John, the thing I liked is that these are live wires straight out of an electrical substation. They carry "white man's magic" not movies, sporting fixtures or cooking programs.

John, thanks for your contributions along the way. There's no doubt that it's much easier to keep going with encouragement and amusing anecdotes from back home. Perhaps nothing will match reminiscing over a beer with people who - well - have followed the blog. Ian

Ian, my guess was pretty good considering that I wasn't traveling due north. The difficulty in looking at a screen meant that I didn't want to stop every few minutes. My first guess was pretty good. Ian

Ian, no, I saw it. I was delighted that it had a Canberra link. It reminded me of being in Zoology at Aberdeen to where a woman, newly back from an African holiday, got a referral for intestinal parasites. I don't think she cared that zoology PhD students have no training in patient etiquette. They identified three species of worm and could get rid of them.

Ian, thanks for all of your contributions - insightful and amusing. Taking a wrong turn on a bike hurts. I've rarely done it other than in Sumatra. Misleading distance markers sting too. But, look, its nothing. No one's forcing me to do this. My fortune meant that I was never going to be a palm worker, for whom I have the greatest respect. They have been ripped off in so many ways - the human cost that complements the environmental cost of this industry. Like most manual workers, they love having their photo taken, especially by someone riding a bike.

Bill, I knew you would! Thanks so much for your contribution and interest. Ian

Thanks Graham for all of your comments, help and generous donations to indigo. Looking forward to catching up. Ian

Thanks Vitus, much appreciated from someone who knows about this stuff. I'll keep the blog going until I am home in Canberra. I'll do a post outlining my intentions. Hopefully, I can disrupt your work for a few more days. Ian

Thanks Martin and to all those who have made similar comments. I was all over this ride physically. I had no trouble with huge distances, even in the tropics. The main problem was chafing, through being wet all day. I tolerated it and concentrated on riding smoothly, but I was often sore, especially from 100 km+. The ride in Australia was easy in all respects, other than spending too many nights in caravan parks, for internet. Indonesia was a different game and nothing to do with cycling, traffic or even some rough roads. It was garbage, noise, smoking and monotonous food and a few other factors - no ferry timetables, contradictory signage, etc - all things that grate on your mind. I cannot emphasize enough, the continuous search for shade, the changing of glasses, the dripping sweat, just to look at a screen. The tropical sun sits above you all day.

The bottles are so feeble that they are hard to put into the cage when empty. They make them pointed for my convenience.

Martin, other ports are well to the south. I wasn't going this far not to 1) cross the Equator, and 2) have an armchair cyclist say that I didn't cycle to Singapore. Well, I didn't but I got pretty close! Ian

Thanks Robin, much appreciated. I won't be doing much cycling in Singapore. I tried to organize an event but failed to muster any interest. I think that I'll grab a bike box, put it on my loaded bike (as in Darwin) and cycle to the airport. I'll then pack it and put it into a special bicycle locker so it's all ready for our flight on Sunday night. After a few days in Sydney, I'm going to cycle slowly to Canberra (3 days) to ease back in to normal life. I'll be a few rp short of 10,000 km.

How many more kilometres on the wheels? Should you ride around Singapore a few times to make it 10,000? You are a champion and indigo foundation and its partner communities we work with are so, so grateful for the more than $20,000 you have raised.

I have wondered why you had to cycle all the way to Dumai to then take a long ferry ride ‘back’ to Batam Island? Is there no nearer port?

Why the empty bottles upside down?