Hi Shootingstar,

yeah I remember reading that thread, full of admiration for women like that. Cycling has given me alot of independance in a sense, (not to mention gives me alot of confidence about my body - alot of my image issues got better since I started cycling)

There are several things about touring solo that I feel isn't so suitable as of yet. I'm 25 yrs old, female, and look local. It's too easy to attract alot of unwanted attention because people/men think you're some young chick. They'll at least give it a try. In malaysia there have been cases of lone female drivers stopped on the road by gangs, raped and killed. If that can happen to someone in a car, I can't imagine on a bicycle. My parents won't sleep for as long as I'm gone, and even if I feel perfectly safe, I know they would be worrying themselves stupid about me, so I won't do that right now. (even riding in a pair I have people telling me to get more people to ride with but I absolutely refuse on that count. Two is the magic number)

Tri-girl,

definitely when I become an expert on the area I'll share all I know. Central asia and southeast asia is abit different I think in terms of amount of traffic and also population density. From backpacking in SEA, i know trunk roads are often heavily used by buses and heavy goods vehicles. Roads are not well-maintained and when the road passes through any small town, there are no stoplights or anything, people just crossing the street, markets, children playing, the occasional animal...

actually, I think lone women who make it halfway across the world to tour on a bike won't have a hard time anywhere... just my opinion hahha.

my tour partner is a photographer by profession, and takes these off the bike. My bike wobbles like crazy if i so much as let my hands go. I let him take all the pictures so I have lovely souvenirs.