On the path of Genghis Khan

The adventure continues...not for us

2009-04-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, "normal" life continued for both Cyril and me, but for some other people the exciting adventure life is still full-on!

Yesterday, I met-up with Michel, a friend we met during our adventure in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and he finally made it to Hong Kong. Whilst HK was the end of the adventure for us, for him, it's just a small stop during his huge adventure, to ride around the world over several years in a tricycle.

Both Cyril and I wish him a lot of good experience and luck for the next months/years to come!

Safe riding!

Finally Hong Kong

2008-05-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Hong Kong, our final destination on this trip (Cyril still got to go to London) Monday night. We were both relieved and happy that we both arrived healthy, but somehow sad that the journey is ended.

I was more than glad to sleep in MY bed, such a great feeling. Cyril on the other hand was clearly missing me in his room after all, I broke the tradition.

Cyril seemed to be impressed about the city and its super-high skyscrapers whilst I just found it reassuring to be back.

We met good HK friends yesterday night for a drink and celebrated the successful completion of this adventure.

Today's biggest mission will be to get our BLOODY BEARD shaved! I hope we'll find a good barber.

Beijing

2008-05-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

After 30hrs in the train we have finally arrived in Beijing. I was so excited in the train and couldn't sleep as I was going to see Manon again after 3 months. I picked her up at the airport and was soooo glad to see her again. She was quite shocked to see her Barbarossa. She really doesn't like my beard, I wonder why...

We are staying at Laurent's (a friend from HK) place. Thank you so much for the hospitality Lolo.

Beijing is so modern and so big that it seems impressive in particular coming from Ulaanbaatar. We spent today visiting the forbidden city, some smaller roads and the parks in the centre of the city. We had an excellent day of visits with Manon. We really appreciated the nice warm weather after all the cold we had along the trip. We were sweating but at least we got excellent shots of Beijing.

Tomorrow we will go and see the Great Wall.

Ciao Mongolia and our Motorbikes

2008-05-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

Our last 48-hours in UB were quite hectic and after visting the cultural highlights of the city, a day rock-climbing in the Terelji Natural Park (only a few kilometers away from UB) and a lot of time trying to sort out the shipping of the bikes we finally left beautifull Mongolia.

The shipping of the bikes proved so far to be far more complicated than expected and despite spending a lot of time running around UB and opting for the safe (and more expensive) option with DHL, we have still a lot of doubts that the bike will ever make it back home. We spent most of day last Wednesday at a timber factory dismounting the bikes in the smallest possible space and watching the crates litterally being custom-bulit around the bikes. Quite impressive indeed even if the bill turned out to be much more than expected...

We left UB onboard the Transiberian on Thursday morning for a 30-day journey to Beijing. This is exactely what one would expect from such a trip; nice landscapes and most of the time is spent reading and sleeping in a 4-people cabin. The border crossing process was fairly simple but we were quite impressed by the change of wheels on the train wagons to accomodate for the different systems between Mongolia and China. They separate the entire train, elevate each cars 2meters above the ground and change all the wheel-base.

Waiting in UB

2008-05-18T01:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bad day for me. I hoped the mechanics would come to see if he could repair my suspension and he never came. The guesthouse is far from town and hence I spent the day reading...not bad to have a real quiet day.
Today, we went in town and visited some remaining cultural sights and museums.
Tomorrow we expect to crate the bikes and to ship them back home...byebye girls, we will miss ya!

Albert to answer some of your questions:
I had the suspension pre-load 7 clicks out and the damper 1 turn out, so I was riding full hard suspension. I was travelling lighter than usual as we left some stuff in UB, so it must have been premature failing.
For China, if you have no ties to China, go for it and ride illegally but it seems with HK in the back of your mind, I wouldn't try it. China will open-up at some time and then we will be able to check it out. If you need any more advice, post me a private chat on the HUBB and I will give you my details.
Good luck on your trip, you will love it.

The Gobi - the end it is...or so it seems right now

2008-05-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good and a very bad day...good as the weather was alright and we finally left Ulaanbaatar to go into the Gobi desert for a 5-day tour, the last destination for our bikes...bad as my rear suspesion broke down in the middle of the desert! This meant, riding back ultra slowly (1st and sometimes 2nd gear) and with no traction on the rear tyre, finding a small truck and then riding in the truck back to UB. We left at around 10ish and arrived in UB in the guesthouse at dark past 21h30, hence a long but fun day of driving for Cyril who felt like a Paris-Dakar competotor. By the way, Cyril's carbs were playing up a bit again, so both bikes suffered in the end...it seems they are just screaming STOP!!!
Unless I find someone that can repair the suspension today or tomorrow, this means the end of the trip for the bikes (they'll thank us for that).

The desert was interesting as so different from all the other places we have been so far in Mongolia. It was great riding again and the track were ok. I realised that Cyril and I had really got the hang out of the offroad riding as we weren't scared of sand, corugated tracks etc... and mastered the bikes well and with quite high speed.
This morning we washed the bikes - in case someone wants to buy them and mine was full of oil from the suspension - and Cyril also cleaned his carburtor one more time (full of dust - the air filter is definitely dead).

The next steps are shipping the bikes back home (not so simple...), taking the Transsiberian to Beijing next Thursday and flying to HK on Monday 26th. This will mark the official end of the trip.

We've posted new pictures in the photo album.
See you soon!
Chopat tu vas prendre cher.

SOS Children Village Ulaanbaatar

2008-05-13T04:44:00.000-07:00

Today, we spent some time with SOS Children Village in Ulaanbaatar.
It was great to be amongst the children, to talk to their SOS mothers and the admin staff.
The children really enjoyed the view of two men with beard on their bikes. They sat on our bikes, started the engines and reved them so high, Cyril and I were a bit worried, but it was fun.
(Cyril and Nicco in a SOS Children Village home)

SOS Children Village Ulaanbaatar looks after 130 children in Ulaanbaatar and are building a new village up North, in Darkhan. The children come from numerous backgrounds but with one need, the love of a family. SOS gives them a mother and the required attention to give the kids a chance to succeed in life. The children are taken-up in the village at 0-10 years old and usually stay until they finished school (18 years old). SOS Children Village also does some parenting courses in order to reduce the amount of orphans and mistreated children (nothing beats a good working biological family).

(Cyril going for a spin)

(Nicco going for a spin)

Please remember that we are raising funds for SOS Children Village. Click on the link to the right and give them any donation or alternatively use the account details I sent in my first email. The best way is to "adopt" a child with a small monthly donation. Please remember that SOS is a private charity and hence doesn't receive any government funds, so we need to act.

Thanks for your help, the children will love you for that.

Future steps in our journey

2008-05-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

yesterday night we slept over a very important question and this morning we discussed it in length and we decided not to proceed through China. The likelyhood of us getting through without permits (we have visas though) is minimal and the risk of getting caught inside the country with a foreign registered bike and no Chinese driving licence is too high as this would mean an expulsion and potentially a persona ingrata (lifelong ban of entering China), not something we wish to put on our resume when we look for a job (me in HK!). In particular now that the Chinese government is focusing on the olympics.

We had several options (one was doing the return journey using the transiberian but the Russian consulate needs 12 days for a visa!) and we decided to spend more time in Mongolia, ship the bikes home, take the train to Beijing and then fly to HK to end the journey.

We plan to sort out the shipping tomorrow (we already talked to DHL today) and will then head for the Gobi desert.

The Mongolian Videos

2008-05-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

Nico's Mongolian ride...

Cyril's Mongolian ride

F...ing Mongolian petrol!

Gentle river crossing

Riding the steppe- where s the road again?

Tuuunnnna !

Cold morning

We made it to Ulaanbaatar!

2008-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

(Sunset over our Ger in Karakorum)

Yesterday we had a long and though day where we drove c.400km from Karakorum to Ulaanbaatar and we made it in 7hrs! The road was ok for the first part, i.e. good tarmac but as we came closer to Ulaanbaatar the road deteriorated and 130km before the Capital it became a horrible gravel/rocky road so all locals drove on tracks next to the main road...and this meant driving fast on tracks (I had my 2 scary moments but we both handled it well). It was hotter and very dry and there was so much dust (from the car in front of you) at times, that you couldn't see more than a few meters...very scary.

The scenery was nice and we even saw some sand dunes...and so many tornados (hundreds), it was unbelievable. At one moment, there was quite a big one just crossing our path, so for once, I took out the camera and had a good shot at it.

(tornado on the road to Ulaanbaatar)

We arrived in Ulaanbaatar, a very busy city. Man, it is difficult to adapt to traffic again. We found a nice guesthouse with parking space. And thanks to the Hubb, we even got an address of a very good guesthouse (and motorbike fan) that referref us to an excellent mechanic. Today, we got Cyril's bike fixed and the result is that I never saw him smilling so much since the start of the trip! The mechanic (address in the photo album) completely took the carburetor apart and cleaned it in such a short time that we even had time to visit the city. Thanks for Rene for sorting the mechanic out and thanks to Hachiro for the efficient work.

(Ulaanbaatar)

(the carburetor)

(UBS team in Ulaanbaatar...look too fit to me)

On the Road to UlaanBaatar - Karakorum

2008-05-10T03:24:00.001-07:00

After a good night sleep and a nice Occidental style breakfast (pancakes!), we kept pushing east today and it was again a glorious day despite my mechanical problems.

After a bit of fun on the tracks... we reached the town of Karakorum which was once the capital city of the country and hosts the first and still one of the greatest Buddhist monastery in

Mongolia

- Erdene Zuu Khid.

If all goes to plan, we should arrive in UlaanBaatar tomorrow evening and will then have a few days to find a proper mechanic work out what to do about

China

A big thank you to Walter for his support... very grateful!

Super day again

2008-05-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

We drove today from Tariat (next to the Great White Lake) to Tsetserleg. It was a good 163km drive along some very nice roads in Central Mongolia. We actually had 17km of tarmac (brand new) and it felt so good to be speeding again.

Both Cyril and I have improved a lot when it comes to bike handling. The small trails, the sandy tracks and the offroad don't bother us anymore and we are riding quite safe at much higher speed than we originally thought we would ever do in these conditions.
We arrived in Tsetserleg at around 14h and had a great lunch at Fairfields, a guest house and restaurant owned by 2 Brits. We had our SHOWER!!!!! (finally) and ate some good old English pub food, nice. Steak sandwich for Cyril and burger for me.

We even had some time to visit the city (small one) and find a great internet cafe.

Cyril is a bit worried as his bike is playing up again and he doesn't have power at low and high revs, hence he drives all the time between 3,000-5,000 revs. Anyone has any idea? We hope the bike makes it to Ulaanbaatar (2 days away from here).

Oh and you'll see from the new pictures that I was attacked by a tick at the leg.

On the road again

2008-05-08T02:28:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we were stuck in Tosontsengel as Cyril's bike had some problems again with the engine. We had some good 92 Oktan petrol and still it didn't want to accelerate.
We started working on the bike in the middle of the street but we amassed so many people that we decided to push the bike back to the hotel parking lot and worked on the bike their. We tried several things, draining the mixed 80/92 petrol tank and using only pure 92, changing the air/fuel mix, changing the fuel pump, etc...until we decided to open the carburators and have a look and clean them. And the carburators were indeed dirty (i.e. the air needle was stuck!), hence too much air was coming in the engine. We cleaned one carburator and tried the bike and it did work fine. As it was already 17h, we decided to stay in the same hotel for a further night and move on only the next day.

A quick interjection on the Mongolians and privacy...none exist! They enter your room without warning (not the hotel employees but other guests), have a look and then leave again leaving the door open. When we stop, they touch your bikes all the time. At the internet cafe, they literally sit next to you and check the things you do...but they are always nice and helpful.

Anyhow, today was a superb day again. We had nice blue sky and a bright sun. We left Tosontsengel with the aim of reaching White Lake, one of the most beautiful spots in the country according to our guide. The road leading there was beautiful with a mixture of valleys with rivers, Alpine scenery, frozen lakes everywhere and yaks in pasture. The pass to the high valley where White lake is situated (2,100m) was at 2,600m but the sun was warming up the air, so we had pretty much 8 degrees celcius all day long. The road itself was quite interesting as it changed from a dirt and sandy track to a very nice gravel road, to a great offroad type road to a gravel road again...etc...

So what is our opinion on White lake? Hmmm, I think it is certainly not the most beautiful spot in the country (Uureg Nuur was nicer) but indeed it is quite nice as most of the scenery we saw in Mongolia.
Judge for yourself and have a look at the pictures below.

Mongolian dreams and nightmares

2008-05-06T04:08:00.001-07:00

The last few days have been very intense in emotions. While, we are cleary living a dream and enjoying every second of the amazing Mongolian scenery, the riding has been particularily challenging on both the riders and the machines...

We spent the last 4 days travelling from Ulaangom to Tosontsegel in Central Mongolian on a mix of dirt roads, sandy tracks and pure off-road, getting lost many times and fully relying on our GPS for the proper directions. The landscapes are simply breathtaking and we hope to be able to download more pictures soon.

Yesterday was my worst day (by far...) since the beginning of the trip. It all started with my engine not running very smoothly and delivering very little power at low revs. As a result the first steep climb in the mud was simply hell with the bike not even able to start on 1st gear. On a fall, I completely destroyed the protection underneath the bike leaving the engine completely exposed to any hit. A few kms further the front brakes got completely stuck and we had to dismount both brakes pistons at 2000m high. A few kms further... the engine just stopped ! We dismounted the entire engine on the side the road to get access to the carburators, clean them, clean the air filter, the spark pluggs... without success. Niccolo had to go on his own (for the first time since the beginning of the trip) to get some help and found a bunch of very helpfull Mongolians and a old Russian jeep... After many miscommunication and iterations, we loaded the bike in the jeep, removing the jeep seats in the process.

We got to the nearest town (more a few houses/yurts stacked together) and got told that it the nearest decent mechanic was 700km away in UlaanBaatar... and the transport would cost about USD500. Moral was at its lowest and on that note, we decided to take the bike all apart and try everything possible to get it fixed. We spare you the details but it seems that it was due to the very bad petrol quality and changing the air/petrol mix did the trick so far (engine not running very smoothly still...). Thanks to Nicco for the patience and the technical support.

After a snow storm yesterday evening, and a night inbetween a snoring Mongolian and ... couple (no privacy here in the yurts), today was simply beautifull with greatest sunshine, blue sky and superb scenery.

We will keep going east over the next few days and hope to reach UlaanBaatar in about a week. By the way, so far, we have not found any shower facility in the country... but we keep asking !

Now it's my turn (Nicco)...For me it was an excellent time even though we had these tensions and problems with the bike. My bike (Fat Bertha) behaves so well for the moment even though I mistreat her badly by throwing her around big time and she still likes me somehow...

The last few days have been what this trip was about, a real adventure! With the technical problem solving, the off-road riding, the GPS navigation, the personal tension sometimes, but in the end we have come so far and this is a testiment of the great team we are..hehe, a bit of self motivation.

We have both learnt so much in the last few days and these are the experiences we were looking forward to. Let's hope both our bikes keep up to the mistreatement and we arrive safly back on tarmac (near Ulaanbaatar).

Genghis Khan, here we are!

2008-05-02T03:34:00.002-07:00

After a beautiful time in Russia and the Altai (really woth a short trip on its own!), we entered Mongolia with snowstorms and lots of wind. The Russia side of the border took us quite a while (1h) but the Mongolian side was super easy (15mins) and off we go to check out Genghis's place.

I was quite worried for Mongolia as we saw so many nice things on the road over the last 2 months, that I felt Mongolia couldn't impress me anymore and was sad about this...but I was so wrong, it is clearly the highlight of the trip!

The first impression was, where are the damm good Russian roads?! No roads, but sandy/rocky tracks and offroad is the word here. The second impression is the lack of vegetation. On the Russian side there were trees, here in Mongolia, very little vegetation.

So off we thought to our first camping in Mongolia...close to Tsagaannuur...but the wind was so icy (3 impression, it is damm cold here!) that we decided to find a warm home for us. We found a family in Tsagaannuur that was willing to let us sleep with them in their room. It was a great experience and the family was lovely. The next morning the wind was still there but we had another surprise, -7.5 degrees. After a few snowstorms (they come within mins) the sun came back and we decided to give it a try and go to Uureg Nuur. The landscape was breathtaking with a gorgeous valley, an immense plateau (where we got lost several times even with GPS), beautiful mountains and the best sun ever...but with lots of wind. When we finally arrived at the last pass (2,400m) after several hours of being lost in the valley below, we had an unforgetable sight on Uureg Nuur (mountain lake). After a few hours to finally reach the destination (offroad or small tracks, so you can't drive more than 50-60km/h) we found a nomad that offered us to sleep with his family in his ger (Mongolian yurt) which we happily accepted as it was icy again.

After a good night sleep we headed for Ulaangom but using a small valley were the driving was mostly offroad. We made good progress until we arrived at a very large river with so many big pebbles (the size of a football) on the ground, snowcovered water, icy water, etc... and after me falling at least 6 times in the river bed, we decided to find another route to go around it.

The driving here is a pleasure as the sights are unbelievable wild and beautiful. Yesterday we encountered 2 other vehicle in 1 day. Today 4 or so and this on the main road to Ulaangom, so the rest of the time, you just ride, watch the scenery and enjoy this country whilst feeling your the only one in the world.

For the bikers amongst you envisaging a similar trip. Don't do the same mistake as me. I am a short (1.70m) and light (65kg) guy and whilst I LOVE the 1200GSA, it is too heavy and too high for me. On tarmac, you're the king. On tracks and offroad I learnt a lot and am getting good at it but when it comes to pebbles (river beds) and very rough offroad when you can only drive slowly, it is a nightmare and once down it takes 2 to put it back upright...take something lighter and lower. A big thanks to Cyril who helps me once the GSA is on ground.

For some reasons, I can't attach pictures to the blog but have a look at the Russian and Mongolian photo albums, we've added pictures.

2008-05-02T03:34:00.001-07:00

Anton the Russian mechanic

Altai

Amazing time in the Altai !

2008-05-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

The Altai mountain range well kept its promise ! We had heard that it was amazing and we were not disappointed despite the very chilly temperature - we recorded -6C on a 1700m mountain pass, our lowest so far. We spent 3 days there on the way to the Mongolian border and the landscapes were simply breathtaking - people very friendly and the road (still - cf. the Mongolian post above) very good.

Cherry on the cake, we managed to replace my dying drive chain in Gorno Altaisk thanks to Anton, the local moto mechnic and genuine motobike fan - a true Russian genius! A very good contact for any motorbiker traveling in the region who will also help you find the good adresses in town.

The border crossing into Mongolia was not too painfull for once but lasted a good 2 hours and interestingly there is actually a 10km no-man's land between the two countries - an Mongolia does not ask for an custom declaration (i.e. likely possible to sell your bike/car there without going through the registration hassle...).

More pictures in the Russia photo album

Waiting for the right meteo window to head for Mongolia

2008-04-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

We are currently in Gorno Altaisk, a small town at the beginning of the Altai mountain range and are waiting for the weather conditions to soften a bit before heading towards Mongolia. Snow storm this morning and pretty chilly temperatures...

We should be leaving Gorno tomorrow and reach the Mongolian border 2/3 days later.

Russia here we are

2008-04-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

We are now in Barnaul, a quiet mid-sized Russian city. The weather is so far so good, but much colder than Kazakhstan.
We arrived 2 days ago in Russia after waiting 2h30mins at the border...the Russian side took us quite a long time (for the insurance). They wanted us to pay in Roubles, which we didn't have but there wasn't any exchange capabilities...I suggested to sleep at the border to see how they would react. In the end they took our USD but don't count on it (for all future bikers, have some roubles with you!).

There is a big gap between Russia and Kazakhstan. The people here are much more European and white. The countryside is much more developped than in the empty steppes of Kazakhstan. The roads are much better here. Oh and they don't speak any English in this part of Russia.

We are heading towards the mountain range Altai in the next days before entering Mongolia.

Semey - North Kazakhstan - on our way to Russia

2008-04-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

We just arrived in Semey - a medium-sized town on the north east corner of Kazakhstan closed to the Russian border which also used to be home of the former Soviet Union nuclear weapon testing center...

This is a pretty grim place but after 3 days across the steppe, it feels good to finally see a town with streets, shops and restaurants. Since we left Almaty, the landscape was very flat with little to no agriculture apart from a few apple trees and wild horses here and there. We were lucky with the weather and had a pleasant ride despite the heavy mileage (about 400km/day on uneven roads).

I ran out of petrol for the first time about 30km short of Semey and we had to transfer a few liters from Nico's bike. A good test before Mongolia but it tastes horrible - even worst than some of the outdated lamb shashlik we had so far!

If everything goes along plan, we will get into Russia this afternoon and reach Barnaul by tomorrow. We are now both thinking hard at what to do with China... everybody we meet is telling us that entering the country with our bikes will be very very challenging - these days even more than usual. We might very well need a B plan (if me make it across Mongolia).

2008-04-24T23:57:00.001-07:00

Yahoo! For Good. Give and get cool things for free, reduce waste and help our planet. Plus find hidden Yahoo! treasure

Video #4 - Struggling through the sand

2008-04-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

This was back in Uzbekistan... unlikely to be able to post more of these videos until the end of the trip but we will have plenty in stock for those who are interested to watch a few on our return.

Btw - among the biker/traveller community reading this blog: if you have a good tip on how to ship our bikes from Mongolia back to Europe or HongKong, please shout ! ideally post a comment on the blog with your email details - Thx !

Video #3 - our hosts in Arslanbob

2008-04-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Video #2 - just for fun...

2008-04-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

Practical details

2008-04-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

A quick one to let you know some practical details and to answer some comments:
- Amy, we do shower now and then and with real shampoo that I bought before leaving (and there still is some in the bottle)...shows you how often this is... We do brush our teeths everyday though.
- A big thank you to Cyril for posting our tracks so that all can follow our route.

Today we will be leaving Almaty to drive North in the steppe/desert. Before we do that though, I will send home a pack of things that we won't need (air filter, oil filter, some other stuff, books etc...)

See you soon and don't stress out in these markets.

Video #1

2008-04-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to the MS team for this amazing present (the videocam!)

Almaty

2008-04-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day as we had a day with little to no riding in Almaty.
A little since we had to go to get Cyril's motorbike to Leonid (who owns a bike shop) in order to get it serviced and this involved coping with Almaty's horrible traffic. We will get it back tomorrow noon. In the meantime, I got my bike cleaned (it really needed it), checked the air filter (still in very good condition) and straightened my boxes (since I fell so many times in the snow in the Karakara valley). Almaty is a very pleasant BIG city and it feels good to be such a modern place. Quite unusual as well after so much time in the wilderness.

We met David Berghof, in charge of Stantours. A really good guy with quite a lot of knowledge on the region and who helped us with some visas and info. We had a chat on our likelyhood on entering China with our bikes and David's answer was: No way they let you in, in particular not in current times! Hmmmm, that obviously isn't good news, so we will still try it in Mongolia and if they indeed don't let us in, we will use Plan B or Plan C. This involves either going to Russia or shipping the bikes from Mongolia and then doing our china trip with buses or trains. Anyhow, let's cross the bridge when we get there.

For the bikers who watch this blog, we've posted the contact details of Leonid in the Kazakh photo album. I will take my GPS with me tomorrow and post the coordinates as well.

We should be off and roling again tomorrow afternoon towards the north of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan - Borat here we are !

2008-04-20T09:34:00.003-07:00

We entered Kazakhstan late yesterady evening after what was our most challenging riding day so far.

It all started very nicely when we left Karakol in the morning to explore the nice landscapes around - the best weather conditions we had so far in Kyrgyzstan, amazing scenery and very decent roads. But all started to go bad when we decided to take the San Tash mountain pass to reach the Kazakh border. It was only about 2,200m high but the road was in very poor conditions and... still unopened since the winter. Patch of ice, mud and finally a lot of snow on the road. We reluctently had to go back only 500m away from reaching a bigger track (see pictures below).

This forced us to a 150km ride around the Karkara valley on pretty poor roads and we reached the border only by night fall (and temperatures of -4C). Once the border crossed, it was already dark and we had to stop and camp by the side of the road and suffered a bit from the cold during the night...

But in Kazakhstan so far - all is good. Warm temperature, very nice scenery of the Charyn valley and... high speed internet in Almaty. We passed below 1,500m for the first time in about 10 days and enjoyed more than 15 degrees today.

2008-04-20T09:34:00.001-07:00

Our bike freezing (so were we...)
(friendly border crossing - for once !)
Very very cold camping - melting ice to ccok
The Charyn valley
The Charyn valley

2008-04-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Around Karakol
People queuing at the petrol station
Stuck in the mud
Forced to go back
Finally the border after a very long ride...

Wonderful Kyrgyzstan - We are in love

2008-04-18T04:04:00.000-07:00

On the way to Issyk Kol

Lake Issyk Kol

Lake Issyk Kol

Bel Ata Pass at 3176m

Camping at 2440m

Suusammyr valley

It is so damm cold

A minor accident on the road to the snowed Kyzart pass

A major accident on the way to toktogul reservoir

Toktogul reservoir

(Arslanbob)

Hi guys, it was quite a long time since our last blog update, but hey, we didn't find any internet cafes and when we found one it was dial-up modem speed, so forget it.

We are now in Karakkol, a city on the Eastern shores of the Issyk-Kul lake. The lake is the third biggest lake in the world and indeed it is quite sizeable but the most impressive attribute is that it is surrounded by high mountain peaks of 4,000m-5,000m.

Let's start with first things first. Kyrgyzstan has 5 million inhabitants and the country is 94% above 1,000m and 80% above 2,000m..you get the picture?

We arrived in Osh several days ago and unfortunately for us we spent an unusually cold week (for this season) in Kyrgyzstan. We had temperatures ranging from -3 to +14 degrees celcius. It is so freaking cold that we have now all our clothes on. The weather was either very windy (Bora or Mistrak like), rainy, snowy...we had it all, including 2 days only of sunshine. This is so frustrating in particular since it is a random week where the weather is so bad. Apparently 1 week ago, it was more like 2-0 degrees celcius and beautiful sunshine!

We still love it here as the little we could see is more than impressive and beautiful. Imagine all the hidden stuff we couldn't reach because of closed passes etc... and it probably becomes the highlight of the trip so far. The people are very friendly and we stayed most of the time in homestays, a very good system that Kyrgyzstan has set-up.

After Osh we moved to Arslanbob which boast the largest Walnut tree forest (weird hey!) just below a 4,400m peak. We did a small treck up part of the mountain to some high summer pastures and we really loved it. We stayed at Abdullahanjun's family, really a great place to be. I was sick on the second day, so in the end we stayed 3 days there.

We then moved-on under the pouring rain on the main road to the capital (the only one that was the most likely not to have too much snow) and discovered Toktogul reservoir, a very nice high alltitude lake. After the lake, we climbed to the highest point on our journey so far, the Bel Ata Pass at 3,176m. Amazing to be there will all the snow and the peaks so much higher than you. We encountered there a German couple (Bettina and Stefan) that was cycling from Mongolia to Germany for 10,000km during a full year and who started in August of last year. We camped together at 2,440m and whilst cold, we had an excellent night only to discover the next morning that it had snowed.

We then pressed on into the Suummayir valley, a gorgeous day with super mountains all around us. Whilst it is a valley, it is still at +2,000m. We wanted to reach the lake Song Kol, apparently a beautiful spot in Central Kyrgyzstan at 3,000m but forget it, there was so much snow (and it snowed whilst we were riding on the Kyzar passs (2.,664).I am still glad we went on this road (actually a track + mud) as it was a good test for Mongolia.

So instead of going up Song Kol we reached lake Issyk Kol with strong winds where we are now.

Tomorrow we will drive close to the Kazakh border and cross it the day after to reach Almaty.

We have updated all the Kyrgyz pictues, you'll love them.

Oh by the way, regarding washing...hmm, we haven't had a shower for the last 6 days. We asked our hosts everynight if they had a shower and they have all replied immediately with a No of course. But tonight's the night, we found a place with a shower!

Entered into Kyrgyzstan and its outdoor wonders

2008-04-10T23:39:00.001-07:00

Bye-Bye Uzbekistan; it was clearly an highlight of our trip so far – especially for its amazing historical heritage.
We therefore left the Fergana valley in Uzbekistan yesterday to enter Kyrgyzstan and its mountains. The border crossing was fairly uneventful – at least compared to what we had been used to so far. We spent the night in Osh – a typical Central Asian border town with a lot of trading activities and many small businesses along the road. This is also the 2nd largest city in the country, has one of the very few remaining standing statute of Lenine and it hosts the largest bazaar of Central Asia. Quite impressive – all sort of people from the mountains and valleys around (Uzbeks, Tadjiks and Kirgzks) selling their products in one massive mess spreading to all the streets around. Cars and trolleys coming and going in all directions with anything from fresh meat to traditional hats.
Our first impression of Kyrgyzstan is very positive: extremely friendly and welcoming people, a lot of different faces, the food seem to vary a little bit (getting a bit sick of the mouton meat…) and we both look forward to discover the high mountains that are known to host some of the most impressive landscapes of the region.

With the mountains should come back some of the riding challenges and the road are said to be in pretty poor conditions especially at this time of the year (Thanks again Chopat !). We should be at above 2,000m for most of the time over the next few days and will have to cross mountain pass above 4,000m (snow well expected). So far so good – the bikes are holding up very well and there is little technical problem to report.

Internet connection is likely to be non-existent in mountains and so you will have to wait for a few days for the next pictures and stories. We are hoping to stay with nomads and experience the infamous ‘yurt’ stay.

SOS CHILDREN VILLAGE

2008-04-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

In Tashkent, I had the time to visit SOS Children Village. It is a great charitable organisation that was founded in Austria and is active in a lot of countries in the world. They help children with multiple backgrounds and give them a family and much needed love.

SOS Children Village in Tashkent is a small village that was built according to EU standards that houses children with an age up to 17. They currently have 99 children and are always looking to expand. Each house hosts 7 children and an SOS mother (what a job!). They also have an onsite kindergarden for childrens within the SOS village and for the surrounding villages.

It really doesn't cost much to adopt a children, or at least to help them with a small donation while it gives the children a much needed sponsor for higher education which most of them are keen on.

Please be generous and go onto the SOS children village website (link on the right of the blog) and donate what you can.

Thanks

Cyril and Niccolo

A BIG THANK YOU to the team there for showing me around, in particular for Sayora that stayed with me translating until late.

(Sayora)

(SOS children village Uzbekistan administrative staff)

Last days in Uzbekistan

2008-04-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Maddy left us 2 days ago. It was quite emotional for both Cyril and Maddy but don't worry Maddy, I will take great care of Cyril...as soon as you left, hop in the tent...he won' miss you. Just kidding, when you left we headed for the Chimgan valley and discovered a beautiful scenery with high mountains around this green/blue coloured reservoir.
We had decided the night before that we won't go to Tajikistan as we talked to their embassy and they indicated the mountain passes we intended to take to reach the pamir highway (one of the highest roads in the world (with a pass at 4,600m) would be closed. We wanted to try it to see for ourselves but the issue was we only have a 1 entry Uzbek visa so couldn't try Tajikistan and go back if not feasible...we were quite sad, but hey, we'll stay longer in Kyrgistan.

Another quick story one for Tashkent. We have a bike to bike system and since the start I am having trouble with a button that lets me speak. I shouted at the company that sold them to me and they sent me a replacement. I got the replacement (thanks Maddy) only to find out that it didn't work either! I can't believe they didn't check it before sending it out...Anyhow, the cool story is that I tried to find one in Tashkent and nobody had a similar button until I found a guy on the street, that said he might have one but in metal (I don't care as long as it works), so I go with him to his old GAS car (old Russian model) and he points to a button on his dashboard. As I say yes, he quickly dismount it from his car and gives it to me! Good old (30yrs+) button still works perfectly. One thing the soviet did well, do things that last forever.

(Russian and UK style of bike to bike buttons)

We stayed overnight in the Chimgan valley next to a farm house. We had good fun with the farmers and their childrens. After staying in the Chimgan valley we headed back towards Tashkent to reach the Fergana valley where we are now.

In order to reach the Fergana valley we had to climb a mountain pass of 2,178m, the highest on our journey so far. It was an incredible sight, but we couldn't take any pictures as the entire area was a military area...sorry.

We staying in Kokand yesterday night. Kokand was the centre of a Khanate in the 18 century. Nothing major remains from that period apart from busy streets and part of the old Khan palace which we will visit today. In addition, there are 2 further sights, some nice Soviet buildings that were built before they turned ugly (I kid you not!) and the bathrooms in the hotel Kokand where we slept.

(Prime camping spot in the Chimgan valley)

(Amazing scenery in the Chimgan valley)

(Family we stayed with in the Chimgan valley)

(Leaving Tashkent with Michel and his tricycle - Good Luck!)

(Kokand hotel bathrooms)

Samarkand to Tashkent

2008-04-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

After a pleasant evening with fellow travellers, we left Samarkand to Tashkent. On the way, after our now traditional shashlik stop (grilled lamb), we found a garage that would help us change Niccolo's tyres for about US$1.

The ride took us through very nice landscapes and unlike the previous day, the weather was very pleasant with about 20 degrees and some sun. Oddly enough, the main highway is now literally cut by the border with Kazakhstan and we had to get around and add a good 60km to our journey.

We failed to find good accomodation in Tashkent and were a bit disturbed by loud music and noise from the drunken owner and its friends most of the night. However, we met with Michel, a French guy who put our trip to shame... he is currently going for a 7-year round the world trip on a seated bicycle. Chef - an idea for you?

Visiting Tashkent today, we were slightly disappointed after the wonderful historical monuments of the previous days. Pretty much a Soviet town with wide boulevards and a few grand palaces. The old town bazar was very lively though and by far the largest we had seen so far.

Sad to say but the good news is that there are several western style restaurants in town and we went for a nice pizza yesterday night... Niccolo was a happy man !

Cultural highlights - Bukhara and Samarkand

2008-04-04T05:11:00.000-07:00

After having spent 2 nights in Bukhara, we are now in rainy Samarkand. After 2 weeks of sun and warmth, the rains comes again.
After a month of riding with little interruption, it felt good to have a day-off biking, even for me who simply loves starting the engine and ride. Even though we were riding few kms a day in the last few days, we simply were tired of the last month and needed a break.

On the road to Bukhara my rear mudguard broke and fell off. Nothing to worry about as I don't really need it, but weird as I was driving on tarmac...it took quite a beating on the last day of Turkmenistan though.

Where to start on Bukhara and Samarkand....hmmm, let me start with Khiva. Among the 3 cities Khiva is still my favourite as the old city is preserved (but lacks the buzz of a real Uzbek city). Samarkand has a majestic Registan (a square) with 3 huge and beautiful Medressas (schools) , one of them from the 14 century, within a big city and Bukhara is a bit of an in-between Khiva and Samarkand (smaller attractions but a city centre which is better preserved).

(Bukhara)

(Maddy and Nicco in Samarkand)

Cyril mentioned, can you believe they built these wonderful schools (rather universities at the time) whilst we were building fortresses in Europe? Ok, we did have the arts, the churches etc...and believe me I love our history but it feels great to see these ancient educational buildings withstanding centuries.

(Samarkand)

We very much enjoyed the bazar of Samarkand, with plenty of attraction. I bought an Uzbek hat and cyril a jerican (to increase his range when we go to Tajikistan and Mongolia).

(Bazar)

We met an Austrian from Vienna, Peter, who left in November for a 3 year round the world trip with his car. It looks like he will be in Kazakhstand, Russia and Mongolia at the same time as us! Would be great to do a bit of riding together. Let's see, we are going to meet him up for dinner tonight.

(Peter)

We are a very worried about 2 things, the Pamir highway in Tajikistan and China.
- Will the Pamir highway be open, considering that it was the coldest winter since 40 years and there are severl passes above 3,000m and one at 4,600m (next to 7,000m+ peaks). I so wish to see the scenery there but if there is too much snow, we won't make it.
- Will we be able to enter China, in particular since they are getting so restrictive with their borders because of their troubles with Tibet and the Olympic games. If not, this would end our trip in Mongolia, something we have to consider...but we still have some time till then.

On the cost and food side, costs are actually getting higher as we get closer to Tashkent. You pay entrance fees of approx. usd3-5 per monument and food costs approx. usd3-4 per person. Sleeping is a whopping usd20-30 per person. Today, we ate in the bazar and had an excellent feel of everyday food. The basic meals are: Camca (a sort of pie with meat and oignons), Laghman (sort of noodles), Plov (rice, carrots and a bit of meat), Shashlik (skewers of all sorts) and I tried something new, Marat I think it was called (Mutton and oignons dumplings). Everything is quite tasty.

(Shashliks)

By the way, it is interesting to see that in Bukhara and Samarkand, a lot of people are actually Tajiks and not Uzbeks. The borders have been set by the Soviets and they didn't consider the cultural element deeply, hence these odd cultures within a same country.

We might not always post any pictures on blog entries as it takes quite long to download them onto blogger...sorry.

Finally culture! Uzbekistan here we are

2008-04-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

While it took us 2 hours at the exit of Turkmenistan, mostly because the custom guy was out for lunch and they wanted to fill-in a new custom declaration at the exit (how weird is that!). The entry into Uzbekistan was a pleasure with only 3 notebooks to fill-in (compared to the 20+ in Turkmenistan) and we couldn’t believe it when after 20mins they waved us goodbye.

The difference with Uzbekistan was quite shocking, everyone here has a mobile phone, the country seems much more developed and the people are still as friendly as in Turkmenistan. The downside is that everything is more expensive (don’t get me wrong, still relatively cheap, with petrol at $0.8/L). The second thing I discovered already before crossing the border is white powder all around us and first I didn’t understand what it was…can’t be snow with temperatures close to 30deg, could it be their sand? Nope. So what is? I stopped and tasted it to make sure we understood this phenomenon and yes, it is SALT!!! Everywhere you look, there is salt sprinkled on the ground. First I thought it was because they use the water from the Aral Sea but I was then told that they have Salt/Sand storms.

The first thing we did in Uzbekistan was changing Cyril’s tyres as they are already so run-down that it was getting dangerous to continue riding with the old ones. We stayed overnight in Nukus, a really uninteresting old Soviet town. We stayed in the top hotel and this was already a shabby old Soviet room with bathrooms you wouldn’t like to use, but hey, we had no choice.

The following day, we had a marathon day, as we wanted to see the biggest ex-port of the Aral sea, Moynaq before going to Urgench to meet Maddy, Cyril’s fiancée who will be with us for the next 10days. In total we rode approx. 600km that day and we were completely exhausted.
Moynaq is an ex-port, because the Aral sea was so drained for agricultural use that the water level fell so much that the water is now more than 150km far away from the port. It was a desolating place, with the old boats decaying in the sand whilst the population of this rather bigish town not knowing what they will do in the future. On the way back, I was caught in a tornado…not a nice impression, believe me. In the desert, when a bit of wind blows, you see these small tornados quite often…so I was driving on the road and in one go, a tornado built up next to the road a few meters from me and swept across the road with full speed. No way I could stop in time, so here I go at full speed in the tornado, the bike and me shacking quite a bit, but we managed to withstand it. What a scary moment!

(Aral Sea)

The desert here is a quite different from Turkmenistan. Less sand and really flat here. You have some very nice views.

The following day we visited Khiva, a splendour in the desert. After having traveled a cultural desert for the last week or so, it was good to have some man made culture. Khiva is an old town of the Khan’s in Uzbekistan used from the 12c to the 19c. The town still has its entire town walls, many medressas (coranic schools) and many mosques. It was great to stop riding a moment and visit an astonishing place. We spent a night in the desert on the way to Bukhara (first time camping for Maddy) and reached Bukhara yesterday. Bukhara is a very nice old city in Uzbekistan. We visiting it in detail today and will post more when we find a better internet access.

(Khiva)

(Camping in the desert)

Two further things, food here is quite monotonous with meat being the basis of their diet (Manon, I miss the good old vegetables and fruits!) and the people are very friendly and helpful.

It feels good to be visiting cultural sights. I was expecting Uzbekistan to be the cultural highlight of the trip and it seems I was right so far.

I've posted more pictures on Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the photo album.

Across the Turkmen Dictatorship

2008-04-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

Catching up after almost a week without internet connection

We rode across Turkmenistan from March 25^th to March 29^th. Entering the country was fairly difficult; first with very painful negotiations with the ferry company running the Baku-Turkmenbashi line and then a 5-hour process once at the Turkmen border and about 20 different checks with each time a few forms to file and a some dollars to pay out… inefficiency at its very best !

The 600km ride to Ashgabat was then quite pleasant and landscapes were mostly deserts and a few scattered small towns with little to no infrastructures. Petrol was very cheap – about $0.30 per liter – and police checks plentiful. We met with friendly locals and got introduced to a few traditional dishes (see pictures for more details). The Arrival in Ashgabat was then quite a shock… literally an oasis of wealth with very grand brand new buildings and parks with water falls at every street corner. Pictures of the dictator were everywhere! We are not into geopolitical commentaries but when most of the country lives on very low standards, this clearly does not seem like a good use of public money (mostly petrodollars).

We then spent 2 days crossing the Karakum desert – first on a decent road but we then had fairly difficult riding conditions on a mix of sand, gravel and decomposing tarmac. Struggled a lot in the sand dunes and realized that our bikes are still way too heavy… The ride left us exhausted but the overnight stop in the Darvaza oasis was well worth it! Amazing camping site and the lava crater was very impressive.

Heading for the Uzbek border, we stopped at Konya-Urgench, one of the jewels of Turkmen tourism and once one of the greatest Islamic cities before Genghis Khan arrived and decided to destroy pretty much everything.

The exit of Turkmenistan took us another 2-hour of administrative procedure…

Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
A Smarter Inbox.

All Good in Uzbekistan

2008-03-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Such a shame... that's when you see the most amazing things that internet access and therefore the update of the blog becomes very difficult. We (painfully) crossed the Caspian Sea, travelled across Turkmenistan and its desert and entered in Uzbekistan 2 days ago. After a trip up North to see what is left of the Aral Sea we are now heading towards the historic wonders of the Silk Road.

Hoping to post much more detailed stories in a day or two with full load of pictures.

Thanks for all your support !

Baku

2008-03-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely in Baku yesterday night. Whilst it wasn't easy to find an hotel we are impressed by the city. The road from Seki to Baku was a beautiful small country road. We had it all, from the mountains, to high plateaus, to hills, sand dune like mountains and the sea. I was really amazed about the beauty of nature here.
Baku is a very well developed city on the Caspian Sea and it seems they have invested a lot of the petrodollars to rebuild the town entirely in its original state. The historical town is full of old restored palaces etc... They are constructing new buildings all around but they seem to respect the city style.
We have very little time as we need to prepare our ferry journey over the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan. We anticipate this to take the best part of 24h-48h and we need to prepare for food, drinks etc...
In Turkmenistan we aren't sure of finding an internet cafe, so it might take us 4 days to post something new.
I've updated the pictures on the album

From Georgia to Azerbaijan

2008-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

We left Tblisi this morning after a good breakfast at the lovely pension we stayed at - luckily, an Azeri couple was also staying there and they gave us a few tips on where to go in Azerbaijan.

The Gergia-Azerbaijan border crossing took some time and for some reason they issued us with a 3-day transit visa while we already had a tourist visa from their London embassy (and we had paid for it...). Don't ask us why; we were simply glad to be left in the country in the end.

We rode through the western part of the country on a fairly decent road and made good progresses despite gusting winds and threat of rain throughout the day. The first petrol stop was a bit of a struggle and it took us a good hour to change US$20 into local currency to fill my tank - we ended up going to the black market as all the banks were closed (Easter) and none of the ATMs was taking our cards.

People are very friendly so far and constently wave at us on the side of the road. Only (annoying) hic is that the police seems to make an habit of stopping us for no valid reason. happened twice today and so far no backsheesh but they were clearly asking for it...

Our impression of Azerbaijan is so far better than Georgia (eventhough we ended up having a very good stopover in Tbilisi). Well-developped country side, some sign of living industries, decent infrastrutures (you can the the petro-$ effect) and even a few wineyards - the ultimate sign of civilisation... (young plants only with concrete poles)

We are now staying in Seki, a historical town on the edge of the Causcasian mountain range. No much chance to discover the place yet but definitely looks nice. We plan to visit a few cultural sites tomorrow on our way to Baku before catching the overnight ferry to Turkmenistan. The ferry logistics is said to be a bit of a struggle... let's hope for the best !

(deserted roads on the way to the Azeri border)

(lunch break - communication was difficult !)

(young vines - clearly somebody said they wanted wine done in Azerbaijan)

Reconciliation with Georgia

2008-03-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I might have been a bit harsh on Georgia yesterday and after spending a bit more time in Tblisi and seeing the nice churches of Mtskheta I have somehow changed my mind a bit.
I continue to believe that the Soviets have really destroyed or at least not given the necessary funds to keep the glorious Georgian past.
Recently though, Georgia has started to restore some of the older tourist attraction in the Tblisi area. In that area and Tblisi you actually start to feel the greatnes of the country again. Realising that 1/2 of the country's population lives in Tblisi, probably the reason why all the efforts have been done here.

Few people venture further out and my view on the countryside stays, a decaying place.

Today Azerbaijan!

In the Turkish Press

2008-03-21T22:06:00.001-07:00

http://www.haberler.com/motosikletli-turistler-susehri-nde-konakladi-haberi/

Dedicace

2008-03-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

(Jerome: Le tour du monde en Lada Niva?)

(Aziz: saw at least 3 Humer H2 in Georgia - better than Senegal hein?)

Oh Georgia, what have the Soviets done to you?!

2008-03-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

I have travelled to a lot of places in the world (inlcuding some still existing dictatorships such as Myanmar/Burma) and must say, I rarely saw so many run-down buildings as in Georgia. Coming after Turkey, I was expecting some development but I was completely wrong, it is a step back in time.

It feels like someone switched the time off for c.60 years and since then nothing has happened to anything in the country, be it roads, buildings, parks, anything.

Was I influenced by the weather (grey and sometimes rain), maybe, but still, I am sad as the houses actually look like they had a great moment of glory in their past, just that no-one cared or had the finances to restore them. A sad story really.

Before leaving the hotel in Batumi yesterday morning, I asked the receptionist which road to take and she told me, all towns in Georgia are historic...I don't think she ever travelled outside Georgia as we crossed the entire country and were only faced with desolate ruins of an ancient country.

Also, it is amazing to see that nearly all cars here are old cars from Germany! It is the dump of Germany and the country feels a bit like a dump. I thought of the story of a car:

Hi! I'm a Merc. My full name is Mercedes Benz 1986, 230E. My first owner was a German and he was so proud of me that he showed me off to everybody in town. I lived in the nice city of Stuttgart and travelled all along the Autobahn safely with my owner. After 100,000km my owner decided I was too old for him and he sadly sold me or exchanged me for a newer me...such a mistake, he didn't know I have a second life. I was sold and imported to Georgia where I am now enjoying my second life! I had 5 other owners now, I just received my 3 engine after just 450,000km and don't run on original parts anymore. I am a bit leaky and stink now BUT my owner is happy, I am a Merc and he still shows me off to everybody in town...and by the way I like his way of driving.

About the driving habits and the roads....we left the hotel and they said: take the motorway and you'll be in 4 hours in Tbilisi as the road we wanted to take would be closed because of snow. We quickly discovered that the motorway is a single lane, two-way street which would be categorised as a small country road in our countries BUT with plenty of trucks, potholes as big as a wheel, dogs chasing you barking, children playing football, cows crossing the road (I kid you not, see the picture below!) and people driving as if they were invincible and indeed at the speed of the Autobahn. Overtaking a car that is overtaking another one when a big truck comes at full speed in front of you, no problemo. If it doesn't fit, they just want to push you (the guy being overtaken) out of the road. Man I love my BMer with plenty of braking and Horse Power to be able to manage these guys...and please let's do all this in 1970 Ladas at 120km/h.

We are so impressed by the cars here that we decided to start a competition to the car in the worse condition during our trip...we already have 3 contenders but we unfortunately started the competition after we crossed a crashed Merc where the entire front part was destroyed and hanging out but the guy was still driving normally and the police didn't care...see the photo album CARS.

Ok, we managed to reach Mtshketa (10km outside of Tblisi) and there our view of Georgia changed a bit. It is the old capital and has some nice restored churches. We had to do 12km on a normal road (i.e. normal road here = worse track ever in our latitudes) and it took us 45mins in first gear and worrying that we would fall every meter, but the sight of an old monastery next to mountains was worth it. The interior of the Georgian churches are astonishing, judge for yourself

We then headed down to Tblisi and again, our view changed a bit. The city is bustling and there are some very nice buildings but amidst all these old charming crumbling palaces...so sad.

About the people? Clearly they lack the Muslim kindness to travelers and the first reaction when you stop to ask your way, people escape and are afraid, so different to the usual crowd we would attract in Turkey. But we met some very nice guys, in particular in Mtshketa where we stayed last night.

About the economy? What do they do to earn their money?! Along all the road accross the country we only saw 2 old manufacturing sites. But these were GRAND soviet sites and SO BIG, unbelievable...but in a roting condition...and only 1 of the two seemed operational...so only agriculture? Dunno

I am sorry for all the Georgians who are reading this, but tell me where to go to see the beauty of your country and I will change my mind as for now my impression is it will not take you a few years, but a few decades to sort out the mess your country is in.

Sorry....

Pictures below and in the albums

(Bread making in Batumi)

(Steet in Batumi)

(Kutaisi, old soviet like town...no particular interest)

(Our stop on the motorway)

(Cow crossing the motorway)

(Mtskheta)

(Inside the main church in Mtskheta)

(Outside of Mtskheta)

(The road we took to get to the monastery outside Mtskheta)

(Tblisi)

Gule Gule Turkye!

2008-03-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Bye bye Turkey. We really loved riding and staying in Turkey.

Today we moved on and crossed into Georgia.

We are staying overnight in Batumi and will drive close to Tbilisi tomorrow.

We had a good drive in the morning leaving the Anatolian Plateau (and the town we stayed in Gumushane) and finally going lower than 1,000m of altitude. Before doing so, we had to cross a mountain range which was again full of great scenery.

We visited the monastery of Sumelas before lunch and moved on to Trabzon on the Black Sea for lunch. Sumelas was impressive, Trabzon less so in particular considering it was the St Tropez of Turkey in ancient time before the concrete development started and destroyed all.

After the break in Trabzon we headed for Batumi in Georgia. We arrived at the border quite late and I was a bit worried that it would close for the day but it seems it is a 24/7 border crossing.

We stayed there the usual 1-2hrs to show your passport, vehicle documents etc.... to the Turkish border and custom guards to make sure you really left! and then the same thing again to make sure....actually I don't know why. Anyhow, no problems with insurance or others....it seems they don't really care there. The guys where generally quite positive when seeing the bikes and the usual questions are asked..how much the bike worth is (not from a customs point of view but more personal interest...will they ever have one!), where we are going etc...

I was quite relieved that it all went ok. I always have a bad feeling at the border...your docs are in order but you never know what they will find as excuse to get you to pay some weird tax or other thing and it is difficult to argue in a language you don't understand but most of the time they are really cool.

So we set foot in Georgia after a little while and headed for Batumi. It was all dark already and we were first a bit worried when entering town....it all seemed so different than Turkey and so run down. We decided to stay in a good hotel where we were even able to park our bikes in the garage of the owner. Alongside our two bikes are a brand new black S-class Merc and a Hummer....don't ask but at least the bikes must be secure there.

We then had a stroll in town to eat something, easier said then done as all was closed as we forgot about the time difference but we actually realised that the city is full of charm and with daylight will be really nice. I call this the darkness syndrome...everything looks dodgy in the dark.

Both Cyril and I are doing great. Oh and I forgot, I am now officially Barbarossa!

More pictures in the Album.

Chopat, tu vas voir quand tu parles de tarlouses....ca va faire tres tres mal a ton mariage.

Having Fun ın North East Turkey - Heading Towards Georgia

2008-03-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Guys - here I am. I was too busy over the last few days chattıng on the phone wıth the Bear Sterns CEO to fınd out ıf we could do a lıttle Sovereıgn Weath Funds roadshow ın Central Asıa for hım. 'A lıttle glıtch' he saıd... Also Mıchael Z. ıs joınıng us on the trıp now ;-).

Joke apart - We had a very nice couple of days ın North East Turkey and ıt starts to feel very far from home and a lıttle more lıke a proper adventure - stıll good weather, amazıng and changıng landscapes, encounter wıth frıendly locals, some trıcky rıdıng ın the mud and even an assault attempt from Nıccolo ın the tent last nıght...

From Capadoccıa two days ago, we headed fırst East and then North towards the Black Sea after hearıng some reports from our London HQ that weather condıtıons would not let us go through the mountaın passes further East (temperature ın Erzurum reachıng 0 degree celsıus at best).

We are now reachıng faırly remote and untourısty areas and each of our stops ın vıllages create a lıttle event wıth everybody gather around to check the bıkes and fınd out what the f... we are doıng here. The hıghlıght was thıs mornıng when we stopped for breakfast, we ended up meetıng wıth the head of the polıce, got offered 3 free teas by town offıcıals and dıd 2 ıntervıews for the local newspaper.

We had our fırst nıght campıng yesterday - ın the mountaın near Zara at 1,700m hıgh wıth mıld temperature. It felt great apart - ıt sounds stupıd to say I know - that we kept beıng dısturbed by locals who came by to chat wıth us and offer accomodatıon... Turkısh people are truly ıncredıbly frıendly! Communıcatıon ıs quıte trıcky though sınce so far our vocabulary ıs stıll lımıted to 'thanks', 'tea', 'kebab', 'bye-bye', 'Chelsea FC'... One hınt when travelıng ın these remote areas: EVERYBODY knows Zınedıne Zıdane !

Tonıght we had our fırst lıttle rıdıng struggle on a 2,200m mountaın pass wıth the road coverd wıth mud and melted snow. The bıke wıth theır load very trıcky to handle and we had to rıde at very low spead. As ıt was gettıng late and the road was goıng steeper and steeper (and we were also a bıt unsure about the dırectıon...), we decıded to turn back and rıde around the mountaın - loosıng 1/2 day on our schedule as a result but should stıll reach the Georgıan border tomorrow afternoon.

Anyway - havıng a very good tıme. I wıll let Nıccolo had hıs thoughts

_________________

Let me fırst say that ıf there was truly an assault, I must admıt I don t remember a thıng...so I was eıther truly sleepıng or you have such a wıshfull thınkıng.

Anyhow the good news ıs that both of us snore bıg tıme so noone can blame the other one for not sleepıng.

I love rıdıng ın Turkey but am really worrıed about the offroad rıdıng we wıll encounter ın the next destınatıons. The bıke feels very heavy and I am goıng to strıp down the amount of stuff I am takıng wıth me. I started wıth my offıce mobıle and access card whıch I have sent back to HK (183gr...come on ıts a start!). Why dıd ıt take me so long? Try to get a postman to understand you want to send somethıng to Hong Kong when the best he could come up wıth was Honduras (don t ask me how he knew that).

To add on the Turkısh people, they are really very frıendly and I am amazed about how many actually went to Europe or have relatıves there and ındeed speak some German or Englısh. Today ın Kelkıt we had such a crowd next to us for lunch that they started to pull us and we started to feel uncomfortable and left quıckly. Not that they were aggressıve but ıt was sımply too much.

Anyhow I am postıng now the updated pıctures on pıcasa.

Goreme today

2008-03-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today we decıded not to move on and to stay ın Goreme (Cappadocıa) to vısıt the sıtes.
We had a lazy day, excellent weather, mınımal drıvıng and enjoyed a Turkısh bath to close the day...Man that was good!
Tomorrow we wıll head North East and try to get to Zara a small place before contınuıng for the Blacksea coast and Georgıa.
We are both doıng great and ın excellent mood.
We took tons of pıctures today but haven t got the cameras wıth us now, so more to come ın the next days.
Good nıght

Central Turkey - Very nice day Nr.1

2008-03-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, my blog titles are crap, but thıs was a really great day today. The sun was shınıng the entıre day, the sky was a wonderful blue and no clouds on the horızon. It was cold though wıth the temperature beıng between 6 and 14 degrees celcıus. We both hope ıt stays that way sınce we were a bıt tıred of the perfect wındsurfıng weather or should I say wınd of the fırst week.

Anyhow, back to Central Turkey. We travelled 469km today and NO motorways, only smaller roads. It seems a lot and certaınly feels so, but belıeve me when I tell you ıt was breathtakıng!

We started the day from Sarkıkaraagac, the small place where we spent the nıght and went onto a tıny lıttle road where we dıd 120km ın 3hrs and probably encountered 12 other cars only. The pıctures below speak for themselves I hope. We stopped sooo many tımes to take pıctures...ın partıcular me who loves mountaıns. We spend most of our mornıng at c.1,100m. The mountaıns are at c.2,800m.

We then moved a bıt faster as we had to go to Cappadocıa (Goreme) where we are spendıng the nıght. The drıve from Beysehır to Konya was very nıce as well. We drove up to 1,600m hıgh and had many changıng landscapes from the lush greens of Lake Beysehır to the yellow desert lıke plaın (a 1,100m hıgh plaın) of Konya.

The plaın ended wıth the amazıng extınct volcano Hasan Dagı whıch culmınate at 3,300m. All the Turks we spoke to today were agaın extremely frıendly and helpful. Today was our turn to help back a poor lad wıth a broken down scooter.

We fınally arrıved ın Goreme before the sunset and found a lıttle hotel where our room ıs ın a cave (lıke ın the Byzantıne tımes)

No falls today and we are both tıred but ecstatıc about our day of rıdıng. Tomorrow we wıll vısıt Goreme and around before makıng a small drıve further East.

I ve updated the Turkısh photo album wıth some of today s pıctures (I luv Turkey and theır ınternet access everywhere).

Central Turkey - Nice day Nr.1

2008-03-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi all, today was a nıce day. Not for the weather at the begınnıng of the day but for the roads and sıghts. We fınally escaped the motorways and went onto smaller country roads. It was beautıful. The adventure started ın the mornıng wıth raın, snow, wınd, trucks etc...but soon became sunny but wındy.

We were stopped twıce by the polıce today. I thınk the fırst tıme because we drove a bıt too fast on the empty four laned road (whıch we took for a motorway) but as soon as he saw us, the polıceman was chattıng wıth us and tellıng us the rıght dırectıon. The second tıme, a polıceman wanted to check our papers...I dıd as ıf I dıdn t understand, whıch I dıdn t for a whıle but then I handed over my drıvıng lıcence and he was more than happy wıth ıt. He chatted wıth me wıth some broken German about our trıp and that was ıt. I lıke those cops.

The scenery was excellent and we drove 363km ın total. My odometre ıs now at 3033km sınce my start ın Munıch. We drove most of the tıme at approx. 1,000m, peaked at 1,600m wıth temperature of a mın of 0 degrees celcıus.

I fell 3x tımes today. Nothıng happened to me and only tıny damage to the bıke (a handguard ıs a bıt cracked and a box ıs a bıt bent). The fırst tıme was a very smooth sand/gravel, the second ın mud...I should soon get the proper tyres on the rıms and the thırd tıme because I was too stupıd and forgot to put the sıde stand before leanıng the bıke for a stop!

Cyrıl was doıng fıne and wıthout hım I couldn t have pıcked-up the bıke, ıt ıs now so damn heavy.

We arrıved now ın Saskıkaraagac, a small lıttle town ın the mıddle of nowhere wıth 1 OTEL and ıt even has free ınternet!

Turkey ıs beautıful and people here have contınuously been so nıce.

Tomorrow we wıll head for Goreme ın Cappadocıa.

(Fınally sun and beautıful landscapes)

More pıctures have been added to the photo album...sorry ıt took too long to add them to the blog dırectly for some weırd reason.

Left Istanbul for Central Turkey

2008-03-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

(attractıng ınterest at the Turkısh border)

(fınally enterıng Turkey)

The ınternet connectıon of our hotel broke down the nıght of our arrıval and we have sınce then been completely tıed up organısıng the last 'professıonal' checks on the bıkes wıth the BMW and Honda dealers... and enjoyıng some of Istanbul tourıst hıghlıghts wıth Cyrıl´s parents.

A few hıke-ups but ıt got done and we are now back on the road ın Central Turkey headıng towards Goreme. We spent yesterday nıght goıng through all our bags to offload everythıng possıble - gaıned a bıt of space/weıght but have now to bear wıth a set of spare tyres each for the off-road portıon of the trıp - Contınental TKC80 for the specıalısts (not possıble to obtaın later on durıng the journey).

We are spendıng the nıght ın a small town called Bılecık about 300km south east of Istanbul. From what we have seen so far, there ıs lıttle cultural attractıon ın town but we already met wıth frıendly locals + the connectıon of the ınternet cafe ıs very good. A bıg thank you to Sahin, a fellow bıker we met on arrıval (under the raın), helped us fınd a hotel and even bought us tea.

(tea wıth Salin)
(playıng OK for money - the local domıno)

Ok, now let me add a bıt more meat to the above... Cyrıl struggled wıth the border wıth Turkey agaın because of hıs mıssıng green card. We are now offıcıally hatıng hıs ınsurance broker who dıdn t send the stuff over to Cyrıl. He had to pay another eur15 for 1month ınsurance ın Turkey and ıt cost us 1-2hrs at the border.

Before arrıvıng ın Istanbul we became frıend wıth theır motorbıke polıce. We parked at a petrol statıon and wıthın 1 sec they all came and shacked our hands and talked to us on bıkes, the trıp etc...

The 2 days ın Istanbul were excellent. We got the bıkes servıced, receıved our tyres and we got some well deserved REST! It was weırd to now offıcıally enter ASIA by crossıng the beautıful hangıng brıdge over the Bosphorus.

Tonıght Cyrıl had Fall Nr.2. Agaın nothıng to worry about, so famıly stay calm. Under the pourıng raın, lookıng for an hotel ın town, Cyrıl had to do a U-Turn ın a small uphıll road and lost control at EXTREMELY low speed and let the bıke fall. We had ımmedıately 4 or 5 Turks helpıng us put the bıkes back up.

Tomorrow Konya (or close to) ıf all goes accordıng to plan.

Another detaıl for the bıkers among you...we haven t yet fıgured out where to put the damm tyres. I put one on the back seat, and one hangıng down at the back, but ıt covered the exhaust a bıt, hence became very hot and ın turn melted the spare oıl cannıster. Any good ıdeas? Please don t say "on the rıms you ıdıot".

New albums and pıctures of Serbıa, Bulgarıa and Istanbul added.

Specıal Dedıcace pour Maddy de Cyrıl - 'Great memorıes watchıng the lıghthouse drınkıng tea - thought of you - X':

Istanbul - Made it Across Europe

2008-03-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

A quick update while surfing the web for adresses & information ahead of a busy schedule in Istanbul tomorrow. Anybody knows the adress of the Honda dealer?

We arrived in Istanbul this afternoon after riding across Sebria and Bulgaria and just had a nice diner with my parents (sympa la retraite...). Finally had some nice weather on the way and we really enjoyed some of the scenery (especially the montains and monastries at the Serbian border). People were extremely friendly all across but a special mention for the police motorbike squad in Turkey that even asked us to take pictures with us.

We will post a more complete story tomorrow incuding some anecdots on border crossings, communist style hotels, petrol stations in Serbia, almost running out of petrol on the highways, Turkish trucks traveling across Europe...

(Nicco in the Serbian montains)

(Nicco's new ride in Sofia)

(new friends on the Turkish highways)

Special Dedicace

2008-03-08T11:40:00.001-08:00

Pour l'equipe du Credit Agricole de Villenave d'Ornon: le Credit Agricole tellement fort meme a Belgrade en Serbie - merci bcp pour ma nouvelle carte ! J'attends une livraison speciale a Istanbul; la moustache du chef devrait aider au passage de frontiere.

Pour Chopator: On a pense a toi au McDo de Belgrade... et aussi au cours des derniers jours sous ces conditions meteo de m.... Tout ca pour etre la en Juin ! ;-)

Serbia

2008-03-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today we made it from Slavonski Brod to Nis. We rode more than 450km and we are exhausted. (Old fortress in Nis)

We had an excellent night in the small residence in Sl. Brod. We had 2 HUGE rooms. We had our first small problem at the border crossing with Serbia. I was ok with my paperwork but the border guard asked us to show the insurance documents and whilst Cyril is insured in Serbia, he didn't have a green card (he didn't know this was required) and hence was required to purchase one at the border. But the problem was quickly solved and we were back on the road for Belgrade.

(At the Serbian border)

The difference between Croatia and Serbia is amazing. Croatia is a well developed country with nice housing, cars, amazing fields etc.... and as soon as you cross the border, the cars are really bad, the houses run down, etc... AND for the first time you have the indications in cyrillic. The motorway in Serbia are empty (you pay a toll) and we were able to move fast.

Big news! We saw the SUN for the first time since we left! It feels so much better to be on the bikes now.

We arrived in Belgrade for lunch and sorry, went to McDonald's...it was really needed (Xav, on pensait a toi). We were a bit worried for the bikes and hence visited the city in turns so we didn't leave the bikes unattended. Belgrade is actually an ok city, has both the nice Germanic 18 and 19 century style and the good old Soviet style.

In the afternoon we drove to Nis where we are spending the night. Nis is the 2nd biggest city in Serbia and it feels tiny. I can guarantee we are currently the only foreigners! We are in an old Soviet style hotel in the middle of the city. It is so old that we fear the windows are going to fall-off if you touch them (they are actually taped!). We were able to park the bikes in the service entrance, hence safer than on the streets. Oh and Robert De Niro came to this hotel once...he seemed bloody young.

(Robert de Niro)

Tomorrow we will visit a 12 century Serbian monastery and then cross into Bulgaria and stop in Sofia before heading closer to Turkey.

I've updated the photo albums with pictures from Serbia

(Austrian embassy in Belgrade)

(Pour Manon)

Opatija - Sl Brod

2008-03-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

As Cyril said, we were finally able to move ahead today. It took us 3 attemps to go to Zagreb, but we made it! I just would like to add, that the wind was still quite strong next to the coast and we climbed up to 900m in 1st gear and held up a long queue of cars and trucks. They all looked at us as if we would come from Mars. At the petrol station at the top of the mountain, we met Goran, a friendly Croatian that chatted with us for a while and couldn t believe we would do the trip we mentioned to him. Generally speaking most Croatians we spoke to were super friendly and all were able to help. We both had such a grea time here (hmm apart from the restaurant owner where Cyril got sick).

It felt so great to be driving again after being stuck on the Croatian coast for 2 days.

In Zagreb, Cyril and I had our first fall. NOBODY should worry. We were both at standstill, Cyril came to close my bike and a strap at Cyril s bike caught something at the back at mine and hence destabilised the bikes and we fell. We had a big laugh. Nothing happened to the bikes or us but this is Official Fall nr.1 (Maddy, how right you were about today).

Some other stats today: We had our coldest day (-3.5c), it was my wettest day (the bath was soooo great) and I drove my bike over its first 1000km with me! My odometer is at 1120km.

I have finally downloaded my pictures from my camera, hence sorry if they include many pictures from the start to now. I have also updated the photo albums (see links in the right column).

(Day 1 - Cyril covered in snow/ice)

(Ljubljana)

(Cyril 10mins before being sick)

(Our hotel in Opatija)

(My bike in the mountains next to Rijeka)

(Goran)

(Zagreb)

(Special pour Manon)

(Special pour Manon nr.2)

(After our wet drive...finally at the hotel)

Heading Towards Serbia

2008-03-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a good restaurant in Rijeka, I know a very good one. Tourista guaranteed !

Long day today but we finally made some progress and managed to reach Zagreb on our 3rd attempt. The highway was still closed to traffic because of snow and wind and the police redirected us towards the country road "for safety reason"... don't ask us why, sounds completely illogical!

After crossing the mountain range, the wind calmed down but we then had the cold (-3.5°C) and still quite a lot of snow on the road. On the way down to Zagreb, the temperature turned a bit milder but it started to rain quite heavily... my 6th day since I left London and I have not seen the sun yet !

Spending the night in Slavoinski Brod 200km east of Zagreb and pretty close to the Serbian border. We found a very nice little pension and Niccolo is already enjoying a well deserved bath. If everything goes along plan now, we should catch up with our original schedule and reach Istanbul by Monday.

Still stuck close to Rijeka + Cyril is ill

2008-03-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

We had a great plan yesterday night, wake up very early and drive all the way to Dubrovnik in one go. So we woke up this morning at 6h and made our way to the motorway just to discover that the wind that held us back yesterday was blowing even stronger, so we came to exactly the same point as yesterday talked to the policeman that was warning people of ice and high winds and quickly were discouraged. If already cars were having accidents, lorries weren t allowed with these conditions, we would have been completely mad to pursue on going on.
So, we reversed and came back to Rijeka for a nice breakfast at which Cyril was completely sick...poor cleaning lady. We decided to go back a little (15km) to spend the day in Opatija, a nice little "aristocratic" (as the lonely planet says) beach resort. Whilst it being winter, there are many more hotels and the scenery is much nicer than being in industrial Rijeka. I found us a very nice hotel in an old villa (since Cyril is ill and needs a warm and nice place to rest). Cyril has spent most of the day either in the bathroom or in his bed. He has some fever and some stomach aches. Good that I thought of taking all the medikit on the trip (thanks Manon, my pharmacist for indicating what is used when).
I hope he will feel better tomorrow.

Since the wind is not likely to change tomorrow we decided to drive back to Ljubljana and then from there to Zagreb, Belgrad, Sofia and Istanbul instead of going along the coast. This way is faster and hence we shouldn t loose any time on our schedule (bloody Turkmen visa which is only valid for 5 precise days). Unfortunately for us, this means missing out on the beautiful Croatian cost, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece. That ll be on another trip then.

Pictures to come in the next days.

Stuck in Croatia...

2008-03-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

After a leaving Lubjiana under the snow but still making good progress, we met with gusting winds upon reaching the Croatian coast... we painfully learnt that these winds are called "bora" and are quite common on the Adriatic Sea (can last for several days). The bikes were totally impossible to control and we had to ride for several minutes on the emergency lane, on first gear and with warning lights on until we could get out of the highway. The police stopped us and recommended us not to take the coastal road and the road North towards Zagreb was covered with snow. They actually said: "Road closed to Motorbikes!". We tried two different roads down to Zadar but after few kms, there was no way we could go through the wind hence we turned back to reach Rijeka.

Now spending the night there - A bit frustrating but hoping to wake up very early tomorrow to make as much progress as possible before the wind starts blowing later in the day.

(Nicco getting his export stamp at the Croatian border)
(first class parking spot in front of the hotel in Rijeka)
(the bikes need a proper wash - salt already attacking the metal)

Day 1 Together - Across the Alps - Odometer 300 km

2008-03-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

Finally on the road together. Just arrived in Ljubjjana in Solvenia after crossing the Alps under the snow. We are already all wet, dirty and tired but happy to be on the move! Heading towards Croatia tomorrow.

(start from Niccolo´s house in Mondsee)

(On the Austrian-Slovenian border - pretty rough)

We also had to make some changes to our schedule. Instead of going to Italy and staying overnight in Istria, we got to Ljubljana. The ride was so exhausting. 30mins after leaving home, we had big snow storms and they lasted for most of the road (up to 20km before Ljubljana). We even had to slow down to 50km/h on the motorway at times as the road was quite slippery.

Anyhow, we got there and will now enjoy a good Slovenian dinner before crashing into our beds.

It is unbelievable how dirty our equipment is after 1 day of snow and dirty motorways...the shower was great.

See below another picture from the bike under the snow (after leaving the bike 10mins for a warm cup of coffee):

D-1 for Niccolo

2008-03-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

Today is D-1 for me. Cyril must be on his way down to Austria as we speak. He was in FFM yesterday night. Poor guy, he had to drive in some horrendous storm in Europe. I hope the weather will be nicer in the next days.
I have some pictures from my bike at the BMW dealer, the bike whilst being prepared for the trip and the stuff that I will need to take with me. There is a LOT of stuff, but don't worry, some is for Cyril as well. By the way, I had a short hair cut...should last me a while and I like the beard! Today I resigned. I feel ready to go now.

A few pictures from the last few days

2008-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

(With Michou and Fred in Frankfurt)

(Securing the bike in the ferry after a 2 hour wait)

UK-France-Belgium-Germany

2008-03-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

(Signs by the highway blown over by the wind)

The Western-European leg of the trip was supposed to be a walk in the park but this is so far quite challenging. A storm on the Channel delayed our ferry by about 4 hours and prevented Maddie and I reaching Brussels yesterday night. But the worst is the wind - 70 to 90km/h side winds since we left that forced me to constantly ride with a 10/15 degree angle. With the large surface of the bag and the side paniers, each blast shakes the bike quite dangerously and i have had to limit the speed to 100km/h. Will have to taste the freedom of the German highways some other time!

(In the morning by the coast in Dunkerque)

I left Maddie in Brussels at lunch time today - was quite emotional for the both of us! Should reach Köln later this afternoon and depending on how fresh i feel, i might try to get to FKT before nightfall and catch-up with the initial schedule.

London D-1 - Lastest Packing and Loading Tests

2008-02-29T06:14:00.000-08:00

Exhausting motocross training yesterday but this was SO usefull - clearly a must for whoever is doing a long motorbike trip. Felt about 10 times during the day but learnt a lot about off-roard riding and the limit of the bike. One of the guy with us broke both his wrist and his ankle... didn't push myself too much at the end of the day when the fatigue kicked in but definitely got a taste of what we gonna get exposed to.

Today is D-1 for the London start. I packed up all the equipement and had a go at loading everything on the bike. This was not too bad; not much space left but the weight is not influencing the handling of the bike too much. Maddy will not have much space on the pillon seat though...

Drinks with a few friends tonight at the Westbourne Pub and then tomorrow is the London-Brussels leg. Weather is expected to deteriorate from Sunday onwards... rain rain rain all the way to Austria - Nicco, je vais arriver toute mouillée!

Mondsee - Odometre: 166km

2008-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

I am in Mondsee, at home.
The new BM R1200GSA feels great. I hate driving on motorways but even there I like the bike.
The BM dealer made a big mistake and I now have to drive back to Munich tomorrow to get it fixed. In the ownership documents, instead of putting Hong Kong, for some unknown weird reason, they've entered USA...I can't really take the risk to check out if the 20 or so border guards who will look at my bike's reg doc won't know that HK is not USA...so am going back there to get it fixed.
Today, I spent the day trying to fix this on the phone + setting my bike up with all the equipment from Hong Kong. I also had to sort out our bike-to-bike intercom (these are the radios between Cyril and I so that we can chat while we drive) that didn't arrive.
Not very exciting for the first leg of the trip I know, but more to come...and pictures of the bike and the nice house at 7am in the morning (I am still a bit jet-lagged) tomorrow.
Cyril had his motocross training and he loved it even though it was really exhausting...just wait till we have motocross real live in Mongolia from 7am to 7pm bro.

This is it!

2008-02-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

This is it!
The adventure has started. I left my work yesterday amidst a lot of encouragement from my team. The closer we get to the starting date, the more excited and scared we are. Scared of the unknown that is expecting us.
Manon brought me to the airport for the final goodbye, she is really the best and nicest one. After leaving her at the airport, I realised this is the first time I will have such a long break away from Manon since I know her (nearly 10 years now). I was quite sentimental and as you can imagine I wasn't able to talk a lot in the mins after saying goodbye. I promised that time will fly and I will be back in 2 days...aiya, that might be a bit stretched.
During my flight I started my logbook and realised that the plane is taking a mere 12h15 for HK-MUC and it is going to take us the best part of 3 months to do exactly the same journey back!
I landed at 5h and am waiting at the airport for a few hours before the BMW dealer opens to pick-up my bike. I hope it opens at 9h and not 10h.
So I had a bit of time to stroll through the press shop here, what a great place, full of maps etc...that I wasn't able to find in Hong Kong.
If the bike is ready and it doesn't take me too much time to have the discussions with the mechanics and get to know the bike, I will head-off to Austria this afternoon.
I'll hope to write more tomorrow with a picture of my bike.
See you

Nicco on his way to Europe

2008-02-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

Nicco has left Hong Kong and is now on his way to Europe. We should meet on March 4th in Austria for the official begining of our trip.

Almost There !

2008-02-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

This week is for both Nicco and I our last week at work. Still a long to-do list and a lot of final details to iron out before the departure date... but no big hurdle on the horizon (touch wood!). Nicco is flying to Europe overnight and will be welcomed in Munich by his new flashy BMW. From there this will all become very real.

Un grand merci a Willy et au journal Sud Ouest pour cette article de soutien. En esperant pouvoir reporter en Juin de notre arrivee a Hong Kong sans encombres majeures... On n'y croit pas vraiment !

Kosovo... and now Turkey

2008-02-22T03:56:00.001-08:00

Kosovo was close enough but not really on our planned itinerary. But now it is Turkey that just decided to invade Northern Irak. We were definitely expecting some action but not that early in the trip... Let's hope this does not turn our border-crossings into complete nightmares. The other thing is that if you look at the pictures of the Turkish troops, there is snow all over and it seems very cold. Still a month before we get there but let's hope things improve a bit.

Bought the Dover-Dunkerque ferry tickets yesterday - leaving the UK on March 1st to join Nicco in Austria on the 3rd. Becoming more and more real by the hour. Total respect to Nicco for dealing with these last minute bike problems with such a positive attitude. I have it easy in comparison.

Un vendredi de derniere preparations

2008-02-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

Je suis arrive a 7h du mat pour lancer un deal a 7h30.
Vers 9h je suis alle decharger la moto et enlever tous les accessoires.
Apres, un mec est venu voir la moto et je pense qu'il est interesse a me l'acheter.
Entre temps, je devais rentrer a la maison avec mes boites et les accessoires.
J'ai du retourner au concessionaire pour leur donner tous les papiers, signer une feuille de transfer etc...
Finalement je suis alle a la poste pour chercher des cartons. J'ai mis les boites dans 1 carton. De retour a la poste pour envoyer le carton (arrive la bas 3mins avant la fermeture), pas de bol, les cartons sont accepte jusque 30kg et j'en avais 32.5kg, donc j'ai du ouvrir le carton, sortir des trucs, leur redonner et me voila finalement au boulot pour me reposer...
Bon weekend, j'ai encore des trucs a acheter/faire ici avant de partir.

Par contre point de vue moto il faut croire que c'est bon. J'ai acheter une moto hier soir a Munich. Elle m'attendra toute prete a mon arrivee mercredi. Je me fais envoyer les boites et autres par poste express en Autriche. Si j'arrive en plus a revendre ma moto avant de partir, ca serait le pied!

Visas... and new problems

2008-02-21T02:06:00.000-08:00

Finally got most visas... love to see all those "completed" on the visacompany webpage. A big thank you to Anastasia. Both our passports left for Vienna yesterday night and the Turkmen visa should be ready by next week.

We are experiencing some last minute problem. Nicco is struggling with the shipping and is looking for help from BMW Munich. My landlord decided to kick Maddy and I out in 2 months... This is such a bad timing. Let's hope for the best; it should all come together in the end!

Turkmen visa and Bike shipping

2008-02-21T01:50:00.000-08:00

For the Turkmen visa, we are sending our passports to their embassy in Vienna. They agreed to give us the transit visa we requested. Romain will then get the visa and come to Mondsee the weekend before we leave.
For the bike shipping, my wife is the best! Whilst I was so stressed yesterday of not getting anything sorted, she told me to call BMW in Munich and ask them for help. Not only did they provide with help (i.e. shipping by air is mucho difficile), they also provided me with a great used bike and guaranteed me that I will have the bike with all docs etc... in time for next wednesday. So the deal is, I sell my bike here (I got already a quote from BMW in HK which is higher than expected), buy a used one in Munich (and better bike) for less, get the taxes back and actually make money in the transaction...I love arbitrage!
I am crazy and going for this deal. Let's hope it all works out but the guys being Germans from Munich, I fully trust them.
See ya soon!

Final Details

2008-02-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

We are finalising the last details and there is a lot more than expected... It looks like Nicco found a solution to our Turkem visa problem using the Austrian connection. Thanks so much Romano! The tires in Istanbul are almost sorted out, all the paper work is coming along nicely, the Transalp rides perfectly, getting my motorbike trousers tomorrow and the off-road training next week. What are we missing?. Niccolo is still working hard on the shipping of his bike; this could be a problem! It was snowing in Istanbul last week-end... F***ing Chopator - why can't get married in August just like everybody?

As the departure date approaches, it gets harder to realise that all of this is going to come true in only a few days. Constantly thinking that we forgot something or a bad piece of news will hit us - a good sign that we are well prepared some would say ! Probably this will look as a very foolish statement once we will hit our first off-road difficulties in the "Stans".

D-15 bis

2008-02-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Why D-15 bis?! because the start date has been set for the 4 March. Good, we have a few more days to breathe. We will probably have to leave without Turkmen visa, which is not ideal...but what is on such a trip.

Preparations are still ongoing. Yesterday my bike was crated at the BMW dealer in HK. I know need to find that friendly shipper that will let the bike on a plane and get it to Munich. I am pushing hard to get this done today or tomorrow to make sure I have a bit of legroom if anything goes wrong. Once this is done, I will be able to sleep tight again.

Preparations with work are not moving as fast as expected. I don't exactly know when to resign and what will happen from then onwards.

See ya soon good old Europe.

Preparations D-15

2008-02-15T19:45:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

quite an exciting moment. The bike is nearly ready, most stuff has been bought, the route is pretty much set BUT now come the major last minute problems...get the bike air-shipped from Hong Kong to Munich for the start of the journey and the Turkmen don't want to give Cyril and I a transit visa!

I am still preparing the boxes and the getting used to the GPS and the equipment I am taking with me...anybody knows how to use a stove? How do you transfer the tracks from your GPS to a computer?

Anyhow small things compared to the last two big hurdles, leaving the bank and leaving my wonderful wife.

Leaving the bank doesn't sound as easy as it is...a lot of complications, negotiations etc. You think you solved an issue, the next one comes up.

Leaving the wife for this trip is clearly the one which will be the hardest. She is so lovely, so kind and I feel so bad to leave her in Hong Kong, but when one has a dream the other doesn't share....what to do? She understands I want to do this trip and has been great in the preparation by giving me courage to continue the preparation, but the leaving part isn't something we planned in depth.

Wish me luck in the last few days.

See ya in Europe soon.