VING Lee and I crossed into Thailand through the Bukit Kayu Hitam checkpoint on September 10. The next time we are back here will be in a couple of years, when we make our way home.

The first day of the ride from Danok met with the sad news of the passing of Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, beloved sultan of Kedah, my home state. May God bless His Majesty’s soul. 

The ride through southern Thailand was pleasant as we made our way to Bangkok. The roads were good and the people friendly. We came across many kind and generous strangers who were always more than happy to offer us the use of their electricity. 

Sometimes they even offered us food and water, which left an enduring impression on us. It is always a comforting bonus to be showered with kindness in a foreign land, especially where there is a language barrier. It is certainly something for us to reflect on when we return, that we should extend the same to those living in our country, away from their respective homes. To pay it forward, so to speak. 

Our ride towards Bangkok was, however, marred by regular incidents of broken spokes on our bikes. It caused us a delay of almost a week as we searched for replacements. The occurrences were frequent enough for us to be alarmed because the rate of breakage was unusual by any standard. 

We decided to get a bike technician friend in Nakhon Si Thammarat to  custom-make a set of spare spokes which we will bring along with us until they run out. Hopefully we will never see the day but then again, every problem has a solution. We’ll just cross the bridge when we come to it, and yes, there will be plenty of bridges to cross over the next couple of years. 

We finally made it to Bangkok and were hosted by a Malaysian friend whom I had met during last year’s ride to China. She offered us the use of her apartment for the duration of our stopover and took us to see interesting places around Bangkok that are off the beaten track. We also had the opportunity to meet Malaysians living in Bangkok at a lunch they hosted for us. It was of course wonderful to be able to meet up with fellow citizens when abroad and they were remarkably hospitable. 

Our ride from Bangkok towards the Myanmar border was equally as interesting as the ride from the south. Our destination was the town of Mae Sot which sits in the northwest of Thailand and shares a border with Myawaddy on the Burmese side.

Cycling up north, the hospitality we had enjoyed in the south waned a little. Folks seemed less generous and more calculating. We had a food stall owner charge us 400 baht (about RM50) each for the use of electricity in his eatery. Folks up north appear more hardened and less easy to engage with.

We finally reached Mae Sot after a challenging climb through the elevations which saw us being on the road for 17 hours in one day. It was a tough climb but we were eventually picked up by a kind local who saw us resting by the pitch black highway and gave us a lift into town in his truck, insisting it was too dangerous for us to be on the road at night, thus restoring our faith in Thai hospitality with a simple act of kindness. 

Next up, Myanmar, a land neither of us have a clue as to what to expect. We crossed into Myanmar on October 10, and true to expectation, were met by a completely different environment altogether from Thailand. Dust filled the air and right hand drive turned to left. The hygiene this side of the border left much to be desired. After a month in Thailand we felt like ducks out of water. 

We changed up some money and were left with a large wad of Kyats in our hands. You don’t need a wallet in Myanmar, a rubber band would be more practical.

We found a hotel for the night and wandered the streets for some dinner. Nothing looked appetising but we eventually settled at a stall. To our relief and pleasant surprise, the food was delicious, not unlike the Indian variety back home. It was encouraging as we could now have a sense of what to expect food wise from a land completely foreign to us. The teh tarik was a most welcome respite too. It was a wonderful introduction to Myanmar, under the circumstances. 

Our immediate destination from Myawaddy would be Yangon which was about 500km away and we took a week to get there. In between that, we soaked in the sights and culture of rural Myanmar, stopping at little towns for the night. 

Myanmar is littered with pagodas; simple, magnificent or majestic. We saw some breathtaking ones and even climbed a huge limestone to get to one. The view from the top of Mount Zwekabin in Hpa An was simply spectacular. 

We also met a significant number of Myanmarese who had done at least one tour of duty in Malaysia, earning a living there before returning to Myanmar. It was rather bizarre that the first words of Bahasa Malaysia I heard since setting off from Kuala Lumpur was at a rural location in Myanmar when a local, upon finding out that I was a Malaysian, started to speak to me in our national language. I was pleasantly bemused but nothing could have prepared me for the conversation in Cantonese which I had with another local. It was surreal. 

Upon arriving in Yangon, we were hosted by yet another bunch of Malaysians who reside there for work. They too were very hospitable and generous with us and also helped raise USD1000 for the childhood cancer cause which we ride for, with a promise of more to come when we complete the adventure. Thank you, fellow Malaysian, for your thoughtfulness towards the cause. 

A few days into Yangon, we hit a major snag upon finding out that a land crossing into India appeared to be far more complicated than what was initially thought. Upon checking further with the Indian embassy and various travel agencies, we discovered that India does not officially recognise any land border crossings from Myanmar, and that put paid to our plan of crossing over from the Tamu/Moreh border zone. This basically means while we may still be able to cross over from said zone, there will be no official immigration stamp on our passports, a risk we weren’t prepared to take. 

So a decision had to be made and it was decided that we head back to Bangkok and fly into Kolkata from there, but not before visiting Old Bagan in the north to savour the sights there. 

We took a bus from Yangon to Bagan and were treated to magnificent views of the ancient temple ruins which are spread across hundreds of acres of vast plains. From there, we spent three consecutive nights on buses to get to Bangkok. 

We finally arrived in Kolkata on November 24, and are currently awaiting delivery of shipment of our equipment. With any luck we should start the cycle again tomorrow and head to Taj Mahal, the first of the Seven Wonders of the World,1,300km away from Kolkata. It is winter now up northern India and we expect a chilly ride to Agra. 

Follow our journey and adventures on SevenWunders on Facebook and Instagram or read about it right here on The Malaysian Insight. 

To contribute to the care of child cancer patients, please donate to National Cancer Society of Malaysia, ref Ride for Gold, via Public Bank account no. 3988587622, or at Peoplegiving.org.

*David Wu is riding a bicyle around the world with ving Lee to raise awareness for children with cancer. The Malaysian Insight is the media partner for the Seven Wunders initiative.