'Loser' buddies embark on epic journey, cycle 3,400km from Singapore to Vietnam

That's one epic spin session.

Instead of hopping on a flight to Hanoi like regular tourists, two Singaporean men chose the road less travelled.

They ended up pedalling their bikes way all the way up north from Singapore to Vietnam — traversing about 3,400km in 33 days.

In a TikTok video published on Thursday (Dec 15), Nigel Quek, 23, shared snippets of their adventure which took place from July 1 to Aug 2 this year.

"Two losers on the road to Vietnam," he captioned of his trip along with his buddy, Aaron Sim, 23.

And Quek certainly had the gnarly tanlines to show for it.

The pair even put on hot dog suits at the start of their journey. All for jokes? Not quite.

Turns out, they were raising funds for dog shelter Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD).

"The trip is completely self-funded — we were already gonna do it anyways, but realised that our dumb adventure might be able to generate some interest for a worthy cause," wrote Sim on the Give.Asia crowdfunding page.

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Speaking to AsiaOne, Sim, a student at the Singapore Institute of Technology, shared that they'd hit the targeted amount of $2,000 three weeks before their trip ended and raised the target to $3,000, which they reached on Aug 12.

The two friends appeared to be all smiles for the most part as they rode, shooting videos of the scenery as well as taking photos with locals in Malaysia and Thailand.

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In replies to queries from netizens on his TikTok video, Quek explained that he had set off four days after finishing National Service, which was why he could afford the long holiday.

"We aimed to travel about 130 to 140km a day to reach our destination in time," he wrote. There were also eight rest days planned into their epic journey.

It's definitely an inexpensive way to tour our neighbouring countries as well, he added, sharing that they spent $20 per travelling day on food and water.

They also planned their routes on the fly, before bedtime each night.

And it seemed they were ready to continue for longer, but were held back by… well, life.

"If work and school weren't a thing, we'd be in Europe by now," wrote Quek, who's currently working as an interior designer.

However, he clarified that they didn't have to cycle back to Singapore, choosing to pack their bikes in a box and take a flight back.

"We unassembled our bikes into a box and put [them] into cargo when flying back," he stated.

Commenters were definitely impressed by the pair's tenacity and physicality.

"Bro took leg day to a whole new level," one noted.

"Two losers"? hardly.

ALSO READ: 'It was easy': A 6-year-old's journey as the youngest Singaporean to reach Everest Base Camp

candicecai@asiaone.com

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