• Helene Rimberg
obecny
  • Helene Rimberg

The Grand Adventure

A bike trip with no end Czytaj więcej
  • Unintended rest day

    15 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    Very rainy morning. Pore over weather forecasts to figure out how bad it will be. Finally decide to stay and right after we pay for another night, the rain stops. Stays relatively dry for the remainder of the day. Do some planning and go out on a beach walk. Help groups of children with their English lessons by being “interviewed”. Out for very good Indian food. Czytaj więcej

  • Railay Beach

    14 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    Bit rainy in the morning so take our time getting ourselves ready for the day’s adventure. Take a longboat down the coastline to Railay beach - a peninsula only accessible by boat. Explore on foot with the hordes of tourists. Check out a very cool cave and follow the submerged walkway to tip. Heavy rain comes down but we have our ponchos. It lets up a bit and mosey around for awhile longer before heading back. Another nice Thai dinner and find good ice cream. Czytaj więcej

  • Ban Ao Nang

    13 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Very short ride out of Krabi town to the seaside resort of Ao Nang. Very touristy, yet beautiful. Walked along the beach to the tip, and hung out watching the tide go out; opening up a walkway to nearby ‘island’. Returned on the beach as it had become much bigger with the lowering tide. Watched sun dip down before going out for pizza. Sometimes you just need gooey cheese Czytaj więcej

  • Wat Tham Suea

    12 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    No rush this morning. After coffee head into Krabi for breakfast. Skies open just as we are about to leave. Wait it out and catch a ride to Wat Tham Suea; a Buddhist temple in the hills. Check out the main temple before heading towards the caves. Once again it pours and we wait. Finally continue along, getting wet anyway. Rain tapers and decide to ascend the 1200+ steps to Buddha and views. Well worth it. Clouds add to the mood. Nice outing. Back to hotel before laundry and another very good dinner. Czytaj więcej

  • It’s a warm rain

    11 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    After deliberating back and forth between heading to the theoretically drier east coast or staying on the likely wetter but more scenic west coast , opted to take our chances. Wait out the first rain shower in the hotel. Have a nice stretch of dry rural roads before hitting the busy highway. Sun peaks out momentarily but the rain returns forcing a lunch break undercover. Opt to push on to Krabi. Nice hotel in quiet area. Out for dinner, first stopping at Booze Bar. Czytaj więcej

  • To the Andaman Sea

    10 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Have a “normal” breakfast (yogurt) but stop for coffee before leaving town. Because of all the estuaries, it’s impossible to go in a straight line. Stop at a Botanical garden and do a short jungle walk. Lovely trees! Enjoy the view from above with a canopy walk. Day heats up and we go onward. Stop at 7-eleven (our new favorite stop) for smoothies. Day is also a bit windy - not in our favor. Finally make it to the sea. Stop for a bit before continuing to our hotel. Beautiful, long Beach full of locals enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Great seafood dinner with the help of an English menu! Czytaj więcej

  • Meandering through the countryside

    9 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Rainy night gave way to clear morning. Odd breakfast delivered to our door. Ok but not my fave - chicken and rice soup (Congee). Quickly find ourselves on small roads, amongst the jungle interspersed with rubber trees and other fruit bearing trees. Stop in a cemetery for a snack and continue on - reaching Yan Ta Khao. Find our hotel (harder than you think when can’t read signs). Relax and then venture out for dinner. Google translate to the rescue again. Czytaj więcej

  • Thailand

    8 sierpnia, Tajlandia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Early morning to catch the 9:30 ferry to Thailand. Pay for our tickets and await clearing Malaysian border patrol. Do notice the sign that says bikes not allowed but they do let us through. First on board to stow our bikes in the back. Short trip to Thailand. Last off and wait to clear Thailand border patrol. No problem. Ride quiet roads at first and then join the larger road with an ample shoulder. Hot day but make good time to town of La-Ngu. Find our hotel and relax before venturing out. Find the restaurant we had chosen and with the help of google translate manage to order our first Thai meal (in Thailand). Stop for dessert on the way back - much easier as could just point Czytaj więcej

  • To the west and waterfalls

    6 sierpnia, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Skies are nice and clear when we wake up but become a big ominous as we head out across to the east side of the island. Rain begins to fall as we arrive at the start of the walk up to Seven Wells falls. But it passes. Beautiful falls and not too many people. Lounge around in the pools for quite a while, trying not to slip on the rocks. Return to our room and walk along the beach for fish dinner. Czytaj więcej

  • To the north side

    5 sierpnia, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    First order of business - determine if we can take a ferry to Thailand. Ride to passenger ferry terminal and confirm - we can! Grab some breakfast and ride the 12 miles across to the north side of the island. Check in to Red Coral Cottages. Skies open and it dumps for a few hours. Afterwards, head to the beach. Long Beach walk. Dinner right next door. Czytaj więcej

  • Some days just don’t go as planned

    4 sierpnia, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Another early start to catch ferry to Langkawi. Short ride to port town only to find out that we couldn’t go on the passenger ferry with our bikes. Next ferry port - almost 30 miles to the north. Off we go. More small roads through rice paddies with threatening skies all around. Get a tad bit wet and fight the wind. Arrive at the ferry too late for the 1:00 one that had not yet left. Wait for the 3:00. Roll on no problem. 2+ hours we arrive in Langkawi but at a different ferry dock. Ride back into town to our hotel. We made it! Off for Syrian food. Czytaj więcej

  • Two ferries and quiet roads

    3 sierpnia, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Get an early start as we have always to go and 2 ferry crossings. Streets are quiet as it’s Sunday morning (perhaps). Arrive back in Butterworth and head north out of the city. Pretty quickly find ourselves on very small roads amongst rice paddies. Enjoy oceanside road until it disappears on us. Back to bigger road. Arrive at river crossing and easily catch a boat across. Stop for some food and finish our ride, showing up,at small, rural “resort”. Enjoy pool before heading into to “town” for a very unhealthy dinner (bit of fried seafood and ice cream) Czytaj więcej

  • A jungle hike and beach

    2 sierpnia, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Opt to not ride anymore as the traffic is horrible and drivers worse. Catch a grab (uber-like) to take us to national park on the other side of island. Sit in a lot of traffic but at least it’s air conditioned. Arrive and find that beach walks are closed. Head up and over, going through jungle to get to turtle beach. Swimming is not advised and the water is hot anyway. Relax a bit before hiking back. Return to the city (less traffic) and have nice Indian dinner. Check out Georgetown festival. Czytaj więcej

  • Kek Lok Si Temple

    1 sierpnia, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Went out for coffee and wound up eating breakfast after observing the French toast. Quite tasty. Fueled us up to battle the traffic to get to Kek Lok Si Temple - a huge Buddhist temple. The artistry was amazing! Spent several hours there before resting by the turtle pond. Headed to Botanical Gardens which were underwhelming but was full of aggressive monkeys. Head back and out for vegan dinner and then ice cream. Czytaj więcej

  • Exploring George Town

    31 lipca, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Out for good coffees and pastries before exploring the city. Finally some history in this country. Quite the mix of Asian and European influence. Small streets with food stalls abound. Lots of street art. Nice dinner spot - Tina’s Kitchen for local Penang cooking. Czytaj więcej

  • Taiping

    29 lipca, Malezja ⋅ 🌩️ 33 °C

    Wound our way out of the busy streets of Ipoh. Hugged the river valley as hazy peaks surrounded us on both sides. Found a few quieter roads enabling us to get off of the busy Hwy 1. Stopped for some lunch where Doug finally tried Durian - reporting that it was slimy. Continued on as day got hotter. We really do need to stop riding in the late afternoon. Arrived in Taiping. Checked in to Hotel Louis. Meandered around a bit before finding a dinner spot. Czytaj więcej

  • A waterfall and cave!

    27 lipca, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Take a walk into the hill and jungle behind town to local waterfall. Very nice water! Pack up and head out. Kind of late but short day. Divert off main road to check out Tempunung cave. Very cool. Huge open caverns. Even have little moss and ferns growing. Finish up our ride and eventually make it to our little villa very hot. Enjoy our pool before walking into Ipoh for tasty Indian food. And gelato. Czytaj więcej

  • Long day on the pavement

    26 lipca, Malezja ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Long ride along highway 1. Not much besides pavement through the jungle. Not even a monkey to beak up the day. Arrive in Kampar. Opt to try the region’s dish - clay pot chicken with rice. So good! Crispy, burnt rice bits and moist chicken with occasional bites of salted fish. Highlight of day. Czytaj więcej

  • Over the mountain range

    25 lipca, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Early morning start to try and avoid heat while we make it to the top of the mountain. It is quite hazy with smoke from fires in Indonesia. Stop and chat with monkeys and then are stopped as the road prohibits cyclists - too dangerous. Policeman at checkpoint tries to flag down trucks to transport us with no luck. Finally a car passing the other way stops and offers a ride. Manage to fit everything in and finish the last 1000 feet of climbing with ease. Pop out at next checkpoint and cruise down the hill. Go another 20 miles before stopping in Tanjung Malim. Walk through large university to very good Thai food. Czytaj więcej

  • Bukit Tinggi

    23 lipca, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Enjoy a good breakfast before heading back out of the jungle and continuing our westward journey. Rolling hills aren’t too bad thought the trucks carrying palm oil fruits are unfortunately plentiful. Luckily the final miles, which are uphill are mostly in the shade. Arrive in Bukit Tinggi - basically an exit off the highway and make our way up to our apartment. Walk back down to the town for Chinese dinner. Czytaj więcej

  • Elephants!

    22 lipca, Malezja ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Leave the lowlands and head up into the jungle to Kuala Gandah - Ho,e of the Elephant Conservation Center. With our tour guide, get to feed the baby elephants. Watch the big elephants get their bath. After, assist in bathing and exfoliating the baby elephants. Quite rough skin. Interesting note: they utilize the elephants at the center to assist when other wild elephants need to be rescued. Stay at Chalet right next to center. Lovely “local dinner”. Czytaj więcej