Today we moved into the Mongolian area. Great open spaces and a far more traditional feel with people walking their cows and sheep for grazing alongside the road.
We passed through a little town with a market day on in the main through road, driving between the stalls and causing chaos. We stopped at [...]
Today we again experienced the inflexibility of the Chinese toll-gate manager. We are farm machinery and as such can’t use the motorway. We were therfore relegated to the lanes and muddy tracks that wind under this wonderful construction and travelled 25 km in two hours. we wouldn’t have had a show of getting out of [...]
We are in Ping Liang in China somewhere and everyone stares as we are the only tourists they have had for ever. Babies scream and grannies point and laugh. Crowds gather whever we go, especially with the bikes. It is quite amazing to get such attention when you are just having a long bike [...]
I’m lying face down, the bike is running still and I’m waiting for the big black dog to sink her teeth in me. Shouts from the road workers have sent the bitch running, but my leg is at a strange angle with the bike on top of it. Dave is muttering about the leg “not [...]
Today a few of us went to see the Caves of 1000 Buddahs carved into a rocky cliff face at the edge of the desert. In 366 AD a Buddist monk started this creation and it continued over a 1500 years depicting the art and life of the people. Only in the early 20th century [...]
Sitting in a depressing Taklamakan desert town (Mangmai) in an internet cafe that is like a bomb shelter with 200 people in it. We are the first foreigners to come here. Had a really hard (but good) day with 300 km on gravel, sand and rocks and then the last 80 on some wonderful [...]
We have had problems with one of the bikes, so the group is now
split. One pair of riders is on their way fron Tashkent (we hope) in catch-up
mode while we have an easy day on the shores of Izzk Kul near the
Russian border. we had a very cool swim this morning and it feels [...]
Hi Buddies,
Boy I’m ugly and the bruising has proceeded down my neck topped by a bright yellow cheek and a red eye socket. Lucky what ever I hit didn’t get my eye. Vodka is great for pain (even if you have none) and you forget how ugly you look and think you are being [...]
We are in Tashkent — very recently made a motorcycle-free city due to terrorist concerns. So we had to truck 5 of the bikes in for their half-way service from the police post on the outskirts of town. One bike was already on a truck that we had hired from 100km out, as we [...]