It was hard to leave Ulaanbaatar. Our winter break had been good in many ways. We had created a nice social life, gotten to know quite a few really nice people, established bonds with Mongolians and with projects going on in Ulaanbaatar. But it was time to go and we were cycling the Gobi, a desert with surprises! Our goals [...]
We have gotten to know the city of Ulaanbaatar reasonably well because Susanne stayed here more than two months and Martin almost six weeks. It is a city of contrast. We both felt very comfortable in Ulaanbaatar. Maybe even too comfortable. For us it was the first city in a long time where everything was available although [...]
In Mongolia there are two major traditional holidays. One is in summer and is called Naadam, the other is in winter and is called Tsagaan Sar or white moon. Tsagaan Sar is the celebration of the Lunar New Year, following the same calendar as the Chinese New Year. The photos of this special celebration can be found [...]
Cycling is what we have been doing the last 11months, we are now used to the process and it has become a comfort zone of ours to cycle. We spent almost 4 months in the 'Stans' where change came in small bits. Now we have cycled to China and we have a hard time believing that we [...]
Almaty, the second city and previous capital of Kazakhstan, felt like Europe to us. Expensive Burger King, household appliances, large super markets, food courts and even proper dental care. It was nice to be in a place where we could enjoy some luxuries, although we were missing the off the beaten track feel of the places we [...]
Looking at the map we see a red line running from Osh to Bishkek. It is a highway and actually still the M41. We are reluctant to take this road because we prefer to avoid heavy traffic and take smaller roads where possible. At the same time we have heard that many of the smaller roads are [...]
We were excited the day had come Martin was feeling better from the Giardia Lamblia infection and it was our 8 months anniversary for the journey. We had to go and get on the road out of Khorog and cycle onwards to the Wakhan valley. The Wakhan valley we had heard from many people should be a [...]
We are approaching the Roof of the World, the Pamir plateau. It makes us nervous and exciting and we are a little bit worried. At the same time other people have cycled here as well so it will be okay... Won't it? We only know that our preparation ride from Dushanbe to Khorog was tough, very tough. [...]
It is hard leaving a place where you feel comfortable en where you are understood by others. So leaving Samarqand was difficult and this was not made easier by a stomach bug that was traveling around. We were cycling south with mixed emotions because it was hard to say goodbye but we were also looking very much [...]
Is it possible to cross Turkmenistan in 5 days? Yes and we as many others had no choice. So this is how our cycling from sunrise to sunset, 5 days Turkmenistan went. In short cycling in strong head wind and extreme heat, eating and sleeping only to repeat this for 5 days from Sarakhs to Farap :) [...]