We are now on the second month of the new year and the procrastination still hovers over me. In a few more days, we will welcome the Chinese New Year of The Tiger and here I am still slacking off and my blog is still as outdated as the *insert a government agency website here*. It's not like nothing's happening in Phnom Penh, or that I've reached a standstill  in my life. In fact, it's quite the contrary to what I'd feared would happen when, one by one, my friends for nearly 10 years started leaving Phnom Penh, either to go back to their countries or go to another country of assignments. The latter part of 2009 was, to me, a great year with my new found friends. We met almost every week for coffee and chitchats, but you didn't see me blogging about them as I allowed myself to be tossed and turned by the tides of procrastination and sheer laziness. This year, I will make it up to you, guys, update more regularly and resume my Postcards Crossing duties.

Okay, on to another story...
I am sat here feeling a little bit sad, and jealous, as we bid goodbye to our two visitors, Isi and Zaida. They  are traveling cyclists from Spain and stayed with us for a few days in Phnom Penh. Isi and Zaida are now 18months into a world tour. We met them through WarmShowers, an organisation which Rob joined after finishing his own bicycle tour that took him from England to France, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar.

Warm Showers is a meeting place for cycle tourists who are either traveling (guests), or, at home (hosts). The idea is that traveling cyclists can contact hosts through the website and arrange to stay with them for a night or two in their own homes. All arrangements made are informal and negotiable to suit both host and guest. If you are a cyclist and can offer a place to sleep, a meal, and the most elusive luxury - a warm shower - to touring cyclists, then that is all that is needed to join Warm Showers. In return, the host gets to hear of the travels and see photos of people who are doing something quite remarkable.

When Isi and Zaida arrived last Monday evening, I prepared a simple meal of chicken curry and rice. Over cans of beer, we marveled at their stories about their adventures, especially in Africa and how they survived crossing the wide expanse of Namibian desert for weeks without encountering a single soul, accompanied by bouts of hallucination due to lack of water to drink. My, if you see Zaida in person, you would really think she is too fragile, and not to mention too pretty, to be doing this kind of traveling.  I admire her for her strength, stamina, and toughness - mentally and physically - and determination to venture into something incredibly challenging as a world cycling tour. Go, go, girl power!

Isi and Zaida have a website, called Africa y Asia... en Bicicleta,  where you can follow their cycling adventure. You may also find the translated page here. This is actually not the first time we've hosted touring cyclists. In 2006, a young French-Canadian couple Ben and Gen stayed with us for a few days in Phnom Penh and in Kep (where I used to work) before crossing the border to Vietnam. You can find their blog here. We also hosted Canadian BikerDiane and Americans GeneandJess in January and February 2007, respectively.

As we watched Isi and Zaida pedaling away this afternoon, I understand now why there are people like them, including my husband, who do what they're doing. In fact, I want to be doing it as well. Looking at the way my husband was watching Isi and Zaida, I could tell there is an intense yearning inside of him. I can sense that the promise he made himself after his own cycling adventure - that he would do another longer tour again one of these days - was awakened.