Lots to catch up on

I feel like so much has transpired since my last post, so without boring you with 82 paragraphs of this day and that, I'll give you the executive summary of the adventures of Kyle and I'll have to let the pictures fill in where the words don't.

First of all...against all odds and countless attempts to upload a video, I finally broke through. This was a priceless moment in Indonesia (let me know if link doesn't work)
http://s191.photobucket.com/albums/z93/lineker119/?action=view&current=IMGP0951.flv

So as we were on the train from Malaysia back to Bangkok, I realized that my passport expired in January of 2010. Big deal, right? Well, most countries require that your passport not expire within 6 months of applying for a visa, which meant that come July I would no longer be able to apply for visas without a new passport. So therein lied the dilemma. So in a nutshell, I got a friend of Nicole's, who lives in Bangkok, to pick up my new passport and mail it to me while I was still in Thailand. Since everyone else on 'Team 7' had to leave Thailand before their visas expired, we decided to part ways and let me iron out my passport issues. We left with talk/speculation of crossing paths somewhere in Laos. This was on the 11th of April.

So I ended up doing a large loop back through Chiang Rai and north (an alternative route) to Chiang Khong, where I was to pick up my new passport. I arrived in Chiang Khong late on the 6th. The next morning I picked up my new passport without too much hassle :) and jumped on the next boat to Laos (04/07). At this point, I was basically playing Tom and Jerry with Team 7, trying to pick up their trail. I charged super hard that day, through never ending hills that seemed to have no summits. I don't think I ever have nor want to push myself as hard as I did that day. But to no avail, the team was nowhere in sight. So during one of the punishing ascents, I ended up grabbing a hold of the back of a semitruck that was struggling up the hill about as much as I was, and he gave me a 'ride' for a few clutch kilometers to the summit. When I finally let go, the semi came to a stop and the driver gave me a look like....'that's all you wanted?, do you really want to pedal this?' So after some hand gestures and some pointing, which made no sense to either of us, he ended up convincing me to throw my bike into the back of his rig and down the road we went. It was an epic experience full of being fed a bowl of rice with tomato fish sauce and playing Michael Jackson on my IPOD speakers (thanks Nicole!). He ended up taking me some 115km down the road to Luang Namtha only about 60 km from the China border. I was sure that I'd closed the 2 day lead between me and Team 7......

So the next day (04/08) I pushed on towards China, I arrived at the Chinese border around 12 and after hassling the Laos immigration officers, they finally produced Charlie, Spencer and Breckan's departure cards indicating that they had passed earlier that morning. So I flew through Laos in only 2 days (as did the rest of Team 7).

So I crossed into China.....

which was like night and day or more like famine to feast. Laos is soo poor and food was nearly impossible to find. Mostly rice and more rice, then came China, which was like I entered Vegas. So after gorging myself with huge friend chicken legs and some weird baked animal legs, I charged into China. I'd been pushing it hard the past few days, maybe a little harder than I should have, and I ended up in Long Lin, a tiny little farm town about 60 km from the China border. I pulled into the 'town' and didn't even pretend like I spoke the language, as I didn't even know how to say hello or how to count to 10. I was down to the necessities of communication, pointing to my mouth for food and putting my hands near my head indicating I needed a place to sleep. And the woman I played charades with reminded me of an old black lady in Macon, Georgia who didn't really care who you were, where you came from or what you done but would express her sincere kindness in the form of gigantic bowls of freshly steamed vegetables, a delicious chicken/egg concoction and a large bowl of rice. Then she proceeded to show me the spare bedroom, all without exchanging a single word. It was magical, almost as if I was her muted child and she knew exactly how to care for me.

So I pushed on with some soreness and a great taste in my mouth from the kindness the night before, and pushed through some beautiful stretches of rural China. I pressed some 140 km (my biggest day thus far) hoping that around the next corner would be 'Team 7' taking a break from the sweltering heat......what I did find around the corner was some women sitting underneath umbrellas selling various fruits, vegetables and things I would have never thought edible.

Mie Dom, maggots and ants wrapped in banana leaves. Gotta love China!

One advantage to cycling through China, unlike Laos and Thailand, is their discovery or simply their ability to build tunnels which cut directly through mountains and avoid gigantic climbs only to fall right back down to the bottom of the valley, which is a total downer on the morale . I've passed through tons of tunnels, some up to a mile in length.

So I ended up in Guan Ping (04/09) yet another tiny farm 'town' which consisted of about 2 buildings and a bathroom. And once again, charades and a smile turned into a wonderful home cooked diner and a free place to stay in their spare bedroom. I'm actually really enjoying the liberation and benefits of the solo life, all of the experiences that I've had have been the result of no one other than my own actions. My encounters with people typically involve getting off of my bike and sitting in silence with some woman who just goes about her life while I rest or eat. I'm emailing 'Team 7' as much as possible, but the ruralness of China has prevented a steady stream of emails. So I'm currently in Pu Er (04/10) which is extremely famous for their tea. I've taken a rest day today and plan to head north tomorrow. China is awesome! I'm eating extremely well (almost too well) and the people are the kindest people on the planet.

So I'm hoping to reconnect with 'Team 7' in Dali which is about 500 km north of Pu Er. So it's looking like I'll be another 5 or so days trucking it solo. And unless my travelers luck runs out, I'm in for a wonderful adventure. We're starting to get super rural and I don't forsee a whole lot of internet in the near future, so if you don't hear from me, close you eyes and imagine a white guy totally out of place hanging out with some weathered Chinese farmers eating some mysterious animal concotion in total silence with a huge smile on my face. I love it!

Here's my China progress thus far:

In case you are not a walking globe and have no idea where these places that I mention are,
here's a super rough (ghetto rather) progress map of SE Asia thus far.

I also posted all of my cycling pictures from:
Thailand
Laos
China

Finally here's some stats that I thought were interesting (as Charlie is the official record keeper, this is all I have at the moment)

Total miles: 1,050
Days away from 'Team 7' : 8
Days in China: 4
Days spent in Laos: 2
Days out of the country: 83
Days without a job: 191
Days without paying for rent: 328

And here's some pictures from China: