SallyStanRide

Hanoi - Oudomxai - Luang Prabang

2012-02-11T02:56:00.000-09:00

We finally left Hanoi on the first full day of TET (Vietnamese New Year). We had a greatview of the fireworks from our penthouse suite! After all the buildup we were blessed with a cool day and virtually empty roads as we headed north on highway32. We elected this route as it was supposed to be quieter and quiet it was. The first night out we camped along side a river nd after brief visit from a few locals and were then left to ourselves and a beautiful night. Next day we took a cutoff over to Highway 6 that took us about 5 days and numerous big climbs into the clouds and down into beautiful dry valleys. The relief was quite spectacular and we were glad that we had recently changed brakes shoes! We stayed one night under the home of hill tribe family who fed us a really nice supper, slept with the rabbits closeby and the cows not far away.

As we entered one village hoping to find a hot bowl of soup a family beckoned us over and we feasted TET with them and had numerous shots of the local whisky and plentyof beer before we left to find guesthouse, not wanting to tackle any hills in our condition. Sally was able to get some good photos of the ladies in their native outfits while Stan worked on the beer and whiskey.

We finally arrived in Dien Bien Phu on one of the most beautiful rides of the trip thru newly sprouted green rice paddies, waterwheels, huge karst limestone formations and up another long climb with a long steep descent into town. DBP is really spread out but a nice enough town with quite a bit of history none of which is favorable to the French, especially 1954. We took a ride out of town into a nearby village and were again hailed into a locals house on stilts. This time they dressed Sally up in their native dress, as you can see in one of the photos. The people are poor financially by western standards, but they do have all they need: clean water, great food, telephone & TV (satelite dishes are everwhere as are cell phone towers) and they seem quite happy and satisfied.

We didn't know what to expect leaving DBP and we ended up with another long climb of 20 km to the Laos border, one of several that took us several days to finally reach Oudomxai, Laos. The relief on this side of the border is much greater than Vietnam and fortunately the roads are quiet, as are the people, so we are enjoying Laos very much. Lao was andahs been a delight the people are quiet and peaceful and the vehicles, fewer of themdont balst their horns continually.

We just did a little side trip a circuitus route involving bus boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang and bus back to OUdamaxi where we left our bikes and gear, We were last in LP 12years ago and the onlything unchanged is the Mekong river!! It used to be a few scruffy backpackers there now its frequented by a wealthier clientel and looks more like the French Riviera. It is still a beautiful area ad we enjoyed it for a few days even indulging in a nicer guesthouse with lovley decor, balcony in the treetops and a fridge to chill the white wine!! something we wil not find in China.

Its been hot here and we are more than ready to head northward and hopefully cooler weather but als not to cold. We know that China is going to be a big challenge and I think we are ready and if not Oh well. We are heavily laden this time with extra reading material, more food and items we think we wont be able to find in china. Im afraid that all i will find is noodles!! and noodles 3times a day is a little much.

Later, Sally and Stan

Nha trang to Hanoi, feast or famine?

2012-01-21T23:04:00.000-09:00

Wow cant believe we have been so lax here not only on the blog but also a week of NO riding , just being plain tourists. We arrived in Nha trang on the coast riding into a blasting headwind and back to the land of rain. The night before we spent our last day camping for a stretch on a lovlely peninsula of land 40km long, dunes and very little development but obvious plans for resorts all along the area.

Nha trang is pretty well a city with an amazing stretch of beaches and coastline which draws the tourists, so it is also filled with tourists. We were surprised to find ourselves in "little Russia!" seems like the russians go there for their beach vacations. In comparison to the vietnamese they are a little larger. Our routine there like our usual city routine is Stan sets up house( laundy, organizing, polishing and dusting) and I go off on the beer, sandwich,snack run. Then its relax in a real room pick up the remote have a brew or vino snacks shower etc and then venture out into the new world . No longer ratty cyclists but professional tourists.

We had the delightful experience of the "sleeper bus" from Nha trang to Hanoi. Not a bad experience depending on how many extra passengers they decide they want to seat on the floor or how obnoxious the attendant may be. Our first bus was that experience but then next bus was a definate improvment except majority of folks travelling were vietnamese going home for TET(Lunar New Year) and I guess they just dont like to sleep.

HANOI!! wow what an experience. Had to describe but that the feast or famine part of the story. We arrived just before NYear and the city had gone crazy in preparation. A mass of humanity, mopheads,rickshaws,taxis,buses, more mopheads more mopheads all weaving in and out of narrow little sidestreets of the Old Quarter. Shops everywhere overflowing into the streets selling not only their usual wares but stuff forTET. Gift baskets galore, alcohol vendors, oranges oranges more oranges, mopheads with mandarin orange trees cherry blossom trees strapped to the back of them. Everyone buying stuff, kind alike the pre-christmas rush. On top of that is the usual morning markets selling fruit,veg,noodles,live chickens dead chickens, butcher shops galore, buckets of live fish and sea creatures. Firsthand experience of when the markets start up as we are staying right above one of them.
So now it is TET and the city is like a normal western city from n.america as far as traffic and people and in comparison it appears deserted!! Many shops are closed and buisnesses and folks spend time with family for the next 4 days at least. In fact a sad time to visit if this was your first day here. Tonight is the firework display, one reason we have not yet left. We saw the military setting up their arsenal yesterday and although not a big firework fan I gotta see this one.

We are staying one block from the lake which looks absultely lovley with the coloured chinese lanterns in the trees and lights surrounding the lake. We heve been staying at a cheap family run guest house and have the penthouse suite. Top floor surrounded bywindows, balcony, watch the mayhem below. Its great although a little noisy. Routinley things dont work in the room but the family have been so helpful and we kinda like it here. We did a tour out to Halong Bay, a Unesco world heritage site and was able to leave bike and bags here and return to our same old suite(dont think anyone else wants it).

Halong Bay was remarkable and a chance to get away from the noise of the city. We stayed on one of the junk boats/dragon boats and just loved being back on the water. It is an isnt a wilderness with much farming going on out there mostly oyster pearl cultivation. We me a couple from california Mike and Tan. She grew up in Vietnam having spent 20yrs there so it was helpful to have her along to keep the tour guide inline. As in everywhere inVietnam you kinda have to fight a little bit for what you deserve! It was a splurge for Stan and I. We tried to eat our monies worth of food out there. Stan was particularly impressive as always on the eating department.

Ournext blog shouldbe N.Laos or even china. Its time to ride off theflab we have accumulated while feasting this past week, now time for hopefully not famine but a little less indulgence. Hope the NYear is treating all of you well.

Chuck mung nuh moi??something like that..Happy new Year

Sally and stan

Dalat, Day 3

2012-01-07T22:51:00.000-09:00

Spending an extra day in Dalat as it's such a pretty city and we found a really nice big, clean room for $6 usd with a huge balconcy. Also gave me a chance to finally wash the tent out. Amazing how much dirt we carry around betweent the tent and our clothes!!

Tomorrow we work our way to Nha Trang on the coast and then on to Hanoi. Vietnam has become easier as the time goes by. By the time we leave it should be pretty easy: except for the language barrier. Then it's a whole new culture to try to figure out.

Anyway life is good and we love to hear your comments on the blog or just news from home.

Love, Stan & Sally

Dalat

2012-01-06T20:18:00.000-09:00

We are finally in Dalat, a beautiful town at 1500mtrs in the Central Highlands. Lots of tourists here from Vietnam, Asia not to mention the ever present white folks as well!! Nice and cool at this elevation. Tomorrow we leave for the coast and Na Trang, about 2-3 day ride away. Hopefully by the time we get there the rain will have gone elsewhere.

The ride south on 14 has been good with some days with traffic congestion and noise followed especially since we left Boun Ma Thout by empty, quiet roads and beautiful scenery. Had a couple good passes to cross that we didn't expect and a couple 10 km sections of rough nasty road but all went well and we enjoyed the ride nevertheless.

Life has been good on the road and looking forward to the Hanoi area and eventually back into Loas and then China!!

Central Highlands

2012-01-02T04:14:00.000-09:00

We've been riding the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Highway 14 portion, for the past 6 days or so. It took us 1.5 days to escape the rain of the coast but after a 40 km climb with several 10% grade portions we broke out into sunshine and it's been pretty much that way ever since. A bit cloudy the past two days off and on but no rain which has been a great relief.

The only drawback has been the heavy traffic and constant honking of the horns. I'm pretty much convince that the horns are on all the time and they just press a button to shut them off. This road, compared to Highway 1 on the coast, is narrow with not much of a shoulder and the drivers are just plain crazy: passing on hills and the bigger the vehicle the greater your percentage of someone yielding. The Seward Highway back home is quite tame by comparison.

The country side has been spectacular: very heavy agriculture with lots of cassava, coffee, greens, fruits, potatoes etc and everything seems to be in harvest mode which may account for some of the traffic. We are now in Ban Mon Thout ( or similiar ) and getting a much needed shower after 6 days on the road. Tomorrow we head for Dalat, about a 3-4 day ride, where we will take another break before heading to the coast and bussing it to Hanoi. Apparently the train has been booked for some time for the whole month of January and TET (Vietnamese NY).

I'm sure Vietnam is a great place to bike ride IF you know the backroads and have a GPS, neither of which is in our arsenal at this time. The food has been good, not really interesting, but good. It's been good to cook our own food at supper and have some potatoes or pasta for a change from the rice and chicken.

Highway 8 into the country was spectacular. There are so many different sections of the HCM trail it's no wonder we couldn't shut it off!! The history and seeing many familar names has been interesting for me. We've seen many young people and many older folks but not many of the age that would have fought in the "American War". No wonder....

hoi an to ho chi min

2011-12-25T16:22:00.000-09:00

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

Hue

2011-12-21T21:56:00.000-09:00

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

bus-rail to border town Nongkhai

2011-12-08T22:42:00.000-09:00

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.

Bali & Lomboc rides

2011-11-25T18:05:00.000-09:00

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

Thailand

2011-11-07T21:46:00.000-09:00

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

Istanbul

2011-10-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

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!

Ankara

2011-10-24T02:42:00.000-08:00

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.

Cappadoccia

2011-10-14T04:31:00.000-08:00

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.

Off to Cappadoccıa

2011-10-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

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

Sinop

2011-10-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

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

Trabazon

2011-10-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

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!!

Erzumum

2011-09-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

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

vann hot damn

2011-09-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

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

We're off

2011-09-15T11:24:00.001-08:00

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.

the other half!

2011-09-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Where In The World

2011-08-19T09:53:00.001-08:00

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

From Bangkok we plan to fly to Bali and either ride along the islands or, preferably, take a ferry over to the large island of Sulawesi (misspelled below) and ride/snorkel and pig out on fresh fruitd and seafood. Then it's back to Bali and a stop in Bangkok to change planes for the flight to Hanoi.

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.

Committed

2011-08-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

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!!

Next adventure - Turkey

2011-08-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

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.