If anyone knows me they know that I don't bike.
It's not a mater of being lazy or not liking the sport.
I don't bike because I had a terrible accident when I was 18 and I was run over by a car, well actually my bike was run over (poor thing, it didn't look like a bike anymore..., more like a black and green metal sandwich), I was hit and propelled into the air and landed on my right shoulder and head into the concrete.
One month in the hospital, luckily I had excellent grades at school and the professor decided to promote me anyway otherwise to add shame to the injury I would have had to repeat the year.
Anyway, that's the reason why, since when I was 18, I don't ride bikes.
There's always exceptions to the rule, obviously, I didn't get THAT traumatised, I rode once in a camping spot in Muggia, close to Trieste, north east Italy, almost on the border, with a couple of friends of mines.
Particularly, the friend that gave me the bike (it was her sister's), was very embarrassed by the way I was riding (very erratic and really really NOT stable, quite disturbing since I was a grown up 21 year old girl that looked like she needed those miniature side wheels they give to trainees, in the middle of a group of 5 or 6 year olds that were already riding mountain bikes and doing tricks like standing on the back wheel) and she kept apologising by explaining between her teeth that I hadn't been on a bike for a long time.
The second time I rode a bike was much later than that.
It was in 2008, in China, on the countryside close to Yangshuo, we were going for an excursion and everyone was riding so I would have felt lonely by staying at the hotel on my own.
Besides Steve was there too and we were just dating back then and I really wanted to show him how charming and absolutely fabulous I am, so I bit the bullet and pretended I was a pro on the saddle.
It didn't go TOO bad, I didn't fall, or I rather say I wasn't the one who actually FELL so I felt pretty good about myself, I was no Cadel, don't get me wrong but for someone who has been biking only once since she was 18.... it could have been much worse!
Ironically that surprisingly good performance pushed me to experiment with bikes again, later that same year, this time in Nepal, in the Royal Chitawan National Park, amongst rhinos and tigers.
Ah? Not bad hey?
Ok, now the truth, it WAS the same exotic location but obviously rhinos and tigers knew better than to stay close to this strange woman on a bike showing off her newly re-acquired ability to brake and land without falling!
All right, so that was 4 years ago, between then and now, no more bike rides, at least none that I recall, and since I would have gone through a whole soul searching thing before allowing myself on a bike again I think I would remember!
Therefore when I was reading the Lonely Planet guide to Myanmar (Burma) and I learnt that the best way to visit the temples in Bagan is either by horse cart or by bike I thought "Horse cart! Here I come!".
However, as I suspected, horse carts pose a huge problem, an actual deal breaker for photographers: they bounce, oh boy do they bounce ALL THE TIME! Try taking a tack sharp photo from a horse cart, unless you crank up the shutter speed dial to 1/500 (or more, especially if the roads are full of holes and since we were in countryside Burma.... well do I need to explain?), it's mission impossible!
In short, there were no alternatives, it was the bike or nothing.
Bike! Here I come!
And so it was that Steve and I rented a couple of push bikes from the hotel where we were staying and pedalled our way to the many temples in Bagan.
The first day was amazingly easy, the bikes they gave us were excellent, light weight, perfect brakes, a basket on the front to put our heavy camera gears, a very loud and cheerful bell, it was so much fun that I didn't think twice about getting back on the saddle the following day.
But here's where we made our first mistake, we wanted to explore the local market in the morning so that we could take photos of the amazing variety of fresh produces, meat, fish, housewares, and general paraphernalia that is proper to just about any market in Asia.
Not to talk about the possibility to buy souvenirs, this time unfulfilled since the local market in Nyaung U doesn't cater for tourists, so unless we were to come back to our family and friends with a pan or a couple of toilet rolls called "JOY" (no kidding!) as a souvenir from Burma, we would have had to go souvenir hunting somewhere else.
Anyway, the market was so interesting that it took us the better part of the morning to explore its many stalls and meanderings.
When we got back to the hotel to rent the bikes for our further tour of the temples we found out that the only ones left were not as good as the ones we had the day before.
And that's an overstatement.
They were so heavy that even the alternative of having to PUSH them all the way to and from the temples was more appealing than riding them!!!
Grunting and muttering like a grumpy old woman I pedalled my way to the first temple.
You have to understand that those bikes were so bad that every time there was a bit of sand on the road they were completely useless.
Now, since as I explained before, we were in countryside Burma, sand was what the roads were MADE OF!
You know when you go riding on the beach at sunset with the gentle breeze against your skin and the flocks of gulls elegantly flying in the pink sky?
All right, leave the sand, put the sun back up in the sky, substitute the breeze with 40 degrees temperature, avoid a collision with the creepy crows and forget about the pink sky, cause grey is all you'll see, if you don't count the occasional mirage of an oasis in the desert.
Well, needless to say our recommendation when renting a bike in Bagan: get there early and get the best ones!!!
It's not a mater of being lazy or not liking the sport.
I don't bike because I had a terrible accident when I was 18 and I was run over by a car, well actually my bike was run over (poor thing, it didn't look like a bike anymore..., more like a black and green metal sandwich), I was hit and propelled into the air and landed on my right shoulder and head into the concrete.
One month in the hospital, luckily I had excellent grades at school and the professor decided to promote me anyway otherwise to add shame to the injury I would have had to repeat the year.
Anyway, that's the reason why, since when I was 18, I don't ride bikes.
There's always exceptions to the rule, obviously, I didn't get THAT traumatised, I rode once in a camping spot in Muggia, close to Trieste, north east Italy, almost on the border, with a couple of friends of mines.
Particularly, the friend that gave me the bike (it was her sister's), was very embarrassed by the way I was riding (very erratic and really really NOT stable, quite disturbing since I was a grown up 21 year old girl that looked like she needed those miniature side wheels they give to trainees, in the middle of a group of 5 or 6 year olds that were already riding mountain bikes and doing tricks like standing on the back wheel) and she kept apologising by explaining between her teeth that I hadn't been on a bike for a long time.
The second time I rode a bike was much later than that.
It was in 2008, in China, on the countryside close to Yangshuo, we were going for an excursion and everyone was riding so I would have felt lonely by staying at the hotel on my own.
Besides Steve was there too and we were just dating back then and I really wanted to show him how charming and absolutely fabulous I am, so I bit the bullet and pretended I was a pro on the saddle.
It didn't go TOO bad, I didn't fall, or I rather say I wasn't the one who actually FELL so I felt pretty good about myself, I was no Cadel, don't get me wrong but for someone who has been biking only once since she was 18.... it could have been much worse!
Ironically that surprisingly good performance pushed me to experiment with bikes again, later that same year, this time in Nepal, in the Royal Chitawan National Park, amongst rhinos and tigers.
Ah? Not bad hey?
Ok, now the truth, it WAS the same exotic location but obviously rhinos and tigers knew better than to stay close to this strange woman on a bike showing off her newly re-acquired ability to brake and land without falling!
All right, so that was 4 years ago, between then and now, no more bike rides, at least none that I recall, and since I would have gone through a whole soul searching thing before allowing myself on a bike again I think I would remember!
Therefore when I was reading the Lonely Planet guide to Myanmar (Burma) and I learnt that the best way to visit the temples in Bagan is either by horse cart or by bike I thought "Horse cart! Here I come!".
However, as I suspected, horse carts pose a huge problem, an actual deal breaker for photographers: they bounce, oh boy do they bounce ALL THE TIME! Try taking a tack sharp photo from a horse cart, unless you crank up the shutter speed dial to 1/500 (or more, especially if the roads are full of holes and since we were in countryside Burma.... well do I need to explain?), it's mission impossible!
In short, there were no alternatives, it was the bike or nothing.
Bike! Here I come!
And so it was that Steve and I rented a couple of push bikes from the hotel where we were staying and pedalled our way to the many temples in Bagan.
The first day was amazingly easy, the bikes they gave us were excellent, light weight, perfect brakes, a basket on the front to put our heavy camera gears, a very loud and cheerful bell, it was so much fun that I didn't think twice about getting back on the saddle the following day.
But here's where we made our first mistake, we wanted to explore the local market in the morning so that we could take photos of the amazing variety of fresh produces, meat, fish, housewares, and general paraphernalia that is proper to just about any market in Asia.
Not to talk about the possibility to buy souvenirs, this time unfulfilled since the local market in Nyaung U doesn't cater for tourists, so unless we were to come back to our family and friends with a pan or a couple of toilet rolls called "JOY" (no kidding!) as a souvenir from Burma, we would have had to go souvenir hunting somewhere else.
Anyway, the market was so interesting that it took us the better part of the morning to explore its many stalls and meanderings.
When we got back to the hotel to rent the bikes for our further tour of the temples we found out that the only ones left were not as good as the ones we had the day before.
And that's an overstatement.
They were so heavy that even the alternative of having to PUSH them all the way to and from the temples was more appealing than riding them!!!
Grunting and muttering like a grumpy old woman I pedalled my way to the first temple.
You have to understand that those bikes were so bad that every time there was a bit of sand on the road they were completely useless.
Now, since as I explained before, we were in countryside Burma, sand was what the roads were MADE OF!
You know when you go riding on the beach at sunset with the gentle breeze against your skin and the flocks of gulls elegantly flying in the pink sky?
All right, leave the sand, put the sun back up in the sky, substitute the breeze with 40 degrees temperature, avoid a collision with the creepy crows and forget about the pink sky, cause grey is all you'll see, if you don't count the occasional mirage of an oasis in the desert.
Well, needless to say our recommendation when renting a bike in Bagan: get there early and get the best ones!!!
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