Life lately
Caption: In Bangkok's Chinatown, a woman pushes another in a wheelchair outside a cafe full of 80's office equipment and "cool vibes only"
On August 14th Bell and I parted ways in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I didn't see her again until September 25th, in Bangkok, Thailand. It's the longest we've been apart since 2016. By the time she met me at the arrivals in Bangkok with a matcha-flavoured pea protein drink, I'd been in Canada, in Poland, and briefly, again, in Malaysia, to collect my bicycle and the rest of my gear. All the while, Bell had made her way north from Kuala Lumpur to the Thai border and to Bangkok by bus and bicycle.
A side trip during a bicycle trip, one where you entrust your bicycle to the safekeeping of a hotel or person you know, feels even more like a detour. You will pick back up where you left off because your means for picking up are in a locked room, without you. But this August and September in Canada and Poland aren't really detours. I was doing things that matter to me in other areas of my life.
Caption: Trying to gamify the apartment admin that Mom, Dad, and I were coordinating on
Still, now that I'm in Thailand and what I feel I am doing is trying to return to my normal. Normal is the bicycle trip, where weeks are split between riding and work. But we will still be a week or two more in Bangkok. I am tired, the last months took a lot out of me. There is rest to be had. There are tasks to be completed in pursuit of a healthy body and a healthy bicycle.
I am writing this post because sometimes when you read a blog that has posts about random things, you want some sort of overarching context to understand why and where a person is writing from. This is that.
Caption: Lots of flying lately, lots of bicycle boxes
Summary of the last 14 months
August, September, October, November: Leaving Canada. Cycling in northern India. Learning to bike travel again as different people with different bodies. Dry air and wet tears. Mountains and high altitude. Incredible scenery. Figuring out balance with work. Take Sept-Oct from work, restart in November. What I wrote about this time: [August 2025](tab: https://afterstan.bearblog.dev/august-2025/), Visit India, see how it goes; Peanut-tomato veggie stew; The good for all shop; September 2025; Writing tips; October 2025; Walking towards curry leaves; November 2025: Uttarakhand, India;
December: A scary taxi ride from Rishikesh to Delhi. Storing our bicycles in the basement of the fancy homestay we resided in. Flying to South Africa to visit Bell's mum over the Christmas and New Years' holidays. What I wrote about this time: December 2025: Ganges blue, Delhi metro, Mum in Kwa-Zulu Natal
January: Flying back to Delhi, moving to a different place, and collaborating and sometimes fighting with residents of Delhi to get our bicycles in boxes onto the Tamil Nadu Express to Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Hanging out in Chennai, before cycling across the plains to Tiruvanamalai. What I wrote about this time: January 2026: Mostly in Tamil Nadu, with a train ride, fellow women cyclists, "cycling to the mountain"
February: Cycling in Tamil Nadu. Stopping in Pondicherry. Trying and failing to take a ferry to Sri Lanka. Ascending to the Western Ghats and the border with Kerala. What I wrote about this time: February 2026: A meeting, a cancelled ferry, a climb (Tamil Nadu)
March: Hanging out in the conurbation of Kalady near Kochin, getting bicycle boxes, flying to Taiwan, adjusting to the new reality of Taipei, starting to cycle around this small island nation and reintroducing ourselves to wild camping. What I wrote about this time: March 2026: Deciding where to go next; Kalady, Kerala; Camping in Taiwan
April and May: The slow loop around Taiwan continued and finished. Taiwan is a hot and humid place. I got eaten alive one time by midges. I was afraid of various Asian wasp species. Taiwan was also a bike travelling holiday. We got spoiled by 7-Elevens. And we took a week off work to do a loop within our loop, up into the mountains and down again, it was amazing. What I wrote about this time: April 2026 in Taiwan; May 2026 in Taiwan
June: Last days in Taiwan. Flying to Jakarta, settling in Jakarta, starting to ride towards Sumatra. Being surprised at how much immediate ease we both felt. Getting taken in by women all along the way and loving it. What I wrote about this time: June 2026 in Taiwan and Indonesia
July: Cycling northwest along the west coast of Sumatra. Once we had reached Padang, we made a 90-degree turn and took a bus across the width of Sumatra to get to the port city of Dumai on the Strait of Malacca. What I wrote about this time: July 2026 in Sumatra, Indonesia; Zine: seven sounds of Sumatra
August: The fast ferry from Dumai to Malaysia, then 1.5 days of riding on the highway to get to Kuala Lumpur. Sourcing bike boxes (again), me flying to Canada, a ferry to Vancouver Island. Emptying out our apartment, splitting my time between there and my parents'. Tons of help from them, and a slow paint job, an amount of life admin I felt overwhelmed by.
September: Vancouver Island still, and more time with my parents, plus Elisabeth and Alex. Then to Warsaw, Poland. I attended my work team retreat, and then CARE (Conference on Animal Rights in Europe). There was an overabundance of socializing and amazing vegan food. I flew to Kuala Lumpur, repacked, and flew to Bangkok.
October: I'm writing this mid-month. I'm resting and saying no to more things. Bell reassembled my bicycle with its new wheels, and took me to a batik printing workshop and an incredible vegan restaurant for a belated birthday present. I'm drinking iced americanos and I took a week off work. Hopefully by the end of the month we will be back to our normal, on the road again.
Caption: At our work retreat in Warsaw last month
At the Don Mueng Airport in Bangkok, Bell and I ordered a minivan on the Grab app. The driver helped us load my enormous bicycle box as well as the other cardboard box holding two new wheels. It was nighttime and parts of Bangkok were flooding. An hour later we were home.
We've sold our apartment. So I'm wondering what home means to me. Home is connection to myself. Home is Bell. Practically speaking, home is a room with air conditioning. Sometimes in the coming months home will be the tent. Home is right now, when I feel quiet and am writing this.
I tell myself that I don't have a simple and legible way of explaining what I am doing right now in my life. I am bike travelling, but I'm flying a lot. I'm working, but part-time and flexible. I'm bike travelling, but very part-time. I crave a simple story, if only for myself. But actually our previous bike trip was more like this than I realize or remember.
In a very roundabout way I arrive at the place that I started. The simplest way to explain what I am doing is: I am on a slow bicycle trip with stops along the way to balance the different areas of my life.
Caption: Near the end of our Taiwan ride a few months ago