Even being a longtime subscriber to your channel, from the very beginning in fact, your bike assembly retrospective was very entertaining and informative. I do always wish for more simplicity to come into your life so that you may relax more and just enjoy the freedom life you are living. CC
I do seem to have a knack for making things overly complicated. And ever since I started shooting video and uploading videos to RUclips, my life definitely spun out of control to an extent. The technology involved has always been a problem and has felt just out of grasp. It's been a struggle and that simplicity has always been out of reach. Interestingly, I recently read through some old journal entries from the days BEFORE the Internet and smartphones and digital cameras. Over the last couple of days, I read the journal I kept on my very first trip to Taiwan. That was in 1997, before the Taipei subway was even built. I simply roamed around Taiwan taking buses and trains and hitchiking with a paper map while writing in a paper notebook with a pen. I could sense that it was such a simpler and easier time. Yet, it was also a major struggle because I was lost all the time and had no access to information. Just communicating was a big problem. It's so much easier now with Google Maps and Google Translate and digital cameras and smartphones. But there was an appealing simplicity to life back then. There were long afternoons of just hanging out in the Taroko Gorge and reading a book. I miss that simple lifestyle.
That's definitely true. The new laptop has made a lot of things easier and more efficient. It's nice to have a tool like this that just works and does everything I need it to do.
The name Starlink has been popping up here and there. I didn't even know what it was until recently. It seems like it could be a big thing in the future. I don't know much about it, but I imagine it's still not quite ready for regular people to just go around the world using it. A bit too expensive? And maybe the gear is still not light and small enough? Amazing stuff, though. It's hard to believe that that many satellites are up there right now with so many more to come.
I looked into the Starlink mini. It looks promising. My sense is that it is still a relatively heavy set of gear once you put together everything you need: the dish; an external power supply; cables and cords, etc. And it is still expensive for an average person - the purchase price and then a hefty monthly charge. And I saw some charts that indicated the uploading speeds were quite low. It would be useable for uploading, but not nearly as fast as a good WiFi signal would be. It's very cool technology, though. I can imagine all kinds of people having a use for it. I think we'll start to see more and more of these being used.
Thank you. It was actually this type of video that prompted me to start the Planet Doug Patreon. On the main Planet Doug RUclips channel, it often felt a bit confusing if I posted 'regular' travel videos AND this type of behind-the-scenes video. That's why I created the Behind the Scenes RUclips channel. I wanted to separate regular videos from these BTS videos. And then I thought that a Patreon would be a nice home for them as well.
Hi Doug. I was wondering if you could talk about your medium to long term plans / thoughts? What part of the world would you like to see 6+ months from now? What activities would you like to do? Even if these are just whimsical thoughts. Also, IMHO, your bicycle seems to have become an anchor to your current lifestyle - post Cycling Canadian. You have to consider transporting expenses/hassles when moving to your next location, effectively ruling out certain places. And if you don't travel with your bike, you have to consider storage which forces you to come back to that same location to retrieve it. I understand that you paid a LOT of money for it, but that is a sunk cost and should probably not be considered in the equation of sell or not sell. Of course, I can't discount the sentimental value it has for you, so would you consider shipping it back to Canada for long term storage? Again, just my opinion, but I think it would help your new career as a lifestyle vlogger. You could pump out more videos (different places and experiences) at a steadier pace if you didn't have your bike.
I've had the exact same thoughts many times. I've used the word anchor myself when talking about the bike (anchor in a negative sense). In fact, when I originally went down to Port Dickson in Malaysia, the entire reasoning behind that trip was to put my bicycle at my friend's house. I was going to put it there and leave with my backpack. And the idea was that I wouldn't care if I ever saw it again. If I never returned to Malaysia and I was never able to retrieve the bike, that would be fine. It's such an old bicycle anyway that it is incredibly outdated. In fact, before Port Dickson, I was just going to leave the bike in Kuala Lumpur. It was almost fully dismantled and in storage at another friend's house. I was going to get rid of it or assemble it and then give it to someone. But then my other friend said I could leave it at his house in Port Dickson just in case I wanted to use it in the future. So, in fact, I had already made the decision to let the bike go. I was essentially going to give it to my friend in Port Dickson. He would keep it at his house for now just in case I wanted to use it in the future. But the idea was mainly to get rid of it. I assumed I would eventually send my friend a message saying that I wasn't coming back to Malaysia anytime soon, and he could do whatever he wanted with the bicycle. But I ended up staying in Port Dickson longer than expected. And then my Malaysian visa got close to expiring. And since the boat to Sumatra left from Port Dickson, I figured it would be fun to hop across to Sumatra with my bicycle for one last hurrah. I was basically just going to Sumatra as a visa run. I needed to leave Malaysia, so I had to go somewhere, and then I could return later on with a new visa. The boat to Sumatra was the easiest and most convenient option (I thought). And I loved riding my bike in Port Dickson so much that I figured I might as well bring it on the boat to Sumatra. So, basically, this recent flurry of activity of getting the bicycle ready and playing around with GoPro and Insta360 mounting options was connected with the idea of one last bike trip. One last hurrah. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. I just wanted to stretch my legs, get some exercise, see if my knees would survive, shoot a bit of video, and see how things went. Then I'd grab my backpack and move on. In the back of my mind, I WAS thinking that IF the bike riding in Sumatra went well, I could continue it in Malaysia when I returned. I could take the boat back to Port Dickson, and then do a circuit around Malaysia by bicycle and see how that went. And if THAT went well, I thought I could expand the bike ride into more of a journey that would take me all the way from Malaysia to Hanoi in Vietnam. The appealing thing about that journey is that it wouldn't involve any flights. The whole thing could be done overland through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. (Airports are the kryptonite of bicycle touring.) And then in Hanoi, I could reassess and see what came next. So, in terms of your question about medium and long-term plans, that's sort of where my brain was at a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, things spun a bit out of control at that point, because putting together the Planet Doug Patreon required a LOT more time than I expected. I've been working on that almost nonstop here in Sumatra since I arrived. Plus, I had the pleasure of my little detour to Jakarta to meet up with my generous Planet Doug patrons, who presented me with a new, super-powerful, laptop. Incorporating that into my life has also taken time. Now that the Planet Doug Patreon is almost fully up and running, I am free to go back to shooting regular Planet Doug videos. And I'm planning to finally embark on this bike ride in Sumatra. Of course, there are always visas to consider, and before I begin this Sumatran bike ride, I have to leave Indonesia once more so I can return on a fresh VOA. I haven't made definite arrangements as yet, but the plan is to hop back on the ferry to Malaysia in the next couple of weeks. I could spend Chinese New Year there, then return to Indonesia and ride my bicycle as planned: perhaps the last hurrah. So, I guess that sums up my ideas for short-term and potential medium-term plans. However, if you asked me about a DREAM plan a WHIMSICAL plan (assuming I had the funds and financial support to do it), I would probably tell you something a bit different. Off the top of my head, I would fly back to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and travel overland, probably by train, to Hanoi. I think that would fascinating. Then I would tour northern Vietnam by rented scooter or motorcycle: the classic northern Ha Giang Loop, perhaps. I've also always wanted to go to Pakistan, so perhaps that would come next. I would love to return to Bangladesh. On my first visit, I stayed only in Dhaka. I'd love to go back and travel more of the country but exclusively by river boat. I've also been dreaming of revisiting Taiwan. I've travelled all over Taiwan in the past, both by bicycle and by scooter, but I never shot any video on those trips. I only took pictures and wrote journal entries. It would be amazing to see Taiwan again, this time as a video shooter. Of course, I could easily list a dozen more places in Asia I'd like to visit. But continuing with a DREAM plan, I'd also love to return to Africa. I've always wanted to go to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Malawi. A return to West Africa would also be amazing: places like Benin, Togo, and Ghana. I've always wanted to go there. Finally, I'm also LONG overdue for a visit to my home country of Canada. My last return home was 16 years ago. If possible, in between all the dream countries listed above, a visit to Canada would be very nice. And I guess I will leave my thoughts there. Basically, I agree with you about the sunk cost of the bicycle and the cycling gear. I'm not worried about that at all. The bicycle isn't really worth anything at all at this point. And I'm not really sentimental about it. I'm fond of it, and it holds a lot of memories, but I could easily walk away from it at any point without a thought. Circumstances were just such that it seemed to make sense to hop aboard the ferry to Sumatra and bring my bicycle with me. One last pedalling hurrah, so to speak. 😁 (By the way, since I ended up writing such a long reply, I decided to copy and paste it over to the Planet Doug Patreon as a separate post there.)
Looks like your Trusty Bike is holding up well considering the Torture its been thru on its Journeys🌏🚴🏼♀️... Incidentally Trudeau just Quit ... Hopefully things will improve in Canada now😅😅
The bicycle came together quite nicely. I was expecting more trouble with perhaps a rusted chain, jammed derailleurs, etc. But there didn't seem to be any major mechanical issues at all. That was a nice surprise. I'm so out of touch with news from Canada, I didn't even hear about Trudeau stepping down until people sent me messages about it. I know that Trudeau has gotten a bad rap in recent years from a lot of people, but I honestly don't know why. I haven't paid much attention to Canadian politics. We'll see if the mood shifts in Canada with the change in leadership.
Lycra. And SPD cleats are fine for touring, it's all about making it as efficient as possible, sandles really are no good at all for any kind of cycling.
Did I eventually find the word Lycra in my brain? I think I did. But it took me a long time to get there. Once the GoPro turns on, half my brain turns off, I think. I often have trouble finding words. I think I was trying to find the word spandex. But I associate that more with aerobics. Just now, I looked up Lycra online, and I learned a couple of things: the technical name for Lycra is polyether-polyurea copolymer. And, apparently, it was invented by Joseph Shivers in 1958. He was a chemist at DuPont. That's according to Wikipedia. I also learned that the word spandex is an anagram of the word expands, to describe what it can do. I'm definitely not about efficiency when it comes to cycling. I'm slow and inefficient and everything is too heavy and a bit awkward. It's just a form of transportation for me. I'm usually in no hurry to get anywhere. 😂
What did you ride during the test pandemic? Have you supported your self while away or did you have an account that you could pull from if needed? Curious if you found a woman from one of those countries that you want to marry?
During the pandemic, I settled down in a small town in Thailand called Mae Sot. And while I was there, I had a scooter. I probably should have bought one, but I started off renting one. And then I just rented it the entire time. And, yes, I've been supporting myself for a long time with money that I saved up while working in Taiwan. I guess I've had a fairly simple lifestyle, so I've managed to make that money go a long way. For example, my rooms in Thailand during the 2.5 years of the pandemic cost $100 month. And I tend to eat very simple food. I don't tend to do expensive things. No, I was never tempted to marry while overseas. In the end, I always found the cultural barrier too much to overcome. I had the occasional girlfriend, but it didn't ever work out because we came from such entirely different worlds. We had so little in common when it came to background and interests.
I saw some people doing interesting things with folding bikes in the past. I remember reading a long online journal (with photographs) of a man who rode a folding bike with a trailer through Ethiopia. The trailer doubled as a carrying/packing case for the folding bike itself. That seemed like an efficient way to go about things. It was a lot of years ago, though, and I imagine the technology has gotten better. I doubt it would work out for me in the long run, though. I don't have a lot of experience with folding bikes, but the couple of times I rode them, I couldn't get accustomed to them. I found riding them even inside a city to be uncomfortable and awkward. The frame felt too small and the handling was awkward and the wheels were too small for the bumps in the road. And I was surprised at just how heavy they were. I expected something much lighter, but the Brompton I was riding was quite heavy. It would be interesting to do an experiment of riding a folding bike overseas. Who knows? It might work out very well. I'm also curious about electric bikes. They definitely seem to be the wave of the future. I remember looking into them a lot when they first hit the market, but back in those days, the batteries were huge and heavy. The bikes themselves were really heavy and awkward and expensive. But I think they've gotten much lighter and more streamlined and better in every way. It would be great to try one out. Recently, I've been watching the travel videos on a channel called Marc Travels. He is riding a large electric motorcycle in India. That's not the same as an electric bicycle, of course. I assume you can plug an electric bicycle easily into any wall socket. But Marc was always looking for big, dedicated chargers. I was surprised that he was even able to find these dedicated charging places even in somewhat remote areas of India.
@PlanetDoug Having a proper bicycle is ideal to navigate around the city confidently, but if I'm a regular traveller, I'll definitely buy a small foldable electric one to transport from one city to another and from one country to another
@jeremyfielding2333 In my mind, I can see an electric bicycle being a step in between a regular bicycle and a motorbike. I've rented a motorbike or scooters on several occasions in my life. And I owned a 150cc scooter in Taiwan and rode all over the island on it. I loved the experience. There were so many advantages over cycling. However, there were things that I didn't like. Having a scooter or motorbike usually meant I tried to go too far. You get caught up in this idea of covering a lot of ground just because all you need to do is twist the throttle and go. And I missed so much that I would have seen using a bicycle. Plus, since I was part of normal traffic, most of my attention was focused on the road ahead and the vehicles around me. I couldn't really take in or enjoy my surroundings because I was going so fast and needed to keep my eyes on the road. Plus, it was harder and more complicated to stop, so I often just kept going. Finally, I found the big and heavy helmet cut me off from the outside world. I couldn't hear anything through the helmet and over the roar of the engine. On a bicycle, you are moving much slower and can really absorb and enjoy everything around you. You hear everything and see everything. You can interact with people that you pass by. And it's so much easier to stop and just look around and take pictures and do whatever. So, cycling can be much more enjoyable. I'm thinking that an electric bicycle might be a nice compromise between the two. You get all the benefits of cycling that I talked about. Plus, you get the extra boost from the electric motor when you need it so that you aren't exhausted all the time.
Happy New Year,! May 2025 be a healthy, safe and prosperous year for you and your channel.
Thank you, Daniel. 2025 has started off okay, and let's hope it is healthy, safe for both of us. Happy New Year to you, too.
Even being a longtime subscriber to your channel, from the very beginning in fact, your bike assembly retrospective was very entertaining and informative. I do always wish for more simplicity to come into your life so that you may relax more and just enjoy the freedom life you are living. CC
I do seem to have a knack for making things overly complicated. And ever since I started shooting video and uploading videos to RUclips, my life definitely spun out of control to an extent. The technology involved has always been a problem and has felt just out of grasp. It's been a struggle and that simplicity has always been out of reach.
Interestingly, I recently read through some old journal entries from the days BEFORE the Internet and smartphones and digital cameras. Over the last couple of days, I read the journal I kept on my very first trip to Taiwan. That was in 1997, before the Taipei subway was even built. I simply roamed around Taiwan taking buses and trains and hitchiking with a paper map while writing in a paper notebook with a pen. I could sense that it was such a simpler and easier time.
Yet, it was also a major struggle because I was lost all the time and had no access to information. Just communicating was a big problem. It's so much easier now with Google Maps and Google Translate and digital cameras and smartphones. But there was an appealing simplicity to life back then. There were long afternoons of just hanging out in the Taroko Gorge and reading a book. I miss that simple lifestyle.
Looks like are making up lost time with your new laptop. 😊😊 Cc
That's definitely true. The new laptop has made a lot of things easier and more efficient. It's nice to have a tool like this that just works and does everything I need it to do.
@PlanetDoug Your next tech jump to solve your uploads problems could be a starlink? 😁
The name Starlink has been popping up here and there. I didn't even know what it was until recently. It seems like it could be a big thing in the future. I don't know much about it, but I imagine it's still not quite ready for regular people to just go around the world using it. A bit too expensive? And maybe the gear is still not light and small enough? Amazing stuff, though. It's hard to believe that that many satellites are up there right now with so many more to come.
Search for Starlink mini. Looks like good fit for digital nomads.
I looked into the Starlink mini. It looks promising. My sense is that it is still a relatively heavy set of gear once you put together everything you need: the dish; an external power supply; cables and cords, etc. And it is still expensive for an average person - the purchase price and then a hefty monthly charge. And I saw some charts that indicated the uploading speeds were quite low. It would be useable for uploading, but not nearly as fast as a good WiFi signal would be.
It's very cool technology, though. I can imagine all kinds of people having a use for it. I think we'll start to see more and more of these being used.
Happy New Year Doug! May 2025 be a good year for you, all your subscribers and Patrons of the brand new Planet Doug Patreon.
Thank you. Happy New Year, to you, too. I hope 2025 works out well for both of us.
love this kind of Planet Doug Vlogs. happy new year
Thank you. It was actually this type of video that prompted me to start the Planet Doug Patreon. On the main Planet Doug RUclips channel, it often felt a bit confusing if I posted 'regular' travel videos AND this type of behind-the-scenes video. That's why I created the Behind the Scenes RUclips channel. I wanted to separate regular videos from these BTS videos. And then I thought that a Patreon would be a nice home for them as well.
Hi Doug. I was wondering if you could talk about your medium to long term plans / thoughts? What part of the world would you like to see 6+ months from now? What activities would you like to do? Even if these are just whimsical thoughts. Also, IMHO, your bicycle seems to have become an anchor to your current lifestyle - post Cycling Canadian. You have to consider transporting expenses/hassles when moving to your next location, effectively ruling out certain places. And if you don't travel with your bike, you have to consider storage which forces you to come back to that same location to retrieve it. I understand that you paid a LOT of money for it, but that is a sunk cost and should probably not be considered in the equation of sell or not sell. Of course, I can't discount the sentimental value it has for you, so would you consider shipping it back to Canada for long term storage? Again, just my opinion, but I think it would help your new career as a lifestyle vlogger. You could pump out more videos (different places and experiences) at a steadier pace if you didn't have your bike.
I've had the exact same thoughts many times. I've used the word anchor myself when talking about the bike (anchor in a negative sense). In fact, when I originally went down to Port Dickson in Malaysia, the entire reasoning behind that trip was to put my bicycle at my friend's house. I was going to put it there and leave with my backpack. And the idea was that I wouldn't care if I ever saw it again. If I never returned to Malaysia and I was never able to retrieve the bike, that would be fine. It's such an old bicycle anyway that it is incredibly outdated.
In fact, before Port Dickson, I was just going to leave the bike in Kuala Lumpur. It was almost fully dismantled and in storage at another friend's house. I was going to get rid of it or assemble it and then give it to someone. But then my other friend said I could leave it at his house in Port Dickson just in case I wanted to use it in the future. So, in fact, I had already made the decision to let the bike go. I was essentially going to give it to my friend in Port Dickson. He would keep it at his house for now just in case I wanted to use it in the future. But the idea was mainly to get rid of it. I assumed I would eventually send my friend a message saying that I wasn't coming back to Malaysia anytime soon, and he could do whatever he wanted with the bicycle.
But I ended up staying in Port Dickson longer than expected. And then my Malaysian visa got close to expiring. And since the boat to Sumatra left from Port Dickson, I figured it would be fun to hop across to Sumatra with my bicycle for one last hurrah. I was basically just going to Sumatra as a visa run. I needed to leave Malaysia, so I had to go somewhere, and then I could return later on with a new visa. The boat to Sumatra was the easiest and most convenient option (I thought). And I loved riding my bike in Port Dickson so much that I figured I might as well bring it on the boat to Sumatra.
So, basically, this recent flurry of activity of getting the bicycle ready and playing around with GoPro and Insta360 mounting options was connected with the idea of one last bike trip. One last hurrah. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. I just wanted to stretch my legs, get some exercise, see if my knees would survive, shoot a bit of video, and see how things went. Then I'd grab my backpack and move on.
In the back of my mind, I WAS thinking that IF the bike riding in Sumatra went well, I could continue it in Malaysia when I returned. I could take the boat back to Port Dickson, and then do a circuit around Malaysia by bicycle and see how that went. And if THAT went well, I thought I could expand the bike ride into more of a journey that would take me all the way from Malaysia to Hanoi in Vietnam. The appealing thing about that journey is that it wouldn't involve any flights. The whole thing could be done overland through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. (Airports are the kryptonite of bicycle touring.) And then in Hanoi, I could reassess and see what came next.
So, in terms of your question about medium and long-term plans, that's sort of where my brain was at a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, things spun a bit out of control at that point, because putting together the Planet Doug Patreon required a LOT more time than I expected. I've been working on that almost nonstop here in Sumatra since I arrived. Plus, I had the pleasure of my little detour to Jakarta to meet up with my generous Planet Doug patrons, who presented me with a new, super-powerful, laptop. Incorporating that into my life has also taken time.
Now that the Planet Doug Patreon is almost fully up and running, I am free to go back to shooting regular Planet Doug videos. And I'm planning to finally embark on this bike ride in Sumatra. Of course, there are always visas to consider, and before I begin this Sumatran bike ride, I have to leave Indonesia once more so I can return on a fresh VOA. I haven't made definite arrangements as yet, but the plan is to hop back on the ferry to Malaysia in the next couple of weeks. I could spend Chinese New Year there, then return to Indonesia and ride my bicycle as planned: perhaps the last hurrah.
So, I guess that sums up my ideas for short-term and potential medium-term plans. However, if you asked me about a DREAM plan a WHIMSICAL plan (assuming I had the funds and financial support to do it), I would probably tell you something a bit different. Off the top of my head, I would fly back to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and travel overland, probably by train, to Hanoi. I think that would fascinating. Then I would tour northern Vietnam by rented scooter or motorcycle: the classic northern Ha Giang Loop, perhaps.
I've also always wanted to go to Pakistan, so perhaps that would come next. I would love to return to Bangladesh. On my first visit, I stayed only in Dhaka. I'd love to go back and travel more of the country but exclusively by river boat. I've also been dreaming of revisiting Taiwan. I've travelled all over Taiwan in the past, both by bicycle and by scooter, but I never shot any video on those trips. I only took pictures and wrote journal entries. It would be amazing to see Taiwan again, this time as a video shooter.
Of course, I could easily list a dozen more places in Asia I'd like to visit. But continuing with a DREAM plan, I'd also love to return to Africa. I've always wanted to go to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Malawi. A return to West Africa would also be amazing: places like Benin, Togo, and Ghana. I've always wanted to go there.
Finally, I'm also LONG overdue for a visit to my home country of Canada. My last return home was 16 years ago. If possible, in between all the dream countries listed above, a visit to Canada would be very nice.
And I guess I will leave my thoughts there. Basically, I agree with you about the sunk cost of the bicycle and the cycling gear. I'm not worried about that at all. The bicycle isn't really worth anything at all at this point. And I'm not really sentimental about it. I'm fond of it, and it holds a lot of memories, but I could easily walk away from it at any point without a thought. Circumstances were just such that it seemed to make sense to hop aboard the ferry to Sumatra and bring my bicycle with me. One last pedalling hurrah, so to speak. 😁
(By the way, since I ended up writing such a long reply, I decided to copy and paste it over to the Planet Doug Patreon as a separate post there.)
CC👍 Rocky Mountain Route 66😂
Looks like your Trusty Bike is holding up well considering the Torture its been thru on its Journeys🌏🚴🏼♀️... Incidentally Trudeau just Quit ... Hopefully things will improve in Canada now😅😅
The bicycle came together quite nicely. I was expecting more trouble with perhaps a rusted chain, jammed derailleurs, etc. But there didn't seem to be any major mechanical issues at all. That was a nice surprise.
I'm so out of touch with news from Canada, I didn't even hear about Trudeau stepping down until people sent me messages about it. I know that Trudeau has gotten a bad rap in recent years from a lot of people, but I honestly don't know why. I haven't paid much attention to Canadian politics. We'll see if the mood shifts in Canada with the change in leadership.
Happy New Year Doug
Happy New Year to you, too! I hope for good things for you in 2025.
Lycra. And SPD cleats are fine for touring, it's all about making it as efficient as possible, sandles really are no good at all for any kind of cycling.
Did I eventually find the word Lycra in my brain? I think I did. But it took me a long time to get there. Once the GoPro turns on, half my brain turns off, I think. I often have trouble finding words. I think I was trying to find the word spandex. But I associate that more with aerobics.
Just now, I looked up Lycra online, and I learned a couple of things: the technical name for Lycra is polyether-polyurea copolymer. And, apparently, it was invented by Joseph Shivers in 1958. He was a chemist at DuPont. That's according to Wikipedia. I also learned that the word spandex is an anagram of the word expands, to describe what it can do.
I'm definitely not about efficiency when it comes to cycling. I'm slow and inefficient and everything is too heavy and a bit awkward. It's just a form of transportation for me. I'm usually in no hurry to get anywhere. 😂
Nice video..for the record
A bit of history for the record. 👍
What did you ride during the test pandemic? Have you supported your self while away or did you have an account that you could pull from if needed? Curious if you found a woman from one of those countries that you want to marry?
During the pandemic, I settled down in a small town in Thailand called Mae Sot. And while I was there, I had a scooter. I probably should have bought one, but I started off renting one. And then I just rented it the entire time.
And, yes, I've been supporting myself for a long time with money that I saved up while working in Taiwan. I guess I've had a fairly simple lifestyle, so I've managed to make that money go a long way. For example, my rooms in Thailand during the 2.5 years of the pandemic cost $100 month. And I tend to eat very simple food. I don't tend to do expensive things.
No, I was never tempted to marry while overseas. In the end, I always found the cultural barrier too much to overcome. I had the occasional girlfriend, but it didn't ever work out because we came from such entirely different worlds. We had so little in common when it came to background and interests.
CC
I would rather use small folded bike that's easy to transport and if there's electric one even better
Using an electric bike is either for old people or lazy people, you might as well rent a motorbike.
@jeremyfielding2333 You got old mindset. In today's world, everything is getting smaller in size and easy to use
I saw some people doing interesting things with folding bikes in the past. I remember reading a long online journal (with photographs) of a man who rode a folding bike with a trailer through Ethiopia. The trailer doubled as a carrying/packing case for the folding bike itself. That seemed like an efficient way to go about things. It was a lot of years ago, though, and I imagine the technology has gotten better.
I doubt it would work out for me in the long run, though. I don't have a lot of experience with folding bikes, but the couple of times I rode them, I couldn't get accustomed to them. I found riding them even inside a city to be uncomfortable and awkward. The frame felt too small and the handling was awkward and the wheels were too small for the bumps in the road. And I was surprised at just how heavy they were. I expected something much lighter, but the Brompton I was riding was quite heavy. It would be interesting to do an experiment of riding a folding bike overseas. Who knows? It might work out very well.
I'm also curious about electric bikes. They definitely seem to be the wave of the future. I remember looking into them a lot when they first hit the market, but back in those days, the batteries were huge and heavy. The bikes themselves were really heavy and awkward and expensive. But I think they've gotten much lighter and more streamlined and better in every way. It would be great to try one out.
Recently, I've been watching the travel videos on a channel called Marc Travels. He is riding a large electric motorcycle in India. That's not the same as an electric bicycle, of course. I assume you can plug an electric bicycle easily into any wall socket. But Marc was always looking for big, dedicated chargers. I was surprised that he was even able to find these dedicated charging places even in somewhat remote areas of India.
@PlanetDoug Having a proper bicycle is ideal to navigate around the city confidently, but if I'm a regular traveller, I'll definitely buy a small foldable electric one to transport from one city to another and from one country to another
@jeremyfielding2333 In my mind, I can see an electric bicycle being a step in between a regular bicycle and a motorbike. I've rented a motorbike or scooters on several occasions in my life. And I owned a 150cc scooter in Taiwan and rode all over the island on it. I loved the experience. There were so many advantages over cycling. However, there were things that I didn't like. Having a scooter or motorbike usually meant I tried to go too far. You get caught up in this idea of covering a lot of ground just because all you need to do is twist the throttle and go. And I missed so much that I would have seen using a bicycle. Plus, since I was part of normal traffic, most of my attention was focused on the road ahead and the vehicles around me. I couldn't really take in or enjoy my surroundings because I was going so fast and needed to keep my eyes on the road. Plus, it was harder and more complicated to stop, so I often just kept going. Finally, I found the big and heavy helmet cut me off from the outside world. I couldn't hear anything through the helmet and over the roar of the engine.
On a bicycle, you are moving much slower and can really absorb and enjoy everything around you. You hear everything and see everything. You can interact with people that you pass by. And it's so much easier to stop and just look around and take pictures and do whatever. So, cycling can be much more enjoyable.
I'm thinking that an electric bicycle might be a nice compromise between the two. You get all the benefits of cycling that I talked about. Plus, you get the extra boost from the electric motor when you need it so that you aren't exhausted all the time.