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SE Asia

January - April 2025
  • Uncle Woully
multi month sejour Read more
  • Uncle Woully

List of countries

  • Singapore Singapore
  • Laos Laos
  • Cambodia Cambodia
  • Thailand Thailand
  • Finland Finland
Categories
Around the world, Backpacking, Bicycle, Nature, Solo travel, Spirituality
  • 34.7kkilometers traveled
Means of transport
  • Flight29.7kkilometers
  • Bicycle2,425kilometers
  • Bus946kilometers
  • Train714kilometers
  • Motorbike85kilometers
  • Motorboat52kilometers
  • Walking49kilometers
  • Swimming43kilometers
  • Ferry42kilometers
  • Car3kilometers
  • Paddling/Rowing1kilometers
  • Barefoot1kilometers
  • Hiking-kilometers
  • Tuk Tuk-kilometers
  • Camper-kilometers
  • Caravan-kilometers
  • 4x4-kilometers
  • Sailing-kilometers
  • Houseboat-kilometers
  • Cruise ship-kilometers
  • Horse-kilometers
  • Skiing-kilometers
  • Hitchhiking-kilometers
  • Cable car-kilometers
  • Helicopter-kilometers
  • 85footprints
  • 82days
  • 1.1kphotos
  • 188likes
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  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia
    1

    One step further around the world

    January 13 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -3 °C

    Just dropped Oliver off at the train station. He is on his way back to school at UND. I'm back to being homeless and roaming the planet in cheap hostels. I'll have a bicycle this time. Oliver is flying the opposite direction around the globe and together we'll cover more than half the distance of an entire circumnavigation. On my way back to the USA I'll fly in the same direction and I'll have inadvertently flown around the world.

    Flew from Helsinki over Tallinn, saw the ferry ply the waters below. Around Ukraine and down to Istanbul, mostly cloudy. Istabul airport is actually a giant shopping mall and it's enormous. I have 7 hours here. Good place for a nap. out of curiosity look at croissant pricing, the first one I see is €10. there are other shops at 6 Euros and there are some sandwiches in the 15 Euro range and I saw a few for under $10. Starbucks pricing is exactly double a 'normal' price for Starbucks. Fun to have a chat conversation with Oliver while he is flying over the Atlantic. Time for breakfast for him and a nap for me.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    All the way to Thailand

    January 14 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Istabul-Hong Kong is one of those long haul flights. By the morning the flight comes by the Himalayas, I'm on the wrong side but I snag a view from the galley area until the seat belt sign comes on. Are K2 and Everest in the line up of peaks that seem to scratch the underside of the plane? I don't know, I'll have to look up the geography, but it was exciting to see that range for the first time. I might also have seen the Pamir highway and the highest drivable pass.

    In Hong Kong I have a bike tool confiscated, the Chinese have odd security rules.

    In Bangkok I hook up the Sim card, charge, get local currency and I'm in the train that takes me partially into the city. There are no Uber in Thailand, so I jump on the back of a motorcycle taxi instead! it's a freewheeling country.

    I think I've done enough flying for a while. In the last 5 weeks I have flown somewhere once week. that's a new personal record.

    I'm worn out with a small cold and it's time to stay put in one country.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    Bangkok relax

    January 15 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    I sleep in really late because I was up in the middle of the night with my cold. Today is just relax and an initial foray around the neighborhood.

    The hostel is fantastic with some of the best beds I've seen in hostels and two balconies on the canal with a small restaurant across playing nice soft music. This hostel is the kind of place that you don't need to leave to chill out.
    By 1:00 p.m. I do go for a walk and go all the way to the Chao Phraya river. There is a tourist boat hop on hop off, for 4 bucks I hop on and stay on for the full tour. I'm kind of comatose from the cold, I'm wiped out. So this is a perfect way to sit, take in sunshine and the sights. I almost fall asleep and struggle to get back to the hostel where I crash for a few hours.
    I make a run for dinner food and throat lozenges and I have dinner on the lower terrace. It's very peaceful considering I am in a bustling city. Great pick this hostel.

    Hard to believe I was just in Finland! I think my mind hasn't caught up yet.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    Bought the bicycle

    January 16 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Mellow morning, talk to young woman from London who just arrived and is going to spend a year in Southeast Asia, her first long backpacking trip, she has the spirit.

    I set off on foot to the decathlon store. with the Google routing for walking I end up in very small passages and along a canal. probably not many tourists ever go here.

    In the decathlon they have an ST100 mountain bike that I am familiar with from the Camino. It's just 7,500 baht which is $225. The only thing is that didn't have any XL sizes in store so I have to go to Korat and start ridng from there.

    The French guy I spoke with yesterday had mentioned that area Northeast of Bangkok and said it was very untouristed and very mellow so it would seem this is going to be a great starting point.

    I had sushi and did a massage chair session in the same shopping center. Following Google to get a ferry has me walking down an alley where an older lady said the ferry is no longer going. I'm not the first one to follow ancient Google directions, they're pretty bad in Thailand.

    Pha Chang ferry to Grand Palace. I meandered back to the hostel through a few touristy zones and slept for a few hours. I'll take all the rest I can get.

    Good nap and I woke up thinking symphony and found out that on the 19th there is one free in the park. I added two days to my stay in Bangkok. Watched a movie late into the night about creating and producing your dreams, maybe I should take note.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    An afternoon adventure

    January 17 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    A morning on the laptop. Late start for a walk around, traditional meander without target. A temple gate appears, I walk through to look. Observing people. Two young guys graduated from University today, I congratulate them. A religious festival in the park, a woman sitting by herself at Starbucks, taking pictures and sending to her friends. I walk by and say hello, conversation ensues. Here for a working conference as an engineering professor for the University of Berlin, speaks fluent English and we do not switch into German. She loves her work, 57 years old and 10 years to go with an 11 year old daughter at home, happy to be away from the routine for a bit. She moves on and we walk different directions only to run into each other a few corners further on. We walk and chat for a mile and part ways. Might see her at the concert in the park on Sunday, she was happy I told her about it. I tell everybody who I think might enjoy it.

    Sticky rice with mango and a papaya smoothie, more filling than you think.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    Floating market day

    January 18 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    I'm walking to the floating market that is the closest, it's a walk through a big city but I've never been here and it's fascinating to see how the Thai live. By picking random routes you end up in random places such as a locals food market without any tourists. It's the real thing, the supposedly floating market is actually built on concrete piers. This is even true for the second floating market that I visit with three others who I hook up with to share the boat price. They are German, Dutch and French. This is a great ride on one of those classic Thai canal boats. We part, they take a taxi for speed, I take another boat. An hour later I run into them again on the ferry and I tell them what they missed. The boat sat and waited for 15 minutes, we rode for 30 and had a temple stop for 5 minutes on the way so we all got off. I got back in 3 but the boat was gone. The other pax show up, we all wait, after 10 minutes they ask, is he coming back? Then they all how much did you pay? 600 bath a German couple, 500 say the Polish group and then they look at me. I say I got the senior discount, because I know I paid 200 regular and they got had. We all got ditched by the boat driver so we end up walking the rest. My new friends couldn't believe they escaped that.Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    Skyview Terrace Evening

    January 18 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    The view from the 63rd floor bar is astounding. The drink price from the bar is equally high and both were to be expected.

    At the table next to me stands a big man by himself, Marco turns out to be a financier from Zurich Switzerland. We join up and have a few hours of conversation. Every Saturday there are fireworks on the river and we're on the right side of the building to catch it far below us which is an unusual vantage point.

    We were ready to leave when we get escorted to the other side, where a movie once was filmed and it is quite the setup with a restaurant, a round lit up bar and a stage where a jazz band starts playing. The whole scene is absolutely five star. Dinner here would be about $200 pp not including wine. I end up staying for another 2 hours up there. The views are mesmerizing and a dark orange moon rises through the city fumes, jazz band is fantastic.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    An easy Sunday

    January 19 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Casual stroll to a nearby hotel on the river for breakfast. Spent a lot of time watching birds and ships.

    The afternoon evening is for the concert in the park which is put on by the Bangkok Royal Symphony Orchestra. A lot of their junior talent is on hand and they put on a fabulous show.

    I struck up a conversation with Ikko who records the events for YouTube and he tells me lots of details. He is from the Philippines but much prefers it in Thailand where he has now lived 6 years. His channel is    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia
    1

    Bye Bangkok - Bike

    January 20 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    There are two international airports in Bangkok, My train departs from the other one I flew into. A 58 minute bus ride sets me back 21 bath. There is a surprising amount of industry along this busy highway. The 4 hr train is the locals transport as well. I'm loving it.

    Decathlon Korat has my bike ready to roll, Live is good on two wheels. After a gear drop I take some back routes along a lake and find a 1000 year old temple with a worn lintel stone. It's in a forgotten corner, no tourists.

    For dinner I got papaya salad, initially ordered no spice but then said actually just a little spice. When it came I just about fell through a burning hole in the ground it was so hot. On the upside I will definitely burn the rest of this cold away with that heat.

    Wow, I've already been in Thailand for a whole week, that went by fast.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerSE Asia

    Pooped Puppy & The 7 Headed Serpent

    January 22 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The last two days I stayed close to the decathlon to make sure the bike would be okay. I rode about 20K both days and everything is in order.

    I get up early and probably chose the target a little too far at 104km. The air quality is terrible, traversing a busy Korat city and I am still coughing up chunks and I feel like that cold is still there. Lousy way to start an exotic bike trip.

    At my first stop for a drink, about 2.5 hrs in, all of a sudden the pedal gives way and goes crooked in the crank arm. I don't force it. I get fueled up at this little store and I try to get it back in but it will not align straight and the threads will not catch to go all the way back in. Unless I fix this I'm stranded and I'll need a taxi to go back to decathlon. I was just about to give up and on this final try I managed to make it work. Long stop of 2 plus hours. The pedal keeps loosening causing lots of stops. Tomorrow I'm going to weld them in place. There!

    104km was more than I should have done off the 4 week xmas couch. My body is complaining loudly. I'm a pooped puppy.

    At one of my stops I find a temple It's a special one, the statue leading to the golden Buddha is a seven-headed serpent. It has a different meaning in each of the cultures that has used it.    Read more

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