first ride out..

 I’m probably too late to catch up with my Blog.. so many things happened the last days :) first of all, I’m doing great!! I just travelled to the source of the Ganga river (well.. as far the road lead ;) To hike further up is not possible at the moment, because there’s a lot of snow and blizzards going on. But it was nice to get that close to it.. to 3500m.a.s.l. where it was getting really cold in the afternoon! (glad to head towards warmer climate again ;)
Riding to Rishikesh was not exactly a pleasure, but I managed to do it and from now on, it’s not getting that crazy anymore.  I stayed there for three nights.. met somebody and we went to a waterfall together and had some nice time. I gave some massage and we got a bit closer, but it was not really picking up and I got called by the road again (good decision!). Rishikesh grew a lot since I was there 11 years ago. There are many Yoga schools, but they don’t look very serious, for in the touristy vibe of the place you can’t really purify yourself I find. Then I managed to find this guy Mukesh, who makes didgeridoos for already 35 years :) I met him also the first time 11 years ago. So I played some didgeridoo, we had some chai and he helped me out with some a couple of things. Too bad there were no other foreigners, for I would have LOVED to jam with some people!!!
I still have to wait for the bike papers and everything got delayed (India), so I’m know exploring the north of Uttarakhand, what is actually still a bit early to do it, but once I’m having time and being busy afterwards, I just use this week to drive around for the sheer fun of riding!! :) so just after Rishikesh, the road starts to climb.. signs like: “license to drive not to fly” and “after whisky driving risky” are telling you to respect these roads. Well.. you’ll see some pictures.. by far the most stunning thing I’ve ever done and one have to be really careful not to miss out a curve. The whole road is basically carved (or stitched) to a steep mountain slope, where on one side you’ll always have thrilling views out through the Himmalayan Mountains! It’s incredible to ride.. I had to extend my scale from 1 to 10 (1 = pampa of Argentina, 10 = Rockies in Jasper or Andes in Ecuador) to 11 and 12, where it was alternating the whole ride through! :D
this is just incredible!!!
so then on the way to some hot springs, I met another guy travelling on an Enfield (24 years old from Australia). So we coupled up and are riding together now.. everything is more fun this way! :D well.. his bike is a bit shitty, but he’s doing well and after staying at the hot springs and meeting some girls to talk with, we drove today all the way up to Gangotri, where we got invited by a Baba for chai and food. He’s living in a cave the whole year through and teaches people Yoga and meditation. I found him extremely spiritual and more holy than many “holy” men I met. I was impressed by his being for he seems just to exist in harmony with everything! ..then we got thrown out the park by the police. They made us leave or pay a lot of bribe (didn’t want to do that). So we had to drive another hour back to the next place where we could stay.. here at least electricity, for there’s a generator running for some hours. Power lines don’t work for it takes another month to get into the tourist season. Then the place must see a lot of folks that want to hike up here.. but at the moment, these small villages are like ghost towns. It’s quite an experience being up here (out here ;) and the road to get here is probably the most incredible road I’ve ever ridden!! (only to be beaten by other roads on this trip ;)
So soon they should have finished painting the kitchen of the only place where you can get food here and we can eat have some boiled eggs and alu baratha (some chapatti with potato filling). We got invited twice food today (rice and dahl) and I’m still hungry.. must be the cold that uses up so much energy of the food I eat.
the bike by the way is doing a great job!! I figured out how to adjust the carbonator if you go up really high in the mountains :) I’ll have to get some things done though in the next days. I hope I can do it in Mussori (similar name), where we want to stay for some days. It’s gonna be warmer and hopefully suitable for a nice day hike through the hills. Hopefully there’s garage where they can put stickers on ;)

So in the meantime we got a bit further and brought some more ass-kicking roads behind us ;)
The next day, I got a flat tire in the morning. We couldn’t find the problem (luckily there was a tire repair man) and put some air inside. Furthermore there was some wiggling on the front wheel and the same day my chain guard broke :P ..but still we made it to a place called “Barkot”, where we had a nice evening session on the rooftop. It was much warmer than the two other nights.. won’t see that I don’t get too high too soon again ;)
the whole way driving here was spectacular and I’m really getting into it. It takes some skill, but most of all is not to pass 40km/h .. better is to be going 30. It’s amazing that there are roads leading into these high mountains, leading along steep slopes!
We stopped at the Kempty falls, that’s a very touristy place (locals only) and basically an overcrowded waterfall with a pool (and lots of people with tires floating it it ;) and hundreds of souvenir shops selling all kind of rubbish. We had a hard time to pass through that place for the chaos was perfect with having lots of cars on a narrow road. By the time we got to Mussoree, the weather was changing and we went down on the other side almost into the flatland. On the way down it started raining and Rick dropped his bike twice. I’m happy my bike is a bit lighter and has brand new tires on it! ..we stayed in Rajpur, a strange place where people do torture-yoga (sounds actually interesting) or bible reading. Well.. was OK for one night (even if a shitty hotel). Then today we got easily to Dehra Dun.. another big city where traffic is horrible during the day. But I had a couple of thing to get done on the bike and got lucky this morning, finding a place on Sunday where they could do just everything! ..was around 20 USD to fix my back tire, chain guard, make some small modifications, put the stickers and above all: fix the bearing of the front fork. Don’t know how this had so much play after it was serviced in Delhi.. but it was for sure interesting to see how they change these parts (learned something more today :).
otherwise we were hanging out, watching some movies.. eat a lot of tasty Indian food lately but will as well be happy to get some westerner food, as soon as I get back to a touristy place. This though could take a while.. first we’re going back to Mussoree and then taking the Chamba road across some more peaks :)
my papers will arrive earliest on Friday, so I got some more days to spend out here (what I don’t mind at all ;) there are some great pictures of that adventure and there will be even more when I make it to Rishikesh or Haridwar.

Days later..  and many, many kilometres further :) ..just trying to put the last days in words. When we started in Dehra Dun, it was still pretty cold in the morning and it was cloudy almost all day long. We rode to Chamba and then around Theri and the dam to a little place on top of a mountain, where we spent the night. We always found some wicked place to stay (it’s one of the advantages travelling on a bike ;) The next day, after riding down the mountain (takes easily an hour up and an hour down ;) Rick headed to Rishikesh and I headed on to Chapta, but the long way around. After changing my bearing the bike still doesn’t behave well :P there must be some other issue too and I let someone have a look at it in Rishikesh. I anyway still have to wait for the bike papers.. hmm.. wish to be in Nepal already. It was tough great to ride around in Uttarakhand.. bad ass riding out here!! :D
on the way I decided to go to Auli first and then to Chapta.. in Auli (a ski resort that is out of season at the moment ;) I met Taylor.. an American in my age that also bought a bike (the Impulse 150ccm) and we travelled together until this very moment :) it’s cool to have a riding buddy and who would have thought that this goes so easy ;) ..his 150ccm started tough struggling already at 3000m.a.s.l. ..I’m sure I’ll use the extra power my bike got!
we hiked in Auli for one day (beautiful one too) and it was another great trip ;D we almost made it to the top, but there was still snow and we got into the clouds (Auli, where earth meets heaven :)
the next day we made it to Chopta and today to Devaprayag, a nice little place where several valleys meet. We’re staying, because the day got already long and tomorrow we easily make it to Rishikesh. We in general had good weather. Was a bit hazy tough, so that pictures would turn our very well. But still.. having the experience of riding here in the Himalaya in India is totally GREAT! :D I’ve seen some white lemurians (white monkeys) and all kind of wildlife along the way. We keep meeting people without bikes and are so happy, we don’t have to wait for buses.. we just can go whenever wherever we want! :D
I finally got back to Yoga today! ..while I was driving so much, I didn’t have much time for the things I’d also like to do. Especially no massage practice :/ I’ll have to stop more along the way!! ..another thing is also the cold, that put me down at 8pm already. I think in a month it will be really nice up there, but at the moment the nights are freezing cold! (so looking forward to go back to Rishikesh, where it’s warmer (hot to be precise).

..ready to take off! :D

so day 4 is over and everything has been done.. I got maps and moved my stuff to Rajinder (so I could set up peacefully). The bike is finally ready (except for bad-ass dragon-stickers that will be put on in Rishikesh). It runs super smooth and the people working on it did a great job! even if it's just 220ccm, it's fun to ride and even if it's now loaded and somewhat different to handle, I'll get used to it and will take many adventurous roads (I've seen some pictures today.. don't expect concrete in the north ;)
my journey will take my over the four highest drivable passes in the world.. another superlative that I haven't done yet ;)
best was meeting Imran again (he helped me with the bike). He's an expert in touring in this region and gave me a lot of tips and routes to do. Told me where to get permits, to get 20 copies of them, because you'll hand them over at the checkpoints. I will get very close to China and drive through the Kashmir region (no worries, there are not that many terrorist activities ;)
We also looked at the climatic conditions and planned the route according to this. There might be some rain, but it should not be too much. Until a few hours, I didn't know where to go and what you can do.. but now I feel having plenty of thing to do and to see in the next 5 month.. and believe me.. very few people are doing, what I'm doing! :D ..if somebody takes an Enfield to the north, he probably doesn't spend that much time exploring all the valleys, hot springs and passes (for most of the people don't have so much time ;)
here is a little cost calculation, what it took to make this happen:

Bike          63000Rs
Gear          21900Rs
Bags            7500Rs
Bike mod    8100Rs
new tires     3500Rs
div.stuff       5000Rs
total:         10900Rs = 2100USD
re-sell bike after trip ca. 50000Rs (ca. 1000USD)

so the investment will be 1100USD, where only 500USD will be "lost" (makes around 3USD/day). The rest is invested in bike gear that I will send home. Gas will be somewhat costly, but the bike doesn't use too much and I easily can afford :D

back to Masala-Country! :)

Everything fell into place.. the Visa.. the flights.. and getting picked up and taking care of in an unbelievable way!
I got a free taxi pickup (guy with my name on a sign ;) and after spending one night in a bit costly hotel, I got transferred to Rajinder, a friend who helps me out here with my little "project" :D
so I met two very nice and awesome guys that are totally into biking here (doing rally and stunts and very, very experienced about all the bikes available here). We went then to check bikes and pick one.
First I rode a Enfield Thunderbird. Nice sound, awesome style, but the handling in curves a bit inconvenient. Furthermore 700USD loss in buy-sell and much higher gasoline expenses. And finally.. I'm not a mechanic and rather have a state-of-the-art bike than a piece of history.
The next one was the Hero Honda Krazima.. not very nice looking bike, but 220ccm (max available) and good to handle and having acceptable shocks (there will be unpaved roads!).
Then I got to ride a 220ccm Bajaj Pulsar.. looks great, but doesn't handle as nice as the Hero and has smaller tire size. It's more to go fast than to go offroad.
Finally they stopped at a place to drive a Impulse.. this bike looks just the puppy of the BMW 650 GS I used to ride. It's handling is outstanding and has perfect shocks. But the downside is that it's only 150ccm and this is too small for me.. (I can live with > 200ccm, but if it's small, it lacks the necessary power to climb 5000m high mountain passes).
So the Hero it is.. one of the guys already researched a lot about them and knew a good one available.. I'll make the price calculation, once I bought everything, but it's all affordable.. gear will be sent home and the bike can be sold again. has about 8000km and is from 2011 (I find it's good to have nice stuff and not ride old shitty bikes.. they easily can cause much more trouble).
I bought a helmet, know where to get all the other gear and today we check once more on gear (then I buy) and get the bike to make service and some small modifications. I'll see to have a before and after picture ;)
tomorrow I get a map and some small items and latest on Sunday morning, I will be driving to Rishikesh, where I will stay a day or two before I make it to Kathmandu and finally the east of Nepal to climb the Mount Everest (to the base camp at least ;) hehe ;)
Rajinder invited me for so many things that I really feel bad! He even insisted that I sleep in his bed, while he put a mat on the floor for himself. I'm deeply touched of his hospitality and all the help he's giving me. Ysterday three people took time to advice me and to drive me around in Delhi (taking Rikshaws is very costly and driving yourself very crazy and it's soooo big, if you don't know it, it takes a lot of time to get around). So I got extremely helped out here and I'm really happy about it! :D
Beside the technical stuff we discuss, we also had lots of good conversations about life and love (especially love ;).
Today we do the bike papers and once more, I'm happy they're helping me out.. like this I can be sure that everything will be OK.
So.. let's have some chai and then start the day :)

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day 2

so I got transferred to the center (gives Rajinder a bit more air here ;). We checked another shop for bike gear and BINGO! they have the better selection and more fitting products. So I decided what I need and we went to buy the bike.. this goes with quite some paper work, but my friends made sure, they have all the documents signed and everything is done right! (even this would have been too much for me.. you can't possibly know if it's all correct or you'll run into problems later).
Then we dropped the bike at another friends place of Rajinder.. he's bike mechanic and really good in it! so his whole team is taking care of my bike (looked like in a pit stop ;) and it will be ready soon (serviced & upgraded!). I have a 12V-Charger to charge all my devices (this goes with the added socket of my bike ;)
also this day was pretty long and I ended it by meeting and talking to a french guy on the rooftop of our hotel. Got a bit late, but was interesting company.

day 3

I just went to the bike gear shop and bought all my stuff.. I'll make the cost calculation later, but it was all kind of affordable and I will have another complete set of gear back home after this trip ;) I also stocked up with some camping equipment (especially a new yoga mat!! :D ) got a good discount and was very happy.. got also personalized stickers for the bike (a proud dragon, called "Freya", as the Norse goddess of love and beauty). and a real loud horn! that will scare the shit out of cows and people that don't pay attention ;)
had to sign some papers and was late, but the guy was waiting for me for 3 hours!! happy it's done now. The papers will be sent to Haridwar, where I have to pick them up before crossing the boarder to Nepal. Rajinder is incredible!!! he's just the man here! :)
Then we checked on the bike.. it will be finished by tomorrow. We changed the tires.. tubeless with offroad profile in the back and with tube and off/onroad-profile on the front. Tubeless was not available with good profile and the one they tried didn't fit.. so I took this as a sign and went for more profile. Have also tools with me to fix punctures and re-inflate, if it has to be.

now having a beer and chilling out, then taking a Rikshaw to the center, where I will fall on my bed and have a good sleep! ..tomorrow are just little things to do, but it will take the whole day.. the last night I can spend with Rajinder, so I can load the bike in peace.. then going to bed early, getting up early and hitting the road direction mountains! :)
THIS IS THE SHIT!!! :D ..wait until you see pics of my and my new bike! :D

4000km through Cambodia..

I'm happy this trip came to a good end!! I estimate the whole distance around 4000km, what is pretty good, considering the size of Cambodia. One day I might be back in Cambodia for some more riding, but this might take very long (or will never happen), as there are many other projects that would be done before (e.g. riding in Laos ;)
To get back to the highway, I took some small road with two river crossings with ferries. That was fun!! :) especially the second time, when caption and crew were three little kids (that were even ripping me off with the fare ;) but it was cheap anyway and I was happy not to be delayed, but just to drive on their raft with small external motor. The middle part was very sandy for it led basically through the jungle and I could not imagine how the French guy did this with his bicycle. Chapeau! ;) It was very tiring and I was happy when the road got better. Dropped the bike four times in the sand (very slow going) and got cramps in my fingers from grabbing the handle bar so hard :P ..but a cool stretch to do.. way better and more interesting than the paved main road ;)
In Stung Treng, where I spent the night, I met the most interesting people ever in Cambodia. One guy cycling here from England and two other people traveling the Ho-Chi-Ming trail on a small (and shitty :P motorbike. I think, it's important to have a good set up. Just driving a bike because it was cheap to buy it might not be the best reason and not as much fun as it could be.
so I got a bottle of Pastis and we drank and talked for some hours.
Then the next morning I woke up hangovery :P it was OK to drive but needed to drink a lot of water to get hydrated again. Then I was riding down along the Mekong river, passing many little villages along the way. In Kampong Cham (where also a Muslim minority is living), I got at least three times as much "hello" as during the whole trip.. people there are really friendly!! :) some even invited me for a beer and presented me some girls ;) yes.. it's really an adventure to drive through Cambodia!
then I stayed on my way down in Kampong Cham town, where there is a bridge over the Mekong river (haven't seen any further up). Met also some interesting people and had good conversations (was also talking a lot.. catching up after all these days ;). I made a short trip out to the old airstrip (there are just the ruins from the tower and an old bunker and the airstrip is now part of the road and in very bad shape. But it gave me nice memories from five years ago, when I also rode out with a bike (same one ;) and checked this place out. I was doing good keeping up with Yoga and exercises the last days. Will see that I can do this as well in India!
Today I got up at 5.30AM and got on the bike and drove it back to PP. Returning it was no problem at all. They didn't even charge me the foot-holder that broke off quite early in my trip. Was all very affordable and good bike! ..thinking that I put just 4000km on it and used the chain for 2/3 and the back tire 50% it was well worth the price!
all my clothes are in the laundry now and there's only one more thing to do (next to packing ;) and that is to get my passport tomorrow afternoon.
okay.. I'm having a beer and joining the table next to me ;) ..you'll hear from me..

Harder than it looks..

Hear, hear.. it turns out, I need proof of exit for my Visa (because Swiss?!) and it delayed me for another day. Well.. finally things are running and with the computer god on my side, I will get my Visa just in time. It took my though a lot of waiting and I’m traumatized of it and will be relieved, when it’s over!
I got less and less days for my trip to Ratankiri, but im still making it. Would just wish to have more time, but anyway I wanted to go there to see and to ride (even if it turned a bit into a Rally :P ) ..yes, today was not so superb.. after delaying with the Visa, I took the wrong way out of town and lost another 40 min and found myself later driving like the devil to the river crossing further down. I would have had so much time, if not for lot of stupidity and not paying attention to the signs in life (and next to the road), I took the wrong way for very long, until I stood in front of the Vietnamese boarder :P obviously can’t cross with a rented bike, so I turned around and found myself another way up.. but too late to make it into the peaceful hills of Sen Monorom, where I would have wanted to stay for one night. Now instead, I’m at the turn-off to it (130km away) and in a guest house next to the main road, with the stickiest room ever, for its window can’t be opened (for ages apparently :P
well.. I made it. found myself driving too hard and slowed down. Loosing this waste amount of time was because not taking time to think and navigate. Anyway.. learned a big deal more about riding. (and can soon say that I’ve been in EVERY SINGLE ONE department of Cambodia ;)
tomorrow is going to be a long day of riding (but safely of course!). I’m prepared to sleep outside.. can survive on water and (dried) banana one more day if it has to be. There’s a nice volcano lake in Ban Lung where I will dip in after tomorrow. Sen Monorom though will just be a short stop for food, bike service and gas and then I’ll head on to the north.
It’s amazing how people here live. For most of them, life is rather simple. I still see a lot of struggling for surviving, but after very dark years, this is a more prosperous state of Cambodia. But many people don’t have the possibilities to travel (not even their own country) and a very conservative form of living is practiced.
while I’ve been riding, there was a lot of climatic change.. luckily, I just got stopped once by rain (for having no proper rain gear). If there were, then only a few drops and sometimes I could drive through or avoid it by speeding up a bid, for I could see blue sky not far away. The same I witnessed on the road as in the mountains, where sometime I was hiking or just taking my bike for a ride! :)
so far this has been a super epic trip!! :D I’m looking forward to my last days riding here in Cambodia and then to finish all the open things and get myself ready for India (can I? ;) This has all been pretty packed, but quite nicely! ;D
I met a young guy from Indonesia, who’s travelling with a 150ccm! He did 2 month already and one more to go. This made my excited even more about my own adventure. He had a really nice set-up and it gave me some ideas ;) I will have to get my bike modified as well as I’m looking forward to spend a couple of bucks for good gear and riding equipment as bags and all the nice neat little accessories you can have ;)
this is gonna be incredibly EPIC!! =D ..well.. still I’m here. Let’s go day by day and let things happen.

Yey.. I’m in Ban Lung, the furthest part of Cambodia I wanted to travel to. I had a quite a long day driving, but having the whole day, I could take my time :) so the first part from Snoul to Sen Monorom turned out to be newly paved (too bad, was looking forward for dirt road, but got lots of it afterward ;) there I had breakfast and talked to a guy at the next table. Turns out he’s here for 10 years and has a bike adventure company. Gave me some information about the way and some good ideas about dirtbiking in Cambodia ;)
then it took quite a while to get to Koh Niehk, because there’s a lot of roadwork going on.. really A LOT! ..but well.. made it somehow more interesting to ride it. I’m sure in a couple years from here, it will be paved, so I’m happy I did it now :) got lots of sand and dust (it’s like insta-mud.. add a couple hundred litres of water and you’ll get stuck in it). Then there was some muddy part with waterholes and had to use some driving skills to get through it. Glad I didn’t drop it.. it would have been sooo messy :P but still all my clothes and now especially my backpack are looking forward to a good wash!! Really didn’t have time to get that done properly along the way (got back to hand washing ;)
it was not as scenic as I thought it might be, but it’s a nice stretch to ride and makes totally sense to drive it, if you’re looping in the North-East. Tomorrow, I’ll have an easy day. There are two volcano lakes around here and one of the waterfalls that I want to visit.. and a little loop to connect them all :) So I’ll make use of the bike and drive around one day in Ratankiri province and then will turn around another way back to PP. I actually have still one more extra day, because I made it just straight through to here. I like the aspect of me being able to ride a good stretch such like this :)
It is incredible, how this country in growing. I’m sure Ban Lung was much smaller five years ago, but for Sen Monorom I can say it for sure! Maybe I’ll be back in many years and see how things have changed. For now, I’m feeling coming to an end here and moving forward to something slightly bigger (well.. not the bike, but the trip ;)

So as here is not so much going on, I use the time to keep up with this. I feel as Cambodia comes to an end for me (probably for a good while). From here on, I will just drive back and every kilometre brings me closer to my next episode.
Today was just splendid!! :D beautiful weather and lovely roads through hills. I’m glad there’s no one driving in front of me (having a riding buddy), because I’d swallow too much dust ;P So I went visiting a crater lake, then went on to another crater lake about 50km away and hiked around it. It’s all very beautiful nature and it’s great having time to venture around in this world!
I had a very thoughtful day.. some things of the past want to be processed over and over again, before finally mind comes to a rest. But was nice to go along with all the thoughts.. one main aspect (now and probably for the next time) is that I’d enjoy company of the very being that wants to share its life with me. Hmm.. hard to find, for has to understand my complex being by intuition and fall strongly in love with me forever :P yeah.. so let’s stick to that other plan with the motorbike ;)
I got (for the 4^th out of 4 times) invited for food. Local people having a picnic out at the Crater Lake (consists out of a 12-pack of small water, a 24-pack of beer not chilled, a huge pot of rice and some other dish along with it). They had some beef Seviche (lots of Onion and Lemon) and it was super tasty!! :D before I my buttocks touched the ground, I got offered a beer and even if most of them spoke no English, was wonderful to spend this time (and eat great food, drinking beer ;) ..that’s why the people of Cambodia are called so friendly and this is, what is the “heart of Khmer”! Admirable these people!! Cheered me up in many situations.
so I rode around in this lovely place with my bike and had some exercise walking around. Didn’t find the gemstone mines here.. the people are digging with almost no tools in search of gems. But it’s not directly a touristy thing and I don’t know how it would have worked out.
then I went back to the first Crater Lake and walked around it as well, stopping for a swim and some didgeridoo and went back for a small set of exercises and went for chicken amok (a favourite Khmer dish for me). It’s prepared with coconut milk and super tasty! Yesterday I had beef Loc Lac and that’s prepared with fresh ground pepper (also super tasty and amongst favourites ;)
..well, sometimes I feel like a monk on a motorbike, a hermit who’s cave is the world. I got lots of time to think and to be with myself, but also lots of time to see and enjoy, to understand and learn to love. Life gets more and more beautiful with every step I do. Let’s see, where the path takes me.. :)