Singapore to Ireland
From Asia to Europe by Motorcycle
The Project
I am riding a motorcycle from Singapore to Ireland in support of the Lotus Children’s Centre in Mongolia.
Read more about the work of Lotus and my route on the About & Donate pages.
You can support the children of Lotus and my ride across Asia and Europe, by making a donation to Lotus Children’s Centre through Virgin Money giving.
Thank you for your support.
28th April 2014 110km 37’C Nothing special to report. A short ride up the route 11 superslab, pretty boring in all honesty. After all the fun of the backroads, riding the freeway is really very uninteresting. That said, coming back into Thailand after a few weeks in Cambodia & Laos, Thailand feels like a very highly developed country, and very clean. I had the bike washed for the first time in 5 weeks, they did a terrible job for 150 baht, but…
Nan – Lampang, the long way 27th April 2014 402km 24’C – 42’C I was up and ready to roll early this morning, but was parked in by three of the other guesthouse guests. Eventually the guesthouse owner went and woke one of them up to move his car so I could get out and ride. The plan for today was to ride some of the excellent mountain roads of Nan province, and make a loop around to Phrae for the night. The roads…
26th April 2014 175km 21’c – 34’C An early morning visit to the Hongsa market was eye-opening. The market was bustling with people buying their daily provisions, meat, vegetables, rice. And then there were some more interesting items, such as fried crickets, ant lavae & something like fried cicada. I settled on a block of sticky rice with yam, cooked in bamboo for breakfast. These are so delicious, sweet, sticky and packaged in bamboo they transport easily. Eating…
25th April 2014 200km 32’C Leaving Luang Prabang early this morning, I had two choices for the route to Hongsa. Option 1 was a direct line, crossing the Mekong and off-road for about 150km. Option 2 was slightly longer, 200km, but mostly on-road path (well, called a road, by Lao standards) No one was able to tell me the state of the off-road track, other than if it was to rain it would be impassable. I was quite keen to…
22nd April 2014 334km 34’C The principle reason reason for riding out to Phonsavan and back again (500km round trip) was to take the opportunity to visit the Plain of Jars. Although as it happened, the winding, twisty mountain road and views made the extra effort all the more worthwhile. In the early morning I rode out through rice paddies, rolling hills and quiet little villages to visit three of the jars sites. At two of the sites I was completely…
22-24th April 2014 41’C 0km by moto Spent a few days exploring Luang Prabang by bicycle, foot and boat, along with completing a bunch of administrative tasks. People often assume that this is one big holiday, and it often looks like that, but there are hours of admin that need to be completed too, so I’ve been in-front of the laptop planning, organising, updating, researching, arranging visas, permits, plotting routes, checking track conditions, weather, diplomatic checks, bike, banking, etc. I try to stay on…
20th April 2014 40’C 0km by moto A non-moto-riding day today, I hired a bicycle and cycled around Vientiane, enjoying the sights.
21st April 2014. 23’C – 36’C. 414km Leaving Vientiane early, the plan was to avoid any traffic and get some distance before the day heated up. Neither was achievable. I rolled down the stairs of the hotel and out onto Vientiane streets before 8am, but it seems Vientiane residents were already way ahead of me. The traffic was abysmal, and the road to match. Cars, tuk tuks, trucks and buses all stirring up plumes of dust, choking me. The traffic moved so slowly, probably a good thing as…
19th April 2014 38.5’C 387km Today was the last push, into the capital of Laos, Vientiane. The road, as usual in my brief experience, was excellent for the most part. On reaching the outskirts of the city, I headed down the ‘450 year road’. I thought that was a strange name for a road, until I rode it. The road was built to celebrate the 450 years since Vientiane became the capital of Laos. There was a whole section of dual carriageway, 6 lanes,…
17th April 2014 515km 24’C – 37’C After a decent nights sleep, I packed the bike and headed out from Pon’s Guesthouse. Although after riding twenty metres, I realised the steering was heavy, and looked down to find the front tyre was only half inflated. I rode slowly until I saw a compressor outside a hut. In SE Asia, and especially Laos & Cambodia, you can always find a tyre repair hut within 1-2km, which is good given the number of motorcycles and the…
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