unbelieveable dad

yesterday when my papa was sending me home from camp, i started to ask him bout getting a touring bike. its real lucky to have a father crazy bout bicycles.

anyway started discussing with him about touring bicycles and where to get them in singapore... when our conversation turned to travelling the world and backpacking. now thats where it gets a lil interesting...
I nvr knew it, but in his heyday, my dad was actually a hippy. like seriously... a hippy. the kinda dude u see with long hair, a backpack, travelling the world carefree, with nothing particular in sight. yea thats my dad... i always thought we had little in common until something he said made me rethink our relationship.

"when i was young, i nvr told anyone i was going travelling. why tell ppl? u think its so easy to find somebody to throw down everything and say 'lets go travel' nobody will want to join u for travelling. if you really want to do it, jus go and do it. dun care about wat people tell u. i went to do my own research and find out how to travel the world. last time, there was no internet, so i went to ask all of my frens, then all the hippies used to gather in this place (which i forgot the name haha, will go ask him again if i can rmb) and i will ask them what hotels are good, do i need a visa for this place, can this route be taken, any dangerous places i should avoid, what transport to take... and then i went travelling round the world on my own. went to pakistan, afghanistan's Cable pass (yes thats the world's most dangerous road), a coffeshop built INSIDE the mountain in afghanistan, thailand, india, europe etc..."

the paragraph above is really what he told me. i then realised that perhaps my adventurous spirit was inherited from him. like him, i wanted to travel the world on my own, without any friends to pull me back, to see the world for wat it is and experience something i will nvr get a chance to. somehow, i cant imagine myself wasting 7-8 months doing normal clerical part-time work that half the country guys are doing while waiting for Uni to start.

if i really do that, i will look back at this entry which i wrote and lament the fact that i allowed all the doubts and criticisms of the world triumph. will this travel journal end with me sitting in an office doing paper filing and waiting for uni to start?

perhaps i should jus follow in his footsteps and not tell anybody my plans and just jump right into the unknown.

like what they always say, like father like son... =) hehe great excuse in case anything happens

bicycle touring

Somehow or rather, i have chanced upon bicycle touring as a form of travelling the world.

For those of you that have not heard of this term before, its basically grabbing a bicycle, bringing about 2 sets of clean clothes, a huge appetite for danger and uncertainty, an open heart, and cycling wherever you feel like going to. Voila! as simple as that!

To even do that, i first have to start with the basics... getting a bike. Did some research online and decided between 2 bikes- Trek 520 and a Surly Long Haul Trucker. personally more inclined towards Surly LHT cause of its looks and also because i have heard great reviews bout Surly.

So... gonna be going down to look at bikes real soon, after i finish all my weekend DO duties that is...  sighz