Some Final Thoughts on the Year's Trip It�s late January, 2002, and I�m sitting in my mother�s apartment in Leysin, Switzerland. Exactly a year ago Joanne and I were setting off with our bikes packed into boxes from Mexico City to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (how often is that particular route flown, I wonder?). The great unknown beckoned us, a year of adventure. I knew it was going to be tough work for Joanne, but I hoped that she would grow to love cycling and the freedom of bike touring the way I did, as she got into cycling shape. I wanted to show her the things I�d seen before in Southeast Asia, places like Angkor Wat and Ayutthaya, and explore new places with her before hitting the mountains of Laos and China and then grinding our way towards the magical, semi-forbidden city of Lhasa. We had visions of painting and sketching amidst atmospheric ruins and lying on sun-kissed tropical beaches and flying weightlessly through the warm waters above coral reefs. A year later, it didn�t entirely work out as we had hoped and planned. The early tour by bus through Sabah was fun: the jungles of Kinabalu and the Kinabatangan River; the orang utans of Sepilok; diving at fantastic Sipadan Island. The hills and the baking heat of the early days of the trip cycling across Borneo were almost too much for Joanne, and she pushed onwards, exhausted and drained, barely noticing the scenery we were passing through. The beaches of Semilajau Park and the zoos and gardens of Singapore were highlights for her, but the ride up the east coast of Malaysia continued to be tough. Just as she was starting to get into the spirit of the trip, the terrible news of her father�s sudden death put all thoughts of biking from her mind and she returned to Canada to be with her mother and to mourn for her father. I pushed onwards, past the beautiful beaches and islands that I so wanted to see with Joanne, and onwards into Thailand. When Joanne returned, her heart was no longer in it, and after some wonderful SCUBA diving on the Similan Islands, and a great trip to Angkor Wat, she decided that cycling was not for her. From that point on we tried to combine her interests with mine. We travelled together through northeastern Thailand, she by bus and I on my bike, and then parted company in Vientiane. I pushed on across northern Laos and into southwest China, across tough roads and through endless rain that sapped my enthusiasm, to Dali, where Joanne came to join me again. Throughout the rainy season of July and August, we braved the heat and crowds and schlock of the tourist highlights of China by train. In early September, after a brief trip to Taipei and Hong Kong, we went our separate ways again, Joanne going back to Thailand and on to Japan and Canada, and I getting back on the bike and heading for Tibet. The ride across Tibet was, in terms of difficulty, the high point of the trip for me, something I had wanted to do ever since my attempt to ride to Lhasa in 1998 fell short. Despite the hostile and begging attitude of the Tibetans, despite bike problems and awful roads and strength-sapping climbs, I enjoyed the ride to Lhasa, filling in some of the blank spaces on the map for me. Lhasa itself was magical; I may never return again, but it�s an experience I will never forget, a view of a culture far removed from our own, a culture under constant attack from the Chinese. The ride from Lhasa to Kathmandu didn�t match up to the Dali-Lhasa leg: too much hostility from the roadside kids, and a desolate, bleak landscape with few scenic rewards. The time of year had something to do with it; it�s hard to keep positive when you�re frozen solid most of the time. Being arrested didn�t help my mood, either. The old monasteries and their irreplaceable frescoes were a cultural highlight, and the views of Everest and the Himalayas from the Pang La and the Yarle Shang La were some of the most beautiful natural sights I have ever seen, but the cold and the hunger and the headwinds left me, at the end, merely longing for warmth, food and Nepal. The trekking in Nepal was wonderful, despite my enfeebled state, and I would say that Langtang may be the most beautiful trek in the whole country. The ride to Darjeeling was forgettable at first, but pleasant at the end, and Darjeeling itself is a wonderful, relaxing place that I would gladly return to. I only wish Joanne could have been there to enjoy it with me, just as I wish she had come to Lhasa with me. People always want to know what I�ve learned from a trip. This trip taught me that I do love bike touring and that, even on awful roads, it�s still my favourite way to see the world. Doing it day in and day out, though, other activities become important as a balance. My guitar and my sketch book, good books to read, my Chinese textbook, rest days and hiking trips, all these things helped keep me sane over the months. A long bike trip eventually becomes less about the biking and more about the places and people one encounters, with the bike merely the least bad method of seeing what one wants to see. In a country like China, where the authorities try to control foreigners� movements and to extract the maximum hard currency from them, a bike is essential for freedom. As for exercise, sometimes there�s too much of a good thing, and food becomes the most important thing in life, trying to eat enough calories with enough nutrition (ie, not instant noodles) to repair the ravages of so much cycling. I realize that travelling is the one thing in life that I love enough to do full-time. I wish I could find a means of making enough money from travelling, from indulging my one true passion, to allow me to do it for the rest of my life. Tour guiding or travel writing are what springs to mind, with the former easier to arrange (although it�s not that simple to work guiding the sort of adventurous travel that I find most satisfying) and the latter more appealing but well-nigh impossible to make a living at. Who knows what the coming years may bring, but I�m willing to continue my quest to see everywhere on earth that interests me. Anyway, for all those who have read my verbose ramblings since last year, and who have admired Joanne�s much more concise and beautiful pictures, I hope you�ve enjoyed this web site, that you�ve clicked on a few interesting links, and that you�re inspired to go out and explore the world, on your bike or however you want to travel. Life is short: travel now! Bon voyage!! 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