My name is Victor. I live in Australia. Australians have difficulty clearly enunciating vowels/consonants and often just can't be bothered with the last syllable in a word: so everyone here refers to me as "Victa." I was born in the USA (California) and there I was known as "Vic." That worked just fine until I moved to the Antipodes in the early 1970s. I lived in New Zealand for about 10 years and they had no problem with my first name, but it didn't work here in OZ. I'd clearly state my name and my first name would be reinterpreted as Mick, Dick, Rick, Vince or maybe even Bruce. My surname gets them into all sorts of bother... So eventually I gave up on "Vic" and swapped to Victor which they pronounce "Victa." I usually don't bother with the surname, unless asked.

After twentyfive + years living here in Perth, Western Australia. I finally took the plunge and became an Australian citizen. It took me over two years of bureaucratic wrangling and hoop jumping to get that passport and it also meant that I had to severely restrict my overseas bike travels. For some reason the immigration people took umbrage to my constant overseas travel...  So now I have three passports, so do my kids, but not my wife. She's happy with just two. But with that new citizenship/passport firmly in hand, it is time to go for a ride.

I enjoy travel in SE Asia and I keep a bike in Bangkok, Thailand. It was built by Parn of GrannyBike fame and he has stored it for me for the past 2.5 years while I've been grounded in Australia. It's the "hot season" right now in Thailand and I'd rather avoid riding in the heat, so I thought I'd have a go at cycling Yunnan. Apart from a short two week (mandatory non-cycling "duty calls" trip too difficult to explain here) visit to Beijing and Shanghai a couple of years ago, China is all new. 

Caveat: At this point in time (09/042019) I don't really know exactly where I'm going after I land in Kunming. Due west to the Nujiang (Salween) River is only one option. And if I go that way, I'd probably get a bus to Dali, then Baoshan because I want to spend most of my time riding small roads in rural areas, not concrete freeways through major cities... 

I tried to get a 10 year multiple re-entry visa using my US passport, but the ladies at the visa office insisted that 30 days on my OZ passport was the only visa option they would entertain. I pick up the bike on the 24th of April, spend a few days in Bangkok and then fly off to Kunming on the 28th. I still haven't figured out where I'll go from there. I've got a 30 day visa and a ticket back to Bangkok on the 26th of May.  

That covers the who, what and where. The why is a bit more difficult to nut out. I think to a large part, travel is hardwired into my DNA. Three of my four grandparents were immigrants to the US (the fourth was a native). That desire to travel skipped a generation, but hit me pretty hard and curiously missed all of my siblings (and cousins / nieces / nephews). I hitchhiked and walked across large parts of the western US in spits and spurts from the age of sixteen. I got on a plane to travel the world when I was 23 because I didn't like the politics in the US.  

I never really made it back there and I guess that maybe part of my current desire to explore the world is just the logical extension of what got me started at the tender age of sixteen. The other motivation to get out there is my age. I'm at that point in life where sooner, not later, I'm just not going to be able to get out there on the bike to do those big rides ... 

And why travel on a bike? For me personally, travel has never been about the destination: it's always been about the journey, meeting new people and seeing new places. And I know of no better way to do that than by bicycle, slow slow bicycle.