Dutch biker on 4-nation 8,000-km odyssey
****Karnjana Karnjanatawe
(Bangkok Post dd. 13 March 2006 // DN)
http://www.bangkokpost.com/090306_Horizons/090306_hor07.jpg
Linda Fralkin kicks off her biking expedition from Bangkok-Beijing on April 1.
On April 1, Linda Fralkin of the Netherlands will kick off her longest biking expedition in Sanam Luang, Bangkok, and pedal all the way to Beijing, the Chinese capital.
After spending three years in Thailand teaching at Raffles Design Institute in Silom area, the bike-loving Dutch who is an environmentalist at heart wanted “to leave Bangkok with a bang.”
The six-month-long expedition will see her bike through Cambodia and Vietnam before arriving in Beijing, covering a distance of 8,000 kilometres. On this tour, she has chosen to persist with her trusted two-year-old mountain bike that she used travelling around Thailand, Burma and Cambodia.
“I have no fear. I have already travelled to many countries in Europe, South America and also in Southeast Asia…It is not something impossible. There is nothing that can’t be done. I just wanted to do it so why not,” said Fralkin.
Fralkin is tentatively scheduled to arrive in Beijing on September 30.
“I would like to use this opportunity to raise awareness about problems arising from deforestation and degradation of forests in Southeast Asia,” she added.
In the meantime, she is inviting other bikers to keep her company, even if it is only for the ride out of Bangkok.
The Dutch biker can be reached at www.bangkok-beijingbybike.org.
Hallo Dave,