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40 dni do startu! Wyzwanie zostanie podjęte 15go. maja 2017!

Zwiastun nowego sezonu

Tajlandia

Posty się napisały!!! Do czytania tędy.

W między czasie zapraszam na trailer:

 

Reszta tutaj.

 

Apdejt 2017

Notka dla czytających

Pomimo iż wpisy z moich wypraw datują sprzed kilku lat, 

spisuję je na papierze dopiero w 2016 i 2017 roku...

Ten blog nie jest więc opustoszałym duchem, tylko po prostu powoli mi idzie...

Epilogue - 28.02.2016

Prachathipat (Bangkok suburbs) – Bangkok airport
The last 24-hours

My WS host puts Kostas and me up at his friend’s house (thank you friend!).

Once at the premises, we talk, exchange stories, listen to music and sing.

The following day Kostas decides to ride with me to the airport.

Since we have been very healthy cyclists for the past couple of weeks, we decide we’ve hard-earned our opportunity to go naughty. We stop by at a coffee shop for some sugar-loaded treats, we drink, we smoke… Rowdy cyclists yes we are!!!

 

 

 

Day 14

Ayutthaya – Prachathipat (Bangkok suburbs)

It’s oveeer… My last day of cycling before I hit Bangkok and fly off…

The route is quite simple: straight on the national 32 and then 1, until Bangkok.

Mental note for later: big metropolises like Thai capitals are a traffic road nightmare to get in and out of – hop on a train whenever you can!

I don’t really have anything to say expect that I have 45km of bituminous road to do, in heat and accompanied by the never-ending honking of the overexcited (overheated?) truck drivers.

I pull at the biggest Thai commercial centre at 1pm. With the very last remaining money I get myself a cup of coffee and get in touch with my sister to arrange for a WesternMoney cash transfer, as I’d left for Asia with only 500€ in hand and no credit cards whatsoever.

Three hours later, with a fresh supply of cash, I meet my wonderful Warmshowers hosts and a fellow Warmshower cyclist and the celebrations can begin…

Km: 46.24 km
Tm: 2:08
Av: 21.6 km/h
TOTAL: 1015.24 km

Day 13

Wihan Khao - Ayutthaya

After a tumultuous Thursday, Friday’s looking a lot better.

I managed to shake off yesterday miserable experience mainly thanks to my lovely CouchSurfing host Dani and her geek of a boyfriend. I was lodged, fed and treated to a captivating conversation about all things nerdy. I so love CouchSurfing…!

Anyways, with not so many kilometres left to go, I decide to take it real easy. I take my time when passing by the elephant parks and go on an extended visit of the Wat Rachaburana Temple Park.

I finish off in Ayutthaya, early enough to go for a 2-hour full-body massage, take a disco nap and have dinner at a fancy restaurant before setting off to a night visit of the city.

Life is good.

Km: 70.48 km
Tm: 3:35
Av: 20.1 km/h
TOTAL: 969 km

 

Day 12

Nakhon Sawan – Wihan Khao

Today I’m angry, sad and distressed.

I am pretty gutted to have to write about this but it's part of my story, it's life, it's what happened, so here I am. I had three good opening lines to bring the subject up but as days went by, I forgot them all. Which is good… in the end… it means it hasn't taken up as much space as I was afraid it would.

What's the deal?

Sexual violence against women.

I was happily cycling along a busy road, minding my own business when a car pulled up and started following me. The guy honked, as they all do, and I waved my hand in acknowledgment, as I usually do. Except that the car wouldn't pass me by but continued riding by my side. And honked again. I turned around and saw that the guy was jerking off and happily showing his junk off.
I first tried to ignore him. No reaction.
I then made fun of his tiny dick in order to humiliate him. No success.
I then yelled at him so that he leaves me alone. Without any result whatsoever.
I wanted to kick his car but decided that should he be a nut case, he could easily run me over and so I didn’t. Nothing I did or said – and not speaking Thai didn’t help – had any effect of the creep. I was powerless. I could not protect myself, run away nor stop this from happening.
I was in tears.
Not because a minor sexual offender tried to show me his junk, but because there was absolutely nothing I could do about it to stop it and nothing I could do penalise him for his wrongdoing.
Once jerked off, he would just go about his day until he found another woman, girl, person susceptible to be his next prey.

This is not to say that this happened to me because I was cycling in the middle of nowhere, on my own, somewhere in Thailand.

No.

The exact same thing occurred to me when cycling in the heart of Paris just a year ago. Another man flashed me when I was walking home with a friend, in the late 90’s, literally 200 metres away from my house in Poland.

Thailand, France or Poland: sexual violence against women knows no boarders. Thousands kilometres away or in front of your house. Alone or accompanied. Does. Not. Matter.

The sad fact is, 99% of women have, are and sadly will be victims of sexual violence. In most cases, according to my experience, you don’t go off deeply scarred. Just like you manage it feet away from where your parents live: you will manage it on the road. Staying put does not protect you from predators and wandering off does not mean you are making yourself vulnerable. It really does not matter.

Remember that your home is lands remote to someone else and a faraway place for you: home to another.

Km: 120.80 km
Tm: 5:32
Av: 21.8 km/h
TOTAL: 899 km