How it all begun...

The first was a tumble of enthusiasm and coincidence which ended up with Ngiam, Aimin and I making our way to Orchid Valley to “crash” the annual Local Leadership Development Seminar. That first trip was quite a nightmare for me, having no choice but to use my ancient rusty four year old bike. The trip there was tiring yet memorable, being the first ever such experience. I think we started around seven in the morning (hoping to escape the scorching afternoon sun) and took at least one hour before we reached Orchid Valley. On the way, we happen to meet pro-looking cyclist with even more pro-looking bicycles perched on top of their four wheel drives. If not for them, we could not have fixed Aimin’s punctured bicycle. That was when it hit me that technical know-hows are going to be a matter of making the trip a pain-staking one or an enjoyable one.

This group of cyclists was from Singapore and armed with all kinds of cool looking gadgets which were totally alien to me. We innocently told them that we plan to Thailand and were instantly greeted with exclamations of disbelieve. I was thinking, “Wow, even the pros are against it….must be something worth doing!” Well, that’s just me. :)