Pheng first heard about George Orwell’s 1984 book in social studies class at Edgewater College. At that time, his interests were mainly naming countries and their capital city. In this journey through Asia, we engaged with many people discussing the political situation, internal affairs and the daily struggles. We’ll compare experiences of our journey to that in Mr Orwell’s book. It may help if you … Continue reading 1984 in 2018
New Zealand has a unique ecosystem quite separate to the rest of the world. This means during our cycling trip through the asian continent, there were many animals we’ve never seen before. The animals listed here during our 9 months are a mixed bag of natural encounters, a first timer, or one we found to be absolutely fascinating. Snake | Shaanxi, China We were both … Continue reading 9 Animal Encounters over 9 Months
Date: 1 April 2018 Day: 15 days since leaving NZ Location: Shanxi, China Route: Shouyang District to Taiyuan City For Throwback Thursday, we picked a random photo and tried to remember how that day went. Up and Above The sun rose and lit our tent, not too brightly because the smog already blanketed the city. We camped on top of a hill in the forest … Continue reading ThrowbackThursday: Day 15
Dear Food Diary, What a food journey we’ve had in China. As with most great things, it must end. This entry will be split into three parts, for the three wonderful Xinjiang locals who showed us hospitality through food. Kinder Surprise While cycling the Yizhao Rd we met a hotel manager who offered us a room, and breakfast and lunch the next day. We felt … Continue reading Dear Food Diary #3: Xinjiang
Having completed cycling through China we thought it’ll be fun to write up a Report Card using our made up “Tour Cycling Prestige over Important Pointers (TCP/IP)” five star system. Important Pointers After some consideration we came up with five pointers to grade a country based on our tour, obviously these are the opinions of us two. People & Culture (PC) Extremely hospitable people offering … Continue reading China’s Report Card
Trip Summary We departed Ürümqi (新疆·乌鲁木齐) heading west towards the Ili region as recommended by many people. The region is less populated, with rolling green hills and dairy farming scattered across, and plenty of opportunities to camp with priceless views. We arrived at the Khorgas border crossing on July 4th after cycling a further 1000 km. This also marked the end of the first segment … Continue reading Trip Status #6 Khorgas
Saturday 23rd, June 2018 4 pm We stopped just outside of Tokkuztara (巩留) to rest over a watermelon. Two friendly looking old men sitting under the trees called us over and one said we can go into his house to rest. Initially we wanted to rest for a few minutes but after he let us in his house we were in awe how big it … Continue reading Hospitality Declined
Soon we will say goodbye to China but before then, we wanted to climb over Tianshan (天山) once more. Sorry Kashgar, but hello Khorgas! Initially we planned to leave China via Kashgar however due to restrictions, the border area is marked as a “no man’s land” so only licensed vehicles can cross it. This led us to choosing the Khorgas border to Kazakhstan where our … Continue reading Once more over the Heavenly Mountains
Some cyclists are quite strict about their route only hopping on a vehicle when absolutely necessary. Some would go around an entire lake instead of taking a boat. For us it was possible to stay on land entirely from Tianjin to Lisbon, however that is no longer the case due to certain areas the government believe is not safe for foreigners. Since arriving into Xinjiang … Continue reading Broken Route by Political Nonsense
Dear Food Diary, The western side of China has a lot of food that we are more familiar with, perhaps due to the change in landscape and culture exposure towards the west. There’s more grassland here and noticeably more farming, therefore a meatier diet. Fun fact: watermelon is 西瓜 (xīguā) literally means melon of the west! Admittedly we have been eating more meat, however still … Continue reading Dear Food Diary #2: West China
Pedalling Continents 