Today’s savings: 689g Total savings to date: 746g Right. No holds barred today. All handles in my sight were removed. Shaver handle, toothbrush handle, cone spanner handles, chain whip handle… As for the shaver handle, if you’re using the Gillette Mach III, then the little stub is just big enough to hold […]
Across the Eurasian Continent by Bicycle
Under the seat of the 14degrees bike, there is a rack to attach some small sized pannier bags. There was a space here to stow a small drybag filled with tools and spare parts, so I have attached some nylon straps and clips to hold the drybag in place.
Pre-Departure (5 days): Using all space available
Some updates to this website today: My profle. Let’s you know a little bit more about me. Detailed gear list. It’s massive. Any comments about things you think I should be taking but haven’t listed, or things I have listed that you think I don’t need would be most appreciated. […]
Pre-Departure (3 days): Website updates
Today’s savings: 292g Total savings to date: 1038g Today the maps were in my sights. I removed all areas of the maps that I do not plan on going to, and in that way saved 292 grams. This brings my total amount saved to date to over 1 kilogram. Considering […]
Pre-Departure (2 days): War on Weight III
Final preparations are coming together. I have 26kg of equipment. Including bottle cages, fenders, racks etc, the bike weighs 19kg. I am 77kg. My next blurb will be from Korea. Leaving the Fukuoka Hakata Bay International Terminal at 12:30pm tomorrow (Sat. 22nd of July, 2006). I leave you with this: […]
Pre-Departure (1 day): Showtime!
Distance / 走行距離：7.75km Time on bike / 走行時間：35分58秒 Average speed / 平均速度：13.0km/h Total distance / 現在までの積算距離：7.75km Summary: Tired, staying at small backpackers (see link below) in Pusan. 今日は複雑な思いがたくさんあります： 日本を離れることについて 寂しさが胸の中にありながら、解放感、幸福感が沸いてくる。その中にも恐怖感、緊張感もある。しかし、その全部の気持ちの裏にはもっとも強いのは単純な「早く自転車を漕いで、知らない土地に行きたい」という気持ちです。 旅をはじめることについて 旅についてまったく何もわけがわかりませんということがよくわかりました。特にお金の管理について。どうやってお金をわけて、安全に持ち歩くのか。どれくらいをいっぺん両替するのか。何とか当ててみて、それがありだと願うだけです。 とはいえ、その緊張感や不安にもかかわらず、一日目はうまく行きました。プサンのフェリー乗り場で日本語をしゃべってくれる案内所があって、そこで泊まるところを聞いたところ、現在は「Blue Backpackers Hostel」というユースホステルにいます。マンションの１８階のアパートがホステルに改造されていて、とても狭いところですけど、２泊泊まることにしました。 今日のハペニング： フェリーのりばに着いて、自転車と荷物の整理をしたら、タクシー運転手２人がやってきました。とてもフレンドリーな御２人でした。そこで１人はどうやら僕の水筒に興味を示していて、水筒を触っているではないか。あ、水筒に貼り付けている日本の国旗のステッカーをはがそうとしているではないか。僕は慌てて国旗が見えないように、水筒を回転させました。やはり反日感が強い韓国に着きましたなと思いました。
Day One – Fukuoka (Japan) to Pusan (Korea) (English summary)
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：12.58km Time on bike / 走行時間：1h 11m Average speed / 平均速度：10.6km/h Total distance / 現在までの積算距離：20.6km Apparently I’m biking across the continent. But it’s day two and aready I’m having a day off. I really shoud have a week off. Still feeling very jaded from the last month […]
Day Two – Rest day in Pusan
Distance / 走行距離：50.33km Time on bike / 走行時間 : 3h 45m Average speed / 平均速度：13.4m/h Total distance / 現在までの積算距離：75.2km Summary: Felt pretty blue this morning. Surrounded by city, just had to get out. Biked 50km to Jinha beach and shared a free camping ground with about 400 screaming school kids. […]
Day Three – Pusan to Jinha Beach (English summary)
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：51.70km Time on bike / 走行時間：3h 26m Average speed / 平均速度：15km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：126.9km Money used / 予算使用：12,000KRW (NZ$20, US$12) I woke up rearing to go this morning, so did about 20km before breakfast. Those 20km would take me through the most polluted area […]
Day Four – Jinha Beach to just outside of Ulsan
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：28.94km Time on bike / 走行時間：1h 56m Average speed / 平均速度：14.9km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：155.8km Money used / 予算使用：29,600KRW（NZ$49, US$31） English summary: You know how I said that it was great weather yesterday? Yeah well that was until about 11pm at night. Massive rain turned […]
Day Five – Just outside of Ulsan to Gyeongju City ...
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：About 70km Time on bike / 走行時間： Average speed / 平均速度： Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離： Money used / 予算使用：39,000KRW (NZ$65, US$41) I forgot to bring my bike computer to the net cafe so the stats will have to wait for antother day. And I am […]
Day Six – Gyeongju City to Daegu City
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：98.70km Time on bike / 走行時間：5h 55m Average speed / 平均速度：16.6km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：322.9km Money used / 予算使用：67,000KRW English summary: Left the motel at 6:30am to beat the heat of the day, and it payed off with me being able to do almost 100km […]
Day Seven – Taegu City to Seongju City (English Summary)
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：11.10km Time on bike / 走行時間：40m Average speed / 平均速度：16.6km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：334.0km Money used / 予算使用：8,000KRW (NZ$13, US$8.40) I liked this town so much that I decided to take a day off here. The main event was the local Bicycle Museum. It is […]
Day Eight – Day off in Seongju City
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：93.45km Time on bike / 走行時間：5h 55m Average speed / 平均速度：15.7km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：427.4km Money used / 予算使用：44,000KRW (5,300JPY) English summary:Two things I learned about Korea today – Korea is hot. And Korea is hilly. Crossed three passes today and wrang my shirt out […]
Day Nine – Songju City to Cheongju City (English Summary)
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：91.07km Time on bike / 走行時間：5h 16m Average speed / 平均速度：17.2km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：518.5km Money used / 予算使用：40,000KRW (NZ$67, US$41) I’ve worked it out. The answer to it all lies in one thing. Icecream. And other sweet things like Gatorade and more icecreams. You […]
Day Ten – Cheongju City to Yongin City
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：about 65km English Summary: I be in Seoul. Now get me out of here! Big hot city. All of the crazy big city bad feelings were made up for however by the fantastic hospitality of Mark and Unhey (please correct me on the spelling of your name, […]
Day Eleven – From Yingin to Seoul (English summary)
No pictures today so far. But plenty of excitement. I found out that not only was the information regarding the Incheon – Tianjin ferry that I had is four years old and is no longer valid, but that particular ferry is booked out until the 11th of August. May have […]
Day Twelve – Seoul
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：56.90km Time on bike / 走行時間：3h 10m Average speed / 平均速度：17.9km/h Total distance to date / 現在までの積算距離：656.9km Money used / 予算使用：120,000KRW English Summary: I am sitting in on a bunk bed on a ferry to Yantai City, China. What the heck?! It has been a crazy day. […]
Day Thirteen – Seoul to Incheon, Incheon to Yantai (English ...
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：0km Money used / 予算使用:180RMB Today began the mission to get me and my bike to Beijing. I had considered biking the distance, however the extra ten or more days that it would have taken me would have put too much pressure on me later on in […]
Day Fourteen – Arrival in Yantai
Today’s Distance / 今日の走行距離：10km Time on bike / 走行時間：30m English Summary: Arrived Beijing Station at 1:30pm after spending a night on a hard seat. Had an English speaking student called Tim beside me though, so this helped with conversation with others around me. Thank you Tim! Mr. Lim was on […]
Day Fifteen – Arrival in Beijing (English Summary)
Yes, I be in Beijing. Full details to follow, including a full run down on the crazy adventures over the last few days, but for now, I am in Beijing after a 15 hour train ride (hard seats) and trying to find a train ticket to Urumqi. The info I […]
Day 15 – Beijing
I’ve got the ticket to Urumqi in far west China. The only tickets were hard seats. That is, a non-reclining seat for 62 hours. This will be a doozy. Will update again in Urumqi with photos and diary of the last few days of action. That will be in three […]
Ticket obtained
Get me out of this crazy city. It took 30 minutes to bike from Bejing Station to Beijing West station today, but in that 30 minutes my face had collected enough black grime to make a serviet dirty when I wiped my face with it. Very dirty city is this […]
Day Sixteen – Leaving Beijing
Where do I start? So I lug all my gear down the stairs to the platform after being guided through the labarynth of accessways of Beijing West Station by a first-class use only porter, to find myself at the very back of the train. 18 carriages and a very sore […]
Days Seventeen and Eighteen – On the Train
Well people, sorry for the lack of photos. The Great Firewall of China is blocking access to flickr.com, the site that I use to organize, resize, and store my photos online. Does anyone know of a way of getting around this? Urumqi is dry dry dry. Already have in my […]
Apologies
I have uploaded some photos directly to my server from the last few days. They are all very large photos, so beware… http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0299.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0327.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0340.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0345.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0354.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0370.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0383.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0389.JPG http://14degrees.org/photos/IMG_0393.JPG
Day Twenty – Photos from around Urumqi
Lynley asked why it is that I took a train across China rather than biking across. I think this is a very good question and it deserves a good answer. Actually it is quite easy. I need to get through Tajikistan before winter. I am planning on cycling the Pamir Highway in […]