Cycling for jackfruit

Why do men travel? Why should men travel?

In the machismo-overload manifesto Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men, Stephen Mansfield suggests that traveling is like questing, a sure way for a man to Show Himself a Man. 

Mansfield concludes that “most of us are tragically overdomesticated. We have hardly any connection to the wild or our wilder selves. Words like adventure, exploit, and quest no longer apply to us…” Instead of “an iPad-addicted, overlauded life,” Mansfield suggests that “men need to bark at the moon. Men need to blow thing something up. Men need to go in pursuit. Men need a quest…” Perhaps Mansfield needs to take a chill pill because nobody really needs to turn himself into a werewolf nor lit up some C4 to show himself a man. Nor should he need to dump his Apple products.

As a cyclist, my view of travel is more in line with Mark Twain’s. The mustached one was quoted saying: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Or grab that bicycle, make sure tires are properly inflated between 90-110 psi, and set out for adventure (don’t forget to grab spare tubes and a water bottle).” Maybe old Twain didn’t exactly say the last few words - but he would if he had ever experienced with a double flat in the middle of Nowhere, Eastern Washington in the middle of a sweltering summer.

How's about "traveling is about experiencing the things you love with the people you love?" 

Last March, I traveled to Vietnam and Myanmar with my family. Below are the reasons I love it there.

I love eating tropical fruits – all shapes, smell, textures and flavors. 

I love dogs – I have three at home so I look for them on the road. The thing about dogs is that they are the same anywhere in the world: just plain cool, fun, elegant and loyal. 

I love babies. I'd rather kiss them than eat them...maybe just the plumb ones. 

I love traveling because of the many cool ways to travel:

Of course, no cooler way to travel than on a bike! 

Here’s my sister Thu on her way to morning coffee in a dress. Town folks must have thought she was crazy but she had fun.

And say if you love to eat jackfruit and your aunt gave you a juicy one to take home…Rickety bike to the rescue! Wet a couple dried banana stems, use them to tie down the thorny thing to the back seat and pedal it home! 

Wow, Nhan, you’re so smart! Yes, but check out these Burmese guys. Cycle-styling in longyi wearing flip flops. Total bad ass! 

Check out how they design their bikes to transport cargo. The bike is made to carry two passengers sitting back-to-back. Yangon doesn’t allow mopeds so poor folks hail a bus or a bicycle to get around.

Out of Yangon and to Bagan: many things to see and feel. 

The best way to wander and explore was, of course, on a bike: 

Bicycling is cool.