27-year-old Singaporean, Ram, embarked on a cycling adventure across Asia, travelling across seven countries on his two-wheel drive.
Starting from Singapore, he travelled through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China, sharing his adventures on Instagram.
Sharing with MS News, Ram explained that he would start the second leg of his Southeast Asia journey in October 2024, where he would travel to Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines.
Ram started his journey on bike in Singapore on 17 February, cycling through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and finally, China.
He filmed his journey and shared many short clips of his adventure on his Instagram page, showcasing the obstacles he faced and the many joyful moments along the way.
Ram spent his first 16 days cycling across Malaysia before entering Thailand via Bukit Kayu Hitam.
In Thailand, he cycled through many Southern cities, including Hatyai, Phattalung, and Nakhonsrithammarat.
He then took a train from Surat Thani to Bangkok and took another train to Pattaya.
From Pattaya, he cycled to the eastern province, Sa Kaew, where he subsequently crossed to Cambodia.
During his time in Cambodia, Ram got a chance to enjoy Songkran with the locals in Siem Reap.
“…what an exciting event Songkran is,” he wrote in his Instagram post caption under a clip of him cycling along the road as celebrants splash him with water.
Source: @dhnrjb on Instagram
From there, he travelled to Laos and despite a bout of food poisoning, he went to see the Don Det waterfall.
On the 80th day of his journey, he arrived in Vietnam and cycled through its chilly highlands. He even spent some time relaxing in Sapa.
He left Vietnam for China on day 106. He described the border crossing as “the most nerve-wracking”.
“Probably because it’s very different compared to the other countries and I was cut off from common convenient apps without a working VPN,” he explained in his Instagram post.
In response to queries from MS News, he said Kunming, China would be his final destination for this leg of his journey.
He added that he would fly back home in the first week of July.
Ram shared that he had spent around eight months planning the itinerary. However, he said that he “followed completely nothing since day 1”, realising that “such trips are better when spontaneous and not structured”.
He also shared the only time he’s cycled such a distance was during a previous cycling trip from Singapore to Desaru — a 125km trip — with a friend. Additionally, he had participated in overseas Duathlon races in Selangor and Phuket.
Among his memorable moments during the journey, he said the most eventful one was when his bike’s wheel broke in the middle of nowhere in Thailand.
Source: @dhnrjb on Instagram
At that time, he was 100km away from his next destination and the nearest town was about 10km away.
He had to push his bike for 10km to the nearest town to hitchhike, where he got help from the police.
He asked the police for an available bike shop in town. Unfortunately, the bike shop couldn’t do anything about his situation, so the police let him hop on a pickup car and drive him out of town.
The police then stopped a random car on the road and asked Ram to hop on the car as the driver was heading towards his destination, Aranyaprathet.
The driver dropped him 25km away from the destination, so he hitched another pickup car to drive him to a nearby town where he found a bike shop and got his bike fixed.
“The whole problem led me to another adventure of trying to hitch a ride. It was definitely an exciting experience to ride in a Thai police car and in the cars of two strangers with my bike in a foreign land,” Ram said.
After completing the first leg of his cycling journey across Southeast Asia, Ram shared his plans of a second leg in October 2024.
For the second leg, he plans to travel to Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines.
Source: @dhnrjb on Instagram
When asked for advice on long-distance cycling, he said not to worry about things that are beyond our control.
“It’s normal to feel nervous about all the wrong things that could happen. But too much worrying limits your actions and the fun. Instead, be in control of the things that you can like riding defensively, sufficient fuelling, listening to your body and travelling with an open mind,” he wrote.
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Featured image adapted from @dhnrjb on Instagram and @dhnrjb on Instagram.
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