Singapore and a New Beginning

As most of you already know, we completed our trip on March 23rd, by flying back to Kunming, China. We had been on the road for 74 days, and cycled nearly 4000 miles (6300 kilometers). Although it was so nice to return to Kunming (my home away from home), it was tough to leave that lifestyle behind, and honestly I think we were all ready to continue on to the rest of the world. I guess it will have to wait till next time.

Singapore was wonderful. We crossed the bridge in the early afternoon and had no problems at the checkpoint. We entered Singapore at Woodlands in the northwest part of the island and our hostel was 30 plus kilometers away in the southeast. We took our time getting there, and I have to admit that Singapore has been the nicest city to bicycle in so far. The streets are very wide and there aren't very many cars. On top of that, the island is large enough to stay away from downtown with lots of parks in the north, west and east.



Since our team hadn't stayed in a hostel on this trip yet, I was alittle worried that they would not like the arrangements that I had set up in Singapore. Luckily, I was wrong, and we had an amazing four days in Singapore at the Betel Box Youth Hostel. The accommodations are basic, but the wealth of information of the staff, and the pleasant atmosphere, make the experience priceless and leave you thinking that you know more about Singapore than the average local!

Tony Tan, the owner of the hostel, was mainly what made our experience so precious. Our first full day he took us on one of his famous free cycling tours through the city which lasted well past dark. The main themes of the tour focused on water resources and land reclamations, two major issues that the small island nation has to deal with. About halfway through the tour we stopped at an NGO he works will called Waterways, and had a nice water break. The water that we drank was called Newater, water that is purified from recycled sewage water. Honestly it was quite refreshing, and had no taste whatsoever. The tour neared its end in the downtown region, where Tony continued to impress us with his vast abyss of information about Singaporean historical and current events.

On the second day, Tony arranged for us to speak at the hostel to the community about our trip and Fei Bao's adventure. Fei Bao and I gave a well received presentation, which filled the hostel community room. It was much smaller than the other events that we had participated in, but it was much more comfortable and allowed everybody to really get involved. Besides a variety of community members and hostel goers, we were also glad to meet Singapore's most traveled man, Tan Wee Cheng, and Singapore's equivalent of Fei Bao, Kwoo Swee Chiow. We are looking forward to keep in touch, and possibly coordinate future events together. Afterwords we continued chatting until the early hours of the morning.

Our last day in Singapore, we cycled all the way back to the Northwest district to deliver our final letter of friendship from the Mayor of Kunming, Mr. Zhang Zulin, to one of the five mayors of Singapore, Mr. Teo Ho Pin, who was very anxious to hear all of our stories.

Finally, we packed all of our bikes into boxes and went to the airport. We encountered two major problems on our trip back. The first was somewhat expected: our luggage was too heavy. Each passenger was allowed 20 kilos, and our bikes are 18 kilos each! We tried to carry on all of our heavy luggage, and since we were 7 passengers, and only 6 bikes (we left Fei Xuan's bike behind), we thought we might sneak by. Altogether, we were still 70 kilos over the limit, which was going to cost us over 1500 USD!  Luckily we arrived early enough and after about an hour of bargaining (and showing them our picture in the day's newspaper!) they finally let us slide by without spending a dime.

Arriving in China was bitter sweet. It felt very good to be back in Kunming, my second home, but there are always those things that you can't overlook about China: crowded streets, pollution, poor manners towards strangers, and the controling government. Upon arrival two of our team members where taken aside and their luggage meticulously examined. They wanted receipts for everything that was purchased, even for things purchased in China. They were clearly just looking for this weeks paycheck. Worst of all, they collected about $100 worth of books that the members had purchased in Singapore. One of the books was written by the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Liu Xiao Bo. Any government that controls education, and rewrites history, must be stood up against, not excluding the US of course!

So we've been back in China now for a few days, and I've been working hard trying to stay warm and digest my impressions of the trip. We have been busy winding down, giving short interviews, and enjoying the large meals that we are getting treated to. Fei Bao was live on the radio for two hours yesterday, and I joined him for two more hours on a video interview for China's largest website, people.com.cn. They have also asked me to come back and talk about my grandfather.

So after over 6000 kilometers, and six countries, all's I have to say is that I can't wait to get back on my bike and go back to Southeast Asia!

 I hope you have enjoyed the blog and my pictures as much as I have. There are some more on Singapore here.

Here are some pictures of some of our team having fun on the Hindu Holy Day. The Singaporean Indian's, were celebrating in the parks with music, food and a huge parties!