Seven-Country, South-East Asia Friendship
Mission Bike Trek
Seven-Member Team Led by Jin Fei Bao of Kunming (Yunnan), China
Eighty-Days, Five Thousand Miles
For more information and photos of the trek go to -- Jesse's
Blog & Dawey's Blog & Fei Bao's Website
To View Photo-Videos of this Journey CLICK HERE
This is the final UPDATE. For Previous posts go to: S.E.
Asia Bike Trek Journal
March 14 to March 18
-- Southern Malaysia
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Jesse Millett's Commentary and Reflections (Photographs by Jesse and David Hiebaum):
It was hard to finally leave our friends behind in Kuala Lumpur. They showed us such hospitality that it would take pages to describe. With all the interviews, speeches, and signings I’m starting to feel pretty famous! I guess it sort of rubs off once you’re around Jin Fei Bao enough!
It took us two days to cycle to Melaka, a very historically important city as it controls the Straits of Melaka, as does Singapore. Melaka's beauty lies in it's architecture, in its old streets, in it's mix of cultures, and in especially in it's people. We spent a day walking around the old town, both the colonial sections and the Chinese, both having there own distinct uniqueness. Only in Melaka will you find a mosque with Hindu influences, a Hindu temple with Chinese influences, or a Church with Malay influences.
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On the second day we were escorted by three police officers on motorcycles about 10 kilometers outside of the city to the City Hall, where the Mayor, Zainal Abu, had organized a stunning welcoming. Over 30 officials and government staff welcomed us to an elaborate breakfast, and both the Mayor and Jin Fei Bao addressed everyone. After the ceremony, the Mayor tried out one of our bikes out and then set us off on our way. The rest of our time was spent enjoying the historical scenery and the delicious specialty foods, and chatting with our very friendly hosts at the Lyza Inn.
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Continuing south down the coast we were constantly surprised by the the welcomings we received. After cycling 100 kilometers we arrived at Batu Pahat, where we were met on arrival by head of the board of Hua Ren High School (华仁中学), who led us to his school. Waiting for us was a very special welcoming ceremony complete with bass drumming, dancing, and Chinese yo-yo tossing. Though exhausted from the day of riding, it was such a wonderful feeling to be welcomed in such a way. We stayed that night on the school’s campus, and gave a presentation to the students, who overwhelmed us with questions and more requests for signatures.
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On the road again we were surprised by a similar experience. Our friends at Hua Ren High School said they had arranged someone to meet us at the town 60 kilometers down the road to show us a great place to eat. Just before we arrived at Pontian Kechil, somebody flagged us down on the side of the road. It was the principal of another school who invited us in to a couple hundred students eating lunch. We joined them and shared a meal, as well as our experiences, and signed a few T-shirts!
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We will now enter Singapore, completing our 6000+ kilometer, 70 day journey through 7 countries. A journey that has not only promoted friendship between countries and individuals alike, but has also showed me that the hospital nature of the people of Southeast Asia is one of the strongest in the world. Let's see what Singapore has to offer!
March 19 to March 23 -- Singapore -- End of the Journey (Kunming to Singapore -- 4,000 miles in 70 days)
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.
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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 with 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.
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On the second day, Tony arranged for us to speak at the hostel to the community about our trip and Fei Bao's adventures. 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 keeping in touch, and possibly coordinate future events together. Afterwords we continued chatting until the early hours of the morning.
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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.
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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 (editors note -- according to Dawey, Jesse was very instrumental in achieving this result -- shall we say charming the lady in charge of luggage!).
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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 6,000 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!
We had been on the road for 74 days, and cycled nearly 4,000 miles (6,300 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 til next time.
For previous posts go to: S.E.
Asia Bike Trek Journal