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Are you a TRAVELLER? Does the smell of spices wafting
through the air make you think of Zanzibar, a cacophony of honking
horns is Cairo, or a swirl of brilliantly patterned clothing
Guatemala? |
Plan where to be when!If you know of any events of interest to travellers, send me a note Nick Sanders, Fastest Man Around the World,is organising a two week trip from London to Casablanca, to be filmed by Sky TV. Get famous, call Nick at +44 (0) 1295 758095 15th International Rally BMWMOA-French Connection, Coutures, FranceJune 1-4, 2000"Located at the European Camping of Chateau de Montsabert at Coutures. This little village is in the middle of the vineyard, at 10 kms of the Loire at 30 kms Southeast of Angers, and at 300 Kms SW of Paris ...visit a part of the Loire Valley, with its history, and its beautiful landscapes, by a short balade, a vine testing, and so on ...Rally celebrates... 20th Anniversary of the BMWMOA French - Connection...can rent mobile home, B&B or hotels. We can help you (with) the reservations." Alain Foucher Endurance Ride from June 22nd to June 24th. Four Corners of Turkey (6.000 km.) in Four Days (96 hours)With this ride we want to fix the route for a International Bikers Rally Of Turkey to be organized by OMM in the year 2001 inviting visitors on motorcycle to test the ride and to spend time in Turkey. In Four Days and 6.000 kilometers the riders will have the opportunity to move from the cosmopolitan Istanbul to the Black Sea coast, to cross into the Central Asia plateau, to move at the border of Iran, to meet the Mediterranean Sea in Hate, to travel along the fascinating South Coast, to cross the Dardanelles toward the Bulgarian border and finally to cross Thrace on the way back to Istanbul. The riders must record the visit of 20 historical places as narrative theme to the adventure: 1. SAMSUN. 2. TRABZON. 3. KARS. 4. DOGUBEYAZIT. 5. VAN. 6. DIYARBAKIR. 7. URFA. 8. TARSUS. 9. ANAMUR. 10. ALANYA. 11. ANTALYA. 12. MIRA. 13. KAS. 14. FETHIYE. 15. IZMIR. 16. BERGAMA. 17. TROY. 18. CANAKKALE. 19. EDIRNE. 20. ISTANBUL Details Murad Acar 28th BMW MOA International Rally
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GET YOUR WEB SITE LISTED in the LINKS section by listing Horizons Unlimited on YOUR web site, let me know you've done it by mailing me a link to the page, and you'll get listed here in the next newsletter and on the Horizons Unlimited web site Links page.
All sites will be considered for listing, but must be a MOTORCYCLE site, useful or of interest in some way to travellers.
Links will be rotated regularly as needed.
Adriaan van Nijendaal 1998/1999
from Belgium to Australia...
in Dutch and English.
Daniel,
Europe to Europe on 2 Wheels - still on the road - already 24 countries, over
4 Years and 100'000 Kilometers.
in other words somewhere there isn't a number of shops? USA, Canada, Europe etc. don't count. That's too easy. And too many! We're looking for those rare items, good repair shops in South America, Africa and Asia etc. I will create a web page for them eventually.
For used BMW and Honda motorcycle parts:
Rick Agagliate
P.O. Box 42965
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: 501670, 501682
Fax: 882478
Christopher Handschuh
BMW of Nairobi
P.O. Box 30179
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: 53-1288 or 53-1289 or 53-1290
Fax: 254-2-552464
Christopher is recommended as knowing what he's doing.
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Submit your tips and questions here, anything goes! Got a great idea for travellers, found a new solution to a problem? Send it in! If you're having a problem, just ask, there's a lot of people with a ton of experience out there to help. |
Interested in a six speed transmission for your G/S? Or different ratios for your 1150GS? Send an e-mail to ANN WUEST, wuest@blueriver.net and ask for information. They can do full custom gearsets, just one gear, lower first or higher top gears, for all BMW's. Made in Germany to very high standards "by Guenther."
I've made contact with some of the people we were looking for last month, thanks! - but the following are still unaccounted for...
From Chris Walstow, Canada "Quote from Tommy's (Ryser, USA,) latest e-mail "Met Kazumi, a gal from Japan solo riding the continents on a Honda Trail 225. She said it was a bike she could pick up by herself when it fell." Anybody know anymore on Kazumi?
Lionel Marx, I have no e-mail for him...
Annette, Sweden, travelling solo, heading North from Nairobi ...(met by Dave Thompson in Nairobi)
A Brit heading for Timbuktu...?
a Danish guy, Pauly, travelling on a new R80G/S classic converted into a PD, last seen in Kenya.
Russel, a guy travelling on an old Yamaha XT600 Tenere, last seen in Kenya.
A Brit on an F650 in Kenya, heading north...
A Brazilian biker, Raphael Karen, travelling on a Yamaha Super Tenere, going from Sao Paulo to Alaska...
When you meet people out there, please get contact info and let me know so I can add them to my who's who and where list! Grant
Leave for Penang, Malaysia and area, June 2, 2000
-do we need bike insurance to get into Malaysia?
Will they check for it first before letting us leave the airport?
-what documents do we need to get into Thailand?
(I have replied, but if anybody has the latest up-to-date information please pass it on)
To subscribe or UNsubscribe to this newsletter.
There is still a problem with Hotmail, but they have made a number of changes, and there seems to be less of a problem now. Links in Hotmail are passed through a script so that they will open in a frame, sometimes causing a problem. Mail links still get messed up sometimes, coming up with a series of numbers or a cgi-bin directory path, or ?subject=something or other. Delete everything from the ? on to solve this. If you run into these problems, just go to the edition on the website, it will work fine. If you have trouble getting there, just type the following address into your browser, all one line, no spaces:
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In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and
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A file that big?
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But now it is gone.
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Can not be located but
Countless more exist.
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Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
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Close all you have worked on.
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Hi, welcome to the 8th edition of the Travellers News!
"Great site! Great travels! I'll be using for my travels."
Kristin Frank
"...If you have not seen this, do yourself a favor and visit it. Among
other things it chronicles he and his wife's around the world journeys on
an R80G/S. Very interesting, thoroughly enjoyable and great pictures. Find
it at: www.HorizonsUnlimited.com"
Chuck Palmer, Cottonwood, CA
I Think...
"That it's great! I read it 'cover to cover' as soon as it arrives.
It's not too big, in fact I wish it was bigger. Pictures! I want pictures!
Thanks!"
Peter McLennan, Creston, BC
We are now an Associate with Amazon, the biggest bookseller on the web. If you want to buy a book, you can go to our Books pages, and we have listed a large number of the best motorcycle travel books, as well as a number of BMW books, general motorcycle books, and travel guides. Very much in progress, with hundreds more to come, but there is a good list to start with now. There's links to Amazon USA, Amazon UK, and Amazon Deutschland, so no matter where you are - Aussies order from Amazon USA ;-) you can order books at great prices, and I'll make a dollar or two, which goes to supporting this e-zine. There are links to search Amazon sites for all their products, books, cds etc., and yes, we get a tiny piece of that too. We really appreciate it when you start your book search from our website! Thanks for the support.
Please feel free to submit news reports, web links etc. to me for inclusion here.
This is a free service to travellers everywhere, both on the road and off. Editions are planned to be out approximately the first of every month, but will be more often if there is sufficient interest and support.
your editor, Grant
"An Update on my travels: met many of your subscribers in Ushuaia, Joerg & Sandra, Gino & Renata, and the rest of the Millennium Motorcycle Friends (photos,)
I ventured out after New Years Day only to flip my bike in Rio Gallegos in Tierra del Fuegos notorious ripio (dirt) roads. I woke up apparently when the ambulance showed up after being unconscious for a good ten minutes. My recollection is vague as to why I ate it it, but I hazard a guess as too fast in the gravel.
Anyway two days in Hospital (Which by the way was free, by virtue of the fact that when the young lady came to settle the bill with me, I told her I was not insured, to which she responded "just kind of sneak out of here before 2:00 PM when I make my next round," she winked, and I limped out of the hospital.
In all I was quite lucky to walk away with a badly re-injured neck, the bike was not that fortunate. The rear-sub-frame, front head-piece, tank, handle bars, needed replacing. I got the bike up to Buenos Aires by truck. I found it cheaper to fly to the US pick up the parts and fly back to BA (with "modified" receipts.).
The bike fixed I made tracks to catch up with Steve Schnieder (he himself also returning from the US doing the same thing because of an accident he had three weeks prior in, would you believe it - Rio Gallegos) our meeting point in São Paulo, Brazil a week and so hence. We met in SP rode through Rio and up the Coast to Salvador where we celebrated Carnaval, my birthday, our 1 year anniversary together on the road, and lastly our farewell.
Me? I continue fighting the weather. I have made it to Fortaleza, and am making for Manaus via Belem, then either to Venezuela or Guyana who knows?
Anyway that's where I'm at, anybody interested in following the trip or more information on the Orphanage I am trying to raise money for can as always look up my site at www.viacorpuz.com. Well that's the news for now... Keep up the great newsletter for us lonely long distance riders!"
"We have gone from East to West since our last message covering some five countries. We enjoyed a couple of days at Zanzibar although we considered facilities were a little over priced compared to the rest of the countries we have been through in Africa. The seafood on the waterfront was tasty and the tour of the spice farms was great. A walk around Stone Town revealed plenty of carving shops with eager salesman bargaining for the best price.
We escaped without buying anything. Back at the campground we spent plenty of time with the Overland truck drivers discussing a safe route to the West with most agreeing that Zimbabwe had a large question mark over its safety because of the political trouble.
Heading out of Dar we travelled through Mikumi National Park...Our first sighting of an elephant was a bit of a surprise but the lion (two year old male) sitting on the road was more than we bargained for. A parked 4x4 in front of us waved us on which would have had us pass within 3-4 metres of the lion. That was too close. An oncoming truck caused the lion to stand up and turn - to see us. We were about to beat a hasty retreat when he just sat down never taking his eyes off us. We probably looked about the same size so!!! who knows. The people in the parked 4x4 then offered to drive forward with us shielded from the lion. We accepted and took off as fast as R80G/S's can go.
Next encounters were far more amicable with the bike parked on the road between a herd of elephants happily chomping away unperturbed by our busy photographic excercises...a herd of giraffe ...which stood and stared at us for 15-20 minutes...
We camped that night just outside the N.P. planning to cross the border into Malawi the next day. Border crossing was uneventful although Carol had her calculator stolen by one of the money touts hustling at the border...
The road south although listed as tarred was very badly broken up to the point of it being just another dirt road. The surface was red soil and the ensuing rain turned the 'track' into a real mess...
Nkata Bay was beautiful and accommodation at the Backpackers Connection was inexpensive (room) and the view from the open bar was fantastic...
...the road along the shore of Lake Malawi enjoying an excellent surface with lush scenery after the recent heavy rains. Enroute we had to negotiate a river with a broken bridge. ...When we reached the river however the causeway was all but washed away and all vehicles were being sent back... except for motorbikes. Some enterprising lads had organized an old wooden boat and were asking US$5.00 to ferry both of us and the bike across. Fun, fun, fun. We survived and made it to Senga Bay... another priceless spot on the lake...
...decided to head to Lilongwe to arrange a Mozambique visas. Our applications completed we were informed of the costs to travel across this country for two days to Zimbabwe and decided it was too much. Tore up our applications and said we would go via Zambia and Victoria Falls to Zimbabwe. Crossing into Zambia the same day saw the usual hassles with money touts. Pushing them away we jumped on the bike and headed to Chipata where we negotiated our money exchanges in a more civilized environment. The long ride to Lusaka was a bumpy affair with a number of Police checks on our papers...
The tyres on the bike by this time were well past their use by date. However we were having great difficulty in obtaining rubber of sufficient size and quality at a reasonable price. Lusaka could be our answer as we were told there were bike shops there...
We met a traveller who had just passed through Zimbabwe and said despite the political trouble he was able to obtain plenty of fuel and did not feel threatened in any way. We pushed on to Livingstone on the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls and found a very comfortable Hostel/Campground..Faulty Towers run by some English people. The falls were awesome with the additional water flowing from the recent rains made a lot of the walking tracks very wet..(read like torrential downpour)...Plenty of souvenirs (carvings) were available here and Carol swung into action with her bargaining skills, losing a couple of second hand pens and her hat in exchange for some carved masks...
Crossing the border into Zimbabwe had its usual hiccups with the officials asking for US$ but unable to provide change...We were able to exchange for a little of the local currency to pay our way into the commercialized section of Vic Falls...
...Next stop Botswana and Francistown...camped at a Hotel Resort with excellent facilities. Unable to locate tyres again we headed to Maun...confirmed all previous reports that the Caprivi Strip was out of bounds because of border problems with Angola, so our trek would take us Sth West along the Kalahari Desert. There was approximately 150kms of rough dirt to cover so the Metzeler was employed to cover the next leg to Windhoek in Namibia where we hoped to get new tyres. We covered the distance without problems stopping overnight at a campground outside Ghanzi. The owners had been doing it tough over the past couple of months with flood waters flowing through the camp at around 60cm deep. We were entertained by a flock of wild Ostrich who appeared to show no fear of us and walked close to our campsite.
The next two days we would prefer to forget but this is all part of travelling. The first flat tyre (rear) occurred around 80kms from Ghanzi. The repair took a couple of hours as more than one hole was found. 30kms further on we experienced the same horrible weave as it went flat again, tearing the valve stem out of the tube. Replacing the tube we headed to the next town (Gobabis, Namibia) ...campground...about 10kms out of town. Very pleasant after our day of woes.
The flats could only be linked to tube failure as no foreign objects could be found in the tyre. Next day...we pressed on to Windhoek. 40kms out the rear tyre was flat again. On removal, scars on the tube were similar to the previous days holes. Checking the tyre again found a divot of rubber on the sidewall that must have pinched the tube. We cut it out, patched the tube only to have both our pumps fail (electric & hand) Carol showed her skills and flagged down a passing motorist and we were soon on our way. The tyre and tube survived the remainder of the journey to Windhoek. Tyres at last. We now sport a NEW Kenda with a heavy duty enduro tube on the rear. The front will last to Sth Africa.
On this journey we have been in constant contact with another couple of Aussies travelling the world on a Harley Davidson. Finally after many delays we have met Peter and Kay Forwood. We are camped at the Roof of Africa Backpackers and our travel tales are keeping us entertained for many long hours. We will now travel a little around Namibia before heading to Sth Africa."
"...the Bolivian border was quick and almost too easy. We were not reassured about the procedure (what procedure?!) for getting the bike into the country...
Our route started on one of the few paved roads (Arica - La Paz route), which goes all the way to La Paz and beyond (in the north) and down to Oruro (in the south). Beyond Oruro we were headed to Potosi and then Sucre, but on what road surface was anybody's guess. Information about Bolivian roads seems pretty slim, other than a helpful phrase we found in Andrea's Footprint Guidebook to South America which went along the lines of . . ."There is around 55 thousand kms of road in Bolivia, of which only 5% is paved." It then helpfully left it up to you to guess which were the lucky 5%.
Nor was our "map" any help. We had failed miserably to get any detailed map of Bolivia and were relying on our notoriously inaccurate overview map of the whole of South America. It had some roads marked through Bolivia, which turned out to be...not where the actual roads ran. Somehow the road that we travelled on ended up about 100kms north of where the map indicated. We arrived in Patacamaya and should have been in Carracollo. Such is travelling...
The road just past the border was a wonderful ride, going through one of Bolivia's national parks. Although we were on the Altiplano, it was remarkably different to what we had seen in Chile. No longer was the terrain dry desert, dotted with spiky pampas grass. It almost seemed like an oasis, so much greener than we would have imagined, with wide open fertile plains home to many wandering llama and vicuña, all grazing peacefully.
Along the start of the route were tiny communities, lacking any modern amenities. They were just small clusters of adobe buildings bordered with hand built stone walls or circular enclosures and a little beyond would be irregular square patches of ploughed land, containing numbers of scrunched over campesinos, working by hand. Every now and again, we would have to slow Franky down to walking pace as a young child or old woman would be herding a group of llama and sheep down the road, by flapping their hands, waving a stick which they would bring down on the most errant animal or by simply hissing at them. We felt like we had stepped back in time.
As our journey to Oruro progressed...Thatched roofs were replaced by those of corrugated iron, bicycles rather than foot or donkey became the preferred form of transport, we even spotted the odd solar panel on a larger mud house, with a TV antenna angled crookedly skyward...
We arrived in Oruro not quite sure what to expect and with no handy hints from the LP (remember, it had fallen off the bike back in Peru due to my careless packing...) We fell back on our usual routine in such situations - look for the highest church tower, head for it and hope it brings you to the main Plaza, which normally meant hostals in the close vicinity. It works 90% of the time and did so again today. Most unexpectedly this time, we found an open Tourist Info with a helpful lady inside, who forced piles of maps and leaflets on us and set us off in the direction of a recommended stay.
...The whole place was buzzing with people. So many people that the tiny pavements could not possible hold its load and most spilled out into the road, making it an unofficial pedestrian area where vehicles had to try and weave through. Street vendors abounded, especially on the corners, hounding you to buy woolly hat souvenirs or shouting at you from behind their stall, crammed high with useless oddments. Kids wanted to sell you sweets, clean your shoes, do a dance or play some pipes, anything for a few coins. Smells of frying food hung in the air, as tiny Indian women, with thick black shiny plaits down to the ankles and wearing brightly coloured full pleated skirts, cooked over portable stoves, proffering tins of potato and meat, with their brown crinkled faces pleading upward, murmuring toothlessly for a sale. That night we wandered in and out of it all, drinking in the atmosphere and the lives here.
...the next day, this time destination Potosi, about 7 hours away by bus (??? by bike). Our ride to leave Oruro became typical of the Bolivian towns that we have been to. No signs how to get to the centre and certainly no signs pointing the way out...Eventually we came across a main road which was not the one we came in on and plumped to follow it.
...We had found out the night before that the road to Potosi was paved to Challapata (about 40% of the way there) and from thereon dirt. In fact it turned out to be worse than that because the dirt road was subject to roadworks. We were zigzagged onto numerous diversions that ran by the side of what looked like a perfect tarmac road, whilst we struggled on a single carriageway of dirt, on which we fought for space against oncoming trucks that drowned us in a shower of sand and left us blinded and choking until the clouds of dust evaporated.
Eventually...Kev turned the bike to mount the high ridges of stones piled up to prevent people getting onto the tarmac road. There we were, home free, the wind whistling past our ears again...And that's when the road stopped and the bridge did not start. The edge of the new road just hung over the deep river bank staring at its counter part opposite. Shit!
...We planned to stop in Potosi a couple of days so that we could take the mine tour, which Potosi is famous for. It was a well earned rest and one in which we bumped into fellow BMW bikers, Lee Prescott and Ian Freeman on a F650 and R100GS..."
"...travelling with a Moto Guzzi Quota 1100 for eight months now. We crossed Africa from north to south, passing the following countries: Marocco, Maurithania, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African republic, Congo-Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
We needed visas for every country. We got them in most cases in the precedent country, the same or the next day. The most difficult part was to cross Congo, because of the war. The petrol and food supply was difficult and the roads were terrible. Luckily the rainy season just ended. We understood, that we were the first white travelers after two and a half years, who passed through there. Our aim was to end our African tour in South Africa, but the visa requirements were just too tough to meet.
They asked for
- self-explanatory letter why didn't we apply for the visa in our country,
- Prepaid hotel reservation,
- Return airplane ticket,
- Certification of our financial funds,
- Paying of certain sum of unrefundable money,
- Checking period of two or more weeks in which time they would send our documents
to Slovenia to verify our origin.
After all that there was no insurance that we would actually get the visa, so we decided not to apply for it. We understand that certain measures of caution have to be taken, but this was too much. South Africa claims to be touristic country, in the other hand it doesn't let people enter the country. We decided to fly out of Africa from Zimbabwe, to South America, to Buenos Aires. From there we headed south, to Perito Moreno, then via Bariloche to Chile and to north, Through Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, where we are at the present. From Cartagena we'll look for transportation to Panama and will continue through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico to USA, from where we plan to return to our country. This is just a brief description of our voyage. In this time, many interesting things occurred, but we didn't have time to write about them. However If, somebody is interested in more details, we would be happy to reply. Also if someone has information about shipping the bike across Darien Gap, we would appreciate to have it. Our e-mail address is uros_blazko@yahoo.com. We'll be glad, to hear from you and will stay in contact."
I replied to them, explaining about the information on the Bulletin Board re the Darien Gap, and in former newsletters, and received back the following (Grant):
"...We find the site very useful and if there is time to spare is nice to read other traveller's letters.
We have succeeded in crossing from Cartagena Colombia to Colon in Panama. We managed to cross in a sailing boat s/y Tatoosh, skipper Philippe Whitehead, the French. The voyage took two and a half days. The bike was on the deck, we protected it against salt water with plastic sheet. The boat seems to travel this way all the time and transports passengers. It saves a lot of trouble, finding two or more different transports. If anybody is interested - the Frenchman's e-mail is tatoosh_98@yahoo.com
waiting your next message, Uros Blazko and Metka"
"Hello there, an expensive hello to you from Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. I eventually got my visa and we went straight across the border. Ethiopia is very different to Sudan, what a relief to see green plants again! After climbing the highland there is also even some kind of cold air...
We went to Gondar where we met an Israeli girl which we joined on a five days trekking tour through the Simien mountains (up to 4000m high). Breathtaking!
Now we are in Bahir Dar on the Lake Tana, yesterday we watched the Blue Nile Falls, and I learn how to play the local flute. We are both very fine, I had the runs for some days and Stefan had some lice, but besides that we are totally well and like Ethiopia very much. I know that you all have the famine-pictures in your TV news, but these are in very remote spots mostly in the lowland, where hardly anybody can get because there are no streets.
Here many people are poor but not starving. Everything is green and the land fertile. We also do not see anything about the war in the north. And Ethiopia is so beautiful!!
Next we'll head for Lalibela, then Addis, and after that to the South. We will try to go through Kenya quickly and head for Uganda which is supposed to be as beautiful but much safer."
Later...
"...I made it through Ethiopia into Kenya and am now in Nairobi. I feel very fine and everything is okay. I initially wanted not to go to Nairobi, but I have some non-trivial repairs to do on the bike, so I need some western infrastructure (or, at least that's my excuse for coming here and enjoying pizza and all that ;-))).
Ethiopia was interesting and fascinating, but after five weeks it was enough and we are glad we got out. We met the Swiss girl on the XT600 that everyone told us about and crossed the border together. I will report more about Ethiopia (actually all the way from Khartoum, wee!) soon, as I will stay in Nairobi for a week or so.
...this was just a mail to tell you I'm very much alive (although I lost over 12% weight) and still kicking! The "hardest" part of my journey seems to be over, and I am confident that I will make it to Cape Town now, so I need a new kind of challenge that keeps me going... stay tuned"
"I really thought after Laos I was doing well with the mud and standing on the pegs for an hour at a time, until I got here.
Stayed the night in Poi Pet, (Paoy Pet) got a good early morning start. In fact right up until Sisophon I was charging on thinking I the dogs bollox at this ole game. At this point I thought f...it I'm goin' for Siem Reap. (Siemreab) Another 30k, things still good, standing up skipping round the small holes. Then the Moto X track started, started to tire me out. For all the things people said about this road, 'there's pot holes big enough to seat 4 people round a table or you can park a VW beetle in' well bollox. You could park mini buses in the f....rs. Thank God it didn't rain, though it was about 40 degrees. Well I was still going till I came across one which buses (that's more than one) could sit in. No road. I had to go into a rice field, all the locals then went up on to a mud wall separating the big whole filled with water and the field. Even the locals had their feet down trying to walk it a bit. The thing was only about 8" wide, well the worst thing that could happen did, the wall went on one side, the water side. I couldn't keep the bike from falling.
I'm now in Siem Reap. The thing was it didn't get really bad until I was way over half way.
Let me know if any of you are still in the country, I'll be heading for PP on Wednesday. (May 31) What's the road like south? Liam"
"The day has finally broken with the road to Eastern Europe ahead of me, Africa on my distant right!. The Yamaha XT Tenere is loaded, itching to rumble into that steady thump that comforts the any biker at the beginning of a journey tracking through Africa. I am heading for the fine beer in the Czech Republic first. My route is a round-about one to Africa. I leave from Phoenix motorcycles in Bexhill midmorning today. Un- like many overlanders a few companies - Phoenix Motorcycles, Watling Tyres, B&A Traveland SeaFrance - have provide me with sponsorship of equipment and tickets etc. for which I am pretty thankful - although I would always enjoy a few more!!! - like one does!
The sun is peeking through the clouds which must acknowledged as a great sign of good will from the gods, as in the United Kingdom the gods generally dump various forms of water on us for considered fun. After much packing, unpacking - binning more stuff, (generally repeating this process numerous times this weekend) I have finally got the bike almost as I expect it to stay. I supposedly am to have a brief interview with the Bexhill Observer this morning but will have to believe it when it happens. If you would like I will send you my - "Tales from my wheeled Perch" as I explore the quality of road development a few places.
Should you wish to get on my 'soon to be big' e-mail list E-mail me at flymango
@ bigfoot.com.
Keep up the good work - I have included a few pics of the machine - one with
Carol my long suffering partner whom is not coming along this time and the
other is myself with the usual grin one has when you realise that there is
no such thing as a perfect packing technique."
Kev Storie, ready to leave the comforts of home...
(Note that if you aren't online, there will be no picture.)
"...by air. Yes, after seven months (Pakistan, India and Nepal) I am leaving on Tuesday the 16.5. with Kazakhstan Airlines from Delhi to Almaty. Since you got my last groupsender email from Kathmandu I went trekking around the Annapurna mountain range for about three weeks and then rode the bike back to Delhi.
Yesterday I could manage to pack the bike and take it to the Export Cargo terminal on the airport and after five hours I had all the customs cleared and my papers stamped. For India this is really fast, but I had to bribe one of the custom officers for doing his job.
Travelling India by bike is something I don't want to do again, the traffic is just too dangerous on a bike. And I don't know if I will ever come back to this country, but if you ask me today I would say: No, never again...
...leaving Delhi in the night I arrived together with the rising sun in Almaty. So I could see the beautiful mountain range in the south of the former capital of Kazakhstan.
The taxi drive to the cargo terminal made me wonder if Kazakhstan have got their own currency because the driver told me: a hotel room is two hundred and a girl is one hundred US dollars. After a two kilometer drive he wanted to charge one hundred US dollars and as I offered him ten Indian Rupees he got mad and told me he will send the mafia if I don't pay. After a long argument he just drove off and refused even the five dollars I wanted to pay.
The one hundred Dollar bill seems to be the smallest currency unit they know and their local notes, the Tenge, they just use for paying the bread.
After five days running for stamps I got the bike out of the customs. But I had to spend far more money than on all the other border crossings on this trip together. My advice to other bike travellers going to Kazakhstan: don't arrive by air in Almaty and if you hear somebody saying: "declaration trazit motosikkel" start to bribe or run away or drink a bottle of vodka.
I realised after five days in customs I have to leave the country to Russia and I can forget my tour to Kirghizstan. I am sure with a few of their "smallest currency units" it would be possible but I have spend far too much already...
The nice girls here drive me crazy. In mini skirts and with long legs they smile at me poor tourist waiting in the customs. Only one of this smiles and I can tell you exactly what I missed in all the months travelling Iran, Pakistan and India.
...a few small things to arrange and my South Siberia and Mongolia tour can start."
"Leaving the UK in Feb 2000,after shipping my bike a H**** XR600 (no sponsorship- no mention!!!) by sea, at a most favourable rate thru Air Express Int. in London, I flew into Buenos Aires to await its arrival after its four weeks on the water. The expectations which I originally had about being subjected to hassles, backhanders, heavy customs duties, carnets, etc were all blown out as I had nothing but excellent treatment from all the Argentine administration. The Customs were so brilliant that I could not believe how accommodating they were and this was the attitude which I found with the people both in city and countryside throughout my journey in Argentina.
Loading up the bike in BA, I headed for the Parana region for a soft run into Uruguay, to iron out any problems and to balance the bike whilst doing some off-road stuff...After a short tour of Uruguay, I headed back from the coast and gave away half of my clothes to the church in Montevideo, Oooh, my bestest shirts!!!!.. but I just had too much weight. I took a horrendously expensive ferry ride from Pirapolis to BA $165 - 300kms-What a rip-off!!!...into the madness of the Buenos Aires traffic to head South and the long start to my 24,000 kms around South America.
It was hot. The roads are excellent, straight with petrol stops but the open pampas countryside is not the most scenic. I tried to keep off the main highways and here, you realise just how much you are on your own! I was camping along the way and met up with some real local characters in the countryside, it was one laugh after another.There was no hassle, very safe and people were so willing to assist! Truck drivers toot, coach drivers flash and wave and everyone asks in amazement ."De donde vienes?. A donde vas?.Estas Solo!"
I headed West across to Esquel /Trevilin to cross the Andes into Chile at Futalafeu, battling against that so famous wind "El Viento" which always blew hard. This was Patagonia.
Riding at an angle on gravel roads is serious hard work, and besides getting me out of trouble on mud, the XR600 and the Pirelli MT21 rear tyre was the BIZ! Here began the spectacular scenery of the dry red mountains and deep blue lakes, one horse towns with romantic names like Paso de Indios, with the odd Indian or two around, and a brothel/hotel run by ex-boxers, the father named Rocky One and son Rocky Two.
But as someone previously said, '.when the tarmac ends the silence begins.' and I've been there - the winding mountain roads, the indescribable scenery, the bland boring food,the long long long booze free days, but man what a ride!-'Man and Machine in perfect harmony!'' It's been fun so far,and my love affair with the XR600 is progressing, she's now called Mustang Sally, (.' We gonna ride.. Sally ride!. " )...Next report on the crossing into what was to be a Chilly Chile.
"The Around the World for Peace team crossed the border to Argentina
after a successful stay in beautiful Chile. ...their third country in the
itinerary of more than 70 counties to visit in their journey.
...talking to many international journalists and making very important and
interesting contacts that will help promote the humanitarian objectives of
this international friendship expedition."
"Still in Bolivia after more than 2 months. Heading back to La Paz
today to to sell our bikes. Figured it will be much easier here because we
can sell them without papers and without hassle (no real rules in these parts,
as you know). Asked a shop the other day in Cochabamba and he said he would
pay
1500 US each. Pretty good since we only paid 850 US per bike. Will then continue
through Arg. by bus, hitch hiking, etc..."
My reply, remembering the endless list of woes the bikes had (see last months issue): "take the 1500 and run!" Grant
Still in Nairobi as of May 25, but Tanguy's bike is finally repaired, and should be on the move soon.
After a great time in NY City and Upstate New York and a short visit to Boston, the route heads to Montreal, Canada tomorrow. Then it's west all the way....
see the website for more...
"Photo from dinner tonight (end April) in Bangkok: Anke, Jan, Chris, Erin, Andy, and Liam."
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"We're in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and highly recommend a visit -- Borders only opened a couple of years ago, and dramatic changes occurring. It's similar to India in some ways, but far less people, and they're all super friendly. We're here for another week or so, then we're off to Vietnam. Just loaded some awesome photos from the ride, and Chapter 33 is also up...We're going to TRY to cross into Vietnam in the morning -- wish us luck!"
"...Tuesday dinner of the round-the-world bikers who met in Bangkok on Friday first when they were 16 of them. But still much to talk about roads and breakdowns. A guy Liam on Africa Twin left town on Tuesday and in addition a Belgian, Phillipe on Transalp joined us this evening when we watched a video tape from the last Castrol fun rally in Cambodia at Banglampoo.
Three BMWs g/s, 2 gs100, 2 Funduros, 2 gs1100, a Yamaha XT and a TT already on the boat to oz. Some people I know already since about a year from their homepages and now eventually met! like:
http://www.ultimatejourney.com/home.html
http://www.ardi.si/benka/
http://members.tripod.de/weltreisende/
http://www.angelfire.com/tv/rtw/
http://members.theglobe.com/bmwadventure
have fun, Daniel@bkk"
" (by Linda)...We rode the final 50 miles into La Paz in the dark and it was really cold. My fingers were numb. I found I was able to take my mind off my hands by staring at the city lights, which we could see from 30 miles away. When we approached the toll booth at the entry to La Paz, we stopped for an amazing view over the city... It was almost 9:30 pm. We had a hotel recommendation from our Team Torres friends Jed and Dee (Hostal Republica). When we pulled into town and stopped to pull out the map, a man asked if we needed directions. It turned out that we were only about 6 blocks away. It was quite strange considering the size of La Paz! Five minutes later we had found the hotel and were trying to figure out how we could ride the bikes up the two sets of very tall stairs. The hotel pulled out some boards and Jeff roared them in. The hotel staff absolutely loved watching Jeff ride up and down the stairs...The hotel is a historic old building and was at one time, a Bolivian president's home. There are lovely courtyards, friendly staff and best of all, phones in the room. It was spendy at $16 per night but we were going to be in e-mail heaven. We unpacked and headed out for some dinner in a dicey part of town. A couple of beers melted away all the hardships of the day and soon we were counting llamas...
...on to Brazil and Venezuela..."
"We are three Indians from Bangalore planning to do a world tour on motorcycles. We plan to travel across 86 countries over a distance of 100,000 + kms. We would like all those like minded individuals give us some information or help or both regarding this. All advises are welcome and will be highly appreciated." (from a post on the Bulletin Board, please reply on the board)
"...my plan is to leave late July for what Sam Correro tells me will be the first complete ride of his TransAmerica Trail. My riding partner is still not 100%, but if he dips out I'll just go ahead and do it on my own -- planning to take more than the minimum 26 days Sam says it needs, however; speed ain't the key!
Me? Ummm, 40-year-old journalist from Bath UK planning to travel v.v.v.light on '93 XR650L.
...I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who might want to tag along -- that said, I'm not into big groups...and I won't be throwing money around on comfy living! ;-)"
This sounds like a brilliant trip, and it's never been done! Any takers?
Russell plans on shipping the bike to Singapore and continuing on after the TransAmerica Trail.
"A friend of mine from South Africa will be travelling in Europe in September this year. He is investigating the possibilities of a bike-swap arrangement for that period. Here is the message 'Looks like I'll be hiring a 650 for a week or two, but I was wondering, since you are still subscribed to the GS list, if you could post a 'Bike Swap' message on my behalf. Basically, anyone wanting a bike (1150GS and/or 800G/S) for a week or two in ZA to swap for the same (or a 650) in Europe (pref Germany) for the same period. They can mail me at donaldm@digitalmall.com.
BTW, Don is the guy who did the R80G/S blue manual on the net at the dogpage which is referenced quite often..."
"It's great to get your newsletters - just to remind us what it is all going to be about.
We have, in principal, sold our house now and have made an offer on a flat in town which has been accepted so it looks as if we are going to be into some serious planning stages soon - can't wait. This may seem a bit drastic selling up but, hey, those of us who don't have oodles of money and are absolutely hopeless at saving have to take the plunge now and again. We are going to be buying the flat with a large deposit - leaving enough to start the trip fund ( approx £5k ) and pay off debts. Should manage to save ( yep we are going to try ) about £700 per month. So by next March might have enough !
I note that you have a section for trips to come. Perhaps you would include our trip ( 40% planned to date ) so that we can get some feedback on all sorts of things I am sure we will forget!
The basic route ( subject to deviations where possible ) is :
UK - Holland - Hungary - Croatia - Bosnia - Yugoslavia - Romania - Moldova* - Ukraine* - Romania - Bulgaria - Turkey - Syria - Lebanon - Syria - Jordan - Syria - Turkey - Iran* - Pakistan - India - Bangledesh - Assam* - Myanmar* - Thailand - Laos* - Vietnam* - Cambodia* - Malaysia - Singapore - Ship to New Zealand - and hey who knows what will be next.
Countries with * are a bit iffy.
Planned bikes: two BMW F650's. Hubby would like to take R1100GS's but they don't make platform riding boots for women yet!
Will let you know how the plans go but we aim to leave March time next year.
Keep the newsletters coming for inspiration!
I will be in Australia from 1 Aug till 1 Nov this year. Starting in Perth for 30.000 km's, first to Darwin then the east-coast to Sydney then the south road back to Perth. I am driving a modified Transalp.
David, Gmunden, Austria,
"I will fly with my girlfriend in November 2000 to Argentina and will drive the Pan-American to Mexico within 15 months. I would like to exchange info with motorcycle travellers who come down the other direction from USA to South America."
see the Bulletin Board for updates with David.
...planning a trip from South Africa to Tanzania on an F650. He would love to hear from South Africans who want to join him on the trip - and/or the climb of Kilimanjaro.
...getting ready to start their motorcycle trip north to the USA.
We got back from the trip a month ago. We had a great time! Thanks to everyone for their help. I won't be using the Hotmail address anymore. Please write me at Ginol@juno.com or jluce@cob.org Hope everyone is doing well!
...if you're a member of an Australian/NZ club you may have "exchange
privileges" so when you're there, just stop in any ADAC office (in Germany)
and ask for the "no toll" routes through the Alps.
Jack Shaw
Jack was replying to an Aussie, but any Automobile Association membership
should have the same privileges. Grant
Greetings from Addis Ababa. Here are some hard facts for you. First, the
bad news for you bottom-uppers: You can get the Sudanese visa in Addis only
when you show an air ticket. The visa has a hand-written "only by air"
on it. The border post won't let you in with that. I met some
people who were refused. The embassy doesn't tell you why this is now.
Maybe you can get a visa in Nairobi without that ticket-only-by-air thing, I don't know.
- expensive to take the bike in, you need a carnet, and it takes some time.
- tickets for the ferry across Lake Nasser for the persons you get them at
the Wadi el Nile authority, next to the tourist police on the second street
behind the Nile. costs 88.50 EP. the ticket for the bike you get in the harbour,
costs 144EPs, buy it the morning you arrive there for leaving. the ticket
includes 1 dinner and two drinks, bring something for breakfast.
...in Wadi Halfa there's a helpful guy who will approach you on the ferry already. He's from the tourist authority or something. US$ 15 for customs and another US$15 for the registration and travel permit was what I paid.
No-one ever asked me for a photo permit. The sites permit for visiting is compulsory as they won't let you see the pyramids without it. (US$10 per site, Stefan got it in Khartoum).
In Halfa you can get fuel for 650SD per gallon. Go downhill from the market to find the place.
Khartoum for the Ethiopian visa you need a return ticket and a letter of recommendation from your embassy. You can cancel the ticket afterwards. Some travel agencies hesitate to do it, so you may have to ask several ones. Here's what I paid: 5% of $355 canceling fee ($20), $10 for the travel agency service, $63 for the visa, 2600SD for the letter.
You CAN change traveller cheques at the National bank of Abu Dabi in Khartoum, but they charge you 5 to 10% fee. So, this is only for emergency. You can also transfer money to one of their accounts and get the cash-$ if you show an air ticket out of Sudan. This is better that TCs. So, you better take cash-$ with you. I was not asked for a money declaration!
You can get the travel permit in Khartoum also quickly at the tourist police (20 minutes) instead of walking around for days asking at other offices.
If you enter Sudan at Karabutum, check that they stamp your carnet correctly, they did not do it with Stefan's.
The street Gedaref-Gallabat is no problem when dry, maybe difficult when wet, we did it in 4.5 hours. Check www.klaus.daerr.de for some GPS coordinates.
In Gallabat emigration is easy. Change excess Dinars into Birr on the Sudanese side, the rate is better there.
In Metemma only customs and police check, you must do the immigration work
in Shehedi, about 42kms into Ethiopia. You can sleep at the Sakbesak Hotel.
The immigration and customs cost US$1 (one). YOU DON'T NEED A CARNET!! The
street to Azezo is no problem, if it rains you may have to cross 2 to 3 creeks.
Also, you can change TCs in Ethiopia at every Commercial Bank with good rates.
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but
in practice, there is."
Thanks to Allan Kaplan
"A traveller without observation is a bird without wings."
Moslih Eddin Saadi (1184-1291)
"A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going to, and
a perfect traveler does not know where he came from."
Lin Yutang(1895-1976)
"Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries,
know people. Let your memory be your travel bag."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
To subscribe, or even UNsubscribe "now why would you want to do that?" to this HTML newsletter / e-zine.
Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' e-zine
to a friend! Just forward it to them, or send them the link to the newsletter on the website.
I am working on a listing of people who have ridden around the world, as well as what I call "significant journeys" e.g. the first across Africa. Any information you may have on this topic, please let me know. Preferably post it on the Bulletin Board, or e-mail me direct. I currently have around 73 world travellers listed, but there are many more. Some people think there are around about 100 people who have done a full around the world. Have YOU done it?
Bernd Tesch has produced a very comprehensive list, at his website of long distance travellers. We have some overlap, and some new to each other. We'd both like to think that we have everybody, but of course we don't, so please continue to send any new information on any travellers you meet.
Thanks for joining us, we hope you enjoyed it, and do please let us know your thoughts. It's your newsletter, help us fine tune it so it helps you!
We have a lot of content, from many different people, is there too much? Is there a section we should drop? What do you think? What do you think about the addition of photos? Is the file size too big? It's grown from the first edition, at 43kb, to 96kb for the last one. I'm afraid to look to see what size this one is. There is just so much happening, so many of you having great trips, and writing about it, I find it hard to leave anything out!
See you next month.
Ride often, ride far, and ride it like you stole it!
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