Home » The Cycling Canadian

Welcome to My World

Submitted by on March 11, 2011 – 7:21 pm
Logos, Banners, Headers, Icons, GIFs, Profile - 7454

I admit it. This picture was taken a few years ago, but I think I still look vaguely like that. Depends on the day (and the time of day). And today, just before I uploaded this picture, an Indonesian English student told me how much she liked my nose. I heard that a lot in Indonesia. Apparently, a large nose like mine is a good thing. So I will stick with this picture and be proud of it.

The point of this post is to welcome you to my website and tell you what it is all about. Basically, the title says it all. I am from Canada, and I enjoy getting around by bicycle – with or without a touring load of pannier bags and/or a trailer. I’ve kept a journal my entire life, and I thought it made sense to put some of my ramblings online in the form of a blog. Same thing for photography and pictures. And maybe video, too, now that YouTube is taking over the known universe.

As much as I had high hopes for this blog at its inception, it hasn’t turned out the way I’d hoped. I’ll come right out and say it: this WordPress blog is a mess. WordPress hates me and has been torturing me ever since I made my first desperate forays into website hosting, domain names, HTML, CSS and all their evil progeny. So this blog isn’t organized the way that I’d like. In fact, it’s barely organized at all. But it is what it is. For now. I do hope to make it better someday.

Anyway, back to The Cycling Canadian website:

If you go to the Home Page and look below my picture (the one with the handsome nose), you’ll see a list of blog posts. The one at the very top is the latest post. If I’m being diligent and updating this blog regularly, that post should you give you an idea of where I currently am and what I’m currently doing. The one below that is the previous post. And so on and so on in standard WordPress reverse chronological order. It’s pretty straightforward. And if you open one of those posts and read to the end, you’ll then be able to click on the arrows at the bottom to go to the Previous post or the Next post.

Now, let’s go back to the Home Page and look to the right of my handsome nose. There, you can see a few other items in what they call a carousel in WordPress parlance. They may or may not be “carousellling” depending on how many are there. These are the completed journals I kept from past trips to Ethiopia, Guinea, Cambodia, and various places inside Taiwan and the Philippines.

At the top of the Home Page above the handsome nose, there is a menu system. This is another way to access all of of my old journals. Hovering over the “Trip Journals” item will open a dropdown menu of the places I’ve visited. The next menu item over will take you to photo galleries from these far flung places.  Finally, there is a list of links to my other social media sites, and a button that allows you to send me a message. I would love it if you did send me a message. I really, really would.

That leaves the strange but colorful menu bar running across the Home Page. The items here should be self-explanatory  (and they’ll likely change from time to time). For now, the first item is Blog Blog Blog. Clicking on this will call up the most recent five or ten blog posts from my journal. The second item is currently unassigned. And the final three are Travel Tips & Hacks, Photo Galleries, and Gear Reviews. Someday, there might be hundreds of fascinating posts to be found here. I’m still working things out.  As far as me and WordPress goes, I count it a win if the website actually loads and doesn’t just return a bewildering series of 404 errors. Anything beyond that is gravy.

I’m sure none of this makes any logical sense. The problem is that the WordPress theme I’m using is what they call a magazine-style theme, and I’m using it as a blogging platform. And for it to do even the simplest of things (such as put my journals in actual chronological order), I had to use a wild and wonderful set of plugins that all have different fonts and color palates and styles. And they all conflict with each other and produce endless bugs and glitches. So the whole thing is a mess. Sorry about  that. It’s the best I can do for now.

Having said all that, Welcome to The Cycling Canadian. Click on a button or two and see what happens. Life’s an adventure. Why shouldn’t my blog be one, too?

(PS: If you are reading this on a phone or other mobile device, forget everything I said. None of this applies. Just scroll down. You’ll find stuff. And that little box with the three white lines at the top opens up the main menu.)

No Comment »

  • Anonymous says:

    Hi …my name is Angie from Kuala Lumpur. I came across your video recently on your 5 snacks challenge in Kampung Baru , Tun Sambathan and how to use GoKL at Pasar Seni.. is awesome and educational. Taught me lost of stuff i dont know much about eventhough am from KL. Shame on me. Keep up the post and thank you very much and you are cute 🙂

  • Martin Law says:

    Nice videos from your YouTube channel. (Known as “The Cycling Canadian”)
    One or more from my Google Accounts are Chinese ! I have set all of my old email address to new one .

  • Karin K Win says:

    Hallo. Thank you for all your stories from Burma! We love to watch them ?My husband is burmese. He grew up in Rangoon. We met in Bangkok in -93. Now we are living in Norway. The kids gave tought pappa to use our new smart tv ( more than me) We have been back to Rangoon, the whole family. Hope you are well and travel on?? Greetings from Karin Win

  • Anonymous says:

    Hi Doug,

    I’ve got to say that your recent series of comparing your experiences of two disasters on YouTube, by far, are some of the most insightful and relatable uploads ever. I watch lots of uploads from various YouTube content creators, sometimes end up feeling silly and gees, what a waste of time, but yours, thumbs up! Please keep up the good work and I look forward to the 5th one.

  • Allan says:

    I look forward to your posts. You explore places similar to me. You stay in simple accomodation as I do so we have alot in common. I have travelled all over Thailand the last 40 yrs. Changed so much but still an adventure. Buses trains.you name it..has wheels thats a bonus. Keep up the adventures. There are some really interesting places in Siam but wont mention here. You can contact me by email should you wish to find out. Take care Doug…regards Allan..Sydney Australia

  • Keith Harma says:

    Hi Doug,
    Just want to say I’m enjoying watching your videos both past and present. During these peculiar times I can still get the experience of being in Asia because of the detail you communicate purely by walking around streets and doing your daily chores (I kind of do the same thing). It’s all part of the experience.
    I went to Myanmar in January and came across your YouTube channel whilst doing some research which gave me some good tips and information. I had more plans for travel during the year which obviously is not possible now.
    I hope you are doing well, you seem to be coping with the situation but I guess it can be a testing time. Keep it up !
    I’m English but live in the Netherlands and have a regular job (sort of) and looking forward to being able to travel again.
    All the best mate.

Talk to me. I'd love to hear what you think.