So I want to go around half the world on a motorcycle! Hmm, plenty of reasons to do that: experience strange cultures, meet interesting people, see beautiful places... Well, there are more convenient and safer ways to do that than travelling on two wheels to the middle east and crumbled ex-soviet countries. So why am I still gonna do that?
So last Friday I finally managed to leave Rosenheim at 4pm. I didnt even make 200km before finding a nice spot for my sleeping bakg right next to a farm house near Bad Goisern.
First overnight spot
So, lots has happend since I left Budapest a week ago. I partied with students in Eger, got attacked by Maikaefers (Maybeetles) in Romania, dropped my bike the first time, sought for enlightenment with the Monks in northern RO, climbed with chief alpinist Voicu, pholosophised with a pension manager, explored the roots of my ex-gf in Transylvania and have still a few more days to come in Romania.After a day of sightseeing in Budapest,
This time pics only about the way from Transylvania to Turkey...
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Road near Georgheni
Countryside in Transsylvanýa
Since almost 3 weeks I'm now in Turkey. I chilled out for 6 days in Istanbul, applied for visas, met lots of turkish people and had some adventure on the way to Ankara and Antalya where I was rock climbing for a good week at the cliffs in Geyýkbayiri.I had a pleasant start in Turkey in the town of Edirne. It's not so touristy but big enough to have some sights and I was able to wander through a typical turkish city in full swing with market, the food, mosques, the call for prayer and so on. I also got a haircut, which was quite an experience and learned my first turkish words.
Als Teil meines Reisetagebuches, aber auch als Anregung für Touren der DAV Hochland Jugend/Jungmannschaft schreib ich über die Kletterei bei Antalya jetzt mal in deutsch.
Sportklettern in Geyikbayiri
Wenn du als Quereinsteiger wissen willst wie ich überhaupt dazu komme allein in der Türkei zum kraxeln zu gehen, lies doch kurz hier:
Nach 2-3 Tagen in Kappadokien hatte ich genug von den Backpackern. Eigentlich sind die meisten Touris gar nicht so schlimm, aber das Verhalten der Einheimischen ist in Touristenorten oft vom Kommerz gepraegt, nicht mehr urspruenglich und authentisch. Da helfen dann auf laengere Dauer auch die bizarr-komisch-fantastischen Felsformationen von Kappadokien nicht mehr drueber weg.
Akklimatisierungstour auf den Hasan Mountain, 3256m
I know I'm quite a bit behind with my blog. This is why I'll keep this one short. Hopefully...
Waiting in Ankara for the visas was a bit boring. The only thing impressing there were the taxis I thought. So on Monday evening I happily left for Cappadocia.
Ankara cab
After recovering from whatever made me sick so much I left the now unclimbed Mountains of the Ala Daglar. I guess I have to come back one day!
My new direction was south, heading over Antakya to Syria, stay there for the 3 days my transit visa allows and then cross to Jordan. From there things would get interesting getting into Israel, avoiding the stamp problem and all the others that turned up...
As the picture implies, I managed to get myself and the bike to Israel. I was so happy and still couldnt believe it worked. Seeing road signs to Jerusalem just felt unreal.
Hello all, I'm still alive and riding. Arrived yesterday in Tbilisi, Georgia.
On the way, I again browsed through Jordan in only one day and extended my visa in Syria, because I had such good time in Damascus. After visiting some more historical sites I returned to good old Turkey, where I stayed in Orfa (birthplace of Abraham) for a few days.
Der Start in Georgien war ein ueberraschend unproblematischer Grenzuebergang aus der Tuerkei. Nicht mal 2h und die Horrorstories ueber korrupte Grenzbeamte erweisen sich als nicht zutreffend. Wie ich spaeter rausfinde aber auch erst seit Praesident Saakashvili (der nach Shewardnazes Rausschmiss kam) aktiv gegen die Korruption vorgegangen ist.
Not only did I want to stay in Georgia, but Georgia didn't want to let go off me either! When I showed up on the boarder to Azerbaidshan the Georgians demanded some obscure blue paper I didnt have and sent me back to the customs terminal in Tbilisi where I got the extension for the bike.
My time in Kyrgyzstan began with a wild party with russian mountaineers in the town of Osh. Victor from the travel agency in Tashkent, where I had sent my passport to and where it still hadnt arrived :(, had invited me for the end-of-season gettogether with the Lenin Peak staff.
The first week in Uzbekistan I stayed in the famous Silk-Road-Cities of Bukhara and Samarkand with their many, many places of muslim worship. One wouldnt believe it, but there are quite a few tourists here, especcially french, that admire the grandeur of past days. But after a while the Medresas (islamic schools) and Mosques look a little bit alike and enough pictures are taken.
The Jungfernfahrt on the bicycle is successfully completed, I'm now in Osh.
I've left the russian influenced zone of central asia and am now finally in a complete new World: China!
Ein tibetisches SERVUS beinand an alle daheim und in der sonstigen Weltgeschichte! Wir sind in Ali, der einzigsten "Stadt" im Westen Tibets, die diesen Namen verdient. Der Weg hierher war lang, kalt, steil, schwer und unglaublich erlebnisreich. Fuer ca. 1000km haben wir 3 Wochen gebraucht und ich hab soviele Fotos zu zeigen und Geschichten zu erzaehlen, dass ich nicht weiss wo ich anfangen soll.
After a long pause here are finally news from the second half of my cycling tour through Tibet. As indicated in the last blog, I left the town of Ali by myself taking a different route than Benni, Mandy and Mirjam who started a day earlier.
Also, bin ich angekommen in Europa. Paris. Hat mich gleich wunderbar schmerzhaft in die Arme genommen, ordentlich zugedrueckt und mir in wenigen Tagen klar gemacht, dass die Uhren und werweisswassonstnochalles ab jetzt wieder anders ticken.
