Hello everyone, dec 26th my birthday and we are off westward to the hochi min trail after spending a relaxing somewhat overcast two days in the lovley town of Hoi An..somewhat touristy but a pretty spot..christmas day was spent drinking a bottle of white wine watching the crashing waves on the south china sea ..sounds romantic , the one spot we can go to get away from people. We are all caught up on our HBO movies after guesthousing yet again due to unsuitable camping options.
Our ride here was less than relaxing. We have hit the monsoon season and we are trying to get out of the monsoon rains by riding south. From Hue we spent the whole day, pretty much in a monsoon. Riding in a monsoon is one thing but riding through Vietnams 3rd largest city on a bicycle, in a monsoon, over Christmas is pretty well crazy. Honking horns of buses and trucks, beeping of mopheads, floating bicyle riders weavign all over the place and the whole mass of commuters obeying no particular traffic rules. Needless to say it was stressful and a releif to get through the city intact and make it to my 51st birthday..as already mentioned today.
Chirstmas dinner was the ususal: snails, panckakes, some kind of asian salad with cold noodles and peanuts, and cheap beer all to keep the bugs at bay. We have yet to get sick.. We tried last night to get some pictures posted but none of the computers would recognize the camera so you will have to wait, again, for pics. The guesthouse / hotel here gives us free computer/internet access but no recognition of the camera. The weather forecast from "Weatherunderground.com" is for warmer, mid 20's, and partly cloudy skies for just about the next week all along the trail. It is not raining yet this morning at 8:20 so hopefull we'll have luck on our side for the ride and for Sal's B-day.
Peace and love to all, Stan & Sally
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Hue
About a week ago we left warm and sunny Laos and crossed into Vietnam on Highway 8. This is a rathe remote crossing but the scenery promised to be spectacular, and I"m sure it was. However we were stuck in clouds and drizzle and couldn't see a thing. For the majority of the past week that has been our weather. Several of the days have been mostly dry for riding but it is still damp and we have to work to keep everything dry.
Most of the ride has been on Highway 1, the main north-south route which is a busy highway. The traffic is pretty easy to deal with but the constant honking of car/bus/truck/motorcycle horns gets old in hurry. The drivers are pretty good however so that helps. We rode two days ago for about 6hours on a section of the Ho Chi Minh trail and that was a wonderfully flat, smooth and quite ride. On that section we crossed the old DMZ at the 17th parallel but not much for signage to tell you anything all all about it.
We have given up on camping due to weather, and lack of places to camp, so we've been guesthousing/hotelling it at between $15-20 per night. All the places are a bit musty and no heat so we finish the ride in damp clothes and start again the next day in the same damp clothes. As you must guess we are looking forward to eventually getting someplace dry. We'll continue south tomorrow, Dec 23, and cross at 1700' pass so hopfully that will help change the weather pattern.
We found this internet connection while just riding around Hue so didn't bring the cable to download any pictures so yo will have to wait for that. We spent this morning touring the "Citadel", the fortress of the last empire in Vietnam that lasted from early 1800's to about 1945. Very impressive place that suffered much during the French and American wars, plus the weather and general neglect. It has been placed on the World Heritage Site list and they are slowly rebuilding it. Was well worth the extra night here to see it and the other sites in Hue.
We are about 5500km into our ride and the Surly Long Haul Truckers just keep on trucking along. Very strong, dependable bikes.
Hope everyone has a great Christmas this year and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We miss you all.
Stan
Most of the ride has been on Highway 1, the main north-south route which is a busy highway. The traffic is pretty easy to deal with but the constant honking of car/bus/truck/motorcycle horns gets old in hurry. The drivers are pretty good however so that helps. We rode two days ago for about 6hours on a section of the Ho Chi Minh trail and that was a wonderfully flat, smooth and quite ride. On that section we crossed the old DMZ at the 17th parallel but not much for signage to tell you anything all all about it.
We have given up on camping due to weather, and lack of places to camp, so we've been guesthousing/hotelling it at between $15-20 per night. All the places are a bit musty and no heat so we finish the ride in damp clothes and start again the next day in the same damp clothes. As you must guess we are looking forward to eventually getting someplace dry. We'll continue south tomorrow, Dec 23, and cross at 1700' pass so hopfully that will help change the weather pattern.
We found this internet connection while just riding around Hue so didn't bring the cable to download any pictures so yo will have to wait for that. We spent this morning touring the "Citadel", the fortress of the last empire in Vietnam that lasted from early 1800's to about 1945. Very impressive place that suffered much during the French and American wars, plus the weather and general neglect. It has been placed on the World Heritage Site list and they are slowly rebuilding it. Was well worth the extra night here to see it and the other sites in Hue.
We are about 5500km into our ride and the Surly Long Haul Truckers just keep on trucking along. Very strong, dependable bikes.
Hope everyone has a great Christmas this year and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We miss you all.
Stan
Thursday, December 8, 2011
bus-rail to border town Nongkhai
Hello again..it was a bit of a trial getting all the way from Denpesar,Bali to the thai laos border, but we finally made it and recovering from the event. The positive side is that we have ahd a very postive Thai experience inthis wonderful town situate d along the Mekong river. We are staying at a lovely guesthouse peacful clean overlookignthe river and efficently run by westerners and thai.
The trip here on the other hand was less tha pleasant. Our flight to Bangkok arrived late and we had plans to make the evening train to the border. On arrival I checked with the tourist office at the airport got a train schedule then went downstairs to find out that the newly high tech skytrain into Bangkok wouldnt allow bikes..much to my disgust..which if of course I verbalized! So we had to take a shuttle bus to the airport bus station where we were informed that we had to take 2 buses to get to the train station one being a mini-bus which didnt take bike!! so we had to take the Big bus number 555 to be exact and change somewhere ine bowels of Bangkok. Stan had to haul the loaded bike up 3 stairs make a sharp turn to get the bikes inside the bus. First bus took at least an hour due to standard bangkok traffic congestion etc...2nd bus number 73 we caught and the bus driver strted to take off whith stan only halfway up the stairs with the bike!! the bus lady was extremely rude and even when I asked here "train station" in thai she blatenly ignored me and stan had to disrupt the bus driver from driving to get any kind of answer. In comparison to Bali on one was smiling etc but then again most folks on the NYork subway dont smile either.
Finally we arrived at the station and the trian lady on the contrary was very helpful. She wanted us to catch the 8pm tain that was leavign in 5mins but we had jsut got here hadnt had any victuals all day and pretty shell shocked so we opted fro the 8:45pm. This was an overnight train and we missed out on the 2nd class sleeper and was on the 3rd class free air con via windows!. Hey weve ridden trains in India and in comparison this one was fine until we were sitting right in front of the most obnoxious group of young thai lads Ive ever meet.
They were our companions for the next 14hrs as the train was only 5hrs late arriving. The while time they were smoking ciggarretes(prohibited in public areas) between the cars and drinking sam sam thia whiskey and were disgustingly drunk,rude loud etc etc..no one on the train said a word which we found quite unusual not even the train personnel or the police. The ride would have been tolerable had it not been for that event and Oh yes "the crazy lady". I can pick out those characters pretty quick after my years in the emergency room.. Anyhow she was sitting acroos the aisle sobbing away to be comforted by someone then she was manically happy then she was holding another guys hand for awhile and then she was having an anxiety attack after he got tired of her holding his hand. He got away from here and then she started pacing the train. Finally she retuend to our area madly pointe her finger at people at which point she went over to the guy across from us and started stabbing him in the head with her finger. Not sure of the order but she turned aroun dlooked madly at me and before i knew it she had stabbed me right in the eyeball!...Yep I was downright pissed and my first inclination was to beat the living shit out of her. I stood up and ordered her to sit down etc made the crazy sign at her(she was thai) and finally she got the message and went back to pacing the other end and finally got off the train. Do you think anyone on the train did anything??? Stan was half asleep and only caught the tail end of it all.
So my eyeball still aches but is intact we are non the worse for wear and yes we have another story . Hoping that our stories will get more lighthearted as this trip continues. We paln to leave in am cross the friendship bridge into Vientianne Laos and head eastward to Vietnam where we will continue northward.
So life is good right now hopefully it will stay that way.
peace and dont point your finger at me! I might have a flashback.
The trip here on the other hand was less tha pleasant. Our flight to Bangkok arrived late and we had plans to make the evening train to the border. On arrival I checked with the tourist office at the airport got a train schedule then went downstairs to find out that the newly high tech skytrain into Bangkok wouldnt allow bikes..much to my disgust..which if of course I verbalized! So we had to take a shuttle bus to the airport bus station where we were informed that we had to take 2 buses to get to the train station one being a mini-bus which didnt take bike!! so we had to take the Big bus number 555 to be exact and change somewhere ine bowels of Bangkok. Stan had to haul the loaded bike up 3 stairs make a sharp turn to get the bikes inside the bus. First bus took at least an hour due to standard bangkok traffic congestion etc...2nd bus number 73 we caught and the bus driver strted to take off whith stan only halfway up the stairs with the bike!! the bus lady was extremely rude and even when I asked here "train station" in thai she blatenly ignored me and stan had to disrupt the bus driver from driving to get any kind of answer. In comparison to Bali on one was smiling etc but then again most folks on the NYork subway dont smile either.
Finally we arrived at the station and the trian lady on the contrary was very helpful. She wanted us to catch the 8pm tain that was leavign in 5mins but we had jsut got here hadnt had any victuals all day and pretty shell shocked so we opted fro the 8:45pm. This was an overnight train and we missed out on the 2nd class sleeper and was on the 3rd class free air con via windows!. Hey weve ridden trains in India and in comparison this one was fine until we were sitting right in front of the most obnoxious group of young thai lads Ive ever meet.
They were our companions for the next 14hrs as the train was only 5hrs late arriving. The while time they were smoking ciggarretes(prohibited in public areas) between the cars and drinking sam sam thia whiskey and were disgustingly drunk,rude loud etc etc..no one on the train said a word which we found quite unusual not even the train personnel or the police. The ride would have been tolerable had it not been for that event and Oh yes "the crazy lady". I can pick out those characters pretty quick after my years in the emergency room.. Anyhow she was sitting acroos the aisle sobbing away to be comforted by someone then she was manically happy then she was holding another guys hand for awhile and then she was having an anxiety attack after he got tired of her holding his hand. He got away from here and then she started pacing the train. Finally she retuend to our area madly pointe her finger at people at which point she went over to the guy across from us and started stabbing him in the head with her finger. Not sure of the order but she turned aroun dlooked madly at me and before i knew it she had stabbed me right in the eyeball!...Yep I was downright pissed and my first inclination was to beat the living shit out of her. I stood up and ordered her to sit down etc made the crazy sign at her(she was thai) and finally she got the message and went back to pacing the other end and finally got off the train. Do you think anyone on the train did anything??? Stan was half asleep and only caught the tail end of it all.
So my eyeball still aches but is intact we are non the worse for wear and yes we have another story . Hoping that our stories will get more lighthearted as this trip continues. We paln to leave in am cross the friendship bridge into Vientianne Laos and head eastward to Vietnam where we will continue northward.
So life is good right now hopefully it will stay that way.
peace and dont point your finger at me! I might have a flashback.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Bali & Lomboc rides
We just finished riding around Bali and Lomboc - what a world of difference between the two! Bali is geared for the tourists with all the amenities and Loboc had nothing, unless you count two surfing beaches, neither of which is easy to get to.
The ride around Bali was beautiful with many lovely green terraced rice fields being plowed by oxen, hundreds of beautiful Hindu/animist temples, CLEAN sand beaches that we camped on just about every night, friendly people many of whom spoke at least some English (to our benefit), and on every beach were many fishing boats. It was really need to see them shove off at night and return in the morning with their catches: long narrow boats with bamboo outriggers on them for stablity and small outboard motor, some had a single small sail. It was warm ride but it didn't seem as bad as Thailand, maybe because we rode along the coast for 99% of the ride, were able to go for a swim and wash the sweat and road grime off each night and watch the stars.
Lomboc was like a different country: very poor, hardly anyone spoke English, very dirty villages and cities, trash everywhere even on the unpopulated beach areas. Lomboc is very predominately Muslim so we missed finding a beer for the week we were there. Everywhere we went there were Mosques under construction and many very close to another one. I don't begrudge them their mosques / religion but it seems like a bit few mosques and money spent on health care/ environment care would be better spent. There never seemed anyone in the mosques even when the call to prayer goes off. Actually the call to prayer is quite soothing we have found.
The only really unfortunate happening was that someone stole Sally's bike shoes the first night on Lomboc. We were camped in a field with the owners permission and never thought we'd have a problem. Bikes, stove, pots/pans, my shoes etc were not touched. We filed a police report but really didn't expect any positive solution.
Everywhere we have riden here we were greeted by "hello mister" - even Sally. At first it was funny but after two weeks it has gotten a bit old. We are at Padangbai, a bit east and north of Kuta and Denpasar after returning from Lomboc yesterday. A wonderful laid back village with beer and relatively cheap food/lodging. Taking a rest day here and may try to get into Denpasar tomorrow to see if we can find some shoes for Sally - just in case the ones that are being sent from her stock of shoes at home don't arrive. We also hope to get up to Ubud which is another tourist area but strong on the culture aspect of tourism so maybe we'll get some Balinese cultural education.
Indonesia has been great but we are ready to get back to BKK and heading to Laos, plan to take the night train from BKK to Vietienne and start riding towards Vietnam. Right now we leave Indo on the 7th. I left my camera cable in Kuta where we stayed for two nights when we first arrived so it will be a few days before we get any photos posted. We are both healthy, slimmed down a bit and doing fine - other than missing some snow!!
Stan & Sally
The ride around Bali was beautiful with many lovely green terraced rice fields being plowed by oxen, hundreds of beautiful Hindu/animist temples, CLEAN sand beaches that we camped on just about every night, friendly people many of whom spoke at least some English (to our benefit), and on every beach were many fishing boats. It was really need to see them shove off at night and return in the morning with their catches: long narrow boats with bamboo outriggers on them for stablity and small outboard motor, some had a single small sail. It was warm ride but it didn't seem as bad as Thailand, maybe because we rode along the coast for 99% of the ride, were able to go for a swim and wash the sweat and road grime off each night and watch the stars.
Lomboc was like a different country: very poor, hardly anyone spoke English, very dirty villages and cities, trash everywhere even on the unpopulated beach areas. Lomboc is very predominately Muslim so we missed finding a beer for the week we were there. Everywhere we went there were Mosques under construction and many very close to another one. I don't begrudge them their mosques / religion but it seems like a bit few mosques and money spent on health care/ environment care would be better spent. There never seemed anyone in the mosques even when the call to prayer goes off. Actually the call to prayer is quite soothing we have found.
The only really unfortunate happening was that someone stole Sally's bike shoes the first night on Lomboc. We were camped in a field with the owners permission and never thought we'd have a problem. Bikes, stove, pots/pans, my shoes etc were not touched. We filed a police report but really didn't expect any positive solution.
Everywhere we have riden here we were greeted by "hello mister" - even Sally. At first it was funny but after two weeks it has gotten a bit old. We are at Padangbai, a bit east and north of Kuta and Denpasar after returning from Lomboc yesterday. A wonderful laid back village with beer and relatively cheap food/lodging. Taking a rest day here and may try to get into Denpasar tomorrow to see if we can find some shoes for Sally - just in case the ones that are being sent from her stock of shoes at home don't arrive. We also hope to get up to Ubud which is another tourist area but strong on the culture aspect of tourism so maybe we'll get some Balinese cultural education.
Indonesia has been great but we are ready to get back to BKK and heading to Laos, plan to take the night train from BKK to Vietienne and start riding towards Vietnam. Right now we leave Indo on the 7th. I left my camera cable in Kuta where we stayed for two nights when we first arrived so it will be a few days before we get any photos posted. We are both healthy, slimmed down a bit and doing fine - other than missing some snow!!
Stan & Sally
Monday, November 7, 2011
Thailand
We completed a week in Thailand riding the east coast towards Cambodia. After 4 days we arrived in Ban Phe and decided to call it. We've found almost no campsites without lots of work, nothing much for signs in English, locals are extremely unhelpful (we did find 2!!), polite but not helpful, no one smiles (even the tourists) and it's hot, really hot. Although I, Stan, can handle the heat it's been really hard on Sally. We talked long and hard if we should head directly to Laos or backpedel and go to Indonesia. Even tho' it involves two more flights (return trip to BKK) we'll head to Bali and try for Sulawesi for about 3 weeks. Hopefully this will be the last of the flights until we come home.
Yesterday we took the boat over to Ko Samet island and rode the only road on the island 7km to the south end. It was again hot but at least we were able to swim at 4 different beaches on the way back so that was nice. Place was full of tourists: Thai, German, Russian especially. A plus was we took the 6pm boat back and sat on top, although they didn't really like it, and got a sunset cruise out of it. Accomodation was fairly cheap there but there was nothing to make either of us really want to spend any time there.
Our thoughts for now is once we get back to BKK we'll bus to Vietienne (the floods don't seem to affect transport this direction south or towards Vietienne) and bike to Vietnam. We gettting tired of all the people and hope that once we escape here crowds will die down somewhat - although I'm sure we'll see plenty in Indonesia. Mainly the hope is once we hit Laos it will be more rural and enjoyable. Overall things have been going well, we are still healthy and bikes are running well.
Stan
Yesterday we took the boat over to Ko Samet island and rode the only road on the island 7km to the south end. It was again hot but at least we were able to swim at 4 different beaches on the way back so that was nice. Place was full of tourists: Thai, German, Russian especially. A plus was we took the 6pm boat back and sat on top, although they didn't really like it, and got a sunset cruise out of it. Accomodation was fairly cheap there but there was nothing to make either of us really want to spend any time there.
Our thoughts for now is once we get back to BKK we'll bus to Vietienne (the floods don't seem to affect transport this direction south or towards Vietienne) and bike to Vietnam. We gettting tired of all the people and hope that once we escape here crowds will die down somewhat - although I'm sure we'll see plenty in Indonesia. Mainly the hope is once we hit Laos it will be more rural and enjoyable. Overall things have been going well, we are still healthy and bikes are running well.
Stan
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Istanbul
We have just spent a fantastic 4 days in Istanbul, a city that everyone should visit at least once. Between the vehicular traffic, the pedistrian traffic, trams, and boat traffic on the Bospherous all combined with a normal population of about 14 million it is a city on the move. We have had good weather, cool and windy but no rain!!
The main tourist stops have been hit with the exception of the Aya Sophia due to a glitch in our guesthouse accoomodations as we had to change rooms which the put is way back in line, about 100 yards at least, so combined with that and the people aready inside we elected to go the Grand Bazaar and then back to the Galata Bridge. The Bridge is always teeming with people and fishermen and is the main entry to the Sultanamet area of town where most of the hostels and hotels are. It's also the oldest area of town and contains the Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque, Palace and numerous other sites.
We even got to go fishing today with some locals. We had bought a couple beers and went down to the water below the bridge and they let us borrow their poles. All the fish are about 3 to4" long that they just fry up and eat, quite tasty actually. We each caught about a dozen in no time at all. Between that and buying a new cooking pot that was the accomplishment for the day.
Tomorrow morning we ride to the airport for our 1:30 flight to Bangkok and our battle with the floods. Last news we could get is the airport is open and parts of town are under water. We plan to ride south and east along the coast towards Cambodia so we'll see what our arrival brings.
My only comment of inerest is CATS//the city is teeming with them; friendly little buggers and awfully cute; of course coming from a cat lover; so i got my cat fix; next stop asia where they may end up on my plate!
will try to get a few pics on next!
The main tourist stops have been hit with the exception of the Aya Sophia due to a glitch in our guesthouse accoomodations as we had to change rooms which the put is way back in line, about 100 yards at least, so combined with that and the people aready inside we elected to go the Grand Bazaar and then back to the Galata Bridge. The Bridge is always teeming with people and fishermen and is the main entry to the Sultanamet area of town where most of the hostels and hotels are. It's also the oldest area of town and contains the Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque, Palace and numerous other sites.
We even got to go fishing today with some locals. We had bought a couple beers and went down to the water below the bridge and they let us borrow their poles. All the fish are about 3 to4" long that they just fry up and eat, quite tasty actually. We each caught about a dozen in no time at all. Between that and buying a new cooking pot that was the accomplishment for the day.
Tomorrow morning we ride to the airport for our 1:30 flight to Bangkok and our battle with the floods. Last news we could get is the airport is open and parts of town are under water. We plan to ride south and east along the coast towards Cambodia so we'll see what our arrival brings.
My only comment of inerest is CATS//the city is teeming with them; friendly little buggers and awfully cute; of course coming from a cat lover; so i got my cat fix; next stop asia where they may end up on my plate!
will try to get a few pics on next!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Ankara
After a wonderful time in Goreme, Cappadocia we headed east to Urgup and then south thru Mustapasa continuing thru a quiet valley bottom with lots and lots of apples and grapes for the picking eventually arriving in Songali the next day. It is a quiet village and see not much in the way of tourists. There are supposed to be some old churches but we were a bit old churched out by that time. From Songali it was on toYesilhisar - a big city that one really has no reason to linger in, and we didn't other than picking up a few groceries.
We continued south by south west towards Nigde but turned back north on a side road reaching Golcuk and camping in a field where we were sure we wouldn't have any visitors. Other than the farms going by on their tractors, a dolmus coming by filled with local women who gave us big loaf of bread and a local family who returned with 10# of potatoes for us-we kept a few and left a thank you note.
From here is was on to Derinkuyu and a large underground city, various levels that reached about 150' down. It was/is hard to imagine that thousands of people lived down there for months at a time escaping persecution. There we booklets for sale but no room on the bikes but if you google it I'm sure you'll find lots of interesting info.
Heading west again to the Ihlara Valley was an interesting ride through potato heaven, even saw a few loads of sugar beets!, and headwinds. The valley was created by the cooling of rocks after the volcano Hassan Digi blew it's top thousands of years ago. It is a lovely valley with a small stream, lots of trees (more apples and grapes) and lots of caves containing churches and homes. We hiked about 4 kilometer to the lower / middle of the valley and, contrary to the Lonely Planet, there were no rides to be had back to Ihlara Village so we hiked back - only about 2.5 hrs each way anyway. Next day was further north to Selime by bike and a monastery at the northern end of the valley. The monastery was one of the most interesting places we visited - it housed many monks / students for quite a period of time with kitchen areas, food storage, winery, stables, church etc. Well preserved.
We are now in Ankara @ Annette &Jeff's apartment living in the penthouse suite overlooking the town. We are enjoying a short R&R and waiting to clear a package from customs before heading to Bangkok and potentially Bali before Vietnam. We toured Atattuk's Tomb on Saturday and Sunday with Annette & Jeff's landlord when out to a local lake where I was able to go sculling and Sally got in a small run and a bit of time in a boat herself. Hopefully the package will be released tomorrow and then Wed we'll head to Instanbul for a few days to see the sights there. We've only been here since Friday but already getting antsy to get back on the bikes.
We continued south by south west towards Nigde but turned back north on a side road reaching Golcuk and camping in a field where we were sure we wouldn't have any visitors. Other than the farms going by on their tractors, a dolmus coming by filled with local women who gave us big loaf of bread and a local family who returned with 10# of potatoes for us-we kept a few and left a thank you note.
From here is was on to Derinkuyu and a large underground city, various levels that reached about 150' down. It was/is hard to imagine that thousands of people lived down there for months at a time escaping persecution. There we booklets for sale but no room on the bikes but if you google it I'm sure you'll find lots of interesting info.
Heading west again to the Ihlara Valley was an interesting ride through potato heaven, even saw a few loads of sugar beets!, and headwinds. The valley was created by the cooling of rocks after the volcano Hassan Digi blew it's top thousands of years ago. It is a lovely valley with a small stream, lots of trees (more apples and grapes) and lots of caves containing churches and homes. We hiked about 4 kilometer to the lower / middle of the valley and, contrary to the Lonely Planet, there were no rides to be had back to Ihlara Village so we hiked back - only about 2.5 hrs each way anyway. Next day was further north to Selime by bike and a monastery at the northern end of the valley. The monastery was one of the most interesting places we visited - it housed many monks / students for quite a period of time with kitchen areas, food storage, winery, stables, church etc. Well preserved.
We are now in Ankara @ Annette &Jeff's apartment living in the penthouse suite overlooking the town. We are enjoying a short R&R and waiting to clear a package from customs before heading to Bangkok and potentially Bali before Vietnam. We toured Atattuk's Tomb on Saturday and Sunday with Annette & Jeff's landlord when out to a local lake where I was able to go sculling and Sally got in a small run and a bit of time in a boat herself. Hopefully the package will be released tomorrow and then Wed we'll head to Instanbul for a few days to see the sights there. We've only been here since Friday but already getting antsy to get back on the bikes.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Cappadoccia
weve had a nice relaxing R and R here in cappadoccia, after a day long ,night of buses from the black sea coast. It was quite a shock at first to be surrounded by tourists of many nationalities although Ide say that the Germans won overall. We looked at some less than desirable campistes close to town and settled for a hotel room and not much more money. The room is nothing fancy but huge with a balcony and our own couch and we can watch the world go by, not to mention do our laundry hang the clothes out to dry and evencook on the balcony..most of the the fancier places and pensions are quite small not to mention more expensive and tourists. we have the pension all to ourselves this timeof year and that suits us just fine.
Cappadoccia is pretty amazing surrouded by cliff dwellings strange rock formations etc its difficult to describe in words..great hiking oppertunities all around. We skipped on the hot air balloon rides but enjoyed watching them from the clifftops. This region they grow grapes and make their own wine, and yes we have indulged in a couple of bottles although the cheaper stuff is pretty dry but better than no wine.
we are leavingfor a small circuit of the region biking camping and more hiking and then will return to Ankara, we we have a girllfriend from alaska living there and have a package to pickup from AK. Stan still wants to hit the mediteranean and ephesus?? we shall see. The weather right now is perfect. It has finally cooled down and all the colours are peaking. The evenings are cool but lovely.
Cappadoccia is pretty amazing surrouded by cliff dwellings strange rock formations etc its difficult to describe in words..great hiking oppertunities all around. We skipped on the hot air balloon rides but enjoyed watching them from the clifftops. This region they grow grapes and make their own wine, and yes we have indulged in a couple of bottles although the cheaper stuff is pretty dry but better than no wine.
we are leavingfor a small circuit of the region biking camping and more hiking and then will return to Ankara, we we have a girllfriend from alaska living there and have a package to pickup from AK. Stan still wants to hit the mediteranean and ephesus?? we shall see. The weather right now is perfect. It has finally cooled down and all the colours are peaking. The evenings are cool but lovely.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Off to Cappadoccıa
We have ended our Black Sea rıde at Cıde, wonderful lıttle town. We have had great weather sınce leavıng Sınop, countless hılls, have seen some fantastıc country that ıs really rıch ın fruıts, veggıes and fısh. We are ın excellent shape for clımbıng hılls on loaded bıkes - actually met 2 Swıss guys headıng east wıth loads that made ours look tıny so that was a posıtıve note that day!! We are ın Ankara waıtıng for a 1:30 bus to Cappadocıa and ıt was a good call to end the Black Sea today - we would have had a strong headwınd, raın and haıl.
All along the coast has been fıshıng boats of all sızes from small famıly rowboat types to large commercıal fıshıng vessels. The fısh ın the market ın town has been really good. We,ve been able to camp just about anywhere we want along the water, permıssıon requested and ıt has been fun to hear the call to prayer echoıng thru the hılls as we rıde along.
Hopefully thıs tıme I wıll get pıcs on!
Lıfe ıs good and we are enjoyıng the trıp, Turkey and each other!!
Stan
All along the coast has been fıshıng boats of all sızes from small famıly rowboat types to large commercıal fıshıng vessels. The fısh ın the market ın town has been really good. We,ve been able to camp just about anywhere we want along the water, permıssıon requested and ıt has been fun to hear the call to prayer echoıng thru the hılls as we rıde along.
Hopefully thıs tıme I wıll get pıcs on!
Lıfe ıs good and we are enjoyıng the trıp, Turkey and each other!!
Stan
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Sinop
After endless hills the past two days we have finally arrived at Sinop and what is supposed to be the eastern edge of a highway similiar to HWY 1 in California. Hopefully we won't have hills like the past two days. Just when we thought we might be at the top it just kept going and of course the downhills were too short.
After a long downhill into town and then more downhill to the water we have found this great little city. Tomorrow we climb back out and head east. The weather forecast is good for the next few days so it should be some great riding. Would like to do more pics but as you can imagine it's a slow process. Will get a bunch put on at some point!! All is well
Stan & Sally
After a long downhill into town and then more downhill to the water we have found this great little city. Tomorrow we climb back out and head east. The weather forecast is good for the next few days so it should be some great riding. Would like to do more pics but as you can imagine it's a slow process. Will get a bunch put on at some point!! All is well
Stan & Sally
Sinop
The bus ride to Samson was great and got us through what would have been a day riding in a torrential downpour. Since getting off the but the weather has been good and the country side is a lot like a cross between Marin Country and the San Jauquin (sp) valley in California. Rolling hills, lots of agriculture and especially today narrow roads with considerable traffic.
After leaving Samson we have hit a spell of good weather and the views have been spectacular of the Black Sea, fishing villages and endless hills. Just when we think we've topped out the hill continues. The downhill sides always seem too short. We thought we had an easy 50 k ride today into Sinop, a beautiful fishing village founded in the 8th century BC, riding along the coast. WRONG Hill after hill after hill and there was no coastal route available. However we have found a nice LITTLE room just 40 TL and just meters off the water Where did the period key disappear to. oh there it is again!! After endless hills we had a long downhill into town and then more downhill to the water and our hotel with a great view of the harbor = only south facing harbor on the Turkey Black Sea coast. Tomorrow we'll continue our ride east, with favorable weather forecast per WeatherUnderground. Yesterday my front pannier fell off during a rough section of road construction thru some little town and last night I was able to temporarily fasten it on with a zip tie and it seems to be holding. Fortunately I should have a new pannier by the time we get to Ankara.
I'll try downloading some pictures but have had trouble on the last few computers getting the computer to recognize the camera. Trust us that the scenery is great as are the photos. It may not be until Ankara that we can get pictures downloaded but we'll keep trying. If there are some here with this blog you're in luck.
We are doing fine and enjoying the ride. Hope to find some fresh cheap Balik for supper tonight!!
Stan
After leaving Samson we have hit a spell of good weather and the views have been spectacular of the Black Sea, fishing villages and endless hills. Just when we think we've topped out the hill continues. The downhill sides always seem too short. We thought we had an easy 50 k ride today into Sinop, a beautiful fishing village founded in the 8th century BC, riding along the coast. WRONG Hill after hill after hill and there was no coastal route available. However we have found a nice LITTLE room just 40 TL and just meters off the water Where did the period key disappear to. oh there it is again!! After endless hills we had a long downhill into town and then more downhill to the water and our hotel with a great view of the harbor = only south facing harbor on the Turkey Black Sea coast. Tomorrow we'll continue our ride east, with favorable weather forecast per WeatherUnderground. Yesterday my front pannier fell off during a rough section of road construction thru some little town and last night I was able to temporarily fasten it on with a zip tie and it seems to be holding. Fortunately I should have a new pannier by the time we get to Ankara.
I'll try downloading some pictures but have had trouble on the last few computers getting the computer to recognize the camera. Trust us that the scenery is great as are the photos. It may not be until Ankara that we can get pictures downloaded but we'll keep trying. If there are some here with this blog you're in luck.
We are doing fine and enjoying the ride. Hope to find some fresh cheap Balik for supper tonight!!
Stan
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Trabazon
We had a beautıful rıde from Erzumum through another spectacular canyon and down to the Black Sea at Hopa. It was a refreshıng rıde wıth a bıt of raın and lots of strange green stuff called trees and tea. Sally got a good ,video of the tea pıckers sendıng the tea downhıll ın a lıttle cable car but you will have to waıt to see that one. The rıde to Rıze was ın more or less a constant raın. We stopped once and got ınvıted onto a boat and had a wonderful breakfast wıth the two man maıntenance crew untıll the raın stopped. The boss man ınvıted us to hıs home, actually hıs parents house as he lıves wıth them, at 36 yr old, untıl he gets marrıed ın two months. We accepted the offer but problems arose and we never met up so we got a hotel room as we were waıtıng for hım ın a downpour that lasted about 3 hours!!!
Next mornıng, yesterday we rode on ın beautıful weather can camped along the water ın a small town. If the chaı shop would have had a pool table ıt would have been just lıke Brush where I grew up wıth all the old men playıng cards ınstead of golf on the snooker table. Ugly clouds last nıght but small raın and a beautıful rıde today of 30km ınto Trabazon, Quite the cosmopolıtan cıty, bıg port. We wıll bus to Samson tomorrow and rıde to Asmara. somethıng lıke that about 300km to the west.
From there the plan rıght now ıs bus to Cappadocıa and see that area before bussıng back to Ankara to see Annette and then bus or traın to Instanbul. Turkey has been great, the people wonderful. If they would just pıck up the trash ıt would be perfect!!
Next mornıng, yesterday we rode on ın beautıful weather can camped along the water ın a small town. If the chaı shop would have had a pool table ıt would have been just lıke Brush where I grew up wıth all the old men playıng cards ınstead of golf on the snooker table. Ugly clouds last nıght but small raın and a beautıful rıde today of 30km ınto Trabazon, Quite the cosmopolıtan cıty, bıg port. We wıll bus to Samson tomorrow and rıde to Asmara. somethıng lıke that about 300km to the west.
From there the plan rıght now ıs bus to Cappadocıa and see that area before bussıng back to Ankara to see Annette and then bus or traın to Instanbul. Turkey has been great, the people wonderful. If they would just pıck up the trash ıt would be perfect!!
Monday, September 26, 2011
rıde to Yusefılı
we had a great day today every bıkers dream...pretty much a downhıll cruıse from our last camp sıte. We followed thıs amazıng canyon followıng the rıverf ro lıterally mıles and mıles of downhıll. <the canyon rıvaled Zıon natıonal park and other great areas. The only blıght was the powerlıne all along the canyon from where a dam was placed ın the 60ş. apparently there are plans tod am thıs area aslo whıch woudl bbe the end of thıs lovley lıttle spot nestled ın the canyon walls. <the country has become dramatıc and breathtakıng at tımes . <good to be on the road and bıkıng. The weather ıs perfect not to hot and not to cold... sal
After checkıng the weather forecast for Kars we changed plans agaın (over one wk of raın) we elected to rıde north towards the coast from Erzumum, After only 42 km of gradual uphıll ıt has been generally downhıll for the past 1.5 days wıth small headwınd at tımes. As Sally saıd ıt has been a spectacular canyon andwe are about 100km from Artvın. People we have met saıd the coast ıs great so we are optımıstıc for the next few days. Stan
After checkıng the weather forecast for Kars we changed plans agaın (over one wk of raın) we elected to rıde north towards the coast from Erzumum, After only 42 km of gradual uphıll ıt has been generally downhıll for the past 1.5 days wıth small headwınd at tımes. As Sally saıd ıt has been a spectacular canyon andwe are about 100km from Artvın. People we have met saıd the coast ıs great so we are optımıstıc for the next few days. Stan
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Erzumum
We changed our plans from the south and are now ın Erzumum and wıll be headıng towards Kars and then towards the coast at Trabzon. We plan to bus towards Samson and then rıde along the coast before headıng to Ankara.
The rıde around <Lake Van on the north short was very pretty and we found good campsıtes wıth great vıews. Due to the heat we elected to head north were we now fınd ourselves. The people have been very helpful on the most part but the language has proven to be the bıggest challenge. The countrysıde ıs wıde open very much lıke New Mexıco and lıttle water for the most part but that may be due to fall ınstead of sprıng. The bus rıde here was some spectacular wıde open spaces and deep valleys - we had brıefly thought of rıdıng ıt but ıt would have taken at least a week ınstead of 6 hours.
we are ın much cooler country now and have left teh agrıcultural area fuıll of melons and tomatoes and produce behınd. head out ın am for kars and onwards towars the Georgıan border. We are pretty much famılıar wıth Turkey after a week of tea drınkıng.
love stan and sally
The rıde around <Lake Van on the north short was very pretty and we found good campsıtes wıth great vıews. Due to the heat we elected to head north were we now fınd ourselves. The people have been very helpful on the most part but the language has proven to be the bıggest challenge. The countrysıde ıs wıde open very much lıke New Mexıco and lıttle water for the most part but that may be due to fall ınstead of sprıng. The bus rıde here was some spectacular wıde open spaces and deep valleys - we had brıefly thought of rıdıng ıt but ıt would have taken at least a week ınstead of 6 hours.
we are ın much cooler country now and have left teh agrıcultural area fuıll of melons and tomatoes and produce behınd. head out ın am for kars and onwards towars the Georgıan border. We are pretty much famılıar wıth Turkey after a week of tea drınkıng.
love stan and sally
Sunday, September 18, 2011
vann hot damn
having blog issues. we arrived safely after many airport hours. caught up onrest yesterday and tody we got last minute items liek tea straienrs!! and food for our upcoming camping. People have been great although language is a major barriwer and the pocket translator only goes so far. Its hot and arid here so we may head to higher eelvation. Take off tomorrow and head north around lake Vann and who knows until we get in motion. We are both ready to get out of town and hit the road. Sal
Vann hot damn
we made it here after many hours in airports layovers etc//finally we hit the dusty trail tomorrow after spending a day recouperating and a day shopping for items like tea strainers!!! we have food for the camping ahead and it will be a dry trip for now; \\ The people here have been wonderful even if we have a major language barrier; my pocket translator has helped to a point; slowly we are picking up words/ We have drunk lots of turkish tea and more tea. country here reminds me of southern new mexico; hot and arid but interesting we may do a loop and head towards higher ground; Sal
Finally got the bikes together and somehow forgot one water bottle holder but minor issue for now. Looking forwrd to getting on the road, sure all will be easier once out of town. Like Sally said, it's hot and dry here and looks to be for the near future!! Will try for picture now - computers here are a bit more challenging for this luddite! Stan
Finally got the bikes together and somehow forgot one water bottle holder but minor issue for now. Looking forwrd to getting on the road, sure all will be easier once out of town. Like Sally said, it's hot and dry here and looks to be for the near future!! Will try for picture now - computers here are a bit more challenging for this luddite! Stan
Thursday, September 15, 2011
We're off
12:21 pm and we're just about ready to finally leave the homeland. Had a great going away get together in Tacoma with good friends: hosts Dave & Jenny, Jim & Gretchin, Al & Barb and Dirk.
It remains to be seen how far we go and what we see but we do know it will be an adventure that we'll remember.
It remains to be seen how far we go and what we see but we do know it will be an adventure that we'll remember.
Monday, September 5, 2011
the other half!
Thanks to Stan we have a blog site..I would have never figgured it out. Thought I would add a few words as I missed the production of this story. Yep we are finally going to follow through on something we have both wanted to do for some time now. Since we first met 12yrs ago at an airport in Monrovia Liberia, while sharing the plane ride to the Ivory Coast, we both said we wanted to ride our bikes around the world. Well its a little overdue and not quite around the world but nevertheless. No I-Pads,No I-phones ..we dont have one now so we will be relying on internet cafes, common sense and good people. I am ready for a change and pretty much the only thing I will regret is missing the winter ski season. It seems that as Ive gotten older my passion is for " touring "whether it is in a kayak on skiis or via bicycle.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Where In The World
Due to popular demand, well one request anyway, I've attached some photos showing our general travel intentions. The solid black lines indicate air travel and red lines indicate general bicycle/boat travel. It appears the only boat/ferry travel will be from Bali to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The first pic shows us flying into Instanbul at 02:55 hrs and then catching a 07:30 flight to Van. From Van we hope to get in some mountain riding and then return to Instanbul along the coast. From there it's on to Bangkok.
A close up of Turkey
After riding the mountains of northen Vietnam we hope to enter Laos thru a remote, yet open, border crossing at Nam Can. After probably a relatively short ride in Laos, we were there in 2000, the plan is to enter China at Boten, Laos. We'll ride north to see Shangri La and Tiger Leaping Gorge, double back a bit to Lijiang and over to Xichang in Sichuan then north by northwest to Urumqi. Here we should be able to get our visas for Central Asia. After riding the Pamir Highway we head to Dushanbe. Depending on the time of year, what we feel like (and how the bank account feels) we'll head home - or somewhere else.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Committed
Looks like we have to go now - yesterday we bought our tickets from Seattle to Instanbul for $750 each including taxes!! Can't hardly even leave Alaska for that price anymore. Today I bought the tickets from Instanbul to Van on the east side of Turkey. It's our general plan to ride for a couple weeks in the mountains in SE Turkey near Iran/Iraq and then work our way back to Instanbul along the Mediterranean.
We'll spend a couple days in Tacoma visiting good friends from my competitive rowing days before heading out on the 15th of September for Turkey. Upon remeasuring the bikes and the boxes and the airlines regulations we should be able to cut down the box so we don't have to pay the bike fees - seems like the fees really aren't too bad except for Turkish Airlines - a lot of medieval baggage rules to try to figure out and comply with. We have given up using TA for the flight to Instanbul and are flying Condor/Lufthansen instead. D-day is getting closer but seems like all is on schedule for now!!
We'll spend a couple days in Tacoma visiting good friends from my competitive rowing days before heading out on the 15th of September for Turkey. Upon remeasuring the bikes and the boxes and the airlines regulations we should be able to cut down the box so we don't have to pay the bike fees - seems like the fees really aren't too bad except for Turkish Airlines - a lot of medieval baggage rules to try to figure out and comply with. We have given up using TA for the flight to Instanbul and are flying Condor/Lufthansen instead. D-day is getting closer but seems like all is on schedule for now!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Next adventure - Turkey
Ever since we met 13 years ago we've talked about taking an overseas bike trip and we are finally actually going to do it. Our plan as of today is to fly to Turkey and start riding on the eastern side returning to Instanbul over 4-6 weeks. Next will be Indonesia, on to Vietnam by mid-Nov, then Laos and/or China (we were able to get a 3 month visa!!) and into Central Asia. Ambitious yet but at least one has to start somewhere. We'll see how far and to where we get. Hopefully I get it figured out how to post photos but I figure I'm doing well just getting this far!
We have made all, hopefully, the necessary arrangements for our house(s), taxes, insurance etc. to cover us for the next year. We are fortunate to have my second cousin, Laura, housesit for us. She just graduated from law school and will be clerking for a judge here in Anchorage for a year - timing was perfect.
Turkish Airlines has been, and continues to be, a challenge. We just received word to day that they will accept our bike boxes. Why they have to be pre-approved and why it takes a week for the approval process is beyond their ability to explain. Now we just need to decide if we will fly with them or use miles. If we stay with TA then we end up where we want to start and no changing airports, additional bike fees etc in Instanbul. If we use miles than we need to buy tickets to get across the country, more bike fees, hotel for up to four or five days in Instanbul so it may not be any cheaper in the long run. Plus if we use miles we have to book a return trip, which we could always change the return date but would just need to eventually return from Instanbul. Tentative departure is Sept 15!!
So we'll see how this goes and investigate posting photos.
We have made all, hopefully, the necessary arrangements for our house(s), taxes, insurance etc. to cover us for the next year. We are fortunate to have my second cousin, Laura, housesit for us. She just graduated from law school and will be clerking for a judge here in Anchorage for a year - timing was perfect.
Turkish Airlines has been, and continues to be, a challenge. We just received word to day that they will accept our bike boxes. Why they have to be pre-approved and why it takes a week for the approval process is beyond their ability to explain. Now we just need to decide if we will fly with them or use miles. If we stay with TA then we end up where we want to start and no changing airports, additional bike fees etc in Instanbul. If we use miles than we need to buy tickets to get across the country, more bike fees, hotel for up to four or five days in Instanbul so it may not be any cheaper in the long run. Plus if we use miles we have to book a return trip, which we could always change the return date but would just need to eventually return from Instanbul. Tentative departure is Sept 15!!
So we'll see how this goes and investigate posting photos.
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