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Entry 16 to 20 of 35.

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July 7, 2004

For two weeks I have now been in Singapore. Kuala Lumpur was a very modern city as well, but Singapore still is another class. A short bridge leads from Malaysia onto the island of Singapore. The entry formalities for the bike weren't nearly as hard as expected and after more than one year of travels I found myself back in the first world. You can live quite well in other places of Sout-East Asia as well but it really feels good to be back in a fully developped city. And so you enjoy a well organized city, stroll through the many shopping malls, spend your spare time the way the Singaporeans do and enjoy the good food here. Although Chinese and sometimes a little bit strange in look and taste, the food here definitely is superb. And if you're going to undertake something with this city's people, it will most probably be going out to eat. Actually not a bad thing to do here. Unfortunately I have already booked the ferry to Indonesia so I'm not able to stay any longer. I will leave Singapore today to ship my bike from Malaysia to Sumatra/Indonesia. The next two months I will be busy with hopping from island to island.

June 11, 2004

It's been a long time since the last newsletter. And many things happened in the meantime. Getting into Vietnam with the bike did not work out as well although I tried two border crossings with Laos. Contrary to China I may could have just ridden across the border. But getting into the country is one thing, being able to leave the country with the bike the other. So I dropped that idea. Next destination was Cambodia. Having ridden a bad road in rainy weather in Laos I decided not to ride directly from Laos to Cambodia, knowing about the rainy season and the bad road between these countries. In Thailand I rode around Cambodia and entered it from the west. I wasn't really stunned by the temples of Angkor and after having spent a wonderful time in Laos I didn't really know what do do in Cambodia. Furthermore the good living standard in Thailand may also has pulled me back to that country. So after a little round trip in Cambodia I went back to Thailand and soon ended up in Bangkok. I've only been a short time in the city but I did like the most modern city of my journey up to now quite much. And then it was on to the south with its famous beaches. I could not go diving on the west coast due to the low season. So I changed to the east coast and on the Perhentian islands in Malaysia it did work out: Superb beaches and great reefs for diving close to the islands. After a few dives I left the islands and I'm currently in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. After weeks of tropical heat I really enjoy the cool weather up here at an altitude of 1500m.

April 26, 2004

For some weeks I'm now in South-East Asia and above all there is one thing to do here: to sweat. After the flight to Chiang Mai I proceeded quite quickly to the south stopping at some interesting places on the way. I spent about two weeks in Pattaya, the centre of Thailand sex-tourism. But I saw much more motorcycle workshop than go-go bars as in Thailand for a long time it's again possible to get some decent spare parts. And I didn't really enjoy this beach ressort as march and april are the hottest months in Thailand. It was a relief then to drive back to the north into the mountains of Laos. Besides some border regions Thailand is quite flat, but the north of Laos is very mountaineous. Wonderful landscapes, a comfortable climate and the smiles of the people of Laos made this country a highlight. Up in the north and armed with a Chinese visa I made it to the border where I was explained that I' very welcome, but not the bike. It's known that foreigners are not allowed to drive in China. Some did manage to get their bikes into the country but only by using some tricks. But there was no border-crossing truck trafic to try these tricks here. But Laos is such a nice place, my disappointment didn;t last long. And soon I'm going to try the next country: Vietnam. You're allowed to drive there, but nothing above 100cc. Maybe I succeed there.

March 14, 2004

It's done, I'm in Thailand. It wasn't that easy. And to be honest I didn't drive to Thailand. But that's a longer story. After Nepal I went back to India, to Kolkata. For a long time I led discussions with a travel agency in Myanmar to put up a guided tour through the country. But I soon had to find out that even India does not allow me to ride to the border with Myanmar without any special permissions. You may be able to negotiate with the Indians, but for sure not with the military regime of Myanmar. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, I finally gave up the idea of crossing Myanmar, mostly due to the reason of the political correctness. So I drove to Chittagong where there is Bangladesh's biggest sea port. Knowing that there are many freighters bound to Singapore I tried everthing to get on board of one with my motorbike. Passengers on freighters are rare and nobody wanted the take the responsability and make a decision and after days of running from office to office I had to give up this idea as well. So to fly was the only possibility left. With the help of a good agent and much "speed money" as bribes are called here I managed to get the bike and me on a flight to Chiang Mai. So right now I'm in Thailand, reliefed and after the hard organising work again full of motivation to go on. I spent nearly half a year on the Indian subcontinent. So Thailand comes in very refreshing and comfortable, especially when coming from rather poor Bangladesh. And with all of South-East Asia's possibilities it seems the journey again starts from the beginning.

February 4, 2004

After more than three months I left India and I'm currently in Nepal. The journey led me through the interiors of Northern India. After the cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad a stark contrast. The road leads through a very remote and rural region. Here in the North I also had to learn that even India can be cold in Winter. During daytime the sun can still be quite hot but during the night temperatures are close to freezing and there isn't any heating in India (except at 5 star hotels). Mandatory stop in Northern India is Varanasi, the holy city on the shore of the Ganges where the Indians cremate their deads on the steps down to the river. From there it was only a short trip to Nepal. Nepal is very relaxing, mostly if you're coming from the populous north of India. There is less traffic and everything seems to be less chaotic. And so I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere here before I go back to India. I didn't do any big treks here because I soon have to go back to Kolkata to organise my trip to Thailand and I really don't know how long this will take. Either I go there by plane or ship or I may manage to get through Myanmar, a country closed for motorbikers.

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