Local sees Southeast Asia on two wheels

Destin resident Tom Catanese just finished his sixth epic cycling journey, this time in Southeast Asia. His trip began in Hong Kong and ended 3,500 miles away in Singapore.

“Never a dull moment on these roads,” he said of the journey. “If not human on bikes, motor bikes, cars, trucks, or just walking their water buffalos and even elephants; My pathway in some countries, I had to stay very alert.”

Catanese said he travelled with 25 cyclists from 12 different countries and visited a total of seven countries including Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

“Southeast Asia was quite unusual,” he said. “Seems the feelings in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the devastation of the war memories were always on my mind as I cycled. The rice fields I have seemed (sic) so many times on TV, the jungles our troops battled through I have now seen first handed (sic). The dense forest, mountains, rivers, and bays, all the emotions and feelings of so many young soldiers who gave their lives for the war.”