Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The hard part
@10:17 PM
I believe I have yet to shed any light on the upcoming Tour that I have been dropping so many hints on in the past two posts. Here goes...
The Tour will be an epic 5.5 month journey from Singapore to Tibet, ending in Calcutta. It will cover a total of 7800km over 172 days, ranging over terrain as varied as jungles and urban cities and mountains, in temperatures from tropical summer to wintry cold. All this, on a bicycle.
The plan is to head north from Singapore, into West Peninsular Malaysia and up into Thailand. From there, I will head north to Laos and into China, passing through the Yunan province and onward into Tibet. In Tibet, the goal is to set foot on Mt Everest Base Camp, after which I will head down to Nepal and into India, finally finishing in Calcutta, where I will take a plane back to Singapore. The journey should end just before University term starts in August.
The Tour is fraught with dangers like disease and robbers, and it is certainly no mean feat to consistently force yourself to cover up to 45km per day, every day, for 5 months. It gets worse in Tibet, where mountains of more than 4000m in height are ominously omnipresent.
Here are the facts:
Malaysia West Coast (Singapore - Khlong Ngae [Thailand]): 859
Thailand (Khlong Ngae - Chacheongsao [Near Bangkok]): 1153
Thailand/Laos (Chacheongsao - Meepeng [China border]): 1247
China/Tibet (Menpeng - Tingri [Near Everest Base Camp]): 3076
Nepal/India (Tingri - Calcutta): 1478
Total: 7834km (minimum approximated distance), 172 days (Feb 10 - August 1)
Min average speed: 45.5km/day
The current record holder for long distance cycling is Khoo Swee Chiow, who cycled from Singapore to Beijing on bicycle. It took him 73 days to cycle 8200km. However, this is done with support vehicle; he has a team that carries his luggage around for him, and has little to no travel worries like accomodation and safety. This is not the case for my attempt.
I will be carrying stuff like thermal sleeping bag, tentage, gortex jackets, winter clothing, food and drink, camera and repair equipment. These stuff are not cheap, I estimate to spend up to $2000 minimum for the lot.
There are many other considerations and precautions that I will require, like vaccinations against the tropical Yellow Fever, Hepathetis B, Dengue Fever, and whatever medicine works against the dreaded Malaria. Travellers' Cheques might be a solution to money woes as an ATM card is as good as useless, and there is always a worry that the bicycle will break down somewhere horrible, stranding you in unknown land with little help for miles. A satellite phone will be helpful, but expensive, and electricity will be scarce where I am heading.
Another worry is that of time. The time limit is the absolute limit, extension is not an option. University starts in August, and I have no intention of placing my education in jeopardy if it can be avoided (I did try deferring for a year, but was rejected).
I have mentioned taking up charitable causes in my previous post, and indeed I have made some headway into obtaining information on the kind of charity I will like to work for.
Child at Street 11 looks promising, as an organisation that educates and helps young children from low-income and dysfunctional families break out of the poverty cycle in one generation. They provide free child care and pre-school education, and looking at their financial records, helping them is definitely more worthwhile than looking at larger corporations like National Kidney Foundation. They don't need help. Street 11 does.
Of course, for a successful charity drive, it means I must inevitably publicise widely for support in this event. I guess that by starting this blog, I have in fact taken the first step without intending to actually do so.
Last, but not least of my concerns, is that of sponsorship: I require someone, or some organisation, to cover up to $10,000 in costs for the journey. Some company whose products will contribute greatly towards the trip will be ideal, like some insurance company (Great Eastern?) or credit card company (Visa?), or maybe even bicycle companies like Shimano and Cateye. I'm not sure yet, but I suspect this may not be too tough. Obtaining the help of National Sports Council and SCTF will be good too, as well as the support of the various Singaporean embassies scattered among the countries of visit.
5 months and 8 days. Who ever said it was going to be easy?
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