Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Category: Biking South East Asia

Biking from Hanoi to Singapore through Cambodia, Thailand & Malayasia

Day 2 Hook of Holland to Schiphol airport

Three & Stena rip off
A bad start to the day!

Unfortunately for my bank balance, I slept like a log on the boat, last night.

Stena has now discovered a little ruse to cash in whilst you are sleeping. They now have onboard cell service which if your phone is set to roaming it will quickly latch onto. This seems to be outside the EU roaming agreement so Three will charge you £6 per MB not good when the phone likes to back itself up at night 🙁 🙁 even worse 3 then decides to cut off your free data roaming until the next bill cycle.

It was a cold start to the day with lots of ground frost. I did my usual little tour of the Hook before I finally made it to the right path along the dunes straight into an Easterly wind. I eventually found a cafe open to defrost myself with a traditional three-egg starter to the day! No wonder the Dutch are so tall. Then it was through endless woods and forest paths all very pleasant but my mind was wondering if I could get the cycle boxed.

At the airport, once on the free WiFi, I quickly found the Baggage Storage Depot in the basement between Arrivals 1 & 2 who sold me a huge cardboard box for €23. Fitting the bike in was easy, my main concern was it rattling around in it. Time will tell..

Very impressed by the good design of Schiphol Airport, staff very pleasant and even the security guys were very cheerful and jokey even better you just leave your stuff in the bag and it just scans it in full 3D

The ride was only 50 miles all on traffic-free paths

A little bit of escapism

I’m leaving Boris in his proverbial ditch and trying to catch up a little on my cycling which is currently 3,000 miles down on last year. This escapism was bought about by this little post which caught my eye:

Particularly the bit about no winter! So coupled with me getting a place on DC Rainmakers open evening in Amsterdam a plan began to form 🙂

Today was the first stage of that plan, biking to Harwich so I could get my favourite overnight ferry to The Hook allowing me to bike to Schipol Airport tomorrow where apparently I can get a cardboard box and pack my bike up at the airport to go to Bangkok tomorrow night 🙂 and then returning in time for Ray’s do.

The ride was uneventful apart from all the regular cafes being closed and the really cold wind, offset in the day by the sun but quickly cooling down in darkness. Unfortunately I had accidentally booked on tomorrows ferry 🙁 but for £9 it was quickly sorted.

I replaced the unreliable Lumotec dyno light last night and the new SON light seems superb so hopefully, I can venture into the deepest night now plus the new 35mm tyres are fantastic on the muddy rutted Essex lanes.

Now to bed!

 

 

South East Asia bike tour post index.

Here are links to each of my days cycling from Hanoi to Singapore through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand & Malaysia during 2014.

  1. Arrival in Vietnam & first day in Hanoi
  2. Halong Bay Tour
  3. Hanoi moments
  4. Hanoi to Hang Tram – Ride Day1
  5. Hang Tram to Thanh Hoa – Day2 biking
  6. South East Asia bike ride day 3 – Thanh Hoa to Dien Chau
  7. South East Asia bike tour- Dien Chau to Vinh – Day4
  8. SE Asia bike tour Day 5 – Vinh to Ky Anh
  9. SE Asia cycle tour Day 6 – Ky Anh to Phong Na
  10. Paradise caving day
  11. South East Asia bike ride Phong Na to ChoNgoi
  12. South East Asia bike ride – Cho Ngoi to Hue
  13. South East asia tour – Hue to Dar Nang
  14. Cycling South East Asia – Da Nang to Dung Quat
  15. Cycling South East Asia – Dung Quat to Ta Phong via My Lai
  16. Geoff’s SE Asia bike trip – Tan Phong to Phu Phong
  17. SE Asia bike ride – Phu Phong to Pleiku
  18. SE Asia cycle tour – Pleiku SE Asia cycle tour – Pleiku to Borkeo
  19. Biking SE Asia – Borkeo to Stung Treng
  20. Rest day in Stung Treng & some trip statistics
  21. Asia bike tour – Sting Tring to Preah Vihcar
  22. Krong Preah Vihear to Koh Ker on my SE Asia bike tour
  23. Koh Ker to Siem Reap on Geoff’s bike tour of SE Asia
  24. Seeing the sights around Sien Reap
  25. Lazy day in Siem Reap
  26. Siem Reap to Sisophon on Geoff’s SE Asia biking tour
  27. Sisophon to Wattananakorn on Geoff’s SE Asia tour
  28. Wattananakorn to Phanom City on Geoff’s SE Asia tour
  29. To Bangkok from Phanom City on Geoff’s SE Asia tour
  30. River Kwai one day trekking tour
  31. Bangkok booty
  32. Bangkok to Samutsongkhram
  33. Samutsongkhram to Hua Hin 
  34. Hua Hin to Kuiburi
  35. Biking from Kuiburi to Baan Grood 
  36. Baan Grood to Chumpon Beach
  37. Chumpon Beach to KohTao Island
  38. Koh Tao to Donsak 
  39. Don Sak to Phrasaeng
  40. A long day from Phrasaeng to Khlong Dao 
  41. Lazing on Lanta Island
  42. Visiting Phi Phi
  43. Ko Lanta to Ko Lipe by boats
  44. Lazy in Lipe
  45. Lipe to Penang on the ferries
  46. Georgetown to Butterworth on the mainland
  47. Butterworth to Taiping 
  48. Taiping to Huang City
  49. Simpang Empat to Kuala Selangor
  50. Kuala Selangor to Banting 
  51. Banting to Port Dickson
  52. Port Dickson to Malacca 
  53. Around Melaka
  54. Malacca to Muar 
  55. Muar to Kluang 
  56. Klulang to Singapore Island
  57. Statistical end to my SE Asia bike trip

Statistical end to my SE Asia bike trip

Geoff at the Merlion in Singapore
Geoff at the Merlion in Singapore

Now my little Hanoi to Singapore bike ride is finished. Here is a first glimpse of my stats

I biked 2,558 miles (4093km) with  55,000 feet (16,764m) of ascent. Pedalled  it in 218 hours with 40 days on the road.  My total time away from Cambridge (on this trip) was 68 days from 2nd Feb to 7 April.

Geoff's SE Asia Tour
Geoff’s SE Asia Tour

I dropped down 20 degrees of Latitude from Hanoi at 21 degrees North to Singapore at 1 degree North. Biked through 5 countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore.

I spent £1245 on accommodation in the 68 days, Apart from the stupendous hospitality of Daniela & Andre in Singapore the cheapest night was Ratanak in Borkeo for £4.83 most expensive was the White Sand Hotel in Hua Hin at £42.59 per night.

Longest daily distance was 97 miles from Phu Phong to Khong Dao. Highest average speed speed was 14.32mph for the 64.7 miles from Cho Ngoi to Dien Chau. Overall average speed was  11.75mph

No major bike repairs only a new rear bike tyre in Thailand. I think 5 punctures all in the rear tyre.

I will probably add to this as time goes on…