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Asia to Alba
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25.01.2022 AFRICA - 10 DAYS So, as I've said - I arrived in Vientiane, Laos with the hope of acquiring the required Chinese Visa that would enable me to cycle across China and onto Central Asia. UNABLE TO ACQUIRE at present due to Chinese New Year restricting Embassy hours and Visa output... I could wait until AFTER January 25 and reapply, however 8 days + 5 for Visa (13 days in Vientiane is NOT for me). So... I made the call. I have wanted to experience Africa since I watched Lion Ki...ng and sung my little lungs out as a child. I've been intrigued by the diverse continent through books by Theroux, Coehlo, and J. Conrad. I could list countless reasons why I wish to go... but, who am I trying to convince..? I've already been sold for years. I will be flying into Nouakchott, Mauritania on January 28. I plan on cycling south to Senegal and The Gambia, before looping around and heading North back through Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco and eventually find myself in Spain. I am aware it is not as "safe" as Southeast Asia, but the specific challenges and triumphs that breathe life into my soul rarely exist within the comfort of safety. I am aware that the Australian Government advises against all travel there, but, that advisory to me... a curious young man in LOVE with new experiences... is just a fishing net that traps the majority of weak swimmers in a cocoon of stagnant growth, the strong and willing break through the net, and, I believe are rewarded with preserved cultures and vast emptiness...Free from the comforts demanded from the comfortable. The longest train in the world, the Iron Ore train. The 2nd largest monolith on earth. The Eye of the Sahara... are just 3 of the things I'm looking forward to experiencing in Mauritania. So, 10 days until I drop myself in the middle of the adventure I have been living in my head... to towns off maps, and cultures lost to time
24.01.2022 54 days and 3,600km later... I exit Thailand via Nong Kai and enter into Vientiane, Laos. This is a lot of information, so I'll write it as concise as possible. The period from 1st January to 14th January was spent regaining momentum, confidence, and belief that I actually was capable of this journey... as well as, that I actually wanted to be doing it. I spent the duration of this time at a Permaculture farm in Ban Pong, Trat in Eastern Thailand. ... The tasks were largely varied to what I anticipated. I thought I'd be picking fruit and planting trees. Instead, I was building walls and Chicken coups, digging trenches, scything fields, paddling rivers, attending village markets, and forging family bonds with Kwan and his mother. I value my time spent on the farm for teaching me selfless work, questioning my own wants versus needs, and patience - stopping to smell the roses *or mint, in this case. On the 14th of January, I began cycling the 380km toward Bangkok via some camp spots along the way. I got to Chanthaburi and thought to check the bus schedule, it was 13:28... just my luck; a bus to Bangkok leaving at 13:30... 4-days of cycling became 4-hours on a bus. I was dropped at the Ekkamai Depot nearby to Lumphini and did a 40km/h cycle through heavy Bangkok traffic with no bike lights (words don't do the experience justice - it was wild) toward the main station of Hua Lamphong. I arrived dripping in sweat at 20:36, I cycled to the ticket agent and... just my luck... bought a ticket to Nong Kai departing at 20:45. I woke up at 5am in a horizontal L-shape bent at the hips sprawled across an empty row of 4 seats, covered in dust from a cracked window of my "Rapid" train bound for the Lao border. As I looked out at the noticeable changes in landscape, and air quality (heavy haze at this time of year), I realised that in 24 hours I had covered nearly 1,200km from the border with Cambodia, to the border of Laos via Bangkok... If I didn't wax Kwan's stairs in the morning of the 14th, if I didn't stop to get internet at 7/11, if I didn't (at the time) reluctantly chat with that Thai guy offering peanuts in the carpark, if I didn't run those red lights cycling down Sukhumvit... it was 24 hours where life wanted me to succeed! Now, if only my update from Laos followed the same tone... the post is getting long and I know I've lost the interest of many already, I'll write a shorter post soon. But, here is a clue... In 2019, I began the new year held in a Transit Detention Centre in Beijing Airport - this is where my Personal Vendetta with the Chinese Government began. Now, in 2020... it strikes again - it ain't CHINEZY, but I AFRICAN'T give up!
07.01.2022 Dropping off the map for a while The map has been thrown, the bikes have been packed, and the possibilities are infinite. Forgive the reduced frequency in updates, it'll all come together soon enough. Kyle and I are still on the road, still cycling, still living. ... Starting the New Year on a new road, in a new place. We enter 2020, off the map - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
06.01.2022 From Christmas until today... Kyle and I have had a wild ride - here's a summary of it all!
05.01.2022 Vientiane is reminiscent of French colonial dream cities - they are not for me. I came here for a Chinese Visa and that's not what I got. Instead, I got confused with opposite road directions, confused by being a millionaire in Kip, annoyed at English/Lao food menus with 100% price differences, homesick for Suki Haeng in Thailand, and generally pissed off at the scale of Chinese development throughout the region. My China vendetta runs deep. If I hear another person say Xie... Xie instead of Khob Chai, I will be forced to swim back across the Mekong to Thailand. In other news, my time in Asia is drawing to an end. It has been comfortable and enjoyable, as it always is. But, the adventure in my head has not been fulfilled here, fortunately I am in a position to relocate and continue the journey from a new destination, country, and continent! So, for the next 12-days I have the utmost pleasure in leisurely cycling in a low gear around Laos - smelling the roses. For I know that in a little less than two weeks, I will be smelling famine, war, disease, poor sanitation, and "hell on earth"... well, that's what the Western media tell me anyway!? COUNTDOWN -12 DAYS before I depart Asia. I told myself, I dont like the cold, so I'll go to a desert... MZUNGU MJINGA HUKO NOUAKCHOTT Xie Xie, Zàijiàn... I joke. Khob Chai, and La Kon!
