Hello Holiday Fu, how are you?

My name’s Anderson, and I’m about to cycle through SE Asia. With my wife and three friends. For over four months. In Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. With no messy schedule to interfere with the fun.

Sounds exciting, exhilarating, and perhaps a little bit crazy, right? Well, that’s what I think, at least. But with a minimum of planning, a pretty tight total budget (under $5,000 per person), and the gumption to say “yes,” we’ll all be convening in Bangkok this week to begin what can only be described as an odyssey.

Fortunately, having already spent a year travelling in India and Nepal, as well as 16 months teaching ESL in Busan, South Korea – both with my wife Liz – I’m assuming (uh-oh), that I’m reasonably well prepared for the maddening hardships that low-budget travel often leads to. Thankfully, your job’s the easy part – you’ve just got to read about it to find out what happens.

My upcoming series of articles intends to balance the adventure of cycling, the energy of SE Asia’s many amazing places, and the opportunities provided by slow-paced travel. If you want the day-to-day updates – conveniently PG-rated for our families – you’ll have to read my blog. But if you want intriguing stories on modern travel, highlighting spectacular locations and unique people, with a dedication to actually keeping it real, then Back To Bangkok, An Asian Bicycle Adventure is going to be perfectly suited to you.

OK, that sounds great and all, but who am I? Read the rest of this entry »

My name’s Anderson, and I’m cycling through Southeast Asia with my wife and three friends. We’re spending over four months exploring Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. With a minimum of planning, a pretty tight total budget (under $5,000 per person), and the gumption to say “yes,” we are pedalling through the unknown to find the unexpected.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Oh, Vietnam,” the bus station attendant said, as she glanced at my ticket. “Please wait a moment.”

She walked away, never to be seen again. Near me, other mini-bus passengers were boarding a bus going in the opposite direction, towards Siem Reap. As the crowd thinned, I noticed a pair of blond-haired, blue-eyed backpackers, towering above a tight circle of mini-bus drivers smoking cigarettes on the corner. Read the rest of this entry »

Scott Browning, the author of this article, watches the sun set over Doc Let Beach, in Vietnam, 3181 kilometres into his journey of over 4000 kilometres.

Sitting in gravel and dirt by the side of a lonely highway somewhere in rural Laos, trying unsuccessfully to fix a rusty, jammed brake cable, I began questioning the motivations which led me there. The midday sun blazed overhead, I had a tiny amount of water left and no idea where to spend the night. Over 300 kilometers separated me from my final destination. Read the rest of this entry »

I pull myself atop a large boulder perched above a rural road. I’m about 60 km outside of Nha Trang, a seaside city on Vietnam’s central coast. I’ve been travelling now for about three weeks and am already on my third country. A guest I met at the Jungle Beach resort, where I’m staying, told me if I turned off the road at the skull and cross bones sign with Vietnamese writing and hiked in this direction, I’d find a waterfall. I’m hot, sweaty and likely to impale myself on the under bush at any moment. Read the rest of this entry »