AsiaWheeling has a few classes of penpals at the Cherokee Trail Elementary School in Colorado.  Here, and periodically throughout the journey, we will answer some of their questions about life on two wheels.

We received a few questions in the comments of a recent post, the answers to which are below.

Q: Do you feel safe around all the people there?

A: Not all the people, but most. Indonesians are in general very friendly and welcoming. Every once in a while we encounter someone who is trying to trick us into giving them money for nothing, or over-charging us. On a very rare occasion we might meet someone who does not like Americans very much, or does not want us to photograph them or their stuff. In these cases, we try to be as respectful as possible. There are many reasons why people don’t like America or tourists in their country and we understand that.

But on the whole, we feel very safe, and enjoy meeting new people both locals and other travelers.

Q: How far do you ride on the cool bikes every day?

A: We ride between 10 and 70 km a day. It really depends on the weather, the traffic, and the way points that we chose.

Q: Do you like the food?

A: We love trying new foods, and whenever we can be reasonably sure that it won’t make us sick we try new things. Most of them we like. For instance, a few nights ago, we had some chicken hearts and lungs that were incredible, all wrapped up with veins and very well spiced. Sometimes we have things that are strange, but not so tasty, things like some very fishy crackers that are popular in Indonesia, or some fried cows lungs, which I think had sat out too long.

Q: Have you met anyone new (not a part of Asia Wheeling or their families) there?  How did you meet them?

A: We meet new people all the time. We meet lots of fellow travelers in hotels and on the streets. We also get to meet many locals. Since there are not many white people here (did you know that being a white person is actually quite rare and special on planet earth?), people come up to us and ask to take their picture with us, so we make friends that way. We also need to work with locals to buy tickets and get food and shelter, so we are constantly meeting new people.

Q: Have you seen any other people that you knew before (like the plane trip)?

A: Nope so far all new people. Soon we will have some other friends come join us, though. So stay tuned.

Q: Where are you sleeping and how long do you stay at each place?

A: We stay between 2 and 7 days in your typical place, depending on how good the wheeling is there. We try to stay at all kinds of places except expensive. So we stay at youth hostels, business hotels, and family-run inns. Later on we might stay at a few super-fancy places, but those are few and far between due to the high cost.  Our favorite places to stay are old hotels with lots of character at affordable prices, such as the Hotel L’Orient in Pondicherry.

And now for the postcards.

Hey There Aiden,

Glad you’re studying about Asia in school.  It’s an interesting place.  Here, we drink a lot of water every day.  Because we’re out in the sun, riding bicycles, and taking medication to fight malaria which needs lots of water due to side effects of skin sensitivity.  On an active day, we consume about 5.7 liters of water.  Do you know how many gallons that is?

However, in most places in Asia, you can’t drink the tap water, because it will make you sick.  We either drink bottled water, or tea or coffee which is so hot that it kills the bacteria.  Bottled water here is not very expensive compared to in the United States.  In Indonesia, India, and China, a normal 600ml bottle of water may cost around 17 cents.

Staying hydrated by drinking water is important no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

Best,

AsiaWheeling

Greetings Garrett,

Thanks for your letter.  Our favorite colors are Ivory, Graphite, and Avocado as you can see from our website.  You’re lucky to have so much school and go on Ski Trips as well.

We’re so glad that you’re a math geek.  We are too!  In fact, we wear calculator watches because we do so much math every day.  Doing it in your head is good practice too, especially because you can’t use a calculator watch on tests in school.

Keep it up,

AsiaWheeling

你好，Ilka, 你的名字中文可以叫爱卡，很好听的名字，相信你的人长得也像你的名字一样美丽。中国地大物博，有很多好吃好玩的东西。 祝愿你好好学习，好好学习中文，将来有机会到中国来 看看。也欢迎你多上我们的网站，里面可以看到各个国家的奇闻趣事。最后，祝你越长越美丽。

高洁

大中华高级顾问

全球自行车探险 (AsiaWheeling)

Good Day Trevor,

Great to hear that you do so many sports.  We like Indiana Jones too.  In fact, our favorite activity is exploring the jungles like he does.

We also like doing math, drinking coffee, and understanding better ways to stay safe while traveling.

Your Friend,

AsiaWheeling

Hi Jake,

Nice stussy.  Those are all great sports. Stay active and be safe.  Our favorite number is 23.

Cheers,

AsiaWheeling

Howdy Austin,

We’re glad to hear that you like hockey and biking.  The most important thing is to be interested in things and do them as much as possible.

Keep riding that bike, and when you’re older, you can pick any part of the world to explore.

Wheel Safe,

AsiaWheeling

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Letters From The Kids, Wheeling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.