Singapore, Day Five

Today was all about getting ready to start the actual bike touring. I got a much needed haircut, Dave gathered some snacks (a few bags of what we call Mysterious Crunchy Snacks, all from an Indian market and all full of spices and textures we haven’t found in the U.S.), we found a fuse for our power adapter, and we ate more South Indian food for lunch. Yes, we are thoroughly addicted to Indian food in this heaven called Little India.

We also had another evening of dinner plans to look forward to, this time with someone we hadn’t even met in person yet. There is a great website called Crazy Guy on a Bike (or CGOAB, as those involved refer to it). It is a site put together by a bike touring enthusiast who thought other bike tourers might like a place to keep their online journals and mingle in the virtual world. This is one of the most active communities I’ve been a part of online, and the people I’ve “met” are incredibly nice and helpful. There are members from all over the world posting bike touring trip journals and almost all the members also read a lot of the other journals on the site. I double-posted the Great Divide journal there and am posting this SE Asia tour as well.

That’s how we met Al. He lives in Singapore and has ridden many areas throughout Southeast Asia. He writes trip journals on CGOAB as well as travel stories for ThingsAsian.com and offered to answer any questions we might have and share advice for our trip. What a terrific opportunity!

Tonight, Al also brought along Brian, an American friend of his who has also traveled throughout the area and now lives in Singapore. Al took us to one of the best Indian restaurants in the area and we shared all kinds of new and familiar dishes while talking constantly about the trip and countries ahead of us. We had a blast talking with and learning from Al and Brian over the next three or so hours. We had one country map after another out on the table while Al blasted bits of information at us. I scribbled notes about places to stay, roads to take or avoid, places to be sure and see or skip. We also learned a lot about the different cultures and political situations of the countries we’ll be seeing. Once again we’re blown away at the hospitality, friendliness, and knowledge of Singaporeans. We couldn’t believe how helpful one evening could be.

Once we got back to the hostel we sorted through and re-packed our panniers so we’d be ready to go in the morning.

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