New Blog

I have a new Blog...

have a look at it here

almost the same, but new stories and new pics...

liefs

Juul

It has been too long

sitting at home is getting at me...
I have been thinking too much, and doing too little...
Maybe it's not really like that, but it feels like it. I want to get out again (if possible on my bike), but with what reason? Do I need a reason to go out? I believe I do, I need some sort of goal to go somewhere. Not just siton my bike and see where the road ends (which will never happen, I am sure of that) but to have somewhere to go to. Not to mind the question with who to go?

The trip I made with Marjolein seems to get more and more distant. Sometimes it feels as if it weren't us who went on that trip. How ridiculous some of the things we did. Would I ever do it like that again? I don't think so, mainly because the chance I will go on a trip with Marjolein again is small, very small.

In the meantime I am spending my days editing a photobook with pictures of our trip and all the stories we wrote for the NRC Next weblog (watch preview). And of course, I am still on the bike a lot: the mountainbike, the racingbike, and of course my good old city bike. But besides a little trip to Maroc with a friend of mine, my sturdy Koga Miyata is standing still...

I hope the next time, I can take a photo and film camera, because I do want to show the things there are to see along the road. The world is too beautiful not to see.

cycle for peace, cycle for nature, cycle for the world to see...

The sun is out!

and what a difference it makes...

Just some thoughts...

Maybe I should keep this blog updated with some stories, some thoughts and other things I want to write down. Every now and then I have the urge to write some things about our trip, about the things we encountered, about the different cultures we met.

Last night I saw a documentary about women in an Israelian prison who were caught wearing a big belt with explosives, ready to give themselves to Allah together with other people who accidentaly happened to be in the same spot as they were. but they failed, and were put in prison.

It is so interesting to see this. What goes on in the mind of these women? Some claim they do it just to get out of their own home, to escape life. Just as I would escape life by going out on my bike, they will have to do horrible things like this. Is it Allah they fight for? or is it their own right for a life?

In Iran we met a lot of women who were so jealous at our trip. So many times we felt privileged with the freedom we have coming from Europe. We use to say: if you really want to, you can just get on a bike and start cycling. But for them life as a women is way harder than for us. And it is not just the veil that keeps them from doing their things. There were so many young girls who asked us if it was possible for them to study in the Netherlands, and I don't think they necessarily wanted to come to the Netherlands...
In Gorgan we were invited by a family who took us to some friends. Inside no veils and a life you imagine to life in your own culture. but then the stories about not being able to get out, to be stuck in Iran. You better not be ridden over by a car in this country, because even though you're the one who was hit, you would have to pay anyhow...just because you're a women.
Another story is about the english teacher in Minu Dasht and his 16 year old daughter. A really friendly guy who loves cycling himself. So I asked his daughter if she cycled too, upon which the father answers:"no, she is a women, in Iran women don't cycle". So what goes on in his mind standing in front of two women on their bikes, cycling through his country. Is it just the fact that we are from a whole different country that makes it legible for us to cycle around like this, camping in the wild and talking to men?

We met a girl in Mashad who had a friend who cycled around the world. Very special for an Iranian girl. This all happened about 2 years ago.,the organisation is called miles for peace, and they travelled with 14 Iranian people on their bikes. How cool is that! and why doen't it happen more often?

Lately i read an article about a cycling tour in Qatar (ladies tour of Qatar) where it was officially announced that women could cycle without a scarf and in their regular cycling clothes. But there are only foreign female teams...would the teams from their own country also be able to cycle in tight cycling trousers and jerseys? I doubt it.

Maybe I should organise a cycling tour myself, through Iran, together with some Iranian women...just to show that we can do it. Or am I dreaming about something impossible now?

dreaming is good, isn't it?

Back where we started

We found each other again. Mayo working in Breda at the moment, Julie living (and working?) in Amsterdam. Slowly getting back into the rythm of city life. Actually that goes unnoticed, before you know, you are back into your old life. Working, seeing friends and troubling your head with things that seem so unimportant while you are away.

The thing that is different from before we left, is the experiences we carry with us, no matter what. And hopefully there are new adventures waiting for us.

And then...

From Moscow the train dropped me in Kiev, Ukraine. the first time without the nessesity of a visa, and to be hounest, I was a bit anxious at the border...but they let me through! After one luxurious (thanks to Damian) but rainy day in Kiev , the train continued to Warsaw in Poland. Again I found myself being spoiled by the hospitality of Damian and his family. This time the sun brightened my last day abroad.

On tuesday I came back to Holland where a 3 day cycling trip through the flat,rainy and very organised Dutch coutryside brought me to Mayo. Seven months ago we left Amsterdam on our bike, now we are both back where we started (ok, Mayo is in Breda and Julie is back in Amsterdam, but we are both back in Holland...)


And now the end of my trip is here. The last few weeks of my travels without Mayo, I've been thinking a lot about our big cycling adventure and everything we encountered and experienced. I think it is one of the best things to do somewhere during your life, to see some of the world. Of course I am a lucky bastard that I had (and took) the opportunity to to do such a brilliant trip, but if I could,I would send everybody for at least a few days to a completely different culture. Just to experience how things can be,just to make us aware of our own world and space.

Travelling is addictive, and it only makes me want to see more of the world. Meet new cultures, talk with the people and have a glimpse of their lives. It is amazing to experience and I think that by cycling, you get to see most of it.

So in the future, I really hope that I find a way to go out on my bike again. For now we would like to thank everybody who supported us one way or antoher during our trip, not just our sponsors Vaude, Koga Miyata and the Vakantiefietser in Amsterdam, but specially our friends and family. We had so many good winds and cups of coffee which made our trip far more easy. It was great to notice how many people enjoyed our column on the NRC next site and our stories on our own site.
The columns we wrote for the NRC Next site will hopefully find a way to our weblog sooner or later, and eventually in a paper version, together with some of the best pictures of our trip. (interested? send us an email!: biketobeijing@gmail.com)

Home sweet home?

The Great Ride

So there I was, settled with my 3 coupe-partners, ready for our 4 days train ride to Mocsow. Stanislaw was only there for the first night, Olga untill later that day, but Rimma stayed with me during the whole trip. In spite of all the crazy transsiberian experiences you read and hear about, Rimma was not the one to make my trip. Out of her bags there came no sausages, dried fish, cookies and bottles of vodka. No, Rimma just sat there quietly, enjoying her tea and staring at me...

But, one door down, in the other wagon, there were Natalia and Ira, who did live the true transsiberian experience.. Dressed in their 'we-are-on-a-4-day-trainride' outfit (which means leopard skin tights and zebra striped shirt for the one and silk pyjama-like shirt for the other), this accopanied by colourful socks and slippers. Since my own roommate could note provide with my so hoped transsib. exp, they did.
the vodka was opened at noon during lunchtime (which is in Russia a bigger thing than dinner) and if you had too much of it the evening before, you got a shot in the morning, vodka cures everything.
.

While the landscapes passed by, the nights fell and the mornings came. On our 10 to 20 minutes stops old ladies from the villages supplied us with home made potatoes, buckets of berries and other Russian specialties to go with my instant noodle dishes Thousands of kilometers of forest, riversa and villages with wooden houses and rural life, brought us in the early morning to Moscow.

Moscow is different kind of Russia. But with the warmhearted hospitality from Wasili, I am enjoying the Russian city life for the moment, until my trip continues further West.

Far East

Irkutsk reminds me of the board game ‘Risk’ where it is one of the territories which you have to conquer to get Asia. On those Sundays when we played the game (my brother used to win this game a lot), it never occurred to me that I would ever come to this place, Far East in Russia. So for me, Irkutsk was never connected to beautiful (and apparently world known) lake Baikal, or cold Siberia or the transsiberian express, but to this board game called Risk. Even the mobile provider here in Irkustk is called Far East…just to remind me that I am still a long way from home.

After spending two days in town with my new made friend Sam from Taiwan, I went to Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal on Sunday (LB is the deepest and biggest fresh water lake in the world; I always love to visit the biggest, funniest, deepest, tallest, most remote, most impressive things in the world…). So there I was, at Olga’s guesthouse, together with Katrien, Fred and Klara, a family from Germany, and of course my bike, which is still with me.
I did a bit of cycling (did 90km’s on a day!) and wandered around on the island. In the wintertime the lake freezes completely that even trucks can ride on it. I think half of the people leave the island for the winter, so it was a bit deserted. But with a handful of tourist, a few cows and some locals, it made a good place to be for a few days; breathing in some fresh air and making another campfire just for the sake of it (which is definitely not as much fun when you’re sitting next to it on your own) and to prepare myself on a 4 day train ride to Moscow, and to say goodbye to the coutryside.

After 3 days of cycling and walking through beautiful nature, on the third day I found the garbage dump, just in between the trees, just behind the little village…ouch. I found out during our trip that garbage is one of the most difficult things to deal with. The further we got away from Western Europe, the more garbage we found on the way, just lying there. But I am not going to write an ideological thesis about the cause and effect this right now on my web log, we can discuss it later ;)


It seems kind of difficult to move ahead since I left Mongolia, is it because I am heading home? Initially I planned to come to Irkutsk at the first of October, but that turned out different since I had some problems leaving Ulan Bator. Then it took me another 2 days to get out of Irkutsk and to go to Olkhon. When I wanted to leave the island on Wednesday, the only bus which still worked was full. So I spend another day exploring, and took the bus a day later. A day later from the island, a day later in the train, a day later in Moscow…

But today is gonna be the big day, I am leaving for Moscow! I baked some cookies in the hostel to make new friends on the train, got a bottle of vodka and some noodles, so I should be all right. No I just have to pray that the rail attendant doesn’t get too angry about me taking my bike (it’s good to have a ‘friend’ with you, but a bike is not the easiest). By Monday night I will arrive in Moscow, spent some days there, and then continue to Poland, to see some ‘old’ friends which I found in the Gobi desert.

I am leaving the Far East, heading to the wonderful West.

in Rusland

Strange, it is only a simple fence that stands between Mongolia and Russia, but the first view I had of this new country seemed like a different world. All of a sudden there were no more Asian people; I am in Russia. When we arrived with the train it was minus 1 degrees, by now the temperature increased a bit, but the winter is definetely on its way.

I still feel the urge to go back to Mongolia to join the Polish guys again who are still in the desert. Specially when I realized that I am actually on my way back to Europe, and being in a city with Russian people makes me realizes it even more...

Whe will my trip ends? What to do...

Dusty desert

Wow,Mongolia is amazing. The last two weeks I have been astonished by the beautiful landscapes that came by. With a big Russian Gaz 66 we rode from Ulan Bator (UB) to Bugat, in the far east of Mongolia. As a bunch of fishes we were stuck in the back of the truck with 12 people, together with all the gear for the landyachts, food and our own backpacks. There is one road in Mongolia with has asphalt, and after 50 km outside of UB, the road continues in a dirt track. You can imagine us bumping and jumping inside the truck, trying to hold on to the stove, a cupboard or just anybody.

At night we tumbled out of the truck, and rolled out our sleeping bags on the vast Mongolian plain, dreaming under the millions of stars above us (did you know that in Mongolia you can see the star covered sky the best?). The road was long, but beautiful. In the 3rd night we were stopped by the police at night. There had been a robbery in a bank in UB and 12 people stuck into a big old russian truck coming fom UB was definitely suspect.

Unfortunetely, Nick and my passport were still in UB, because of visa procedures. The Mongolian police here in the outskirts of Bayar Hongor were glad they could finally had 'a case to solve', and our missing passports were all of a sudden a big problem. They decided we had to come back the next day, which we did. We visited the highest officer in town, according to Esee (our Mongolian guide) an officer of the secret police, and filled in some form in which we honestly declared who we were and which languages we spoke (Polish; beginner).

In the mean time the rest of the crew were having breakfast at a Mongolian family in town. After another 4 hours of sunbathing, drinking vodka and doing some laundry in the river, we set off again.

On the fourth day we were finally ready to get the landyachts together. We were at a beautiful plain so the circumstances were great for sailing. but did didn't last very long. the Gobi deser offers a lot of different grounds, but not all are suited for landyachting...bumping over ditches and puching each other because the wind is nowhere to be seen or just not strong enough to push a 100kg's yacht. Even my bike was used. Especially Esse and Bayra, the 2 mongolians, loved cycling. Esse even askes me if he could buy mine (sorry!).


It is amazing to ride trough these big plains of nothingness with the mountains in the distance and the blue sky above, waking up in the morning with a herd of camels staring at you. the country offers so much diversity. From big fields of gravel, into plains with bushes and big ditches. Riding along mountainranges and over sand. camping next to sand dunes or with a family in their ger.

After 15 days on the road, we had to find a way back to Ub because of flights, visa's and other tours. So Nick, Yoel, Esse, Tomek, my bike and me got in a little van which took us over a mountainrange to get to the nearest town where we got 16 hours later. From there we joined a little van which seemed to be full, but apparentely, there was room for 5 more people. With 20 people stuck inside a little van it was a interesting ride for about 30 hours. never knew I could actually fold my hips and keep my legs up for that long.

My short stay wit the expedition was an amazing ride which I will never forget, thanks Ania, Swiatek, Irek, Xenia, Piotr, Tomek, Andrzej, Esse, Bayra, Nick, Yoel, Pawle and Kasha for your brilliant company.

So, now back in UB, on y way to Irkutsk, and how knows what after that

Sailing across the Gobi desert

My days in UB seem to be over, although you're never sure. Tomorrow I will (hopefully) be on my way to the west of the Gobi desert...together with 7 Polish people, one Canadian, one English guy and two Mongolian guys. I will take part in the 'Gobi 2008 expedition' an expedition in memory of Wojciecha Skarżyńskiego, who did a same trip 30 years ago.(http://mongolia.info.pl/content/view/147/67/)
We will leave Ulan Bator to go west where the sailing will start. at the end of September I will leave the crew to come back to UB while they will continue along the Gobi.

This weekend we did a small trip to Hutai national park. This park is famous for its Przewalski horses. It is amazing to walk and ride through a big steppe, surrounded by mountains and to see these horses walking in groups, curiously looking at you, or chasing you away. We also encountered a big herde of regular horses with their herdsman and a big group of camels. Beautiful scenery.


I am glad to leave the city, It is very strange to stay in one place for such a long time, after spending so much time on my bike. To be honest, I do miss my bike, and I do regret sending a lot of stuff back home. It is so much better to just hop on your bike whenever you feel like and to actually go somewhere instead of waiting here in UB for a transport to arrive, for a truck to be fixed, for our expedition to be ready. Hmmm, maybe I got too much used to decide myself when, where and how to go somewhere instead of depending on others.


But things happen for a reason, (yep, I got philosophical), so I am sure everything will turn out just to be the most amazing, fantastic thrill seeking experience I have ever had. And I do enjoy my time here. Hopefully I will be able to do some cycling later on, maybe in the Gobi (if I can take my bike) or in Russia or Europe, on my way back home...

Mom, I am on my way...

stuck in UB

Our cycling trip is over, we are both on our way back to Holland. Marjolein is doing a tour through Mongolia at the moment together with Astrid and some other travellers . I am still hanging around the capital city, Ulan Bator, waiting for my trip to start, somewhere next week (see:http://mongolia.info.pl/content/view/147/67/). Untill then, I just wander around this strange town.

The city consist of mostly old Russian apartment buildings, surrounded by fields full of 'gers' (the Mongolian version of the yurt), and little shacks with brightly colored rooftops. In between this strange combination of buildings there is a very modern looking construction rising up. Are the nomadic Mongols settling down? The city has a strange atmosphere, there is something about it which intrigues me. Maybe it is the fact that it is a city made by nomadic people, maybe it is the fact that it is a city in which the people who seem to travel the most, are the foreigners. I haven't seen any city in the last few months where there is such a big variety of European food. Berlin Burger, Chez Bernard and even cafe Amsterdam make you feel at home with their bockwurst, croissants, and koffie verkeerd.

The children of the street try to find a way to earn some money and find some shelter, the foreigners try to book a tour and get away as quick as possible, because their train to Russia or China is waiting.

I will just wait a bit longer until my trip starts, and meanwhile, watch the city and its people go by.
I didn't book a train ticket yet...

GOUD voor de lichte dames 2x
ZILVER voor de dames 8+



lieve dames, we hadden ons niet beter kunnen wensen. Bedankt voor die prachtige dag.

Finish!

Nearly there!

Just 200 kilometers away from our final goal, the rowing course in Mapo. A few hills and a visit to the great wall are the only things that are keeping us from cycling straight towards the end. We fully enjoy our last days of cycling, camping and meeting people along the way, even if the rain is pouring down on us. Beijing is getting close, the roads are getting better and the police is everywhere.

We enjoy the beautiful scenery that the hills west of Beijing offer us. Holy buddhist mountains with thousands of temples, and bits and pieces of the great wall in the distant which linger on the top of the mountain range (who came up with the idea to make this thing?).

The Olympics are in full progress. Everytime we stop for a break, we try to find a place with a good television. Unfortunately, they only show the Chinese teams, so we have to be lucky they compete against a Dutch crew. But with the Chinese doing so brilliant at their 'own' Olympics, at least the people here are smiling (sometimes). And we keep on smiling too, the dutch rowing is doing great (already two boats in the semi finals (LW2x and M4) , and 3 more (W8, M8 and LM4) to go) so our route is still towards Mapo, to Shunyi lake.

After one week of spending time on Chinese grounds, we finally feel a bit like we entered the Chinese culture. nervous we awaited the bordercrossing; our final country, our final month, our final goal. It felt a bit strange, after four months of cycling, we have only like 3 weeks cycling left. China is big, the Olympics important (for China but also for us) and the visa is short. We have 30 days to get from west to east, and to be hounest, we are not going to make that just on the bike.

Three days in Kashgar will give us some time to come to terms of leaving Central Asia and slowly change our Kyrgis speech for the Chinese. Xinjiang is a part of China where you wander around the streets asking yourself where the Chinese culture exists. It has a strong history with the Uygur people, and today that connection still exist. We felt like we were still in Central Asia and we loved it. The city has a brilljant atmosphere where the people live on the streets during day and night. The big streets are covered with Chinese commercials, the small alleys of the old town rustle with Uygur life and Arabic influences. Two worlds so far from each other and still so close.


After Kashgar we will definitely leave our beloved Central Asia culture and dive into the real China. Three days in the train will bring us a few thousands of kilometers to the east where big Chinese cities (starting with Xi'an) await us and our final weeks begin.

As long as you believe...

There are a lot of things during our trip of which we were more than surprised, in a positive way. We were always sort of sure that we would get to Beijing, but while our trip got on, the way we were going to get there became harder and harder, as if somebody made it a challenge for us to see how long we would go on.
We are on this trip because we want to see our friends compete at the rowing finals during the Olympics in Beijing. With all the hassle obtaining a Chinese visa's everywhere around the world, the purpose of our trip became a bigger and bigger issue; how were we to get to China?

We changed our routes more than once. Backup plans were made and plan A made way for plan B which after a day or 2 changed to plan C. Just one week ago were on our way to Almaty in Kazachstan to catch a train to Beijing from there, when Angelina and Stefano (our French/Swiss cycling friends: sionroulait.blogs.marieclaire.fr) told us about the visum opportunities in Tashkent. We took our changes and went to the embassy...and look at this foto!



By the time you read this, we are on our way to the Chinese border, on the bike, to enjoy a bit of cycling in this massive country, but more important, to see our friends compete at the Olympics...

Everything is possible, you just have to believe in it...

where to next?

While we wait for our visa's, and keep changing our travelling plans towards the Chinese border,we will try to keep you updated...
Who said this was a holiday?

Inshallah!

Turkmenistan

In Mashhad we experienced the Islam religion by visiting the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza, a pelgrim place for the Sjiite muslims. Beautiful buildings and a serene atmosphere. After Mashhad, cycling again: the last kilometers of Iranian landscape are lying before us. Desert this time and we can tell you sweating is our main activity instead of cycling these days.




On our way to the border to leave this beautiful country behind us. We met so many nice people that we're quite sad to leave Iran for the unsecurity of Turkmenistan and the other Stans. But who knows: it might even be better!