Cycling Hong Kong to London (slowly!) - Part 3 - Friends! Hills!

[@creationadorer4690]

What an enjoyable nad uplifting episode! Thank you, Susanna. You were so ready and willing to appreciate and embrace the people you met and the places you traveled through, and in return you were blessed with joyful and heart-warming encounters, beautiful scenery, as well as eye-opening and rewarding experiences. The positive energy even rubbed on your viewers.

[@susannathornton]

Hello! thank you for such a lovely comment! Yes I met so many lovely people and saw so many things. It was fantastic. A huge privilege. Thank you so much for watching and for taking the trouble to write such a thoughtful comment. Best wishes for 2022!

[@kakeepyne42]

Sue. Fabulous account of your Long Journey Hone. So happy to be there.... ❤️❤️❤️

[@susannathornton]

Hello Ka Kee!!!!! haha yes! I was so happy too, that you were there ♥♥♥ thanks for the lovely comment! ♥♥♥

[@velorog]

A delightful insight into another world. It must have taken a lot of bottle to leave your friends and set out alone on the long road home. Very much looking forward to future episodes.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Velorog! Thanks for watching, and for the lovely comment. Yeh after my friends all left that day, it felt suddenly so quiet. There had been a big heap of bikes and helmets and things, and a big noisy scrum of everyone packing up, then suddenly they'd all gone and just me. Will put up the next episode soon!

[@talkingtraveldogs3239]

Loved it! Great film, this whole series is as good as anything on PBS. Awesome!👍👍

[@susannathornton]

Oh goodness thanks, what a generous comment. I was so lucky to have the chance to do that ride. Things were relatively peaceful during that time

[@pootlingalong8928]

You have a gift for making such interesting little films! Another enjoyable quiet chapter - with scenes which remind me of the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Thank you for sharing :)

[@susannathornton]

Hello Pootling along! Thanks for the super nice comment. After I read your comment I looked up Gladys Aylward and the inn etc to remind myself the story, and saw that in 2006 someone went to see if her "inn" is still there - and it was!! All tatty. Looked amazing. Great story. www.cjvlang.com/Photos/yangcheng/smallwoman2.html Anyway, hope you're well and getting out on the bike! Thanks so much for writing!

[@hungkc007]

Your amazing I thought me cycling to London was something from Bath, was amazing but hear your story from Hong Kong to England is amazing! my parents came from HK but to here your journey has inspired me that anything is possible thank you for sharing your journey.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Hung kc! Your ride from Bath to London sounds like a great thing to do. I think it is lovely to do journeys like that by bike, slowly, seeing the landscape change. Glad you enjoyed the film! As you can see, I enjoyed living in Hong Kong so much, and was lucky to have many lovely inspiring funny kind nice friends there. I was very sad to leave. That is partly why I chose to cycle back to England, a long goodbye, going slowly, seeing the landscape change as I went along, making the journey more meaningful - after so many happy years there, that was how I wanted to leave Hong Kong. Thank you for watching! More films in the series coming soon! Happy cycling and best wishes for 2022!

[@Muddy283]

Next episode of Susanna's wee cycle ride home from work 🤣. Each of these episodes continues to delight and challenge me. Thanks a million, Susanna!

[@susannathornton]

Hi Muddy283! Haha yes and I ended up late for work too! By about 6 weeks... Had to do a massive apology.

[@Muddy283]

@@susannathornton 🤣🤣

[@andymorris8981]

I'm really enjoying the series, well I enjoy all of your journeys... But this one especially... Very inspirational... Makes me want to get on Komoot and plan more tours... Thank you!

[@susannathornton]

Hi Andy! thanks for the lovely comment. In some ways, this journey feels so long ago. Like, I had a GPS, but it was a big yellow thing that you had to switch on and then wave around, and wait till it located enough satellites, and then it just gave latitude and longitude readings and I would write them down in my paper diary. Haha. Seems kind of stone age. Hope you have fun planning some trips. Whatever tech is involved, it is so nice looking at maps and planning interesting routes to do, I agree. Next film in this series is coming out shortly... working on it! best wishes!

[@LifeontwowheelsRocks]

Thank you for sharing, truly appreciated.

[@susannathornton]

Hi! Thanks for watching! Hope you guys are enjoying your Brompton bikes, by the way!

[@ascot1049]

Brilliant.

[@John-ky5xi]

Really good - thank you!

[@susannathornton]

Hi John! Thanks for watching and for the lovely comment!

[@kc3718]

wonderful, such an intelligent but amenable and amiable review. How bike tech has changed in a short time, I had one of those 1980's style computers wired for touring until about 2014, just that and a paper map, no phone etc, now folks are fully connected and informed no matter where in the world, a paradigm shift and a shrinking of adventure and skill in many ways but very handy ! Looking forward to your up coming route choices and commentary.

[@susannathornton]

Hi kc! Hope you are well! Thanks for watching and writing too. Yeh about maps and technology etc, back when I lived in Hong Kong - and it is not so so long ago! - it was really hard to get decent maps of China at all, never mind electronic or anything of course. That chunky paper "All China Road Atlas" I had was a godsend, as it was pretty detailed and quite accurate, though it didn't show contours at all, so I never really knew what type of terrain to expect. I could just tried to guess by whether the lines for roads on the map were wiggly or not etc. Apart from that for China you had to just hunt in local bookshops for provincial map "handbooks". These were quite good actually, quite fat, normally no contours but a detailed map of every county - great when you actually got one!!! but for some reason shops in the southern provinces of China seemed to have only handbooks for the north and vice versa etc etc. So if I saw any map handbook in a bookshop, I just bought it, almost whichever province it was, and thought ha! good! got it! Of course these are all in Chinese, so heaven help anyone who couldn't read Chinese. Anyway, apart from that, generally yes things have all changed soooo much in these last say 15 years haven't they, eg re communication... Actually way back in 1988 I cycled round China when i was a student, so no mobile phones or internet or anything. I literally said "goodbye see you in about 2 months", and disappeared. My poor parents. Thank you for watching. Best wishes!

[@keithdainton6043]

Another great video nice to see you back.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Keith! Thanks for watching! Just to warn you that on this trip I was using an MSR stove. No Trangia! Oh dear. Thought I better warn you

[@keithdainton6043]

@@susannathornton lol I'm heart broken now but won't let that stop my enjoyment.

[@willarn1]

Amazing.

[@susannathornton]

Hi! Thank you for watching! And for the nice comment!

[@robertlovejoy]

I so enjoy your stories, your adventures, your sense of the place and the people. Thank you for these moments, moments caught in time. So very much appreciated...

[@susannathornton]

Hi Robert! Oh thanks so much for the lovely comment x

[@berenicek9467]

Thanks so much for posting another wonderful video. As always interesting and inspiring. I look forward to your videos. Love your presentation.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Berenice! Thank you so much for the lovely comment! 😁

[@jasonloke2219]

Thanks so much for sharing your Third part of your great journey home. Cheers!!!

[@susannathornton]

Hi Jason! Great to hear from you! Thanks for watching! Cheers you too!

[@jellyartist]

An amazing ride. Thanks for sharing. Good to see your subs are creeping up.

[@susannathornton]

Hello! Thanks for watching! Hope you're well. I have just looked through your beautiful website by the way. Wow. Gorgeous. I love the landscapes and architectural paintings most. Thank you for writing. Best wishes!

[@jellyartist]

@@susannathornton wow, thanks for such a nice response. THe website is a bit out of date and the more recent stuff is on FB and youtube. Anyway, I’m looking forward to your next episode about this intrepid journey. i really admire your courage and calm determination. take care.

[@spencerdodds2207]

I love these videos, they remind me of my travelling years in the nineties.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Spencer Dodds! Thanks for the nice comment. Sounds like you enjoyed some good travels. Thanks for watching!

[@IanBays]

I’m so enjoying your trip back from HK and looking forward to the next episodes. It’s great that you now have a chance to put all your media together into these films giving a lovely snapshot of the recent past. It will be interesting to see how these places have changed in 16 years. I first went to Beijing in 1991, before all the big ring roads, and have seen massive changes not just in the infrastructure and building etc but also in the people since. Thanks again for sharing your journey.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Ian! Thanks for watching. So nice that you are enjoying the films! I am really enjoying making them (at last!). Interesting that you were in Beijing in those old old days too. About Beijing, my favourite thing back then, well late 1980s, was that gorgeous yogurt you could buy in jars in the street - the sort you ate or drank on the spot through a straw and gave the jar back. Wonder if you know what I mean. Anyway, yeh, how things have changed. Thank you for writing.

[@IanBays]

@@susannathornton I know exactly what you mean re the yogurt. On my first backpacking trip in 1991 it was much much cheaper to drink beer rather than bottled water. People were equally curious and suspicious. Friendship stores rather than the mega malls. RMB and FEC and black market money changing. I worked in Asia from 1999 and HK, but with frequent trips to our offices in Beijing and Shanghai, from 2007. The changes between are just enormous. I have photos of an almost empty (of office building at least) Pudong which is certainly not the case now. The cheap hotel in Beijing I stayed at in 1991 was knocked down and is now the 2nd or 3rd ring road. Anyway I could go on. I am looking forward to your next instalment and especially how you navigated East China. In 1991 I went from Urmuqi to Kashgar (3 day bus) then over the Karakoram Highway to Pakistan by bus not cycling. I wish I had done it by cycling but probably not fit enough. Congrats again on your videos. They are really interesting and well made.

[@BELLAPHONTOO]

And I thought cycling to Watford from W2 was taxing enough, but you have achieved more than I can ever attempt at any time! Thank you for your vids.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Mr Wrong, omg W2 to Watford sounds very challenging. I remember cycling into London on the last day of this long ride, and dealing with roundabouts and stuff and thinking wow London drivers drive crazy aggressively. I hadn't seen anything as scary as that since Kazakhstan. Anyway, thanks for writing!! really glad you like the videos!

[@daveadriffield7296]

Thanks again for posting part 3. Can we expect vids on your ongoing journey home?

[@susannathornton]

Hi Dave! Yes I am making films about the whole trip. I'll put up more soon! Thanks for watching!

[@c0tychan]

I’m so excited to know this!!! Eagerly waiting. It’s like waiting for Major Crimes or Grey’s Anatomy episode!!!

[@madiantin]

What an amazing journey! Looking forward to watching more about it. I just found your channel yesterday and am having a great time binging episodes. =)

[@susannathornton]

Hi Madiantin! Thank you for watching! I'll put up more episodes in this series about cycling home from Hong Kong soon. I'm making them in between making films about rides I am doing now. I aged a bit in between haha. Hope you enjoy the channel! Thanks for the lovely comment! 🚲😎

[@madiantin]

@@susannathornton I'm enjoying it very much! It's just so chill; just you and the bike and the scenery. Lovely and down to earth. =)

[@lindaholmes1920]

What an amazing snapshot of rural China in the noughties. I wonder if those villages would be unchanged if you visited them now. The hillier landscape looks so exotically beautiful.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Linda! Thanks for writing! yeh it was amazing to see all the villages and everything close up like that, and I do really wonder what all those places I saw are like now... I imagine they have changed a lot.

[@geoffbrompton822]

Thanks !

[@susannathornton]

Hi Geoff! Thanks for watching!

[@jasonloke2219]

I should go have a ride in GuangDong Province. This was my father's home province, but he did not see much of it as he was bundled off to Sg at age of three.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Jason! Oh it sounds like it could be interesting and nice to cycle in Guangdong and trace your roots there. I love doing that sort of thing. I wonder which part of the province your Father was from. I really enjoyed exploring parts of Guangdong with the cycling club. I was really lucky to go on some trips with them. Some gorgeous landscape and really interesting places, especially up in the hills. And such nice company - and great food haha! Hope all well in SG and hope you can get out and about a bit despite the virus still. Best wishes!

[@jasonloke2219]

@@susannathornton Three Waters in Guangdong, "Sanshui". There must be 3 streams or rivers, I suppose. Must be fun to ride around China 🇨🇳, especially the South and South-East and all to the way to ShangriLa in the eastern Tibetan region. Yes, we can cycle quite a bit in Sg. All the cycleways and walking paths are pretty crowded on the weekends. I got my 2nd jab last Tuesday. Anyway, quite few covid cases here. Thank God.

[@c0tychan]

What’s the rest? Episode 4? Oh I neee episode 4!! Please let me know how I can view the rest. ❤️

[@susannathornton]

Hi Coty chan! Next ep coming soon!

[@c0tychan]

You upload I immediately watched !!! 😍

[@spektrumB]

I'm eager to know what happened in the Silk Road part, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pamir Highway, Uzbekistan, Iran and so on. From HK back to London, the trip should take one to one and a half year?

[@susannathornton]

Hi spektrumB! yeh I was really excited - and quite nervous - about that bit, the stans etc. Coming soon..! About the duration of the whole trip, actually it took me 6 months. I couldn't be absent my job for longer than that actually - in fact I overstepped the mark a bit as it was, and had to do a big apology about being late to work in London, more than one big apology actually. To get home within 6 months I did have to kind of keep at it, eg I only took a day off the bike once every 7 to 14 days, thereabouts. But that worked OK - I didn't feel like I had to rush, which was the main thing. Anyway, thanks for watching! I'm working on the next episode now

[@spektrumB]

@@susannathornton Six months! Oh, my bad. I cycled the Pamir Highway, from Dushanbe to Bishkek in 2017. While in Dushanbe, I met quite a few of the around-the-world cyclists. It usually took them nine months or more to ride from Europe to Tajikistan. So you started from Hong Kong, China and arrived in London in six months was really impressive. I'm planning to cycle from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan back to the Netherlands in 2023. Yes, I also only will have six months because of my job. Eager to watch the rest of your journey.