The List

The List

by Eric and Joan

number of countries: 22
number of continents: 4
total time on trip: 26 months
miles cycled: 12,000
miles canoed: 1,000
highest point reached on bike: Everest Base Camp, Tibet, 17,060 feet
average number of hours on the bike on days we rode: 5
most number of consecutive days we rode without a day off: 15
most number of consecutive days we rode without a shower: 15
number of tires replaced 10
number of seats replaced: 3
number of bells replaced: four
total spent on bike repairs: $700
amount we paid for both our bikes new: $1,000 combined
Concerns raised by border guards or embassy officials as we tried
to enter their countries (in chronological order):
1. that we would try to sell our bikes for profit while in the country (Costa Rica)
2. that I would try to get a job (Indonesia--going rate for journalists then was $100 a month)
3. wearing shorts (Eric was kicked out of a Thai embassy for this. I had to
bring all of his papers outside for him to sign).
4. that I would write a book (China)
5. that we didn't have enough money to support ourselves while in the country (Indonesia, Slovakia)
6. that our passports looked fake because we had had extra pages added (Slovakia)
Most difficult border crossing:
U.S. to Canada (because of a fishing dispute in Aug. 97)
people most happy to see us: Thais, Laotians
people least happy to see us: Tibetans
people most likely to take us home: Eastern Germans
people most likely to get us drunk: Eastern Germans, Malaysians of Borneo
Countries where I couldn't wear shorts while cycling, because it would
offend the locals: Indonesia, Malaysia
average temperature in these countries: over 90 degrees
where most people mobbed us to get a look (by size of crowds):
1. Nepal (five minute stop = crowd of 50-60)
2. Tibet (five minute stop = crowd of 50)
3. China (five minute stop = crowd of 20-30)
4. Java (five minute stop = crowd of 10 - 20)
Strange laws
No urinating in elevators: Singapore
No insulting the king's name or image: Thailand
No bicycling in restricted areas (just about everywhere) for foreigners: Tibet
Strange customs:
*24-hour taxi delivery of vodka, plus special taxi-driver only lines in liquor stores: Poland
*Burning effigies of clothing and money, in honor of ancestors: Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo
*Making daily offerings of flowers to bridges, computers, motorcycles and other inanimate objects,
*Only using the back door to enter the house, while reserving the front door for strangers only: U.S.
*Not removing new product stickers, to show that your belongings were bought new: Malaysian Borneo
*Rubbing noses to say hello: Maori people, New Zealand
*Free green tea with every hotel room, China
*Free milk with every hotel room, New Zealand
where we most often saw people going to the bathroom on the street:
1. Tibet
2. China
CRIME
Most trouble with police: Kuching, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), where five undercover cops
visited our hotel room at midnight, because they thought I was a Malaysian woman sleeping with a white man
most worries about police: Tibet
most border controls: Tibet
the only place where we were asked for a bribe: Nepal
the only place where we carried bribes: China
number of times we used bribes: 0
most armed guards sighted: Manila
most armed soldiers sighted: Indonesia
most prostitutes sighted: Angeles City, Philippines
country where we were most often slept in hotels that doubled as brothels: Philippines
country where I was mistaken for a prostitute: Costa Rica
location of only hotel to officially require a marriage certificate before
booking a man and woman into the same room: Manila
most beggars sighted: Kathmandu
most child beggars sighted: Tibet
what beggars wanted:
1. money (everywhere)
2. cigarettes (Java, Tibet)
3. pens (Nepal)
4. candy (Nepal)
5. pictures of the Dalai Lama (Nepal, Tibet)
6. my hiking boots (Bali)
most aggressive begging monks sighted: Lhasa
where we were most often saw people playing board games on the street:
China (mah jong and chess)
Hungary (chess)
Things stolen:
Bali: US$200, from a door maker who promised and failed to send us
hand-carved doors we ordered
Philippines: US$100, from a money belt we accidentally sent to the laundry
New Zealand: orange juice, from a communal fridge in a campground (value: US$2)
China: one bicycle bell (value: US$5)
Where most people offered to sell us illegal drugs
1. Lisbon
2. Kathmandu
3. Bangkok
Where people asked us to sell or find them drugs: Bangkok
The only place we were searched to make sure we were not taking drugs *out* of the country: Kathmandu, Nepal

LANGUAGE:
Asian countries where most people spoke English: Philippines, Nepal
European country where most people spoke English: Holland
European country where TV shows the most American sitcoms: Holland
Only country where the older people are more likely to speak English than the younger people: Philippines
English-speaking country where most people didn't understand us: Singapore
Most popular second language spoken in Asian countries: English
Most poplular second language spoken in Eastern Europe: German
Languages we speak:
French (more than halfway there)
Spanish (less than halfway there)
German (very little, but it got us free drinks all over eastern Germany)
Bahasa Indonesian (just enough to have a basic conversation, but we can only remember 10 words now)

FOOD
Favorite foods:
Almost any tapas, Spain
Green curry squid, Thailand
Mapo Tofu, China
Chicken Satay, Indonesia
Creme Brulee, France
Least appetizing food:
Pork balls in rice gruel, northern Thailand
monkey, Borneo
pigs ears (for human consumption), Thailand
Where we ate fast-food to avoid local restaurant fare: Philippines
Number of dinners we each ate every day in Kathmandu, after crossing the Himalayas on bikes: two
number of breakfasts we ate each riding day while riding across Pennsylvania: two
Favorite drinks:
watermelon puree, Kota Bharu, Malaysia
batidos (fruit blended with milk), Costa Rica
Most expensive beer: $5 a pint, France
Cheapest beer: 35 cents a pint, Kenyka, Czech Republic
Best beer: Czech Republic
Strongest beer: Czech Republic
Most refreshing beer: Spain and Portugal
Lowest alcohol content beer: around 3%, Spain and Portugal
Warmest beer served: Poland
Most public drunks sighted: Poland
their favorite drink: vodka
HEALTH
Countries where we spent the most time sick:
1. China (bronchitis)
2. Thailand (bad meal)
3. Bali (bad meal)

NET
cheapest net connection: Malang (80 cents an hour)
most expensive net connection: Vientiane, Laos $1 a minute (at the time they had to call Bangkok
to establish a net connection)
fastest net connection: Malang, Java, Indonesia
slowest net connection: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
greatest number of broken Net kiosks sighted: Malaysia
greatest number of working Net kiosks sighted: Holland
most net cafes sighted: Thailand
least net cafes sighted: Tibet (only one, in Lhasa)
biggest users of net cafes: tourists
what tourists did in Net cafes
1. brag to friends back home about their travels
2. tell their families they were still alive
3. set up times and places to meet with other long-distance travelers they had met on the road
what email programs tourists used most, when we saw them:
1. Hotmail
2. Yahoo Mail
what locals were doing when we saw them in Net cafes
1. networked games: boys in Malaysia, Philippines, France
2. chat: girls in Malaysia and the Philippines
3. surfing, email: net cafe workers of both sexes, Thailand and Kathmandu
where we could not use the Newton to access a local CompuServe dial-up:
1. Costa Rica
2. Indonesia
3. Singapore
4. Malaysia
5. Thailand
6. Philippines
where we saw the most people watching TV:
1. Java (soap operas)
2. Sumatra (cable TV news)
3. Borneo (old Rambo movies shown to daycare group)
number of TVs Eric repaired: three, all in one longhouse in Malaysian Borneo
brand of TV used by an Iban headhunter who fought the Japanese with spears in WWII: Sony
CYCLING
number of other long-distance cyclists sighted: 27
time they spent cycling: three months to 3 years
Where they were from:
U.S., 10
Germany, 5
France, 4
Holland, 3
Australia, 3
Canada, 2
Switzerland, 2
how many were men: 19
how many looked like they were under 25: 18
how many were nurses or physical therapists: 3
how many towed children: 2
how many towed dogs: 1
how many men rode alone: 7
how many women rode alone: 0
how many traveled in male-female pairs: 5 pairs
number of miles men riding alone said they rode per day: 80 to 120
number of daily miles couples said they rode: 30 to 50
number of miles we rode a day: 50
number who abandoned their bike trips: 4
why:
serious traffic accident: 2 (only one was hit)
broken bicycle trailer: 2
best pavement with wide shoulders: Malaysian Peninsula
worst pavement: Costa Rica, northern Laos
most bike paths: Holland
place where we most feared death by traffic accident: northeastern Java
most road kills: Pennsylvania
where people stoned us: Tibet
where people formed human roadblocks to beg for money: Tibet, Nepal
where people pushed us off our bikes: Tibet, Nepal
where people swore at us: Tibet, Pennsylvania
number of times one of us got hit by a car: 1
where: Pokhara, Nepal
injuries: none to Eric or his bike
number of cyclists we met who said they had been hit
by a car or a bus: 1
where: India (bus)
injuries: broken thumb, blows to the head and body
MUSIC
what most people called Eric's French horn
1. saxaphone
2. trumpet
3. tuba
responses to Eric playing his French horn
1. clapping: Thailand, most western countries
2. silence: Malaysia, Indonesia
3. cries of "Kenny G.!": most of Asia
4. free drinks: E. Germany
5. money, but only if he was an unemployed Australian: Melbourne
Total number of zippers on all our equipment: 55
how many broke: 6
RETURN
Most common question asked on our return:
1. What's your favorite country?
2. Where do you want to go back to?
3. What are you going to do now?
Our most common answer to the the first two questions:
1. Alaska for scenery
2. China for adventure
3. Spain for a good time and great food
Our most common answer to the third question
1. Get a job, but mooch off of you first
2. Get a temporary job, and mooch off of you later
3. Write a book

A friend of a friend back home prepared her own "List" about her life as a mom:
check out:
The Anti List

World Trip