A magical intercontinental cycling tour. biking through Europe and Asia

This expedition listing is by Ben and his intercontinental bike tour. So far on this cycling adventure tour he has biked through Bulgaria, China, Cambodia, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Vietnam and is currently cycling in Laos. His Blog is beautifully written and along with stunning travel photography he really captures the magic of cycle touring.

Cycle Touring

On a bicycle you are forced into intimate contact with your surroundings, the grass on the side of the road, the vehicles that drive past, the farmer in the field, that damn hill under your wells, the rain on your face, the smell of the wild flowers (or the broken sewerage pipe for that matter).

This interaction gives a real sense of the place, the traffic tells you what kind of things are going on in the area, tourism, logging, farming, industry etc. The constant exposure to the weather gives an astute awareness of the day to day changes, or in the case of a strong head wind, any natural feature which will give some shelter .

Hungry, thirsty and tired, a warm smile and a few words (or more often hand signals) is all it takes to find a place to pitch the tent for the night, on real ground with a newly gained sense of the place after a long day in the saddle.

Every since picking up my first National Geographic when I was maybe 3 years old, I have had a deep fascination with people and places. This has led me to far off places in search of what makes a person who they are and what connects them to that place where they call home.

Since starting cycling I have travelled extensively, always in search of real human interaction, at a level that is not based on money or business, but a more real interaction where I can attempt to gain an understanding of a person through there environment and willingness to interact with me as a westerner who is there without a car.

Certainly living somewhere is probably the best way to really gain this understanding, however takes a long time and thus in a lifetime there are only so many places we can spend an extended period of time. From my experience, cycling is as close as it is possible to come to this in a relatively short time.

To read Ben’s fantastic blog about his cycling tour through Bulgaria, China, Cambodia, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Vietnam and Laos please visit www.bikeben.com

Credits for the images in this article about an intercontinental cycling tour belong to Ben.

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