Wow we are on the road for a whole year, and at this very moment, the one to look back, we ride into paradise. Paradise is called Singapore. The way it looks here, that's how it will look in heaven, if it exists: beautiful, clean, peaceful, multicultural, clouds but not gray, oh yes and also expensive !? It's our 25th country on our world bike tour and it makes quite an impression on us. The boat to Jakarta takes a while: in the meantime we enjoy two weeks of city, park, house, swimming pool, cooking, netflix and ... cycling.

After not cycling for four weeks and one blog, we are back on the pedals! This blog describes our trip from Bangkok to Krabi. With the exception of the last two days, we follow the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. The first day we cycle through the Bangkok metropolitan region, the next one or two days through salt fields and after that several days through coconut, palm oil and rubber plantations. The route is fantastic and we are - after having a wonderful time with the children - very happy that we are back in the flow of cycling: eat, sleep, ride ... the world wide!

This blog describes our journey from the Cambojan border to Bangkok. A blog with few photos this time, the why will become clear later in the story. It is the second time that we visit Thailand on this world bike tour and this time it is 'party time'. For the third time this year we are celebrate New Year. After “our” own New Year and the Chinese New Year it is now up to the people of Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to celebrate New Year. In Thailand, they call the New Year period the Songkran festival, and on the first day we cycle to Thailand. We will travel through the south-east close to the Gulf of Thailand and cycle to Bangkok, where we meet Evi, Harjan & Sacha, who come to visit us - no cycling but beach and sea.

After three weeks, Laos is not rid of these two cycling world travelers. Laos South will be the third chapter of our blog about this special country, for which we will have to withdraw the grant to extend our visas.

Giving to others  as an act of virtue is essential in Buddhism and brings happiness. Giving alms to a monk yields his blessing. Also in Laos the monks walk around in the morning to gather food from the people in the vicinity of the monasteries; a ritual that we encounter every day since India. Here in Luang Prabang, almsgiving seems to happen in a different ritual then what we are used to so far. Just before dawn the monks walk behind each other in a row a fixed route through the old town and local people kneel humble aside the route and offer food to the monks. It would really be an attraction. At half past five in the morning the alarm goes, but unfortunately we are a bit late. The procession of a dozen monks receives just the last offerings and the series of low stools, meant for tourists, are already being piled up by vendors who still try to sell sticky rice for the monks. It is still dark when we walk back to our guesthouse laughingly. Let's just say that our expectations were somewhat higher. We tick an imaginary checkbox behind this 'must see' in Luang Prabang.

Our cycle route through Laos comprises roughly two loops. First a northern loop where we cycle towards the Chinese border and then gradually turn to Luang Prabang, the city to which all tourists at the border leave by boat. The second loop goes south where we will divert at Vientiane to the east along the Mekong. In Vientiane we see if we cycle through southern Laos to Cambodia or that we cycle a larger loop via Vietnam. If we go through Vietnam, we must apply for a visa in Vientiane.

With some melancholy we have left the famous Mea Hong Son Loop behind. As we sit on a terrace in the old center of Chiang Mai we ruminate about what lies behind: the Alps, Rodopi (Bulgaria), Turkey, Svaneti (Caucasus), Annapurna and the Loop. The highlights are also literally highlights. There is more mountains waiting in the north of Thailand cycling from Chiang Mai via Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, so it certainly will have something in store for us.

Thailand is not completely unknown to us. We have already gone twice before to find the sun in the Dutch winter time. For the third time, in March 2015, the airline tickets and accommodation were booked but we canceled. Instead of lying at the beach, Harry was lying in the hospital for his open heart surgery. The holidays after the surgery got a more sporty bicycle character, a hobby that seems to have gotten out of control. It has become a way of living. Now, three years later, we finally set foot on Thai soil again. Not by plane from Schiphol, this time we roll from home (or as we call it since our departure: 'the house formerly known as our house') on our faithful two-wheelers into the Thai country. Our bicycle plan does not (yet) focus on the sea and beaches of the famous Thai islands. We head north and enter the Thai mountains and forests.

After New Year and Harry's birthday, the bleak days of January begin. At least that is what we experienced in the Netherlands. Usually there was a planned holiday around carnival to the sun to look forward to. Now we are already in the sun and while in the Netherlands people skate on natural ice, we sweating like horses. We have entered the flat lowlands of Myanmar.

Myanmar, or Burma, is still a country with many secrets. For a long time (almost) inaccessible for foreigners / tourists, then for some time apathetic towards people who want to enter and explore the country by bicycle and not by plane to go to a resort and from there take perhaps a few organized trips. Myanmar, the country with the for us unreadable notebook (and figures), the country where English as a global language has barely made its appearance. Myanmar, a country on the road to openness and democracy, but also with some disturbing appearances in the world news. Since August 2017, the (country) borders have opened up further: you do not have to apply for a permit through shadowy intermediaries - in addition to a visa. In fact, the visa for Myanmar is "a breeze", compared to that for India. Myanmar, a country with a very rich history, the land of the thousands of Pagodas, the one even more brilliant than the other, the land of many ancient empires and cities, often spelled in different ways. During our cycling trip we will visit several former capitals, one of which is currently the capital city: Naypyidaw. Indeed, one from the category: 'never heard of it'. We are curious about this country, like every country or region that we visit. We have our own expectations (or prejudices) and now we are going to experience it.

The seven states in north-east India are called the Seven Sisters. We have now crossed state of Assam and left the valley of the Brahmaputra behind. We will visit two of the six remaining sisters: Nagaland and Manipur. Until recently there have been violent incidents in both states (and also in parts of Assam). The central government of India in Delhi has long neglected this corner of India. In addition, this area stands also culturally, ethnically and geographically furthest away of the rest of India. All this has led to separatist groups. The Indian army is still strongly present. Our Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises to visit these federal states only if it is necessary and otherwise avoid them. We hear and read also many good things about these states: the beautiful 'hills' of Nagaland with 16 unique Naga tribes and the former kingdom of Manipur, which was the crossroads of Asia for more than 2,500 years in the religious, cultural and economic area. Anyway, the border crossing to Myanmar is in Manipur and the road to Manipur runs through Nagaland. We have to visit the sisters to be able to cycle into Myanmar. 

The second state we visit is Assam, the largest and most populous state in northeastern India. The state is largely occupied by the valley of the miles wide Brahmaputra river. We cross numerous rivers that flow from the Himalayas in the north to the mighty Brahmaputra in the south. The foothills of the Himalayas remain in sight for a long time. We cycle near the southern border of the mountain kingdom of Bhutan.What cycle through rice fields, where the harvest has taken place and now the cows are chewing on the remaining stubble; and immeasurable tea gardens, Assam is known for producing high quality tea.

After Nepal our route runs through the northeast of India. We continue to cycle to the east in the direction of Myanmar and we will cross the Indian states West Bengal, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. At least that is the plan, you never know. Plans change continuously and detours are made easily. Northeast India is connected by a narrow corridor to the rest of India and is therefore relatively isolated and according to Wikipedia "relatively far from the Indian consciousness". We are very curious what this means "in real life".

The last part of our route through Georgia takes us from Kutaisi to the capital Tbilisi via all kinds of back-roads. We leave the high Caucasus definitively, even though we continue to see the mighty peaks for days. We are looking forward to Tbilisi, but less in the way there. We expect a number of boring stages. Fortunately, this expectation did not come true.

From Kutaisi we cycle to Zugdidi. At least that was the plan. We did not make it. After a very simple and flat first half ,where we share the road with pigs, cows, geese and horses, we turn off the main road into the hills.

The border crossing at Posof, Turkey brings us to Georgia. Actually, you do not even see that you arrive in another country. That is explainable because we come from a Turkish region where quite a lot of ethnic Georgians live. But there are differences. Little litter in the verges. No broken (beer) glass on and along the road: beer is sold here in (large) plastic bottles. And unfortunately - we have waited a week for this observation - compared to the Turks the people are a bit stiffer and less hospitable.

In our last blog we wrote that we left the route along the Black Sea and choose to retreat into the interior of Turkey, back into the mountains. It turned out to be a good choice! In this part of Turkey you are off the coast within a few dozen kilometers between mountains of more than 4,000 meters altitude and you do not get bored of the many beautiful views and natural beauty. The northern mountain slopes are densely forested, the southern slopes are thinly overgrown and show the most spectacular rock formations. The Turkish government is busy with billions of costly mega-projects, particularly in the area of ​​infrastructure (tunnels) and hydropower (reservoirs). Villages are very thinly strewn, towns you find even less. Some villages have also disappeared under the water surface of a reservoir.

The route along the Black Sea can not appeal to us as mountain lovers. The road along the coast is busy and boring and forms a big barrier in all villages and towns along the way. Rivers flowing from beautiful valleys inland into the sea all along the coast. It is tempting to get back inlands but that means an up and down the same road while we actually would like to reach and cycle through Georgia, however "winter is coming". It is sometimes difficult to make such choices. Turkey is so beautiful. We skip the plan to cycle to a monastery from Trabzon. The plan to cycle along the coast to Georgia is also skipped. The mountains keep calling us and eventually we give in. But for about 400 km we cycle along the Black Sea coast: from Samsun to Eskipazar (near Rize) and then we are done with the Black Sea coast. 

Turkey seriously slows us sown: too many beautiful encounters, too much tea, too many detours, which we insert at the last minute and of course too many mountains. We have a great time, but realize that due to the coming winter, our travel plans through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will no longer be realistic. We would also like to be able to walk the Annapurna circuit in the Nepalese Himalayas, which is doable in November at the latest. We know that we will miss out on beautiful countries, but we don't want to rush on a travel plan that was made in back home in Oirschot.

What unprecedented hospitality the Turks know! From the picturesque and old little İznik, where our previous blog ended, we cycle to Sakarya, a city with approximately 1 million inhabitants. After 20 kilomters we buy bread and cheese a supermarket. The owner invites us for a cup of tea. A few kilometers further the owner of a stall along the road gives us grapes and a peach. In Sakarya we are approached by a German speaking man in front of a car garage and we end up on invitation of the man and the owner of the garage at a restaurant. That is quiet convenient: it just started raining and the bikes parked save in the garage when we set of to a nearby restaurant. The 67-year-old German-speaking man is visiting from Istanbul. He studied mechanical engineering in Munich, traveled extensively, had many different jobs and companies and wants to live in Malaysia next year and export teak. Maybe we'll meet again there.

We have left Europe behind us. From Gelibolu we cross the straits of the Marmara Sea by ferry. Across the street we buy some groceries and see a barber shop next door. Harry needs a haircut and is turns out not only to be a haircut, but also extensively massaged, washed, eyebrows and nose hairs are trimmed and the hairs at the ears are scorched with a lighter. Afterwards we get tea, there is some communication via Google Translate. We have to pay the small amount of 2 euro ... We cycling along the coast with a strong headwind. As we stop for water at a mini-market along the road, an incredibly sweet little owner lends us a peeler to cut the bought peaches, offers coffee on the house and an extra peach and two hugs at the farewell. He also gives us a plasticized map of Turkey on one side and the world on the other side. We can probably use that often. It is hot today. We have not experienced this hot yet. At a petrol station we buy cold water and are called by Ismail. He owns an outdoor shop in Bursa and invites us to come by when we are there. He also warns us for the traffic. You might feel safe on the emergency lane, but it is not unusual for motorists to use it to overtake. In the town of Biga we again check in at a hotel. The lira is so low, that a hotel costs so little that we allow ourselves to take a warm shower, have a clean and private toilet, sleep in air conditioning and get an extensive breakfast for 20 euros. We need to make a choice in Biga. We cycled all day on a D road, a wide motorway with relatively little traffic but also a bit boring. We can continue on that same D road and go to Erdek to a good campsite or we choose an unknown route more inland as suggested by routeplanner bikemap. We choose the latter and head to the town of Gönen. It is another hot day. Fortunately, the climbing is at the beginning of the day when it is relatively not so hot. Shortly after leaving the town, a stray dog ​​is annoyingly in our way as if he would not let us through. When we carefully pass him, he follows us on the back wheel, in front of the wheel and next to the wheel. We climb and do not go so fast and he keeps up easily. Over a distance of 10 kilometers we are suddenly a pack of three: Harry, Roelie and doggie. Actually, that is exactly what we wished for. We would not be the first to go on a bicycle trip with a dog. On the way the dog is attacked by two herd dogs, but he bravely passes through and stays with us. Before entering a village we can descend strongly and make some speed. That will not be the only reason that the dog stops following. In the village we see some more possible hostile four-legged friends. End of journey with dog.

Sweaty from a steep climb we arrive in Misa, apparently a picturesque village within the expanding boundaries of the metropolis Bursa. Bursa has been the capital of the great Ottoman empire. It counts over 2 million inhabitants and many must see attractions. Misa has a campground according to maps.me; it's always the question whether that's true, but this time it is confirmed by Google Maps so we are in good hope. We first cycle into the village and see serried terraces along the river. This looks nice! The local mini-supermarket has a small product range. We think with some improvising we can cook a meal, but the restaurants beckon. The well deserved beer is unfortunately not available. On a terrace we drink an icetea and then we go to the campground. We pay 40 Turkish lira (converted € 5.58) for 2 nights with the manager of the on-site restaurant in a net suit. There is a separate tent area and we are not the only ones, not even the only cyclists! We pitch the tent and want to take a shower, but first we say hello to the group of people in the middle of the site. They immediately offer ice-cold beer, red wine and ayçekirdeği, or sunflower seeds, to nibble (or make an effort because it requires some dexterity). We meet Aydogan and Ece, they live in Istanbul and came by bus to Bursa. Ece has been restoring ornaments in mosques, churches and country houses for 30 years. She shows an impressive series of photos with gold leaf ceilings and own designs. Aydogan has been her friend for 7 months and they are now working together. They would camp 2 days here, but that was 10 days ago and they are still here.