RTW 2008-2015

well, well, well... after 5 years philippines and 1 year preparations we eventually are starting our RTW trip on february 16th 2008.

The last 6 weeks in Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak passed so quickly that we almost forgot about the validity of our visa for Indonesia… Now, we have to leave the lovely Kuching and head for the border.
Thanks to our friends from Victoria Arms Big Biker Club and their connections we don’t have any kind of problems at the Tebedu/Entikong border. Quick check on the engine and chassis numbers instead of the usual “creating” of problems. Everything goes in Indonesia with the right connections!!

Loosing 1 hour through the time difference between Indonesia and Malaysia plus loosing another half our due to belated arrival of our express boat gives us a tight schedule for picking up the motorbike.
The bike was brought to Kuala Linggi cargo pier, some 65km north of Melaka.
It’s 3PM and we’re having a 1,5 hrs taxi ride ahead of us, we only can hope that the Customs are still going to entertain us…

christ church in melaka

All is done quickly at the Malaysian site of the border, Immigration and Customs, all in all maybe 15 Minutes.
Quite a different story it is on the Thai side.

We land on the Lao side after half hour of terrific barge ride. Here the unloading procedure is the same as on the Thai side. That means for me to ride few meters through the Mekong and for Jane to wade through once again.
I have no idea why the barge can’t come any closer to shore. Is the area around the pier to shallow or is it just the typical rush?!
Anyway, we’re happy to reach the Lao side safely…

arriving in Laos

To be able to cross the border to Cambodia we have to wake up the customs officer first, who is sleeping deeply in his hammock attached to wooden shack called “Customs”.
Against all my prejudices the guy obviously has an idea about a Carnet de Passage and quickly gets his job done before disappearing in his hammock again.
At the Immigration on both sides we need to pay 1$ each for the stamp, a great increase to the officer’s salary, considering the numbers of tourist crossing the border daily.

who said we are packed ???

Entering Thailand without any problems, then riding up to Koh Chang, where we find ourselves working within 2 days.
It's great, found a nice place to stay, good place to work and made some friends on the island.
Our bike gets its rest for now, anyway it definitely needs a serious service after 20000km of asian roads.

dolphin divers crew

Bus-art in Thailand

progress and planned route

jane at work, hehehe...

This time we're not riding for fun to Phnom Penh (well, also enjoying this one) but for a cause: a new visa for Thailand, which we're applying for at the Thai Embassy.
Besides the visa reason, we also checking the bike after its been through a grand service with Darius, who took the bike apart several times and replaced kilograms of parts.
The border crossing at Hat Lek is pretty easy in both directions, although the Thai customs asking us for an insurance for the first time ever... well, after some talking we can leave without anyway.

Unable to cross Burma or China with our bike we are forced to take a plane from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Instead of flying with Thai Airways, we’re challenging our luck and hitch a ride with the cheap Royal Nepal Airlines. The plane definitely saw better times already but the service is excellent and, hey, we land in Kathmandu without any incidents!

at the TAJ MAHAL

welcome to pakistan

The start of our Iran experience isn’t really as good as we’d expect it. After finishing our paperwork at the Pakistani side and saying good bye to our 10th country on this trip, we have to wait at the iron gate to Iran. Apparently the border guards are having a tea break and this just 1 hour before they close the border anyway…

time to pull the africa twin

We’re welcomed to Armenia by big bellied Russian soldiers in camo outfits. Later we’ll find out that, even independent, Armenia’s borders are heavily guarded by Russian Army.
No one wants to know if we’re having any liquor on us this time but the immigration officer has his doubts with Jane’s passport. He simply can’t believe that the handwritten, not machine readable passport is not faked. Again, few hours of persuasion and arguing is needed until Jane gets her entry visa to Armenia.

No problems at the Georgian border. I don’t need any visa and Jane is getting it for 20 Euro without any troubles. We’re heading straight for the capitol Tbilisi.
Here we must endure much more bureaucracy and apply for the Turkish and European visas. The 15 days Turkish visa proves to be easy to get but the Schengen visa for EU requires many extra documents, the process takes up to 2-3 weeks and the possibility of being rejected is quite high. The European Union is very afraid of “tourists” who turn into immigrants and never leave…

YUUUUHHHUUHUUHHU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! today jane got her visa for EU !!!!!
we'll be staying 1 more week in georgia, then 2 weeks in turkey and enter EU on the 15th of october!!!

we're celebrating right now!!

cheers

darius and jane

welcome to turkey

Greece welcomes us with 2 degrees Celsius at night and only 6 degrees during the day. Within few kilometres my fingers are frozen and turning blue. Luckily we’re able to buy some ugly but warm camo gloves. This gloves and my camo raincoat let me rather look more like a warrior than a traveller…
As soon as the Greek customs find out that the bike isn’t registered in Germany, they start to be suspicious about our bike papers, especially our green card. Additionally Jane’s Schengen Visa is being inspected under UV light with a magnifying glass.

20 months passed, 40000km later we're finally reaching germany!!!! now we'll have time for the necessary repairs and many liters of GLUEHWEIN, hehehe.

the remains of our AT

dear all,
we wish you merry X-mas and happy new year 2010. for the first time in many years (for darius) and for the first time ever (for jane) we'll celebrate WHITE X-MAS in bloody cold europe.
we had - 15 degrees just yesterday, its snowing permanently and jane is thinking of using cramp-ons for walking in the streets...
well, for now we're busy decorating our christmas tree and shopping for presents, which fit underneath the tree, hehehe.
right after X-mas we'll finish working on our bike and hopefully make a test ride... it depends on the weather though...

Ever since we approached Venice by ferry last year in November we knew that we have to come back and take a closer look. November was just too cold and we were far too weary of travelling as we would have enjoyed the magnificent place.

May sounded much better. Luckily we’ve got the key to a beautiful apartment from our generous friend Gerhard and could enjoy Venice without using up all our savings for accommodation…

Venice welcomed us with blue sky and T-shirt temperatures!!!

first blue spots "upstairs" giving us hope for a great weekend

AT's in different colours and variations

africa twins everywhere

kozjak falls in kobarid

napoleon bridge in kobarid

Thanks to our friends Irene and Stefan we were able to see Vienna at its best. Here at the HAWELKA CAFE.

gulasz and beer in hungary

and I thought german language is difficult to spell...

impressions from the hungarian puszta in BUGAC

bojnice castle

at the spissky hrad castle

Despite all warnings we decided to visit Poland. I've been told by various people (who possibly never been to Poland) that I'd be robbed, my wife would be raped and, for sure, I'd have to leave Poland by public transport...

Well, the fact is that a complete stranger paid our lunch on the very first day in Poland, as soon as he realised that I haven't got any Zloty on me (no Euro in Poland sofar). People are absolutely friendly and helpful and nobody is really interested in our old bike!

entering poland

It should have been Serbia in the first place... well, after receiving an email from serbian ministry of foreign affairs stating that Jane doesn't need a visa for serbia, we were refused at the border. Apparently this people don't know their own rules!
Luckily enough Jane really is allowed to enter Croatia without a visa.KRAPJE, UNESCO protected village in northern croatia

jane with local woman in krapje

View of Innsbruck, 27th of october 2010

According to the French, every decent person should speak their language... well, our french contains of: citroen, renault, baguette and sante...
Sorry, completely forgot about PEUGEOT...
Again, not many days "wasted" in France. We liked the Cote Azure as it was deserted this time of the year, stayed few days in Argeles, the former Pope city and got wet again at the Spanish border in Argeles.

It's sunny but cold and windy as we're hitting spanish border South of Argeles. The road is twisted and strong winds almost blow us of the bike. Still, it's fun!
With every Kilometre its getting warmer though...
Not really interested in big cities we still manage to take a few pics at the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona before we continue our ride south.

We've choosen the fast ferry from Tarifa to Tangier City against all odds. Apparently the Customs in the Tangier City port would try to extort some money on the arrival and we were told that the procedure would take anything from 2 to 4 hours, deppending on the "bakschich" given.
Strong winds let the waves rise up to 2 Metres in the Street of Gibraltar and, both of us, didn't like the idea much of travelling 3 hours on a slow boat to morocco considering the weather conditions.

Taking the direct route through the Nomansland gives us the advantage of being the First at the Mauretanian side for Passport control and Customs. Half an hour later we're ready to go!

welcome to mauretania

and here are the results of sand riding...

We arrive early at the very quiet border in Gogui, get the passports stamped and proceed for the Customs to Nioro. It only takes few minutes to stamp our carnet and we're free to go. No one is asking for "presents" or any fees.
As we're crossing the border everything seems to be more easy than in Mauretania. There is petrol in every small town, one can buy vegetables in the market and even beer is freely available.

at the fetish market in bamako

Arriving at a border in the dark is never a pleasure but arriving at the Niger border after sunset seems like a nightmare. Well, we had no choice but to cross the border. The security situation in this part of Mali is more than questionable after the disastrous rescue attempt of the 2 french hostages and the police wouldn't like us to camp anywhere near them... At least the procedures on Mali side don't take long - go with god but GO to Niger!
Its a 30km ride to the Niger Immigration. Here, even its dark and the border closes anytime soon, they want to play some games with us.

at the cameroun border

one more time at the equator

the fun begins right after the border

no space for the passenger

liboke: fish stewed in maniok leaves

our camp at the protestant mission in kinshasa

you'd almost need a boat

The luxury of a developed world strikes us as soon as we're hitting the border!
There are roads in perfect condition, ATM's, shopping malls, internet and many effordable places to stay overnight. From one day to another everything isn't a problem anymore. Suddenly we're able to get money on the first ATM machine, buy nice food in a supermarket and have a good night sleep in clean sheets...
No wonder we just want to enjoy the luxury and relax for 1 week in Tsumeb before deciding what to do in Namibia.

a tour through the Etosha National Park

half of the tour "around africa" is done, we made it to cape point after 25000km through the black continent

Right, we made it across the border to Mozambique. Pretty easy procedures, nobody is asking for bribes or an insurance... Luckily for us the police doesn't stop us on the way to Maputo and is asking us for the insurance either. While camping at the Fatimas we're trying to shop for as many visas as possible.welcome to mozambique

the only flag with AK47 on it

us at the victoria falls

zimbabwes balancing rocks

the way to the falls

main falls

We’re crossing into Zambia on the famous Zambezi Bridge. There are several counters to pass. The procedures are somehow confusing but one thing is clear: on every counter I’d be asked for $$$. Visa fees, carbon tax, insurance, road toll…

There is nothing about Livingstone town to keep us for few days but we do enjoy the cozy Faulty Towers Camp and relax. It’s a long ride from Livingstone to Siavonga, our next stop.

chicken as fresh as it could be

everyone wants a photo

wire trucks in malawi

happy kids in cape mc clear

jane with mama tukuyu

market scene in the highlands

butcher shop in tukuyu

jane bargaining for an ostrich egg

This chapter we'll dedicate to the experiences we do want to forget as they truly were not pleasant. At the same time it should act as a warning to fellow travellers. Ofcourse everyone is making his own experiences so dont blame us if you've seen it differently.1. Arranging a safari through MATATA TOURS in Moshi, Tanzania
2. Changing money at the border Malawi/Tanzania
3. Beach boys at Diani beach, Kenya
4. jambolulu GH @ Diani Beach, Kenya for stealing our money while cleaning!!
5. Terrible riding conditions through the whole of Congo Brazzaville

from now on Injeera will be our only meal for the entire stay in Ethiopa

boys in Moyale

entering Sudan on Christmas Day!

our X-Mas bonfire with Klaus and Luise

planning our route with Klaus and Luise

our first city in Sudan: Gedaref

fixing the 3rd number plate on our journey. after 2 years of riding with filipino plate and 2 years with german plate we're forced to switch to egyptian one.

after waiting for 3 hours on the ship, now another 4 hours of waiting for the customs and entry procedures...

Aswan view from the roof of our hotel

the first and only sign "Israel" in Jordan is located right at the border...

Following the steps of Jesus, we camp a few days at the sea of Galilee and proceed to Nazareth

Surely not tired of motorbike riding... just trying some other means of transport!Surely not tired of motorbike riding... just trying some other means of transport!

FIRST TRIP WITH THE BEAST