06 June 2011

Closer quicker than we thought!!! Not yet nervous, we breathe. We think more and more to cross the Pakistan (we tried to find a way to avoid it), we met some guys who cross it by car and received a wonderful welcome from the people! What we know here in Europe seems to be a « media-point-of-view » (but we’ll keep in mind that it can be dangerous).
Actually for the moment, we begun to do our vaccines (Elodie 6, me 4) and we have to go back (for rabies among other). And finally we won’t go to Budapest by train but by car with my parents and the bike on the car with us!

02 October 2011

We are still in Turkey and we think that it will be very difficult to enter China through Tibet from Nepal. Mongolia wasn’t a « real » goal (but travelling yes), thus we change our plans…
We will probably leave India with a plane to Morocco and then riding in Portugal, Spain, France and then a ferry to UK and a ferry to Belgium…
For the moment it’s very theoretical but it seems to be what will happen! Yes, it’s so far but…

Except the spokes problem that we had before Istanbul, the trip « goes well » and the landscapes that missed us since the Bulgarian coast finally appeared after Istanbul! We also lost some days waiting for a bicycle trailer that we ordered and never arrived… Finally, the website where we ordered it, sent us another one and we could continue the trip without fears about heavy loads on the rear wheel.
If you want to know where we are, I publish the GPS Tracks everytime I can, so you can see where it stops and so where we were at last news… Also our last position is on the « Accueil » page of this blog and on the right side.

25 February 2012

No it’s not Indian Times but it’s some Indian News!

Crossing Iran was very good and one more time, what we can see in the medias is wrong. People and government are 2 different things! They are very welcoming and the country is full of beautiful landscapes! After riding 1 week alone and spending 2 weeks in Tehran waiting for our Indian visa, we took some buses to reach different cities including the wonderful Esfahan and the old mud-bricks Yazd near the desert!
Then, from Shiraz (more South) we rode with 5 others cyclists together during one week then with 1 of them for 3 days. That was very funny and we where like a family! Maybe it was easier for us not to be « alone ». Those cyclists were people we already met in Turkey or previously in Iran.
You can see our photos here.

After a few days in crazy Dubai, we are now in India since 6 of December 2011. The surprise was good and we didn’t have the India-Shock that everybody talk about : when you suddenly see poverty and dirt. We started in South-West and we were very happy to do that because this part is less dirty and richer. A lot of « hello » and smiles, that was our first days! Then we stopped a few days in Goa for Christmas and New Year where we met again friends from the Nederlands (with who we rode in Iran). We moved from beaches to beaches, that was really great!
One day we met a Belgian couple, they were waiting for a parcel with spare parts to fix their bicycle. Fortunately the parcel arrived the day before we left this beach then they came with us and once again, we travelled with new friends! 10 days between Goa to Mumbai, that was the most beautiful nature scenery we’ve seen in India : lot of nature, very few western tourists and nice (but difficult) roads!
Photos for South India.

After Mumbai, we took a train to go more North in Rajasthan. It’s very different, lot of dirty cities and children asking for money, chocolate, biscuits or pen (we didn’t have this before Mumbai). We were in Jaipur where we met an Indian family of jewellers with who we made business, we ordered 2 beautiful rings with a stone : a Black Star.
Later, on the road I was really sick with fever (40.2°C) and I felt in the « crappy » bathroom during the night and my head was « open ». We were at the hospital and I was rehydrated and « stitched up ». Now everything’s ok and we went on on our bicycle!
After visiting a birds national park in Barathpur and the Taj Mahal in Agra, we took a train to Varanasi, along the Ganga where a lot of dead people are burned to finish their « Earth-life ». Impressive!
We were happy in India but now, after more than 2 months we feel the need to change of atmosphere. But we’ll miss the Indian food, sooooo good!

Tomorrow we gonna go back to our tandem : 700km until Kathmandu!
The road will be quite flat except the end that will be very very difficult, more than 2000m going uphill!
Photos for North India.

Riding in India is not very dangerous and quite safe compare to our western countries where everybody is nervous in their tanks!

Now it’s planned, after a 20 days trek in the Annapurna, we’ll take a plane from Kathmandu to Morocco on 11 of April! Then riding in Morocco for one month then Portugal, North of Spain, West of France (with train) and UK South Coast before taking a ship in Ramsgate to Oostende (Belgium) then 2 days to Brussels, back home!