Dear Reader,

What you have stumbled upon is an artifact from a stranger, less guarded age.

AsiaWheeling is the story of two young men, armed with two laptops, two folding bicycles, a heaping spoonful of optimism, and a unique idea of what makes for sensible transportation. We spent ten months wheeling through 23 countries. We followed unfamiliar roads, crowded trains, questionable advice, strong coffee, weak currencies, high peaks, sunken temples, and the occasional bureaucratic catastrophe. We reported from the field whenever electricity, bandwidth, and gastrointestinal stability permitted.

These dispatches appear much as we wrote them. Some links have vanished, some facts belong firmly to their moment, in a world unmistakably distinct from today’s geopolitical order. But the encounters, photographs, failures, friendships, and astonishment are real. We vowed to record our adventures, hitting the open road with open minds and discovering that our main quest would be to withhold judgement and to learn from the incredible people and places we encountered.

The site itself was later hacked and disappeared into the digital wilderness. It has now been recovered, cleaned, and returned to the public record. No expedition should be allowed to vanish merely because of a server’s encounter with disreputable actors.

Proceed, dear reader, with reckless abandon.

– Woody Schneider & Scott Norton
Chief Correspondants, AsiaWheeling Bureau
Present Day