamie’s hand, rather than gather our tickets and load our bikes. Oh brother!

Me in front of the train during a break:

Luckily this train was fairly comfortable and we got a few breaks to stretch our legs, so the day wasn’t too bad. We were also very entertained by the running commentary by the train manager. One notable quote was “This bridge we’re on right now collapsed in 1950 when a train was making its way across the river. On that fateful day more than 100 lives were lost.” How lovely!

We arrived in Auckland at 7:30pm and were impressed with the futuristic train station:

Yesterday was spent wandering around the city. We happened upon a celebration for Korean Day. We stayed for awhile and listened to the great music – it was so happy sounding, we loved it! Here you can see a lady in a traditional costume singing along with the band:

Next we investigated a Lantern Festival to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This was one huge party – it took place in an entire city park and every tree and grassy patch was decorated to the nines. This year is the year of the pig:

Red lanterns strung up in all the trees:

Pagoda and red lanterns in the park:

Lots of illuminated figures on the ground and up in the trees:

There were a few stage areas where we were able to watch interesting performances. First we saw a Tae Kwon Do class demonstrate their amazing leaps and kicks. The highlight was a black belt master’s display of skill. First he was blindfolded. Then, two of his students stood in different places in the grassy field holding an apple impaled on a dagger. Then the students rang a tiny bell and the black belt master was able to locate the students with their daggers and apples purely by the sound of the bell. Then he actually kicked the apple, which was held at head-height, off the dagger. He missed the second apple of the first try, but then went at it again and kicked it so hard its pieces sprayed into the crowd. We were very impressed!

Next we say the Lion dance. Here are the children getting ready for the performance:

They were really good – one kid would jump up and sit on the other’s shoulders to make the Lion walk around on two feet:

There was tons of delicious food at the celebration. We tried lots of new stuff including curried fish balls, taro fritters, laksa, spring rolls. And don’t forget the Mr. Whippy cone for dessert!

Here’s me chowing down on the laksa. A yummy combo of noodles, chicken, herbs, and coconut broth. I guess I’m officially off the raw diet for now: