Any post related to a country
Bicycle touring Kazakhstan in November and December was chilly and special. We only crossed a corner of this huge country. The country that is known for the movie Borat and the pro-cycling team Astana, and got a good impression. We entered Kazakhstan on the 26th of November and left the country on the 16th of December. We have cycled approx. 514 km, hitchhiked 120 km because of a broken tooth and ascended 3850 meters.
Albania was our first encounter with a more Eastern culture and it was interesting to be in a country where roads and transport were less developed. Because of the size of the country we decided to make a loop south before heading towards the border. While bicycle touring Albania we entered the country from the ferry by sea at Durrës on the 14th of April 2014 and left the country on the 20th of April 2014. We have cycled 427 km and ascended 4647 meters.
Bicycle touring in Turkey is a great experience! Before we started travelling Turkey by bicycle we had heard from other bicycle tourers the country is one of the best for traveling by bike. We were enthusiastic to reach the country and make our way from Europe to Asia. We entered Turkey on the 1st of May 2014 and left the country on the 7th of July 2014. We have cycled a little bit more than 2440 kilometres and ascended around 20709 meters (2 and a half times mount Everest).
Contemplating on routes and distances is a favourite task of ours: 130km main road or 230km mountains unpaved? We were still in Nong Khiaw, where we had been resting and eating for six days. Now it was time to leave our bungalow by the Nam Ou river and hit the road. We knew that the route to [...]
After more than 11 years (Martin) and 8 years (Susanne) since we separately visited Laos as backpackers, we are now back again only this time together and by bicycle. Returning to Laos by bicycle has already given us new insights to this little country where communism is the base of the country. Crossing the Mohan - Boten [...]
The final chapter of China had begun. We were cycling from Lijiang through Yunnan province to the border with Laos. We were at lower altitude and it was getting more warm and humid. We were looking forward to different food, different scenery and meeting more travellers on the road. Yunnan a tropical endeavour and a finale of [...]
A well known section of bicycle touring in China. This is what we were preparing ourselves for. Mountain passes up to 4720 meter and no idea about the quality of the roads. We were heading out on an endeavour which would become one of our highlights of our journey. From the wild west of Litang, past mystical [...]
Seda and Larung Gar had left a strong impression on us but visa time and wanting to get on the road we left Seda (Sertar). We had almost run out of oats and Martin had used a few hours searching and asking in all Chinese shops nowhere to be found. By chance as we where heading to [...]
Finally we were heading south again. We knew the next stretch was going to be challenging. Cycling through Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan on our way to Yunnan would bring us over many many passes and the first were coming up. We were cycling up and over 4000m+ passes in Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan to reach the World largest [...]
Contemplating on our route through west China we noticed that we had a chance to experience the life of the Amdo Tibetans. So we quickly decided on going west from Xian instead of south to Chengdu. We were cycling from Xian to Labrang en-route to the Amdo Tibetans. This trip has been very interesting so we have [...]