Auteur: Paul Schim van der Loeff

3 month later: a blog entry full of photos and memories

We have been back in Europe now for 3 months. I am at Erik’s place in Amsterdam and we are talking about our trip. How is it to be back home again, what do we feel and what are our souvenirs about the trip. While drinking some beers yesterday we tried to remember day by day, the roads, the people, the places we ate and slept.

Since a few days I have felt quite nostalgic about our trip. I am checking Facebook again to see posts of other people travelling in that area, and I regularly look at the pictures of our adventure. Suddenly I remember that 2,5 months ago, I had written a blog that I never posted. Here it is:

At the moment I write this blog I am in the Thalys train, travelling from Paris to Amsterdam to attend Erik’s surprise birthday party. I just talked to him on the phone and he doesn’t suspect a thing apparently.

On the day of his real 50^th birthday we were in Kyrgyzstan, in a yurt camp next to a lake on a height of 3000 meters surrounded by cattle, horses and friendly people with Asian faces. It seems ages ago.

I have been back in Paris now for more than 2 weeks and every day I talk to someone for the first time since I returned from our trip. They all ask the same questions: how was your trip and how is it to be back home? I would probably ask the same questions.

Erik and I already thought about how to answer these questions, we knew were coming, when we were still over there. Erik said: the first time we will talk the whole evening about everything, the second time an hour or so, and it will get less and less until it will be summoned up in only 2 sentences. And that will be the real essence of the trip. And it happened exactly like this. Most people are genuinely interested when they ask the question, but what can you say, if it is a work-related call? You cannot talk for hours about the trip. You only have time to mention two things. For me they are the landscapes and the people. The landscapes were amazing, changing all the time from country to country, from empty deserts to amazing mountain ranges. We were on different planets and it is hard to explain. Even the pictures don’t really capture what it does to you to be there yourself.

And the people… You meet so many different people, the locals, who are all waving hello, coming to you to look at the bike, to ask you where you’re from, and to tell their whole life stories in some local dialect that we obviously cannot understand. But what does it matter? They are all so nice, so interested in us, so welcoming. They ask you what country was the best (obviously they want to hear it is theirs), they invite you to have tea, to have lunch, to sleep at their house even and they wish you good travels when you leave again.

Before we left, some friends asked if we weren’t afraid of insecurity, dangerous places or the current Russian situation, but in the end, we are all just normal people, interested in the other and proud of who we are and of our country. Which country did I like best? I really cannot say. Each country had its own special things. A lake, a mountain pass, a beautiful city, an encounter, a fantastic evening, a beautiful sunset, a great dinner, a tough but beautiful track, or a perfect road with smooth tarmac. There are many places where I would like to come back to, visit again, more in depth, having more time.

When I reflect on the trip there are so many images that come before my eyes, it is impossible to describe. It is the whole feeling of an adventure. Being away from home for so long and so far, the tough moments, not knowing what you will find around the corner or where you will sleep that night. Unexpected meetings with other overlanders and hearing their stories. How long are they away for, from where to where, why, how…? We are all so different and yet all the same. Whether it is with a motorbike, a four-wheel drive or a bicycle. We all want to experience something special, and we all did.

It is difficult to know where and how to stop and adventure like that. Do you ride back home, do you stop at the ultimate highlight, or at the farthest point? Whatever you decide, the last days will always be the last days. You realise that the adventure will soon be over. I actually started to look forward going home again and back to work, while riding through Far East Russia (yes, that is a real region, on the other side of Siberia!). I had expected that somewhere along the trip I would think about my life, about what I want to do with the next part, professionally, privately, in general. And I kind of expected to come home with a clear idea. This is what I want to do now: “I want to travel the rest of my life”, or “I have this great idea for my company”, or “I will emigrate to Kazachstan and open a bar”. I don’t care what, anything!

But none of those ideas came. I did not even reflect. I did not think of my work or my life in general. I was just in the trip. Concentrating on the road, looking at the scenery, talking to the people. And then, when I was riding through the furthest parts of Russia, I suddenly thought about home again and going back to the office. And I liked the prospect of it. Luckily!

Vladivostok was actually the end of our adventure. That is where we dismounted our steel horses and signed the export papers for the transport to Europe. We could have flown home from there, but the ending would have been too abrupt for me I guess. So, I am very happy that we added a short city trip to Tokyo at the end. For me it was the perfect thing to do to prepare the return to normal life.

We had a nice hotel in Minato, close to the Tokyo Tower and next to Shiba Park, a very old part of the city. We had a small list of things we wanted to see and discover, and we had arranged for some local people to guide us around as well. Erik and I walked around famous areas like Shinjuku and Shibuya, ate in the Golden Gai, visited the Tsukiji fish market, discovered Electric City in Akihabara and a market in Okachimachi and had ramen in our favourite ramen place near the hotel.

After 3 months of being together 24/7 we both needed some me-time, so we also did some sightseeing each on our own.

I like Tokyo. It was not so crazy as I had expected. I thought I would be falling from one extreme surprise into another, but it was actually quite OK. I like big cities. And this is a big one. Huge. There are many people. Endless crowds. But everything is so well organised. People stand in line, even in the metro waiting for the next train. Everything is written in Japanese and in English. It is very easy to get around. I think I could definitely live here for a few years. But I am sure I would never integrate. The culture is so extremely different. The Japanese are very polite and very friendly, but we would never completely understand their way of thinking. It was very interesting talking to some of them.

After 5 days of getting used to a big modern city again, we took the plane to Paris and Amsterdam. Thanks to our points we were able to fly back in Business Class, which is a real luxury on such a long flight after having spent 3 months on the saddle of your motorbike. I can assure you! We had champagne, gin & tonics, good red wine and 2 meals of better quality than some of the grub we ate in Central Asia. This, together with a few movies and a few naps, made that the trip back was done in the blink of an eye.

Back in Paris I had a few days to get rid of the jetlag and to get used to my own bed again, before going back to the office.

Now, being back in the office, I am already thinking about next year. Will I go on another trip? Europe? Somewhere else, long or short? So many places to go, so many options. And that is why I also want to thank my team at Manta for having made it possible for me to leave the office for such a long time. Especially Ichraf, Paul D and Carolien, who really did an amazing job. I have the feeling now that I can go on more adventures…..!

And I join Erik in thanking all the people who made this trip possible, from off road trainers Bert, Werner, Albert, saddle specialist Remco and Olivier who prepared and repaired our bikes, to all the people we met along the way and who made this such a special adventure. To all our friends, thanks for supporting our stories and reading this blog and commenting so positively, special thanks to Brigitte and last but not least to my buddy Erik of course: there are not many people with whom I can spend so much time together on a journey like this.

This is my last written blog entry about our trip. In the coming months I will try to edit and post some more videos of the countries east of the Caspian Sea, where the adventure has really taken place. Unfortunately, we did not have time during the trip to do this. We were too busy having an amazing time.

 

Here is a new video about Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea crossing.

Enjoy!

” THE CHAIRS! ”

Suddenly I was wide awake. The wind was blowing hard, beating with all its force against my cheap Decathlon tent.

Before turning in I had put our small camping chairs between our bikes so that they would not blow away if there was a little wind. But this was not a little wind. This was a real storm!

I quickly got out of my tent, put my bare feet in my motor boots and ran in my underwear to the bikes. The chairs were still there and I grabbed them. But one of our pans, also next to the bikes, blew away at that moment. I was standing with two chairs in my hand between the bikes and the tents, figuring our what to do. I started folding one chair, while holding on to the other, preventing it to fly away and fighting at the same time to stay standing myself. I finally managed to shove them into my tent, when Erik came out of his, also in his underwear and motor boots. We must have looked very sexy.

He was afraid that the tents might blow away. I hadn’t even thought of that, but looking at them now, I understood this was becoming a real danger.

The evening before had begun idyllically. From Almaty we had done a nice ride to the Kolsai Lakes and arrived in Charyn Canyon in the late afternoon looking for a suitable camp spot.

Kolsai Lake nr 1:

In the beginning we did not find anything nice, just a parking lot on top of the canyon ridge. We were not allowed to ride down into the gorge itself with our bikes. That was only allowed for 4×4 cars, and later we heard that even some of them had a hard time making it.

We rode a bit around and at the end, past a no entry sign, we found the perfect spot to set up out tents. Our tents and bikes were at the edge of the ridge, looking out over the canyon.  The view was absolutely stunning. While the sun was setting, some people came by, talked to us, wanted to take a selfie with us, and gave us some beer. Everybody is amazed when we tell them how far we have come on our bikes and where we are still going.

After all the pictures were taken, we sat down and had a Vodka Coke, using the last Vodka that had not yet leaked into my top case. Luckily we had gotten that beer! We cooked our pasta with fish and peas in tomato sauce and ate our dinner. It was actually a great evening.

And now,  4 hours later, we were fighting against the wind.

While I held Erik’s tent, he emptied it, and put his stuff in a small stone shelter that was not far from our bikes. Then we folded his tent and did the same with mine. When we walked to the shelter to sit out the storm, a Polish girl and her Bulgarian boyfriend joined us in the shelter. They had been camping a bit further down, and had been blown away too.

The wind was so strong that it even blew over our bikes. Both of them were laying on the ground. It was a very sorry sight.

The rest of the night we tried to sleep all four in this small structure and were waken up by a beautiful sunrise, as if nothing had happened. Some Koreans came and made pictures of our fallen bikes and our bivouac of fortune. We packed up, drank some coffee and decided to walk down into the canyon.

Here we met 2 couples from Kazachstan who wanted to practice their English, so we invited them for a coffee. it was difficult for them to accept, so we explained that we had already receive so much from everybody we meet, that it is nice for us to do something in return.

When we finally wanted to drive off in the direction of Russia, I noticed that my back tire was flat. I filled it again, but I was losing pressure so we stopped at a tire workshop. Here we found 6 tiny punctures within a 10cm area. My tire was porous, and I still needed to get to Barnaul, roughly 1000km away, where new tires were waiting for us. My windscreen fixings had broken too by the fall during the storm and it was very uncomfortable riding like this. We decided to ride back to Almaty, a small detour, to the only BMW Motorrad dealership in Central Asia, to fix the windscreen and hope to buy a second-hand tire.

BMW could not help us, but sent us to Free Riders, a bikers workshop and guesthouse around the corner. Here they repaired my windscreen and sold me a perfect second-hand tire, all for about 40 dollars. Free Riders, by the way, can also ship bikes from and to Europe, so next time we could even do a 3 weeks ride in the area!

at the BMW dealership in Almaty:

at Free Riders:

The next day we left in the direction of Barnaul. We met Matt and Tom, 2 British guys on their BMW’s and they told us that the Mongolian border would close during the Nadaam Festival. We had planned to enter the first day of that festival, but now we understood that it would be better to be 2 days early to avoid long queues and border closures. We needed to speed up. We decided to get to Barnaul in only 2 more days.

The first day we rode together with Zahn, a Kazach who looked like he stepped right out of the BMW catalog. Everything was BMW, even his cap, and he cleaned his bike at every stop. We communicated with hands and feet and using 3 words of English. But Zahn was very hospitable and invited us for lunch and even diner.

The next day was our longest riding day so far, 14 hours plus a border crossing. At the border we met Edouard and Benjamin, two nice French guys riding their Tenere’s to Mongolia and back. We would meet them again at the Mongolian border and spent 2 more evenings together in Ulgii.

We managed to get to Barnaul where we booked a nice hotel for 2 nights.

The next morning, Friday, we relaxed and, in the afternoon, went to Sergei’s workshop where Andrew changed our tires. Andrew is the go-to-guy in Barnaul, if you need anything fixed for your bike. It was done quickly and efficiently. On Saturday morning Andrew also arranged our oil change and we were off. We rode 2 days through the beautiful Altai mountains direction Mongolia. A great road with nice scenery and on Sunday afternoon we finally arrived at the border. And there started a whole new adventure…..

Lenin statue in Barnaul:

Entering the Altai Republic

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have finally arrived in Kazakhstan!!

It took us 54 hours after we arrived in the harbour of Alat, near Baku, including the 22 hours of sailing and no less than 32 hours of waiting.

When we got to the harbour near Baku, we met 3 Bulgarian motor bikers, Niko, Svet and Rumen. They had been there 3 days earlier, were told that the boat would not leave before the evening of the next day, and so they had left for the night. The next morning, they came back, well before the announced departure time, but the boat had left already left and they had missed it. We decided to sit it out and not leave to make the same mistake.

The port in Alat (near Baku) with the Bulgarian bikers:

Imagine a large parking lot with in the corner 7 containers. One container is a small shop, another a waiting room, then there is a bank container, a toilet container, and some containers with offices. The first container we had to visit was a bit hidden and the entrance was at the back. No signs to indicate it.

So, the Bulgarians helped us. Inside the container we found Vladimir, who told us to wait outside. People walked in and out and after a while we just went in again. Vladimir was a nice guy who spoke English and offered us coffee and cookies, while we waited for him to prepare the tickets. With the tickets we had to go to the bank container to pay, and then back to Vladimir to show the receipt. we got our tickets! This went rather smoothly. However, he could not tell us whether the boat would leave this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Later we heard that they were waiting for 3 or 4 more trucks to fill up the boat before it could leave. The waiting had begun.

Vladimir’s office:

In the little shop we bought some things to eat and drink, got out our chairs and sat in the shade. We talked to the Bulgarians, very nice and helpful guys. Then arrived an English couple on one Yamaha XT. Andy and Alissa, who started this year their 5 to 10 years ride around the world! Then came Dave, a 54-year-old British marine on his bicycle and then 2 more German cyclists, who met each other on the road in Turkey. It is very nice to meet these people and listen to their stories and share some time together.

In the evening we bought some vegetables, eggs and sausage and the guys in the waiting room cooked for us and transformed it into a nice meal for only 50 euro cents per person.

Every now and then we would get some information on the departure: maybe this evening, we need 3 more trucks, probably tomorrow, at 10 am we will know more. Dave put up his tent to sleep, and when Alissa started to install her tent at 9 pm, she was told not to bother: at midnight we would be in our cabins! At midnight they announced 30 more minutes and finally at 3am we were told to go to customs. This involved a bit of waiting, inevitably, and at 4.30 we got onto the boat and an hour later we had our cabin and could sleep, after nearly 18 hours of waiting.

Dave setting up his tent:

Last passport control at the Azerbaijan border:

The cabin was a furnace; no window, no ventilation. We fell asleep anyways, just to be woken up 90 minutes later by a lady of the ferry who just burst into our cabin unannounced to tell us in Russian it was time to eat. So up we got and into the line with the truck drivers and overlanders to get our breakfast. It was hard to sleep after that, too tired, too hot. The rest of the day we read, we talked with the Bulgarians and the other overlanders, we visited the bridge, talked to the captain, we looked out over the sea, saw the world’s biggest oil city, an amazing sunset and we played card games with Alissa and Dave.

Reading and editing:

The bridge:

World’s biggest Oil City (according to the captain):

After the second night we arrived at port, just before 8 am. We had been sailing for 22 hours. We had heard stories that it would take hours to get through customs, so we were prepared.

First all passengers had to line up with their luggage in front of them for a drugs dog to sniff everything. Then we were put into mini vans who took us to an office where our passports were checked and where we got a form. This was quick and easy, and I started to think that it wasn’t going to be that bad after all. Little did I know…. We had to walk back to the boat and wait on the ramp. We waited for nearly 4 hours, because the Azeri had not yet sent over the forms for the vehicles because of an internet problem.

Waiting to disembark with our English friends Alissa and Andy (Mad or Nomad):

Waiting for the vehicle papers:

At 1.30 pm the papers arrived and were distributed. Then we mounted our bikes and rode for 100 meters to stop for a second passport control. All luggage had to get out of our paniers and were sniffed again by the same dog. Then came another passport control and we had to buy insurance. Then we had to go to a different window, but their system was down, and they had to reboot. This took nearly 2 hours, during which we had lunch. Then 3 more lines at 3 more windows. It was amazing. I had never seen anything like it. It was the perfect example of desorganisation, being sent backwards and forwards from window to desk and back again. Nobody explained what to do and where to go. Nothing was clear. Luckily Niko speaks Russian, asked questions and explained us each next step. At every desk somebody added a form, put a stamp, made a copy and checked what his colleague had just entered in the system. It could have been funny, but it just took too long to laugh about it.

With Niko waiting for the system reboot:

Finally, finally we were on our bikes at 6.15 pm to ride to the last gate. Here it turned out that Erik missing one of the forms and we could not leave. This was the point that Erik was close to losing his patience and that I thought that the whole circus would have to start all over again. Erik traced back his steps and luckily, he found the missing form at one of the desks where one of the officials had taken it, when he shouldn’t have. We were set free, at last, 11 hours after we docked!

In one of the offices by the way, hung a poster on the wall, explaining in Kazakh and Russian that this whole procedure took no more than 20 minutes. Time must be relative after all …

So, like Erik wrote, the rest of Turkey was kind of boring. I had hoped that our few days there would ease us into the real trip, allowing us to land and relax, but it didn’t.

Georgia however is everything I hoped for so far, and more. And it started at the border by meeting the first other biker Rasti from Slovakia. But the first perfect day of this trip was 28 May: our journey from Batumi to Vardzia. It was our first really beautiful road, including our first stretch of about 70 km off-road (or actually unpaved road) with water crossings and muddy patches. We even saw some snow!

Here we used what we learned in our training sessions in Holland. We thought of you, Albert, Werner and Bert. Thank you, we used what we learned!

Adjusting our handle bars for the off-road stretch:

23 degrees Celsius and snow:

The road we traveled:

 

Repairing some minor damage:

Lunch with Elena and Jean:

After the second water crossing, right when we felt hungry and thirsty, we found this great little shed where an old guy served us some BBQ skewer, salad and lemonade. Here “overlanders” Elena and Jean, our 4×4 driving friends from Luxembourg, joined us for this well-deserved lunch. We would see Elena and Jean several times after that and probably will later on as well. Funny to share this adventure with other travelers.

To complete the perfect day, we also mixed in visits to some sites (waterfall, fortress, monastery) and finished sleeping in the open air, trying out our sleeping bag and air mattress. All in one day.

Makhuntseti waterfall

Rabati Castle:

Sapara Monastery:

My bed for tonight:

And the view from my bed:

I was hoping to get these experiences during this trip, and there they all were!

Of course, the next day couldn’t be perfect. That would be boring…

So, after my GPS broke down, now my intercom set stopped working and my iPhone fell, breaking the screen.

And it rained.

It came pouring down the whole day, soaking us through and through. Everything was wet. But I guess that is part of the deal too. We were happy to find a nice little hotel in Gori, Stalin’s birth town, where we could dry, having a warm shower and sleep.

Tomorrow Tbilisi.

Before leaving Safranbolu we had another stroll through the ancient city center and had a great cup of Turkish coffee. I am sure that in high season the little square where we sat down would be a tourist trap, but for me, on this first relaxed morning in Turkey it was just perfect. The terrace looked like a postcard, very authentic (so for sure a tourist trap) and the coffee was made on an open fire. It was served with a glass of cherry juice and some mint water. Excellent.

We left for Amasra, another ancient city on the Silk Road. It was only a 90 minutes’ drive through the mountains before we arrived at the Black Sea. In Amasra we chose the nicest hotel we could find so that we could really relax and enjoy this first rest after 5 days of non-stop riding.

We had a nice light lunch at the sea side and in the evening some fish and salad in the same restaurant. Our hotel did not serve any beer because of Ramadan, but we found a beach bar which did.
The next day our plan was to have a nice and quiet ride along the coast to Sinop. We had read that the road would be beautiful and the trip would take us only 4 hours. Little did we know….
It all started out well, we were in no hurry and stopped after an hour or so in a small village to get a tea and talk to some locals who came out to see our bikes.

The route was beautiful and windy along the coast, passing cliffs and small villages

But then the roadworks started. They had just finished laying the asphalt, and it was still wet.
It took no more that 500 yards to get our bikes as black as the road itself.
The tar had spat everywhere. Our number plates had just become black squares, the panniers were full of black spots and the rest of the motorbike was covered in a thick layer of black dripping tar.
We wanted to clean this as quickly as possible before it all dried up and would be too hard to get rid of. It took us the next 2 hours to get the majority off. At the end we were sweating and hungry, and the petrol station where we were only sold ice cream.

After this cleaning session we did not feel like continuing to Sinop anymore. We found a small town with a cheap hotel, where the warm water did not work, as we noticed when we wanted to scrub off the tar from ourselves.
But they had beer, and we finished the day with a well-deserved Ramadan menu at a tiny restaurant where the whole family who owned the place served us while having their own Ramadan diner.

The next morning, we got up early, took a cold shower again and got on our bikes. This would be a boring and long trip to Trabzon. But the road was new and quick. Without delays we arrived in Trabzon where there was again no beer. And this time we couldn’t find any nearby either. So we worked a bit on our planning for the next days, our GPS and on our movies and turned in.

Today we will leave Turkey and get to Georgia. Looking forward to the wine….

Everything is packed, the to do list is done, we are ready! This week I bought a new motor suit and boots, and my saddle problem has been perfectly solved by Tijger Leathers. Thank you Remco!

So, today is Monday 14 May. The initial plan was to leave yesterday, on Sunday the 13^th.  But Erik’s doctor wanted to see his leg once more, before the big trip.

Erik had an unfortunate fall during sport and hurt his leg 2 weeks ago. He now has 8 stitches on his left shin, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but last Monday we had our third and last off-road training and his leg got infected.

He is now on antibiotics and his leg is swollen and does not look really pretty. I won’t post any photo….

The good thing is that it gave me an extra day to play around with my GoPro trying to make my first video. Hell, that is tough. First selecting the right clips, adding music, making it interesting, special effects, colouring, rendering, etc, etc.

Here is the first result and yes, I know, I am not there yet, but time is up. We have to pack and leave now.

So, enjoy our first video of day 2 and 3 of our off road courses. Great two days by the way at BERRT. I advise everyone to do it. Thanks Werner and Bert!

Hopefully the videos will get better once we hit the more interesting parts of this world.

Today is my last day in Paris.

Tomorrow I will leave with my motorbike to Erik in Amsterdam.

The last 3 days I did a tour with my friend Rob through the Belgian Ardennes, Luxemburg and North Eastern France. Last checks of the bike, does everything work well, how do I pack my stuff, what is practical, what do I have to change.

One thing I need to change for sure is my saddle. I am not a tall guy (178cm) and my legs are relatively short too.

So sometimes I feel that the R1200GSA is a bit too high for me. Especially when I try to maneuver it when at a stop. But for me it is the best bike for this kind of trip. So no question about taking a different one.

When I bought this bike, BMW offered me to scrape out the saddle and make it lower. Big mistake! For me this saddle is now so uncomfortable that I won’t go on this trip as it is now.

Luckily, I did this test weekend to find out in time. I still have more than a week in Holland to change it. And I had many tips, hints and propositions thanks to the Facebook pages of Horizons Unlimited and the GS Forum in Holland.

Today I have signed some last things in the office, said goodbye to the team, bought a tent and some other goodies, went to my hairdresser Vee (she is also a biker) and did the last packing, unpacking and repacking.

My emails have been forwarded, I don’t receive any copy anymore. I don’t want to see any work mail by accident while checking my private mail.

Carolien and Ichraf in the office are taking care of it all, together with the rest of my team. Thank you team for letting me live this adventure!

So, this is it, 3 months of holidays. That’s a first…. Should I call it a sabbatical leave? I did, in my out of office reply.

It is a weird feeling. I know I am going on this great trip, people are wishing me lots of fun and are telling me to be careful.

There are Facebook and Instagram messages and likes left right and center, and still, I don’t realise it completely.

I guess I will only feel the true extent of it, when I cross the Bosporus or so.

Can’t wait…