I am back in Canada after a year long solo bike trip in Europe (Ireland, France, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece), Middle East (Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel), India, SE Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia) and 6 months at an orphanage in the Philippines and wanted to offer the following generalized observations for those interested.
a solo bike tour is the best way to travel. You move fast enough to cover ground but slow enough to actually see things without flying by staring through a window.
the happiest, friendliest and most hospitable people in the world are without exception from the poorest countries.
the friendliest and most hospitable people award goes to the country of Syria and no one else is even close.
I did not lock my bike during my 3 months in the Middle East and I wouldn’t think of doing that in North America or Europe.
I did not feel unsafe or in danger once in 18 months.
All elected leaders should travel on a bike to see that it is always the government that is the problem, not the people.
The following are my observations from living in a poor village, with a family for 6 months in the Philippines:
The happiest children I met on my trip were those in the orphanage.
Children do much better without any toys or gadgets. If they have other kids to play with, their imagination is all they need.
Life is much better if you take down your fence, unlock your doors and share things with your neighbors.
People in North America are not really friendly or hospitable because we live in fear of getting robbed. If you have less, you take away that fear and are far happier.
People here have no joy. I see smiling people but no real joy.
Kids here are fat and spoiled and they have little opportunity to actually be children. They are isolated because parents live in fear of their harm, they are preoccupied with gadgets and they eat far too much. No one plays outside anymore.
After 1.5 years away I am really struggling to assimilate back and to be honest have no desire to do so. I am going back to the Philippines in January to live in a community. The comforts of home make me feel spoiled and fat and it’s no longer appealing.
Having lived in Bermuda for 5 years, in the lap of luxury, I never thought I would turn my back on that life but now I just can’t go back.
The single best observation was that it matters very little how much money or possessions you have or where you actually live or work. The only really important thing is to be surrounded by family and friends. We all hear that all the time and everyone knows it on an intellectual level but for some reason, very few actually do it.
Thanks for posting. You covered a lot of ground in one year - it must have been an amazing trip. I have dreamed about doing something like that for years, although on a much smaller scale. And I would just looove to see all our elected leaders on a bike tour of the world, haha. For some reason I don’t see that happening.
That’s great that you will return to the Philippines. Will you work at the orphanage?
It amazes me how much we have here and take it all for granted. Too much waste, too much food, not enough helping others. Good for you for making a change and a difference.
[quote FJB
The single best observation was that it matters very little how much money or possessions you have or where you actually live or work. The only really important thing is to be surrounded by family and friends. We all hear that all the time and everyone knows it on an intellectual level but for some reason, very few actually do it.
Well said and worth repeating during the holidays. Thank you for an excellent post and I wish you well on your journey.
During my first deployment my Marines and I were in the Philippines, over Christmas. The Platoon Commander had been stationed there previously and married a local girl. Her family invited us up to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with them. We ate like Kings, drank like fish and had a lot of fun hanging out with them and everyone in their little barrio. Here we are in this little dirty dusty barrio where household power came from a car battery. Here we are Christmas morning hung over and feeling sorry for ourselves in this little dirty dusty barrio where household power came from a car battery. As we got up and started moving about it was the kids in the barrio that made us feel better, they were just so happy to be alive and enjoying life. I don’t about the rest of the platoon but for me it was a life changing moment.
Great observations. I’ve enjoyed reading about your experiences. Would you mind telling me more about the Balkan countries? The whole trip and related experiences were obviously life-changing for you. I agree with another poster that thought it would be a great idea for you to write a book about your travels.
**That’s great that you will return to the Philippines. Will you work at the orphanage? **
I was in Tacloban City and will be moving back to Manila. I will volunteer at an orphanage in the mornings and I’d like to learn Tagalog and do other things. I am not going to bring my bike but will take the chance to see more of the Philippines and there are a few other places I’d like to see (Myanmar and Japan).
**All very true…until your appendix bursts. Then it’s nice to have a modern technological society to fall back on. **
I don’t take our modern life for granted, I lived here for over 40 years but I do think we underestimate the capabilities of other countries. The Philippines for example have excellent doctors and nurses. I did go to the hospital in Thailand and found it first rate as are the hospitals in Singapore and Malaysia.
I did about 20,000 km (12,400 miles) in 11 months. I tend to hang around cities for a while (a week in Istanbul, Damascus, Mumbai, Vientiane, Phnom Penh etc) and a few weeks in Bangkok but there were also some long days on the road.
**You should have a giant endurance engine by now. **
I spent the last 6 months doing nothing but playing with kids. I struggled with the heat/humidity of the Philippines so had a pretty sedentary life for a while. With all the food around here and now the cold weather here should pretty much take care of any lingering fitness I had accumulated.
**I spent the last 6 months doing nothing but playing with kids. I struggled with the heat/humidity of the Philippines so had a pretty sedentary life for a while. With all the food around here and now the cold weather here should pretty much take care of any lingering fitness I had accumulated.
I think after the adventure you just completed that you need to change your signature
Do you think that a Spartan lifestyle would be more rewarding than a materialistic lifestyle?
That’s a hard question because I lived a very materialistic lifestyle in Bermuda where I really never thought of money. If I wanted something I bought it. Since I had that experience, I was able to decide for myself what I life. If you never had that you might always think that was far more rewarding than it was for me.
There is also nothing romantic about being poor. Life is a real struggle for billions around the world and I wouldn’t want to live like that either. It’s also easy for me when I am in the poor countries because I have a choice, I have the money to leave at any time so being there is my choice. Most don’t have that luxury.
I think being too rich and too poor is not good but it is really the wasteful spending that bothers me. The excess that we have is disturbing. It is the poor distribution of wealth that has to be addressed. The difference between poor and wealth appears more extreme in places like India and Philippines because the poor are so poor. We don’t realize the disparity as much because we have a middle class so if you have a home, car and food in the fridge, you are already in the top few percent of the world’s population.
I like living amongst the poor but also like knowing I have the resources to go to a nice place so I’m not advocating poverty. I do think we tend to accumulate too much and put far too much emphasis on building so much wealth at the expense of our families and relationships.
