Tag Archives: general

overland asia bound: spring is near

11/06/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

December 2016

After leaving Russia we made a quick dash for Ulan Bator, Mongolia’s capital. Arriving early in the morning we had a bit of trouble finding anything open. We needed to finalize a few documents to apply for our Chinese Visa and to make it a bit more exciting we had left that for the last possible moment. Well that’s the story we’re going with anyhow. In the end we found a coffee shop with WiFi and finished the itinerary for our Chinese Visa applications together with all the necessary hotel bookings. Having done that we found a print shop to print all the documents and then made it to the embassy just in time for opening hour. Smooth! We submitted everything and were told to come back in four days.

Afterwards we had some food, bought a Simcard and after some searching, found the way to the absolutely luxurious flat of our host Amarsanaa. This was the view:

In the following days we relaxed, found some fantastic Mongolian food in a vegan restaurant and walked around to get a feel for the city.

My favourite part of the week was when our host took us on a hike to a nearby mountain with the local Rotaract club.

The wintery atmosphere was absolutely stunning and it was even better to finally get out of the smog clogged city and breathe in fresh air.

On top we played some games to stay warm which we appreciated a lot in now -20 degrees Celsius.

After successfully getting our double entry Visa we boarded a train to Beijing. As we were gradually moving south the snow slowly started to disappear. When we arrived at our host’s flat, the ever present smog thickened with the hours passing and we were quite awestruck by this view:

On the next day it was a whole different story though. There was a lovely wind blowing fresh air into the city and we could really feel the difference. So we enjoyed walking around for a bit under the clear blue sky.

Funnily (to me) you can find a lot of these open public toilets in Beijing. Yep, privacy is a whole different story here. Once you get to a touristy part, there will be separating walls in between though :).

After having a nice dinner with Surin we boarded our first Chinese sleeper train towards Kunming, the so called Spring City. Spring was near and also the second part of our cycling adventure!

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overland asia bound: finding winter in siberia

04/06/2017 Lisi 4 Comments

November 2016

After many a good conversation with family and friends, after way too many loaves of bread and pieces of cake and after just enough hikes in the German alps it was time to get going again. So follow us on this photographic journey into wintery Siberia!

In Krakow we stopped for a couple of days to finally meet our online friends Wendy and Jurek from dropthetension.com. We had first stumbled upon their blog when researching crossing from Australia to East Timor via boat.

It was awesome meeting you guys, joining you for the networking breakfast and even getting a small tour through beautiful Krakow.

With little breaks we traveled east through Lviv and Kiev to Moscow again. This time around we would have a couple of days to explore more.

We went to a big market / flea market without buying anything. Still nice to see the things on display.

We spent about 20 minutes in this shop talking to the owner about the special techniques they use to dye the jugs. They are all handmade and the techniques were developed by their family over a long time.

When we saw these, we had to take some pictures especially for our friends Annika and Roberto :).

After coming back from the market we joined our fantastic host Lisa and her friends for a hot drinks party. Awesome idea! In case you hadn’t noticed on the pictures… it was starting to get cold!

After a walk through the outskirts of Moscow on the next day we set off towards the train station once more…

… and found this! A station to clean and refill your milk bottles! How awesome is that?! No trash and you don’t even have to clean the bottles yourself :).

After a rather short ride on the Transsiberian we stopped for a day in Tiumen.

Unfortunately I got sick so we opted to stay in a hostel instead of accepting the invitation from Helen, a fellow couchsurfer.

We did meet up on the next day and she showed us around in her lunch break. I loved chatting to her and discovering all the fantastic wooden houses!

After stopping in Novosibirsk for a few hours to change trains we boarded our train to Irkutsk. A town deep in Siberia with temperatures plummeting to under -30 degrees Celsius in winter.

Fortunately we had just missed a cold spell and it was only around -10 degrees. One hat was still enough most of the time.

We spent a day walking around Irkutsk and marveling at all the uniquely beautiful houses…

After warming up in a cafe for an hour we were ready for the second part of the walk, this time along the river.

Funnily enough, when we walked into the central market area, we saw a couple with an ortlieb bag. We were wondering for a while if they were cycling here? In Siberia? In Winter?? Well, there is only one way to find out. So that’s how we met Anabelle and Loris, two French cyclists who were surprised by an early winter in the Baltik countries and then decided to put their bicycles on the train to China. It was awesome to meet them and so we invited them to hike along the Baikal lake the following day.

After seeing some more beautiful houses we were off into the woods and scrambled up the snowy path to get a bit of a view over lake Baikal.

Three hats! Yep, it was seriously cold at this point, so stopping for long leisurely breaks was out of the question.

The view was nice enough but even with downing several cups of hot tea we were soon frozen and chose to hike back quickly.

After one more stop in Ulan Ude where we talked about whether to stay longer we ultimately decided to continue to Mongolia. Wintery Siberia was beautiful to look at, especially with the sun out. But walking around for hours on end to discover hidden places in towns as we usually like to do is just not that much fun in -15 degrees Celsius.

So we took one more train to Nauschky, a small town on the Russian – Mongolian border. We had some time to spare, as the cross border train was due to wait for 4 hours at the border.

We will definitely come back one day, just not in November. Either in summer, to cycle the Altai region into Siberia or in February / March when the Baikal lake is actually frozen and supposedly stunningly beautiful. Next time :).

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Holiday at home

05/05/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

September / October 2016

I cannot begin to describe how much our break at home meant to me. After two years of continuous travels I just needed to be in one place for a while. And so, after staying with Torsten’s family in Berlin for a few days, I finally boarded that last train that would bring me to my family.

With what words should I even begin to describe that welcome… Let’s just say, I loved seeing everyone again and for the first days we could not stop talking.

I had anticipated that I would need a lot of time to myself after being with people almost all the time for the past two years. Instead I was delighted to spend as much time with my family as I possibly could. For the first month my parents had a lot of free time as well, so we would enjoy long breakfasts and share our lives once more. So much had happened and we could never catch up entirely but we sure did try.

We also spent a lot of time preparing my sister’s wedding. Being able to help with that and not just hear about it on the phone was the best present for me. The wedding itself was utterly beautiful with all the family and friends being together and seeing so many people again for the first time in two years.

After the wedding my parents and Torsten and I went for a small hike…

… while my new brother in law slept it off :).

We also got to celebrate my father’s 60th birthday together. We hiked up to a hut and stayed there overnight.

What a fantastic way to celebrate a birthday and welcome a new year of life!

As my parents love being in nature we went hiking for a few more times…

After a month of enjoying the company of family I went back to Berlin and we applied for our Russian, Indian and Pakistani Visa. Here are some less than pretty passport pictures:

I also got to visit several of my friends in Bamberg and Rostock, unfortunately I was mostly to busy enjoying the company to take pictures. Here are some impressions from Rostock in autumn though:

As we stayed way longer than originally planned I also got to join my family for All Saints Day which made for a nice if slightly chilly day out with my grandfather.

A few hikes later and we found ourselves saying Goodbye again. I was and am so happy and grateful to have such a wonderful family and friends in my life. Which makes Goodbyes a sad and rather hard affair. One thing was different this time around though. While we didn’t really know how long we would be gone when we left for the first time, we now do have a time frame. We should be back in Germany in spring 2018. That should be halfway realistic considering mileage and seasons and also feels good to us. At some point we want to be closer to friends and family and also live in one place for a while.

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going home overland: Ukraine, Poland, HOME

01/05/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

August / September 2016

Arriving in Kiev, Ukraine after a night train from Moscow we first purchased a Simcard to be able to contact our hosts and then sat down for a coffee. That’s when we started noticing that there are a lot of coffee places around. My kind of place!

After taking a few buses to Lana and Alex’ place we had a bit of trouble finding our way in the big apartment complex but made it eventually. Our fantastic hosts who had just come back from a holiday the day before welcomed us warmly into their flat and left us soon after as they had to go to work. That worked well for us as we could get some more sleep in after the night train.

A bit later we went to the nearby supermarket and were again fascinated with all the wonderful fruits and veggies available.

The next day we ventured out to the city and visited a vegan eatery recommended by Lana. Vegano Hooligano has fantastic food!

Afterwards we were content with wandering around, enjoying the sun and counting the millions of coffee places in the city. There sure is a coffee culture here!

Somehow this particular toilet paper was very big last year:

Coffee…

Memorial for victims of the Ukraine conflict:

Ukraine is another one of those countries I had never really considered going to before. But I am so glad we came here and got to experience late summer in this beautiful city.

On the next day, before leaving for Poland, we took a walk with Lana and she showed us some greenery close by.

We didn’t have our swim suits with us but couldn’t resist the water in this awesome summer weather. Oh well, the clothes will dry eventually :).

Later that day we once more boarded a train towards home. This particular one brought us to Kovel, a smaller city near the border to Poland.

We spent a few hours there, walking through a local market and buying honey and all kinds of tea, before boarding a bus to Warsaw.

I was beyond excited at this point. For one, we were almost in Poland and thus almost in Germany. Secondly, we would get to meet our dear friends Natalja and Piotr again. About one year ago we had all stayed at the Canfield’s house in Cairns, Australia, and for a few days we really felt at home with so many cycle tourers around. Sharing this common interest and a life style, we never ran out of stories to tell or activities to do together. Okay by that I mean eating. 😀 Just kidding, we also went for a hike. Anyway, Natalja and Piotr had finished their world tour a while ago and are now settled in Warsaw and we would get to see them again!

For a few days we were in heaven again. They welcomed us with absolutely tasty food and being in Poland we had some high spirited desserts :). We exchanged lots of stories about cycle touring and more importantly about life, about what’s important. We got to meet a group of their fantastic friends which I immediately felt very comfortable with.

We had some more delicious food and Piotr could not believe just how much coffee we can drink. He promised to buy some in bulk next time we are around :).

And we also went for a wee cycle. As N and P live on the outskirts of Warsaw it was really easy to get out of the city and we absolutely enjoyed being on bicycles again.

In the end we could have stayed and wanted to stay much much longer, but our families were waiting just across the border. And thus we boarded our last bus bringing us swiftly to Berlin. And yes, I did get a bit emotional arriving at Schönefeld airport. Suddenly, most people around me spoke German, everything was distinctly familiar and the people I missed the most were so very very close. More on that next time!

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going home overland: russia

26/04/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

August 2016

Our time in Russia was mostly spent on trains as we only had a transit visa to cross the country. Not a bad thing though.

We absolutely loved spending all that time on the train. The beds were comfy, the people friendly and I just loved the feeling of slowly meandering through our surroundings. We made friends with a few kids and this awesome guy. They taught us a bit of Russian but he wouldn’t tell us his name, saying that it didn’t matter. I won’t forget his gentle nature and generousness though.

Arriving in Moscow was a bit of a shock to the system. We couldn’t get over how posh everything was!

After accidentally spending 10 Euros for breakfast and quickly finding that Moscow might just be the most expensive city I’ve ever been to we took the metro to the center.

We spent our one day in the city walking around and marvelling at all the fancy buildings…

Then we spontaneously joined a free walking tour and walked around some more.

I guess it is beautiful in a way but somehow I much rather feel at home in simpler surroundings. From my very shallow first impression a lot seems to focus on luxury and spending money. But we’ll come back on our way back to Asia, so maybe we get some different impressions next time.

For no we happily whiled away the rest of the sunny afternoon in the areas leading to Gorki Park.

And then it was just another train ride separating us from Kiev, Ukraine. A bit more sleeping…

… lots of teas and coffees with hot water from the Samowar…

…and that just leaves some dirty laundry in the end.

More on Kiev and some fantastic warmshowers hosts next time!

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going home overland: Kazakhstan

22/04/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

August 2016

I fell head over heels for Kazakhstan right after crossing the border. It was already quite late and getting dark as we were waiting for our shared taxi to fill up. We were sitting at the taxi stop in this tiny village with nothing to do. And ffter the border ordeal we were actually quite hungry. So we looked around and saw a small store. Surely they would have at least some food? We walked in and were in for a big surprise. They didn’t only have some unhealthy snacks from the likes we were used to from small stores in South East Asia. They had real food! Dark rye bread, cheese, a huge jar of pickles and we were set for the evening. I can’t even begin to describe to you how happy I was in that moment. I had felt homesick for a while now and missing familiar food was a part of that. And to actually find that kind of food in a small village in Kazakhstan – well, I sure had not expected that.

Our taxi did eventually fill up and we arrived in Almaty in the middle of the night. In the next few days we reveled in all the fantastic new 7 old food we found. There were supermarkets which had such a great variety of grains and simple ingredients to cook. Close by you could usually find stores selling fruit and vegetables.

And as it was harvest season we really lucked out. Close to the Russian embassy where we applied for our Transit Visa…

…we found this guy…

selling the absolute best strawberries and rasberries I have ever eaten in my entire life. The intensity of this taste goes beyond anything and we would buy kilos and kilos of fruit and not stop before the bag was empty.

While we were waiting for our Transit Visa we got to appreciate the mountains close to Almaty. The city bus nr. 12 will take you to some fantastic hiking opportunities starting from Medeu in about 30 minutes. We went to Peak Furmanov with our new friends Eva and Leo.

At the peak Torsten suggested to take a different route back. Quite eager to linger a bit longer in these beautiful mountains we agreed. We saw the sun and clouds, glaciers and rocks. We walked along the ridge for a while and scrambled down lots of rocky fields.

As we didn’t want to go over a particular steep rocky ridge we went down a different valley and had our work cut out for us. Getting back down was not easy and very steep most of the time. Add that to my fear of heights and falling from high places and I was beyond exhausted way before the end.

We did make it down eventually. And I couldn’t walk for four days after. My legs felt like jelly and would often just give away while walking.

Luckily we did have some time to hang around and our hostel (Essentai Hostel) was a fantastic place to do just that.

When my legs were a bit better we took a cable car to the city hill and enjoyed the sun setting.

Underground train stations often have beautiful ornaments…

And here are some more impressions from above the ground:

Yes, Torsten went for another hike. Not me, I was busy wobbling around slowly.

After about a week we got our Russian Visa and took a bus to Astana.

We stayed with Sigrid and Ben through Trustroots and loved hearing about their life in Astana. They had just moved to a fancy new appartment- wow! Thanks so much for lending us your bicycles – it was amazing to ride around for a bit. And when we got to this river we just had to go for a swim!

Since starting this overland journey two weeks ago I already felt so much better than before. For once I absolutely enjoyed leaving the tropics after about 12 months. I was overjoyed not constantly being sweaty and feeling the effects of a shower last longer than 5 minutes. For the past year we haven’t been able to sleep without a fan and the few nights we tried to camp were rather miserable. I had completely forgotten how relaxing it is for my body to sleep at 20 degrees Celsius or under.

Also, ffter more than a year of cycling it was fantastic being without the constant physical challenge and give my body a longer break for once. I still loved being outside and go for hikes and walks and cycle around for fun. But all at a slightly slower pace for now.

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going home overland: China

18/04/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

August 2016

After almost two years of being on the road it was time for a break. Physically, mentally, high time. So we ditched the bicycles, did a lot of research on trains and buses and went on a wholly different adventure!

As we have been going so slowly these past years we didn’t just want to fly home. So all in all it took as about a month to get from China to Germany. That includes time spent riding trains, buses, shared taxis, some breaks with fabulous hosts and about 10 days in Almaty, Kazakhstan to apply for our Russian Transit Visa.

While I did feel a bit sad leaving the bicycles and thus our independent mode of transport behind, I was also tremendously relieved right from the start. For a while there I would get to relax, take it easy and travel differently. Our first train ride took us from Kunming to Chengdu and lasted about 18 hours. Let me just say it was an experience, not necessarily the most enjoyable one. There are different categories in Chinese trains. To save money we had booked hard seats for an overnight train which is still okay. Once the hard seats run out they do however sell standing tickets which leads to trains being seriously crowded at times. I could hardly move for most of the ride as there were people or luggage everywhere. Still, at least we had a seat, the people with standing tickets were far worse off – especially given that they paid the same price.

In Chengdu we stayed with Peter, a fellow cycle tourer and now warmshowers host. Funnily he had stayed with a lot of the same hosts back in Australia when he was always a little bit ahead of us. Now, as he was experiencing similar travel fatigue symptoms as me he decided to stay put in Chengdu for a while and teach English. We had fun exchanging stories, eating together and going for a Chinese massage.

I also loved spending time in some of the bigger Chinese supermarkets with their lovely bulk section.

After two days we took a bus to Lanzhou as all the cheap train tickets were sold out. Not bad in comparison, no standing tickets there and only about 10 hours.

In Lanzhou we boarded another train to Urumqui. Maybe a tiny bit less crowded this time but not that much of a difference. The views were so so beautiful though and while I was content of being in a train at that time I also would have loved to actually feel the landscape change from the tropics to desert more gradually.

There is one absolutely fantastic invention in trains across China and later on also Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia…: a samowar! You can bring your own tea or coffee and have hot drinks all the way. Seriously awesome!

Apart from that I wasn’t a big fan of the (self) catering on Chinese trains. Most people bring huge bags full of instant noodle soup and other snacks, all packed in layers and layers of plastic. Only a handful of people take fresh food or eat the rice and meat offered on the train. There are people at the stations selling things like corn, baked potatoes, bread and such but it seemed to me that junk food is the go to option on trains. That’s a stark contrast to the absolutely fantastic food we had everywhere else in China.

As our Chinese Visa was coming to a rapid end we didn’t stop in Urumqi and took the next bus to Yining.

We drove on some fantastically engineered roads and this time I really missed not being able to get off the bus at any time and just take in the scenery. I have never really seen landscapes like these and will come back here one day, for sure.

Arriving in Yining was a bit of a letdown though. It took us about two hours to find any sort of accommodation that would accept foreigners. In Xinjiang province hotels and guest houses need to have special permits to accept foreigners and it can be a bit of a hassle finding one. Without the bicycles we were reduced to walking around a lot and ended up taking a taxi to a youth hostel. After travelling straight for a few days we were just dead tired. In the youth hostel we got another surprise as we were only allowed to take the expensive double room. They weren’t even allowed to let foreigners into the dormitory. Add that to the expansive vehicle and other security checks in this area and it sure felt different from Yunnan.

We loved the change in food though, the bread and Laghman, so many new tastes!

The next morning we took a shared taxi to the border, walked there to see if we could cross on foot and were denied. Why? Because ferrying people over there seems to be too good a business to pass that opportunity up. Well, that’s my guess anyhow.

The next hours were a bit of a blur. We managed to buy a ticket for the bus to cross the border. The first bus that took us over the Chinese border was rather empty. But after the actual border crossing we found this: Two buses, one locked and empty. And about a hundred Kazakhs trying to fit themselves and all the cheap wares from China into the one open bus. That went on for about an hour. There was no driver and we weren’t really sure what to do. Should we try and board the bus? Would it eventually take off? Should we wait for the second bus? Was our ticket specific for one of the buses?

We waited, we asked some people, got confusing answers, got yelled at, pushed off the bus, ushered onto the same bus… and in the end figured we just have to push to actually get on the bus. This is not South East Asia anymore where politeness and staying calm tends to get you further in general.

We did get across that Kazakh border. Made some friends in the process who helped us with explaining everything. We saw some money change hands where it shouldn’t and discussed with the border guards to let our friends leave with us. In return they helped us find a shared taxi to Almaty. Man, what a day!!

About an hour later we couldn’t have been more happy. I will tell you next time why!

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Cycling and not so much cycling in Yunnan

10/04/2017 Lisi 1 Comment

July 2016

China was never very high on my list of places I wanted to go. Why I couldn’t even say. What I can say though, is that I was blown away by what we found: the roads, the mountains, the people and oh, once again, the food!!

But let me start from the beginning: After one last meal in Vietnam, we cycled to the Chinese border. It was all quiet enough and so the border guards found time to ask us about our trip and if Torsten was my special someone *winkwink*. We all had a laugh and they helped us fill out the forms. One of our easier border crossings!

Afterwards we found a place to stay and stay we did. In spite of the friendly welcome I was still tired of it all and preferred staying in places to moving forward. So we spent a few days in Hekou, the border town. We learned a few words of Mandarin, tried different kinds of foods, walked around town and took it slow. And after four nights we finally set off towards Kunming.

Cycling along the Red River was beautiful. As you can see in the picture above, China very often has built a new highway close to an old road. And these old roads are perfect for cycling. Sure, a bit more up and down than the perfectly graded highways but for that you get little traffic and awesome views.

Food places were easy to find and so we dove right into our Chinese food heaven. Contrary to my beliefs it was absolutely easy to find vegetarian food and just about every meal we had was soo delicious! In this region most eateries sported big fridges with two thirds vegetables and mushrooms and one third meat / fish. As we didn’t know the Mandarin names for any vegetables we would just point at whatever we fancied and they would prepare a dish out of that. A bit confusing the first time as we thought we chose the ingredients for a fry up but were instead presented with three single dishes and heaps and heaps of rice. Oh well, so we had dinner sorted already :).

As it got dark we were torn between camping and looking for accommodation. We weren’t really prepared for camping though and ended up staying here:

Dinner was fantastic again. I loved the concept of ordering dishes for the whole table and then sharing the food.

Breakfast was generally not so easy to find, at least if you want more than some fried bread. In Xinjie we were in luck though, this woman made fantastic fried veggies!

And again we ended up staying another day. I am incredibly thankful to Torsten for trying to understand and accept my burn out and taking it slow together.

We continued along the Red River to Yuanyang. A tiny city on the map which turned out to be huge in reality.

While it was still warm enough we did encounter some light rain and it got a bit colder overall. A development that couldn’t have been more welcome after a year in the tropics.

As you might have figured we again stayed for two days in Yuangyang. Walking around, drinking instant coffee and enjoying all the trees in the city.

It was good that our bodies were well rested because the next day was a bit of a challenge. A beautiful one at that.

From Yuanyang we rode up into the mountains looking back on the Red River.

The climb couldn’t have been more perfect. A nice 5% gradient, a relatively quiet road and nice views all along.

We had noticed the clouds all along, so the rain wasn’t exactly a surprise. What we hadn’t really factored in was the cold though. About a 1000m higher than before the rain suddenly wasn’t so refreshing anymore but downright cold. So we frantically searched for the rain gear which we couldn’t remember using once over the past year.

At our next food stop the owner gave us some hot herbal tea and again: we had a hard time figuring out when we last really appreciated a hot drink.

After some more ups and downs and about 2500m climbing in total we reached Jianshui. We had messaged a warmshowers contact but in spite our three maps had a hard time finding the address. Finally, in the dark, with the help of several locals we made it to Kun’s place. He welcomed us with the biggest smile in his face and I immediately forgot all the climbing and cold.

Jianshui is a lovely town and after joking around with Kun that his last warmshowers guest Peter stayed for 10 (!) days we kind of ended up staying exactly 10 days as well. What can I say, we had fun walking in town…

… eating spicy Chinese fast food…

…listening to people playing music together on the big public square…

… going to the market and buying lots of spices…

… but the real reason was this guy and his bunch of friends: Kun, our host was running a hostel with his friend. And they always reserved some beds for touring cyclists. One day he proposed us a deal: He would prepare Chinese pasta from scratch if we would make the sauce. Easy as!

And yum!

Over the course of the 10 days we were always invited to join the group for evening dinners. And we also cooked a bigger meal for everyone. We tried to make it extra spicy to accommodate the tastes and most of it was finished afterwards :).

A fellow coffee enthusiast shared her stash with me *inlove*!

Some hostel impressions:

Staying in Jianshui was once again just what I needed. Long talks with Kun and friends about life and work in China and his refreshing ideas about choosing to work less and actually being able to enjoy life – awesome! And so the days passed and we didn’t cycle further but I will always think back of that time when we stayed in that small town in China and I just felt so very comfortable.

We did cycle a bit more in the end. We had arranged a place for our bicycles to stay in Kunming while we would go home for my sister’s wedding. Three more days to go…

My highlight was definitely Fu Xian Lake. Being one of the last clean lakes in China it is a major tourist attraction and I can see why.

We even got to camp on it’s shores and oh my, it was finally cool enough to enjoy camping.

One last breakfast outside…

… one more rainy mountain pass…

… and we got to Kunming.

In the following day we occupied just about every inch of space in our wonderful host Ifan’s house. We cleaned, reorganized…

… and finally brought the bikes and gear to their new home for the next months. Thank you Anne and Olaf for keeping them safe!

After leaving the bikes we were a bit lost at first. Not we had to figure out public transport all of a sudden and the backpack weighed heavy on our shoulders. But oh, it was good to finally get that break I was longing for.

We enjoyed our stay with Ifan a lot. He showed us to a fantastic vegetarian restaurant, we had lots of interesting conversations and maybe, just maybe, we will see him in Poland some day?

But for now, we have to go, trains and busses are waiting!

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Cycling and resting in northern Vietnam

25/03/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

July 2016

As mentioned here we were on our way to China. We were going to leave the bicycles in Kunming and go home to Germany for a break. So with Germans being able to get Visa free entrance into Vietnam for 15 days at the moment we took that possibility and cycled from Nam Can to Hanoi.

The extremes were staggering. At first we cycled through small villages and over quiet roads. Had a beer in the evening at one of the many local draft beer shops.

When the Ho Chi Minh Highway began the traffic was starting to get a bit more intense. Many drivers that passed us had a rather intimate relationship with their horns and honked at us and every other vehicle in sight.

We quickly learned a few words for vegetarian food in Vietnamese and after that it was quite easy to find something delicious to eat. We loved the green tea that always came with the food.

What I especially appreciated in those days were the ever present clouds. They clang ominously to the sky without ever unleashing on us. So we had a few relaxed days of cycling without the sun constantly beating down on us.

And then suddenly we arrived in Hanoi. The other side of the extreme. As we drew closer to the city, traffic started to whizz past us from all sides and the honking was like a huge dissonant concert. And suddenly I felt like drowning in the city traffic and noise around me. I didn’t want to continue any more, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and stop. Stop cycle touring, just not move forward any more.

So we stopped for a coffee, had a break and then of course continued. Stopping in the middle of a busy road is not the best of alternatives after all. Torsten took over navigating and I just followed as best as I could. We stopped once more and I waited with the bicycles while he bought some supplies for dinner. Soon after we arrived at Mike’s place, our warmshowers host in Hanoi.

And as much as I hated the traffic at first the more I loved Hanoi from the next morning on. Use the search engine of your choice for some pictures as I was too busy with all the city life around me to take any. But I really loved the millions of coffee places, the fruit vendors walking through the street and the difference between the loud and busy roads and the quiet side alleys where people live.

We also found the perfect place to celebrate Torsten’s birthday: A vegetarian buffet with Yoghurt coffee for dessert. Freakin’ delicious, let me tell you!

Here in Hanoi we also finally found a place to replace Torsten’s broken handlebar. At Lam Velo George was very helpful in finding a used handlebar in good condition and even helped us with some matching brakes.

Our week in Hanoi went by way too fast. We met lots of fantastic people: Mike introduced us to a group of Vietnamese cyclists that had just finished cycling for a few weeks. We also went to a couchsurfing meeting and socialized with lots of the people living in Mike’s house. And we were happy to meet Siria and Nick from Out and Away. We had been in touch with them since Malaysia and it was nice to finally meet in person. So that week was exactly what I needed. Not too much cycling and moving from one place to another but lots of human connection instead. And that always makes everything better anyways.

After camping on the roof of Mike’s house for a week, Torsten got sick in the last two days. As this was the last day on our Visa we took the first bus to get to the border to China quickly. Not our favourite mode of transport but rather comfortable!

Shortly before the border I bought one last bag of Vietnamese coffee and then we entered China. And whatever you heard about Chinese border crossings – we experienced one of our most friendly ones. More on that next time!

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Laos: Into the mountains or The ever growing comfort zone

08/03/2017 Lisi Leave a comment

June 2016

Cycling into the mountains seemed like the only reasonable thing to do after months in the plains. Since about two months ago it was freaking hot. Not to forget the humidity which made every attempt to sleep in our tent feel like a sauna. To battle the temperatures we took refuge under a waterfall by the side of the road…

…which made the following climbing a lot easier. After Thakek the road 12 winds its way up through rich green valleys.

The climb itself wasn’t too exhausting but the heat took its toll. After looking around for a bit in Nakai we found a simple bamboo bungalow and decided to stay for two nights. The fresh mountain air and the cooler nights appealed a lot to us.

I was still torn between enjoying my beautiful surroundings and being overwhelmed by it all. But over the coming days I also noticed something else.

Since starting cycle touring in Bali about 10 month ago I had come a long way in terms of feeling comfortable even without understanding what was happening around me. Whether it being languages, other customs or sign languages I couldn’t interpret at first. It didn’t bother me much. I didn’t feel the need to understand everything around me. I really trusted that I would understand the things I needed to.

This ability is crucial to survive and enjoy long term travel I think. But maybe also for life. When I think back to life in Germany I remember conversations with people who mention being next to a group of people talking to each other in a language which was not German or English. (And probably neither French, Italian, …). And often people would report feeling uneasy or even scared about that. I never really shared that feeling. But being out of my comfort zone a lot in the past two years I really noticed it growing. I feel comfortable in more situations and places than ever: tiny villages where every one knows that we are not local, situations where I need to make a fool out of myself to get across whatever I want to say, with people I don’t share a language / experiences / cultural background with. And so on and so on…

Getting through all of that works best with a lot of smiles, staying calm and not taking yourself too seriously. You are gonna make mistakes, you are gonna make a fool out of yourself more times than you can count. But with listening closely, with opening yourself up to other ways of communicating and doing things, there lie new worlds waiting to be experienced.

From Nakai we cycled north until Phonsavan. The road had just been tarred and was stunningly beautiful to ride on.

A big part of the area had been flooded in order to build a dam which created some interesting scenery.

While it was usually just very hot and humid we also noticed signs that rainy season was getting closer. Big clouds started appearing on the sky and threatened rain in the distance.

Every once in a while we saw signs like these:

Looking back on these pictures I still think that this was one of the most beautiful areas we have ever ridden through. Not much traffic, nice roads, craggy mountains on the side and lots of green scenery to soothe our souls.

In the villages we saw lots of women with hand made skirts which are made on these:

Before Lak Sao the rain caught up with us. It wasn’t too big a change from the ever present humidity though. We were wet all the time anyways.

We loved these little shelters for a break from the sun. People usually have them in farming areas for exactly that purpose I guess.

In Lak Sao we were close to a Vietnamese border and thus had our first Vietnamese coffee – yum!

More rain… And it did actually get a little bit colder this time. So we decided to wait it out.

All that climbing takes its toll…

Lots of wool for weaving…

Some repairs on the road:

We were almost in Phonsavan and ready for a bit of a break.

We found some coffee on the market…

… and cycled to the Plain of Jars.

There are some theories on what the huge jars were used for but their purpose is still not totally clear.

We really enjoyed the area though. After cycling through mountain valleys all the time it was nice to be in wide open fields like these.

Before getting ready for the last push to Vietnam, we visited a small museum on the ever present threat of UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance) in Laos. It is mindboggling to me how a comparatively short war can still influence people’s lives after all that time. People still loose limbs or die from UXOs until today and will continue to do so for a long time. And of course it’s mostly people who don’t have a choice. Farmers who need to farm the land in order to survive and cannot wait for years and years to have it cleared.

Here is some information boards from the museum:

Lot of the clearing of UXOs is done with international aid. And I do think the international community should feel responsible for removing some of the damage inflicted on Laos and its people.