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