Reports of journey

12th Travel report October 28, 2005 (according the Iranian Calendar we have August 6, 1384)

Mixed Emotions

We are passing along the slopes of the Ararat on the way to the boarder. The sky was crystal blue, no cloud is covering the Holy Mountain. In front of us in it's full size covered in snow. A gigantic few!

Out of coincidence, we meet Rob and Lucy again, the Dutch couple who cycles in 22 months to Beijing. Already in Turkey we cycled together one day, now we are able to cross the boarder together and get the first impression from Iran. However, before we cross the magic boarder we women had to cover our heads and wearing long blouses in order to act more discreet. This is the Iranian law in terms of dress code for ladies. The Islamic Republic sets the rule and condition for Religion. Besides covering head for ladies, wearing long blouses which is called Tschador, kissing, and any other form of affection are not allowed in public. A tremendous change for us to which we have to get used to it. Another big change is the currency. Already before the boarder we met traders offering to change currency. These black market dealers where very pushy. As we knew the exact exchange rate we were waiting for the right offer, with full attention for not being cheated. The big 20'000 Rials bill has a value of Swiss Francs 3.00. We received for USD 40 in total 36 bills, a big package of paper which we have to stow away.

Iran, a big country! One hears everything and the opposite again and in the end one is completely confused. We are already right in the middle of it therefore we are very happy being able to make our own experience. Although cycling in this new dress is not very convenient for me, the road condition is absolutely perfect. It is nearly Swiss perfection, we are very happy about it. In the cities and villages however, we still face the same road condition as we had in Turkey. The traffic and riding skills of the locals however is much worse then before. As gasoline is so cheap everybody drives a car or motorcycle, racing through the villages as if there is no traffic law and nobody cares about any kind of pollution and noise. Judged on the many glass splitters along the road there must be many road accidents happening! The taxi drivers are the worst, turning left and right directly in front of our nose and then moving right back into the main traffic! We have the impression we are transparent as nobody seems to recognize us in this huge traffic chaos. It also seems pedestrians have no rights in this country. Crossing a road in green light is no protection at all, one can only hope you knock over a woman, as the penalty is lower then knocking over man.

Since we filled up our gasoline bottle at the gasoline station we know how cheap the gasoline price is in Iran. It is half the price of a liter water, this means 12 cents per liter! No wonder everybody spends his spare time on the road. This explains the chaotic traffic system, three lines through the city, roundabouts have no lanes, and everybody tries to find his lane. The stronger you are the better for you! Cars, motorcycles and trucks are mainly from the seventies, rusty and very smelly. The air always smells from gasoline. On certain parts of the road cycling really becomes hell, pollution and danger becomes so bad that we wonder whether it is wise to continue cycling in Iran! Therefore we decide, after 162 km's overcrowded roads and along smelly industrial chimneys, not to take the main road into Teheran but to head south towards Tabriz, along a country road through the mountains. Based on the traffic it was a good decision, however we faced hard work with the mountains and strong head wind. If we only knew that before! We experienced the worst storm since the start of our cycling tour. Strong wind from any direction, luckily once in a while from behind. Without the wind from the back we could never have done the mountain with a speed of 18 km/h and then sometimes with only 4 Km/h fighting against the wind. The country side is very dry and not built up. There is constant dust and sand in the air. With our cycles we look completely powdered. It reminds us on the icy winds in the Matterhorn in Zermatt. It was very dangerous when the wind suddenly stopped. Difficult for us to keep the balance. The use of our power and concentration was at its highest level. In the evening we were completely exhausted. Our tent looked like a dust cave with dust and sand flying around in the air on a constant basis. Although nights are already very cold we prefer staying overnight in our tent, then in a local guest house. Where bed sheets are dirty, toilets for standing only are smelly and the environment usually very noisy. But often there is no choice for us especially when we are in an area which we do not consider safe.

The west of Iran belongs to the Kurds, an area which we gladly avoid. We are both positive thinkers and use roads according our feelings. So far we were always lucky, however we had a funny feeling knowing that we are cycling closely along the Iraq boarder. Our six senses were ringing when we were stopped and asked to show passports, by entering into a village. We heard many stories before, about being stopped by so called civil police, asked for passports and in the end robbed! Therefore we did not believe them when they stopped us and we continued our tour. The two guys however, followed us in their white car through the village while we were looking for a hotel. We told them to leave as we could not read their identity cards written in Farsi! In the end we were surrounded by about 20 men, all wanted to take part in the conversation! Although somebody translated into English, confirming that they are police, we did not trust them. Nobody was able to explain why they want to see our passports respectively our visa. After two hours of discussions we gave them a copy of our visa and then they gave up. After this event, we inquired in various places, and everybody confirmed that there is no civil police in Iran! We still do not know what they wanted from us, but we are happy that nothing seriously happened. Of course every Iranian knows that tourists carry money and cyclists spend quite a while in the country therefore a rubbery could be worthwhile. As we tour in a very strict Islamic country we can only hope that they follow their religious orders, to respect others!

Up to know we only saw very few mosques. There are very few Minaret's in Iran which were the typical sign in every village in Turkey. In the north east of Iran you find lots of different groups of people such as Armenians who are Christians by religion, Turks and Azerbaijanis with all of them we were able to communicate in Turkish. As we were again looking for a hotel we coincidentally met Reza who invited us to her home. He is Iranian with Turkish background. He told us a lot about Iran the revolution 25 years ago and Khomeini who came to power. From his conversation we could feel that he is not happy with the government and all the laws and orders in Iran. He will never be allowed to give Turkish names to his children only Iranian names are allowed. Alcohol is not allowed in the country and also foreign TV channels are banned in Iran. Despite this he has a satellite dish on the roof of his house so that out of the 5 Iranian channels of which are 2 religious (Allah 1 and Allah 2) he can also receive others, but of course against the law! Visiting a cinema one gets only Iranian movies to see and also only Iranian music to hear on the radio. Discos and Bars are not allowed only tea houses are accepted for entertainment. Only men are allowed to become singers, women are not allowed to sing at all. Women should never raise attention in public they should always wear the Tschador and a huge sheet around their body not to show any skin. Black sheets in public and a flowery sheet back home. As this sheet has no buttons they hold it together with their teeth as they usually carry the shopping bag in one hand and the children in the other! A very shocking picture! Women are not allowed to us make up or to ride a motorcycle. They are not allowed to raise any attention of the men. But when we were looking for a top for Maya, who will never wear a Tschador, except when entering a mosque, we found many shops selling evening dresses, tight shirts and jeans. We wondered when they wear it and we were told they wear it at home for their husband and in strictly separated parties for women only. Even weddings are held strictly separate from men and women. At mixed events women have to wear their Tschador and cover their head. We do not know whether these rules are set up by the Koran but certainly by the Government.

Ramadan: The month of fasting for the Moslem community. From sunrise to sunset the Moslem are not allowed to eat and drink anything. The Muezzin decides when the fasting starts and ends. The period of Ramadan starts every year 10 days earlier. We are happy when it is over. Up to now we only experienced Iran during the Ramadan and we are convinced that live is totally different before and after the 30 days of fasting period. During Ramadan shops are open up to 1 pm, then the shop owners go home and rest as they can't work with having an empty stomach. At 4 pm shops open again until they are allowed to eat. Some eat in the shop as soon as the fast stops others go home and eat with their families. During the daily end of the fasting there is total chaos on the roads and after about 20 minutes streets become empty and quiet. Iranians are fast eaters; the Kebab which is one of the main dish disappears very quickly. Restaurants are fully booked for about 1 hour and after dinner they close the restaurants go home and rest. If we are lucky we find a take away where we get our food as we can not stand the Kebabs anymore. Especially in Iran, the meat and rice is very dry and we need a lot of liquid to get it down. It is difficult for us to buy food during daytime and then we have to find a hidden place where we can eat. It would not look good to eat in the middle of the road in front of all the others who are not allowed to eat daytime. As we are both big eaters, we are suffering quite often and we are looking forward to the end of Ramadan. We expect tea houses and restaurants to be more open and people less stressed. After they can have their regular meals, drinks and cigarettes. We especially look forward to the big cities and mosques with oriental flair.

PS1: We realized we have some things in common with mosques; Before we enter our little tent we take off our shoes, we eat also by sitting on the floor and Maya has to cuddle in front of Marcel…. However we still work on Maci's foot sweat!!!

PS2: We spent one week in Teheran to get the visa for India. We initially wanted to organize the visas in Islamabad however we don't consider it a good time to travel to this region due to the earthquake.

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

13th Travelreport November 21, 2005 "the 200th day of our tour"

Ello Misteeeer!!!

This is the way they great us on the street, not only Maesi also Maya. This is more or less what they command in English besides; I love you, dollar change, and hand made! But more and more we also meet locals who speak good English and we end up in interesting conversations such as carpets! We had already many discussions about carpets, the way they are done, differences in quality and price. Unfortunately we are lacking the necessary cash and apartment, furthermore it would look very nice carrying a carpet on our bicycles!

Our journey through Iran is completely different from any country before. Iran is so big there is nothing between the big cities, only roaring trucks and desert. For hundred kilometers no water places only a few houses built from mud, the mountain range at the horizon and behind a booming city with bazaars, mosques, mullahs, tschadors, carpet sale places, kebab stands and tea houses where people smoke water pipes. We cycle about 100 kilometers from one city to another. There is only live in the cities in between is only sand and hills, basically desert. It is easy to cross these deserts by car but never ending on the bicycle. We just focus turning the wheels, our thoughts far away maybe at the next travel report or thinking about our empty stomach or where we end up for dinner tonight!

We actually wanted to organize our visa's for India in Islamabad Pakistan, however because of the earthquake early October we decided to cycle to Teheran and have it done there. In Qom approx. 150 Km south of Teheran we can leave our bicycles in the hotel and we travel by bus to the capital city. From far away we can see the huge smog towering above the city and we can hardly identify the mountain range further behind.

Visiting the Swiss Embassy we felt very welcomed, hearing the friendly "Gruezi" and surrounded by Swiss posters. We were personally welcomed by the Swiss Ambassador and we got lots of tips and recommendations about the country and political situation.
The Indian Embassy however, which we visited a day later, was much more busy and not so organized. On our arrival day in Teheran the Moslems celebrated the Imam Ali day. We did not know about it and could not understand why the city was so empty. Public holiday and Ramadan was rather the limit for us, especially what eating concerns. We felt as if we are watching the wrong movie! On the following day live was at its full again all shops open, bargaining and shopping at every corner, crowded roads, constant horning of cars at motorcyclists taking full risk. Conservative Swiss drivers would be completely lost driving in this city. We conquered bazaars, visited carpet museums an oasis of tranquility, used taxis for the sake of convenience but in the evening we suffered from head ache due to the horrendous air pollution. Teheran fascinated us, as we were able to visit museums built during the Shah period, women are dressed more fancy, show their hair and are happy to provoke. In the evening we find some nice restaurants. A less happier experience was the kick out of a hotel as we were chatting with another cyclist couple for about 4 hours sitting in the hotel lobby. (but in fact we paid for the room and lounge!) Annoying was also the constant military presence, the Russian sign boards and that Maya was not allowed visiting the mosques, as they are men's world only!

Maya had tremendous difficulties with all the changes to accept. First covering head and then the feeling that women are less in value then men. She never knows how to take the greeting! Only the word of a man counts, therefore Marcel is in charge of everything. Quite often locals greet Marcel and Maya is simply ignored but then Maya gets all the attention and Marcel has to be the police man to protect her. This can be very annoying and tiring. Persians are machos, karate and body building are rated very high, some whistle to Maya and are trying to touch her. Therefore Maya decided to color her hair black and since then she does not get so much attention anymore. We fully understand now why women are happy to wear the tschador.

After a very windy day cycling we arrive very tired in a city, without a city map and we are bit lost where to go. Suddenly Fahimah a young student girl stands in front of us covered in her tschador. She offers us help to find a hotel, drives with us through the city in her car and shows us the best souvenir shops. Fahimah speaks very well English and in the end she becomes our friend. We discuss religion, education, freedom and law and we get a lot of information which is very valuable to us. Fahimah is very religious and she really lives it! She tells us a lot about rituals and traditions. On one evening we were invited to her family for dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed a delicious Persian meal. With enthusiasm they informed us about the visit in Mekka and Medina and showed us a video about the welcoming and festivity. These kind of meetings make our journey very interesting and unforgettable and give us a real insight into the local custom and live. Thank you very much Fahimah.

After 4 weeks of Ramadan we could finally see an end to it. In Kashan, a city in the desert, we experienced the last two days of Ramadan very intensely, as our hotel was right next to the mosque from where the Mullah sings and prays. Everyday from 4 to 5 a.m. with full voice while the Moslems are having their breakfast (he serves basically as the alarm clock) and from 5 to 5:30 p.m. before the Moslems are allowed to eat again. Actually the prayers sound quite nice but this Mullah sounded like coming from a tape and we were wondering whether the locals like it! The Moslems do not know when the fasting ends, Ramadan lasts the full length of the moon phase and the Mullah announces when he discovers the new moon to arrive. In Qom, finally they saw the new moon a day earlier then in Teheran and Kashan though Qom lies in the middle of the two cities! Finally eating and drinking carefree on the road again was a strange feeling to us. However we were very happy about it!

We are always wondering again about the Iranian eating culture. After the fasting one gets food all day long. From kebabs and hot pots locals like innards, brain, liver and stomach everything is available. We also find lamb heads, complete lower legs including coltsfoot. Freezers stuffed with plucked chicken and half sides of cows hanging at the entrance of the butcher shops are absolutely normal. What really shocks us are the dustbins loaded to the top with skeletons of animals right at the entrance of the restaurants smelling like hell!

To have more fun and security we decide to cycle on the motorway were we are able to use the emergency line only for us. We get rid off of the smelly trucks as they are not using motorways but rather the toll free main roads. We had strong wind on the road to Esfahan, we got hardly forward and Maya caught a terrible cold. Maesi was upset and finally we took a break to stop a van which could take us along. Instead of a van we stopped a Swiss Military Pinzgauer (Sani-Pinz), painted with fairies, animals and a blond magician with a lion head. A blond person got out of the van and introduced himself as the circus director from Germany. He invited us to put our cycles into the van and so we enjoyed our ride to the next village. The magician told us that he has the smallest circus in the world accompanied by chickens, picks, pigeons, cats and other small animals. Together with his two dogs he enjoys a four week holiday in Iran and drives through the desert with his 6x6 wheel van. Enjoying a dinner with eggs sunny side up we entertain ourselves with stories from our trip. Unfortunately we are not able to use the tips he gave us about driving through the desert as we couldn't do it on our cycles. Spontaneously he invites us for a tour in his 6 wheel van through the desert. We went as far as Shiraz and Esfahan with our bicycles on the roof. A complete new dimension to us! We were able to see much more from the country side then usually cycling from city to city! We drove out to the desert to stay overnight in our tents far away from any civilization. We did not even see the city light. The stars glittering and shining on top of us. During night time it was getting icy cold and we enjoyed the long nights cuddling closely.

We had no idea that a desert can be so interesting. The endless distance, rocks, big mountains in red and brown color, sand dunes and stones all in one harmony. In regular distance a lonely shed, wild camels and always again a fata morgana. Our imagination that there is a salt lake in distance and arriving there later there is nothing. The glittering lighting effect is absolutely fantastic.

After two days driving we arrive in Garmeh a little village like an oasis in the desert surrounded by date palms and mud huts. We established us in the guesthouse and enjoyed an entertaining evening with locals and young Teheranians. Dieter the German circus director showed us some of his magic tricks and we played with music instruments such as amphoras, bongos, didgeridoos and some rattling instruments. The local ladies did not cover their heads and we sensed once more that many young Iranians have a conflict between their religion and politics.

After Maezi has filled up his pockets with dates we left for Yazd. Here we left our bicycles in a hotel and drove to Persepolis and Shiraz. We are both very grateful to Dieter as we were given the chance to explore Iran much deeper and he also offered us to take our souvenirs with him to be delivered back home to Switzerland. However, it did not help our budget but we thought it would be nice to have some nice oriental memories.

Being European, one is very welcomed in Iran but if we mention that we are Swiss than they find that very exciting. Mostly prices are immediately higher as they expect money to grow on the trees in Switzerland and that everybody in Switzerland is a millionaire. Often we have to explain them that not everybody is rich back home. Of course we enjoy a very high purchase power, for a meal we pay CHF 12.00, for a taxi drive of ten minutes we pay CHF 2.00 and for a bread 10 cents. However, hotels are relatively expensive. When we walk through the bazaars, which you find in every city, we have to tell them from where we come, that we are here by bicycle, then of course they consider us as heroes. Iranians are not very sporty themselves. Sometime we receive gifts if we tell them that we are on our honey moon.

Every Persian city is different but looking deeper inside they are all very similar. Many mosques colored with tiles, with very big minaret's and shiny memorials which are only allowed to visit by locals. Wide roads, crowded with people, dome-shaped teahouses with benches covered with carpets where locals sit cross-legged and drink tea and eat Dizi. Esfahan the only city which has an area for walking only, different bridges and teahouses, was the city we liked very much. The sparkle and glitter of the Persian culture was magic for us.

PS 1: The most romantic men we found in Iran. Twinkling eyes, hip swings pronounced with tight trousers and a very romantic voice when they sing… if this has to do with sex segregation?

PS 2: Now we are in the desert city of Yzad. One of the oldest cities in Iran built with clay bricks, with the admirably built water system which transports water from the mountains to the city. Dominant wind towers which bring a cool breeze into the apartments during the very hot summer season.

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

14th Travelreport December 3, 2005

Iran for the last time !

We are moving towards the east of Iran, into Baluchistan, this region spreads wide into Pakistan and also parts of Afghanistan. A sparse area mainly covered with stones and sand. Pleasantly warm during day time, however, icy cold during nights. The few people who live here are half nomads as they live in tents during summer season and in their clay houses during winter. Already in Kerman we saw some men dressed in long blouses and turbans a peculiar mix of people. Before, the well dressed Iranians in suits and here Pakistanis or Afghanis covered in linen sheets.

After 19 days without cycling we were seriously looking forward being on the bike again and in the evening we felt our legs and bums. We immediately sensed how slowly we are moving forward after we traveled with Dieter the circus artist in his 6 wheel vehicle about 1000 km. The temperature is perfect at this time of the year, not too hot with sun every day. Unfortunately the days are shorter, it is already getting dark and rather cool at 16:30 in the afternoon.

We are cycling together with our friends Bob and Lucie from the Netherlands. Since we met in Turkey we always meet again either in hotels or restaurants as we are using more or less the same speed. As traveling through Pakistan seems not to be very simple we decide to stay together during the next few weeks in order to support each other if necessary, especially when entering into Pakistan. We take the bus in Kerman up to Quetta (Pakistan) which is about 1200 Km in order to leave behind Baluchistan as quick as possible, which is famous for drug smuggling and crime in general. Before we took the bus we cycled for days, stayed overnight in our tents next to police stations, we cycled out of pure pleasure on the movement and to meet people and now we sit in the bus a beautiful scenery passing by and our thoughts are in Iran with the beautiful markets.

Iran will stay in our thoughts as a mystery! It starts with politics, rules and regulations, the culture, the period of the Shah Family and their monuments and the young people who either hate or love Iran. We could not make up our minds as our thoughts were constantly moving back and forward not knowing or understanding whom we eventually should believe. In the end they all have their own believing about their country. What fascinated us was the Persian culture and not the Khomeini cult. His picture or the one of his successor is hanging in every house and mosques. We were impressed by the openness of the locals who shared with us their feelings and gave us a deep understanding into their culture. We laughed about the chairs they use which are covered in plastic material together with the price tag and label even years after being bought. We enjoyed the afternoon in Esfahan where we visited the Armenian quarter and the Christian Vank Cathedral. Church music welcomed us with beautiful paintings of the bible when we entered a beautifully decorated museum with the smallest bible of the world. In a coffee shop next door we learned from a young Armenian how difficult live is in the Islamic world! We had great pleasure making the acquaintance of Fahimah in Hamadan and visiting her in the institute for learning English. The eight young ladies bombarded us with questions about our journey, our wedding, the culture in Switzerland, religion, currency, education and work. We felt the thirst for knowledge of these young women who do not hear much about outside culture due to the isolation of their country and religion. We are both happy for them that they also have access to internet.

We were not excited about Iranian dishes, the dry kebabs stuck in our throat, the soups tasted everywhere the same and in the end we also lost interest in the stews which we liked most at the beginning. Real good food we only got when we were invited, then it was a real feast. It is a pity that we could not get this variety of food in restaurants or take-away places. The interesting part is that one only eats with fork and spoon and that one eats lots of bread with the meal.

Communication was difficult because of the new language Farsi, the writing is similar to Arabic and quite often street signs were only written in Farsi. We were sad about not being allowed to enter some of the beautiful mosques as we are not Moslems, only cheating made it possible once in a while. We were surprised how devoted Moslems are and how beautifully decorated with thousand of little mirrors the shrines are. The religious people visit and kiss the graves, prey and share their sorrow. Absolutely horrendous were the reckless taxi drivers, car and motorcyclists who never gave any chance to pedestrians to cross the street. We were amused by the hidden laughing of young ladies, observing us and then hiding behind their tschadors. We got the impression that they were proud of having spoken to us. Sometimes they were embarrassed by the presence of Marcel or they laughed about Maya not wearing her tschador properly. In general Maya was always admired by all women and also received big smiles from them. This gave her lots of confidence which was needed in this world dominated by men.

We were very attracted by the bazaars. The dealing and wheeling with lots of discussion, gesticulating, molding, weaving, banging, carrying and sewing…tradition given along to the youngsters and finally a product sold to the tourists. Quite often we were invited to tea parties ending up in discussions about antiques, politics or our journey. In long lanes covered with beautifully curved roofs they sell thousands of articles some of them valuable others less, one shop after the other, sometimes with friendly neighbors sometimes not! This bazaar life really excited us!

Arriving in Zahedan, the last big City in Iran, about 100 Km before the Pakistani boarder we were again admired by the locals they again touched our bicycles with excitement. Our four cyclist convoy was accompanied by many motorcyclists overtaking us and others with nerve wrecking risk and the police not knowing the way to the hotel. Finally we found the hotel after checking in while taking up the rooms we realized that the heating was not working hence our feet stayed cold!
The following morning we finally farewell from Iran eating the last Iranian chicken kebab and taking a taxi ride in a pickup to the boarder. We opened our Iranian adventure with Bob and Lucie while entering Iran now we are closing it together while leaving Iran into Pakistan.

PS1: To taste an Iranian chicken kebab, please receive the following recipe:
Take the most sour lemon which you can find, put the chicken meat in between (preferably during several hours) until the meat lost all of its juice and has a yellow color.
Afterwards grill the meat. Cool it down half an hour and serve it with white rice, and some cold French fries for decoration.

PS2: We are there where we left the bus, after a 15 hours bus ride in freezing temperature, a total different world!

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

15th Travelreport December 21, 2005

« Assalam Alaikum »

We crossed the boarder and a completely different world showed up. Pakistan, very good and spicy food expected us already in the customs house. Men with long blouses, wide trousers and covered heads, left hand traffic, very bad roads, colorful trucks, women with colorful clothes and lots of bicycles!  We were very surprised as the difference to Iran is so overwhelmingly positive.

During the last few weeks we gathered lots of information on how it would be in Pakistan. News from travelers who visited Pakistan recently was not very inviting. Most of them had police escort no matter whether they traveled by car, camper, motorbike or bicycles. Especially the cyclists had difficulties with the police escort, as it was not fast enough for the police,  especially women where constantly pushed to cycle faster. Rests and photo stops where not welcomed. This news was not very encouraging for us. Furthermore authorities  did not recommend to us to cross Baluchistan and Sindh.  We did not wanted to take unnecessary risk therefore we decided to cross these two areas by train and bus and then towards the end to cycle a couple of kilometers. We were traveling together with our friends from the Netherlands, with Rob and Lucie, which also gave us a more comfortable feeling.

After crossing smoothly into Pakistan we wanted to organize a bus bringing us to Quetta, approximately 650 Km inland. A bus was actually standing there at the boarder, however, fully loaded on the roof, in the bus allover the place with containers full of gasoline smuggled from Iran across the boarder,  broken windscreens, boxes all over the floor, filthy and thirty, a place one would not wanted to sit down. Despite all this, we decided to use this bus, as it was leaving any minute, although Maya had a very bad feeling about it.  Our two men (Rob and Macy) were loading the bicycles on the roof of the bus and soon it started moving in direction of Taftan. On every stop more stuff was loaded on the roof until other travelers started thinking that this is enough. As the vehicle had already a very high loading point and driving under this condition was getting dangerous. In the end our bicycles were about 2 meters above the truck roof. Finally we decided to change the bus but not with a big opposition of the owner of the bus, with Macy on the roof gesticulating with the driver and hundreds of Pakistani down on the road interestingly watching. Finally we were allowed to change to another bus. While we were fixing the bicycle on the new bus the other bus left and we were watching the humongous bus shakily leaving the town. While we were waiting for the bus to leave Macy was taking some pictures from the boarder town, the bearded Baluchi faces with Turbans, the open-air mosque and the men in Shalwar Kameez. The first 300 km were going quite well, after that the road became very bad and we were shaken through completely.  Fortunately it was night so we could not see how bad the road was. We constantly saw blinking and sparkling lights getting towards us, which in the end ended up us buses passing us, they looked like moving Christmas trees. In the buses the men, completely covered in their linen clothes, looking like ghosts. After 15 hours bus ride we arrived in Quetta half frozen. Together with other local cyclists, buses and cars we drove through the city with people welcoming us warmly. We really enjoyed it. Later we hired a car rikshaw which drove  us to the bazaar. After two days in the city we realized that actually the whole of Quetta is a bazaar. There is activity through the whole day with people wheeling and dealing with their business on the road. We were completely surprised to find a road which was full of bicycle shops where locals have their bicycle decorated! You would not recognize it when you pick it up. Different colors, all kind of decorations, plastic flowers, flags, bells and many others. The temptation was big to have decorated our cycles, however, we did not wanted to get more attention!  We were completely convinced that the  mix of people in Quetta gave a special touch to  the city. There are Baluchis, Afghanis, Pastunis, Nomads and many others.  They all were very open minded, sociable and wanted to be photographed all the time.

On we went on the train. After we stuffed everything into two big bags, we joined the locals who also boarded the train. As expected there was a big mess as everybody together wanted to board the train. Every person had as much as luggage as we had and every reserved seats was basically taken by two person. We specifically booked 1^st class sleepers, so that we were able to sleep during the 16 hours ride. However, finally the four of us got only 3 sleepers, so Macy and I shared one very narrow bed. Nevertheless, at 2:30 am after midnight, we arrived in Bahawal Pur, got our cycles and bags and waited four hours in the station until it got day light. This Pakistani train ride was actually a very interesting ride and a very nice experience. We imagined that the trains were about the same about 50 years ago in Switzerland. Very casually and relaxed it drove through the spectacular mountain region, passing some poor villages and crossing over the Bolan hight. Under the open doors standing we were targeting some nice pictures for souvenirs.

On the stations we were able to get some excellent food, such as dhal, rice and cay. Crossing the Faleche the train reached a very nice speed and we felt like being in a speed boat crossing the waves. Rather fast it past nomad tents and finally we watched the sun disappearing in the distance. Arriving in Bahawal Pur we realized for the first time the huge gap between the rich and poor. In one part of the city we found luxury houses, nice restaurants and private schools and next to it the poorest of the poors  are begging for food. People here are getting rich with cotton.

During our first cycling day in Pakistan we see only cotton fields up to the horizon with colored dots in between, ladies doing the harvest. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable ride with little traffic. Local cyclists were following us, one had even a loudspeaker fixed on his cycle so we were getting entertained with music. A nice change for us. There is live along the road, with little villages, tea houses, fruit markets and repair places and many people waiving towards us. It is beautiful to see their big smiles and pleasure when we speak to them. As soon as we stop a big crowd gathers around us, reserved at the beginning with a certain distance. If one of them asks us something then usually the others are joining in and a very nice and warm atmosphere starts.

Up to here the road condition was not to the best, but entering Multan, we were wistfully looking back. There was only gravel, dust and mud, smelling rikshaws pulled by donkeys with their nose directly looking into exhaust pipes of cars. It is unbelievable what buffalos, horses and donkeys have to endure in this massive amount of traffic. Once we saw goats who stayed days for days on a roundabout surrounded by heavy traffic. They were eating all the rubbish passing by passengers were throwing out of their car windows. We are getting off our bicycles every day covered in dust and dirt, our lungs full with exhaust and dust. Every evening we are happy to get a quite room with a comfortable shower. In Multan we met a Pakistani who sold us a hand painted camel skin lamp and who showed us the bazaar. 18 workers show and demonstrate their handicrafts. We were invited to drink and eat cay, they gave us lots of gifts and a TV show was also organized for us for the locals. With a 2 ½ hours delay the TV crew arrived with a pocket video camera  and a three legged tripod. Masy who was wearing traditional clothes had to answer a few questions followed by interviews with Maja, Lucie and Rob. Afterwards to wanted to film us on our cycles and as this reportage was prepared for early morning 3 am we had to cycle in darkness in front of our hotel, luckily without luggage.  We were very amused about their seriousness of their work. Unfortunately our hotel did not have this channel and we didn’t get a video. We even forgot to take pictures as we were so concentrated with listening and keeping us back from laughing. When we are in such crowded roads like Multan we never take our cycles to the market. We mainly use rikshaws. If we prefer to have more privacy then we use car rikshaws which have doors were we only see the road over the shoulders of the driver. The draw back is the pollution wich stucks in the car and the hard hits from the bad road condition. These cars are more flexible in this enormous amount of traffic. The motorcycle rikshaw is completely open which rides forward as well as backwards. We compare this with a ghost ride, especially night time when we only see the lights of the vehicles and men covered in their clothes dropping by. In general there are 4 seats in a rikshaw but mostly we see them loaded with 7 – 10 person. Sitting in a rikshaw is the best way to watch the traffic and seeing these surprised faces when they see foreigners in a rikshaw. Furthermore you find the cycle rikshaw, with one person cycling and 2 – 3 passengers. We have not used them so far. We feel sorry for them as they have only 1 gear we consider it very hard work.

Lucy read in a Dutch travel report about a Dutch traveler who stayed overnight in a studio for homeopathic treatments in Mian Channun on the way to Lahore. As we four did not wanted to bombard him we checked out first the hotels. Realizing the condition of the rooms we decided to visit the homeopathic doctor. His son Gudu welcomed us with full of surprise and showed us the bedroom with 10 beds. We were very surprised, however Gudu then told us that his grandfather, Dr. Mirza age 82, has cycled the world himself. He mentioned that he enjoys every visit especially from world cycle tourists. The guest book confirmed us that he already offered his hospitality to cyclists 25 years ago. There were also some from Switzerland. Dr. Mirza himself is very fit and had a lot to tell us. He knew exactly what cyclists need and sent us to bed at 9:30 pm. We were not allowed to leave the following day, he showed us his picture collection of about 2000 pictures of his guests. As Maja had some difficulties to digest the French toasts we had to wait sitting on the sun terrace waiting for the homeopathic remedies to have their impact. The grand children were happy to entertain us and modeling for our pictures. We were very happy having met Dr. Mirza and his family. He will stay in our memories. With lots of heart, charm and hospitality he made us very happy.

After many very bad experiences form others we can only tell positive experience traveling in Pakistan. Police greeted us always very friendly wanted to know where we are heading to and accompanied us only the last 20 km to Lahore. This escort was for the protection of tourists as recently some tourists where kidnapped. For us the Pakistanis are the biggest artist in terms of creating kitsch. Everything is blinking, horning, shining and all other sorts of noise and sparkling. From the truck to the bicycle, from the memorials to the mandarin sales man and from head to foot, simply everything. A world full of color including the ladies with their beautifully colored dresses. Also colorful is their kitchen in terms of variety. After the experience we made in Iran, we could have eaten here everything, however, we had to keep us back as hygiene standards are not very high. All four of us made experience with diarrhea, which luckily went well.

Now, we leave the 14^th country on our journey, India the big target of our journey is welcoming us!

PS 1) As we were not able enjoying a lovely Christmas time we were able to enjoy the colorful painted trucks which looked like Christmas trees. If not a Christmas tree then a Moslem truck!

PS 2) We spent two wonderful days in Amritsar. Visited the beautiful golden temple and stayed in the pilgrim house of the Sikhs, where we got an inroad into their religion. The journey goes on into the mountains of Dharamsala the home of the Dalai Lama. We planned to celebrate Christmas there and to eat our Swiss cheese fondue, which was sent to us from home. We are seriously looking forward to it. We wish our readers and faithful followers a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.  Your Indians.

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

16th Travelreport, January 19, 2006

Happiness !!!

The magical line ! Right in front of us, marked with a white line ! Our hearts are beating in full swing, our eyes on the verge of tears, at the same time a strong feeling of enjoyment and pride! After 7 months and 13 days we finally arrived at the boarder of India, the land full of colors, fragrance, religion and contrasts you would never find anywhere else. One more photo in Pakistan with the boarder police, one step crossing the line, now the first photo in India showing the entrance door with some locals carrying luggage across the boarder. Finally we are in India!!! How many times have we spoken about it, how many times have we explained our tour to people along the road! Well, there is still some distance ahead of us until we arrive in New Delhi.

Before we head on, Maesi has to repair a puncture on his bicycle, surrounded with hundreds of Indian watching him doing the work. Shortly before the boarder he had a puncture, the second on our trip. After the repair is done professionally by him, we head full of motivation towards Amritsar. Building more distance between us and the Muslim countries and right into the next unknown religion to us, the Sikhs. We arrive at the temple Guru's Bridge, a beautiful golden temple which is located on an island. Thousands of pilgrims visit the temple at Guru's Bridge every day to pray, out of the holy book to their Guru. We decide to mingle under the pilgrims and establish us in the pilgrims temple. The Sikhs establish themselves outside on the floor for their overnight, where we get offered to stay overnight in a tourist room established with hot shower. The Sikhs follow very stringent religious rules. One can separate them very easily from others. They are wearing their nicely tied up turbans hiding their hair which they never cut. Also some of their beard is hidden under the turban. The youngsters preparing to wear the turban are tying up their hair towards the front of their head covered. What we would call in Swiss German a "Pfuerzi". Furthermore every Sikh is carrying a pocked knife. So we were enjoying ourselves sitting in the Guru's Bridge Temple watching some very interesting characters, listening to the sound, observing the rituals, drum beatings and singing. We were only allowed to enter the temple bare foot and covering our heads, which was a new experience for Maesi wearing a head scarf!

We planned to spend Christmas in Mc Leod Ganj, in the upper Dharamshala. A very popular tourist village with many shops and restaurants. It is the residence of the Dalai Lama who lives in exile, together with his nuns and monks and many other Tibetans.
On the way from the flat area to the mountain region we watched monkeys sitting along the road, hunting for flees and playing with each other. We enjoyed ourselves watching them by pedaling along the road. On December 24 we reached this village on an altitude of 1770 meters above sea level. After we found our overnight place we started to take out our Gerber Fondue, bought bread and white wine and started enjoying ourselves with the hope the pot would never become empty. Warmly covered in our jackets we were sitting close to the fondue heater which replaced basically our Christmas tree. We had a toast with the wine we were able to buy and were thinking of our loved ones at home who celebrate Christmas Eve when we already sleep. On Christmas Day we visited a catholic church and experienced the holy mass celebrated the Indian way. The church was full with only a few foreigners and it all started with a 15 minutes delay. The Indian with the plastic Santa Claus face entertained us more then the sermon given in Hindu. The film crew was not able to motivate the believers to a more appropriate singing. After the amen the jingle bells started and the traditional chai was served. The masala tea gave a more traditional feeling for Christmas as it tasted of gingerbread. Besides this there was not really Christmas in the air, as the Hindu as well as the Tibetans are not celebrating Christmas.

It was a bit strange to be in India as everything around us rather looked Tibetan. The Tibetans are very happy and friendly people. Together with the monks and nuns they create a very colorful folk which attracts tourist for centuries already. After we traveled for many weeks through countries not too much visited by tourists we enjoyed being here. We basically are making holidays during our holidays. Looking out of the hotel room we were basically in the midst of a wonderful valley and only a few steps and we were right in the middle of it. We spent a lot of time with eating, enjoying the wonderful cuisine of India , Tibetan, Chinese and Italian and we tried all kind of cakes and teas. We visited cookery classes in Tibetan cuisine preparing momos and soups. We always went back to visit the Tibetan temples, watching the butterlamps, moving the prayermills and speaking to the Buddhist who where looking for their enlightenment. We strolled through the mountain's region escorted by a gang of dogs and enjoyed the quietness and spirit together with hundreds of praying flags. During this time the cycles were taken care of with all the mud removed and some small repair work to be done. A few hours we spent with answering E-mails to our eager followers and the evenings we were watching movies or a DVD on a big screen in the village movie house. Being in the spirit of shopping we strolled through the shops, buying various different Tibetan stickers and let the shop owners telling us how good his products are and left the shops empty handed! We cold have bought lots of stuff but thinking of transportation!

On New Years Eve we visited a fancy restaurant and afterwards back in our room we were preparing an Indian gluhwine. The mixture did not match perfectly but huddled in warm covers we did not care too much, so we celebrated New Year in a different way we would have done at home. We wasted our time waiting for the fire works but we did not care too much as we enjoyed celebrating our anniversary of 3 years M & M, with 9 months being married and already cycling for 8 months. We are so much excited about the way we travel that we let our dreams go on further into other adventures.

One big wish we always had was to visit the Dalai Lama himself. We basically see him everyday on posters in every shop or in the movies we watch in the evening but to see him lively would be something special. From Tseten, a Tibetan who lives in Switzerland for 20 years already, visiting his home country, we learn more about the Dalai Lama. Coincidentally we met Tseten in a shop greeting us with "Greuzi", what a special day meeting somebody speaking Swiss German and being Tibetan and in Tibet. He informed us that there is no audience given by the Dalai Lama, however, we would be able to see him on January 1, on his departure day to the south of India. Therefore we decided to leave early morning and hopefully to get the chance to see him. Waiting for some time mingled in the crowd we saw the limousine passing by with the Dalai Lama smiling and waiving to the crowd. Unfortunately the moment passed so quickly however this was a moment we shall never forget. It was worthwhile getting up early.

Full of ambitions we did not look for the shortest way to New Delhi rather deciding for the longer, more strenuous but also more beautiful road passing through the outskirts of the Himalayan Mountain range. Already the road to Dharamshala was beautiful. Every day was full of surprise as the map does not show all the hills and deviations. But every trop of sweat was worthwhile as the scenery was absolutely stunning. As we were finally pedaling on the flat country side we were missing the snowy mountains and the fascinating scenery. During these days we were making acquaintance with another India. Every night we spent in an ice cold hotel bedroom or in our little tent with minus temperature. We were able to take a warm shower, however the bathroom with concrete walls was icy cold and we were able to see our breath steaming from cold air. There is no heating available and when we mentioned that it is cold the answer was simply "no problem". What this means is, there is no heating as it is not cold enough for them. After a few days we do not mention it anymore. As we realized how the locals life with no heating and no hot water taps. After sunrise and sunset they make fires sitting around them to heat their bodies. Women are very hard workers, all day long they bring wood home which is urgently needed for their fires to warm up their families. Warm clothes do not exist only saries fixed around their bodies. They are simply not able to afford warm clothes. Sometimes we are ashamed passing by and watching men taking a shower in the icy cold water covered in the morning mist wearing their flip flops. On the other hand we have to understand that his is a different world and they are very happy with what they have.

The road to New Delhi was loaded with traffic and hence also the noise level was moving higher. Therefore we started to use earplugs. It is a very comfortable way of traveling as we are still able to hear the immediate noise around us, but not the trucks with their constant horning. After the clean and fresh air in the mountains the air is getting worse the closer we come to New Delhi. The only relieve we got when we were passing through parks and wooded areas. Delhi is a very green city but struggling with waste problems. However this contrast fits well with what we expected. There are beautiful areas with very modern houses for the rich and next to it the slams for the poor. In one shop one buys all the modern facilities and right next to it you get a full meal for nothing. Along the road you find lying all the crippled and poor looking at you with big hopeful eyes and stretching their hands for food or money. A few hundred meters down the road the children of the rich waiting for their chauffeur to bring them to school.

After fighting in zick-zack through the city we finally get to the place were we meet Dilip the brother of our wedding chef. He lives here with his family and invited us to his house. Very tired however very happy to be here we enjoy the days with his family. Every day we get spoiled with excellent food. Dilips children bring us around to visit the local Hindu temples surrounded with loud music, where we watch their various goddesses. In contrast to that we visit the Lotus Temple which is famous for tranquility and meditation. The India Gate stands in the middle of a big square which is the memorial place for more then 90'000 solders who died in three different wars. Besides that we write some E-mails and make our daily notes in our dairy. Maesi had to prepare a new rim for his bike which was quite difficult to find. Finally he found a very thick, silver Indian rim with a 10 year guarantee and we hope it lasts for the rest of our tour. Actually we arrived in New Delhi the initial target of our tour!

We are overwhelmed to be here and all went well and hope that our guardian angels will protect us further on. Since we arrived we think about continuing our tour into the south of India. We dream about cycling along the west coast of India, enjoying the warm climate, and getting the contrast of life in India.

PS 1) We are fighting up the hill, a bus thundering around the corner nearly driving us over! Because of this a passenger has to vomit and her stuff missing Maja's bags by an inch! Danger is everywhere!

PS 2) After 2 days cycling we already arrive in Agra and admire the Taj Mahal. As we will meet again with Dilip in Delhi after touring in the south we left our winter gear at his place and enjoy the cycling with much less weight. Not bad for a change!

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

17th Travelreport, February 10, 2006

Only the cows are holy!

We are on the national highway in the tourist triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur. The wheels are rolling on the fine asphalt, Maci in front and Maja behind, or opposite. Medium strong wind against us, enough to let us work harder. We cross a wide plain, the horizon far away covered in mist. With traffic against us we have to be careful, suddenly a bus in front of us overtaking another bus, non-stop horning and using up all of our lane! Back on the road a motorcyclist, keeping our speed, is asking us;  “which country”! His two billion riders terribly crammed behind him are watching us in astonishment as if we are from the moon! Perhaps they think how expensive our cycles are, all want to know the value of our cycles but we never tell them. After minutes of driving next to us they move on with a big cloud of black smoke! Another motorcyclist overtakes us, stops a bit further away and pretends as if he has a break down. He is working on his motorcycle gesticulating with his hands and turning his eyes hopefully towards us. What a coincident that he has a break down at this very moment!!!  The kilometer stone along the road gives us the indication that the next village is near by, however, the city still far away. A tractor with a trailer rattling along the road loaded with children and women whom he leaves at the next brick stone factory. The dark women covered in their saris are shyly waving us and the children with their noses full of snot are laughing at us. Children labor is widely happening as there is not enough money to send them to school. At the same moment another truck is waking us up missing us by some inches. The bus is fully loaded with men sitting and hanging everywhere. We watch how the bus is overtaking the tractor and it seems as if it would turn over and we expect that some of the men would fly over into the field, but nothing happens. It is daily business for them. Very often they shout and cry when they see us, especially an old woman who was talking and shouting seriously to Maja, then only the poorest of the poor use bicycles! Definitely not European and especially not women! The rich locals drive a big 4 wheel jeep or a noble Ambassador. The middle income earners drive a motorcycle Hero Honda or an Enfield and the low workers us a Vespa or Rikshaw. Again we overtake a cyclist who pedals happily along and then watching us with big eyes. A few seconds later he overtakes us using his full body weight and cycling ahead of us with full pride! Nothing new for us, then the cyclists always want to outperform us. Some of them are doing fine, others break down soon after a few meters and give in completely covert in sweat, like this one. Of course we have some advantages with our 14 gears in comparison the 1 gear here in India.

On the right hand side of the road is a truck break down, the drive under the truck and his two colleagues watching him to do the work. As they see us, the truck is of no interest anymore, they turn around and wave us enthusiastically. We enjoy it and wave back. There are lots of break downs along the road. Worst case the truck can not be repaired and stays along the road for ever! In terms of repair they are artists, it is unbelievable what drives around here in this country. We pass a modern shopping centre for us the opportunity to do our shopping. We never eat at the little street restaurants as we do not trust the hygiene standards. The chance to get ill from bad food is big!   The shopping centre is surrounded by a marble floor which is polished by an employee working on his knees all day long. The security officer is whistling us away as we wanted to park our cycles on the freshly polished marble floor. We immediately realize this is only a shopping paradise for the Jeep drivers, the upper class. They build nice hotels, amusement parks and shopping centre for them, what’s new for the poor!

There is more life on the road, cyclists are crossing us, women carrying heavy bundles of wood on their heads and children playing in the mud next to a mountain of rubbish! Cows eat everything what they can get from paper to plastic. There are cows everywhere. They are holy for the Hindi’s. Their horns are painted in orange color and covered with chains. They are never slaughtered they are allowed to walk around wherever they want like the one right in front of us, looking at us and not knowing where to go. We have to cycle around it to keep on moving.  To be honest, one has no appetite for meat realizing what they eat. We are wondering whether the Hindi’s think the same.

We enter the village, men watching us couched on their knees. Some of them doing their toilet at the same time, while watching the traffic and waving us. Since we passed Turkey we see people couched on their knees but here it seems everybody is couching and watching traffic, talking to each other in this position right up into high age. They do repair work, read newspapers, cooking, washing, drinking chai and waiting for the bus all in their couched position. The asphalt is getting bad, lot’s of holes force us to change our rhythm.  Next to the breaking tar is a stripe of sand and behind are the shacks where they sell food and other daily articles. All the men have their chewing tobacco which colors the teeth red and orange. Enjoyably they chew their stuff and spit it on the floor when it lost it’s taste. Further ahead of us are merchants with fruits on their bicycles. We want to buy mandarins and bananas and move our cycles in their direction. Immediately we have lots of people around us watching us and our bicycles. Of course they only see tourists in the tourist bus and never so close. It is an opportunity for them to see two tourists, with nice bicycles, colored bags on it and wearing helmets, work can wait. Before we buy the fruits we want to know how much we have to pay. The merchants are discussing with noise and we are not surprised to find the price double then usually. We only ask; “tourist price he?” and we move to another merchant followed by hundreds of people who come very close to us. Finally we get the fruits at a reasonable price every body watching us to put them into our bags. A child arrives through the mass of people and asks us for money, money! She moves her hand from the tummy to the mouth and stretches it to us. Next to her stands a boy who just at this moment spits right in front of Maja’s feet and behind Maci there is an old man moving his snot from deep down his throat with big noise next to him. We move out immediately before we vomit.  We could get used to many things in India, but this constant horning of trucks and cars, the atrocious habit of spitting everywhere is something we do not like. Further ahead we buy water. The seller is dusting the bottles for us and moves away all the audience around us after they used the little horns on our bikes. He speaks a bit English and wants to know from where we come. His reaction is “oh Switzerland the heaven on earth!”.  This answer we hear a lot,  realizing in what dirt and mess they live, the waste problem is not solved in this country. The cows and straying dogs are helping to reduce waste and also the evening fires with the families sitting around and keeping warm, but with a terrible smell of plastic. Many know Switzerland through the Bollywood Movies which are quit often done in Switzerland. Many live very basic especially the lower cast. The live in tents or clay shacks right next to a nice house belonging to someone from the higher cast. The low cast people do the dirty work for the higher cast so that they have a more comfortable live. This religious habit is difficult for us to understand. Right to the end of the village there are shops working with marble which comes from this region. Men and women all are concentrating on their work with marbles. Loud music is following us as we pass the Hindu temple. Considering the loudness and length of the prayers of the Hindi’s they are overpowering the prayers done by the Moslems. Prayers are done at all times of the day. Bells are ringing and prayers are burning their sticks. There seems to be one saying in India, the louder the better! Nothing happens without noise. In front of us moves a trailer loaded with sugar canes. The farmer sitting at the top of his truck wearing his turban with full pride.  Who is pulling the trailer, a camel pleasantly walking along the street moving the heavy loaded trailer forward.  The camel is nicely decorated with bells on its legs and also some paintings and some artistic shaving. We consider the Indian simply freaks!

We see many women creating out of cow pats pieces to be used for building houses. It seems besides taking care of the children and carrying wood on their heads, the main task for women is to prepare cow pats. Placed next to each other they are dried under the sun and then carried home piled on their heads. Quit often we see women also doing road work which is mainly done without any machinery. Our road is presently in preparation for  two lines where we watch the dark skinned workers, moving stones in cradles, hammering stones into smaller ones, shoveling and moving stones before everything is rolled flat by the rolling machine. We also watch them taking a brake and drinking tea, we only hope they get fairly paid. What we dislike most is the contrast of clean and nice roads and next to it the slums where people live with the minimum. The allies of trees are cut to make space for the roads. We watch women climbing up the trees and cutting branches. With an unbelievable energy they climb and cut and besides that they talk and  chat like nothing happens. All this chatting and talking they do creates an animal like impression. The roots of human beings is still visible.

Our lunch we have without any disturbance and with ear plugs in our ears we pass villages, camels, buffalos and donkeys which pull heavy loads. We wave to the children who run to the road and wave back. Unfortunately we lost the pleasure in taking photographs of women doing their hard work. But they impress us with their beautifully colored clothes, jewellery and ornaments. Some of them are happy to pose for a picture others are shouting from distance and want money so we move on.

Tonight we stay overnight in a Government Hotel the only place which was available in this city. Not a pleasure for us, as they are very expensive and we can not bargain at all about the price. Our pilgrim trick usually works but not in India. The comfort does not exist except being in the bathroom you get the impression to be on the highway, as it is so noisy. We have 5 times power cuts within 90 minutes which is normal in India. There is an extreme power problem in India however showering in candle light can be very romantic.

It is quit normal that the Government keeps prices high on certain  tourist attractions. It does not disturb us to pay more, however, to visit the Taj Mahal tourists have to pay 75 times more then locals. There are beggars everywhere around the Taj Mahal. They are happy to take chocolat, pens or even shampoo! They know what they want!!!

Completely exhausted from today we discuss our experiences we made today and try to find out what nerves us and what creates pleasure. We are finally confronted with the real India and we have the chance to see both of the worlds which exist here. Everyday we pass tourists in buses and jeeps, tourists renting a driver and his car, who are rushing from cites to cites. We call them bunch pickers. Then in the tourist guides you find only the cites which one should visit and nothing in between.  However, exactly in this part in between you find the real India, which we are experiencing very closely. We also use the tourist guide, use their ideas, tips and lot’s of information. We also benefit from the luxury in the cities when necessary. We are happy to see both sides of the world. Pedaling for some days and visiting tourist spots we quit happily mingle in the cloud of western tourists and swimming unobtrusively between them.  Traveling already for such a long time helps us a lot as we built lots of experience to handle such a different world. It is not easy pulling us over the table anymore we have established some tricks and we get through our daily life quit well. We are comfortable in India. Where the wheels are moving us we are at home!

PS 1: What holy cows concerns: There is a group of men surrounding a cow covered in sheets and chains. Next to the cow a men representing the speaker. The cow goes around and stands still in front of man. The speaker translates what the cow ment to say and sends the man out of the circle, as his bad energy disturbs the cow. After a few rounds the cow stops in front of another man, shakes his head, which means he should not create any friendships as it would be dangerous for him.  So it goes on!!! Believing in something creates power!!!

PS 2: We are in the city where they still sing “let the sunshine in”. They put flowers into their hair, they plant plants which are smoked, where the tourists pay for everything much to much and for the sunset you get a Pinacolada… go Goa!

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

18th Travelreport, February 26, 2006

Along the sea !

After a long train journey from Jaipur to Bombay we are welcomed by a very strong heat. Which nearly knocks out our breath. As we were looking for we are now in the heat of India, our sweat running town on us while we are cycling 30 Km through Bombay to visit the gateway of India. High rise buildings and huge motorways left and right sometimes we see the sea, then the view is limited because of industrial buildings and ports. Along the river bed, the black hardly moving liquid, surrounded by the slumps. A mass of black tents and rubbish in front of a big advertising wall for an Omega watch and a new car. An unimaginable contrast! This is India, the way we got to know it. 

While the sunset lasts we are traveling in a wooden ferry to the Konkan coast, which is the coastline of the Indian State Maharashtra. We are back at the sea, watch the sunset disappearing in the water and are looking forward to another step in our tour. It is already very dark on our arrival and besides that there is a power failure. With our headlamps on we are looking for our way through people in an unknown area. We are happy to find a guest house after pedaling about 1 hour. Cycling at night in India is not very adventuress. In the morning we see where we have landed. The air smells from salty water, lots of palm trees and big green bushes along the road, which finds it’s way along the coast line. Towards lunch time the sun recklessly burns on our helmets and nearly kills our energy. We have to get used to this again and in between we enjoy a bath in the sea, enjoy the surf and put our warm clothes at the bottom of our luggage. 

The people look very happy and smile when they see us, turn red when the see us pointing our camera at them. They mostly let us make pictures of them. We are fascinated by the ladies, who pick up water in the village well, cleaning the pots with dirt and fill them with water afterwards and carrying them on their heads back home. Mostly it is more then one pot we see up to 3 pots on their heads. Others are washing clothes on the floor, hit on them with sticks and rub them. Outside the village all this is done along the rivers. Overall a beautifully colored picture. The women are happy about our short visit and positioning themselves like models. Their men however are making a rather boring appearance with their clothing in rather dull colors. The road condition and temperature is very much demanding on us. The little coast line is actually very pretty however rather tough to ride. The asphalt is rather bad or even no asphalt at all. On the way down we cycle only very slowly as there are too many holes. The coast line goes zick-zack, up and down and never ends. We start very early in the morning to avoid the heat. On one morning the road became worse and we were looking for a ferry to bring us across the river. However we were climbing higher and higher with a great view over the river. The men along the road sent us further ahead but then we stopped in a little village as we did not trust them anymore. We explained this to a shop owner and he immediately closed his shop lead us town to the river where a man was waiting for us with a trunk tree boat to bring us to the other side of the river. Like all say in India, no problem! We take off the cycle bags and load everything into the boat. A real experience to us. However this was not all, we watched how parts of our cycles were tipped into the muddy water and the breaks and wheels fully covered up with mud. Later on our cycles started to become rusty in certain parts. We had to cross the river several times more later on. Once even with a car ferry.

Less variety we had with the food along the river. Basically very spicy fish to which we got used to it. We are always trying to find a reasonable clean restaurant as one never knows about the condition of the kitchen. We were actually looking forward to eat fish they prepare it with a curry sauce where they put many other things in it. It is served with rice and seasonal vegetable also very spicy and all this is called fishthali. On another occasion we ordered fried fish, Maesi received the head and I got the tail. There was not much to eat on it, only lots of fish bones which stuck in our throat. We enjoy to eat the sweet pineapples and mandarins wich are very cheap to buy. In general cost of living is very low in India except in tourist places where prices are adapted to tourists. One meal costs about 1-5 CHF per person, a budget hotel about 5-10 CHF for a double room. 

This coast line was not much inhabited therefore we had to plan our daily trips so that we were near a village towards the evening for staying overnight, as we left our big luggage in New Delhi. On one evening we arrived in a smelly bigger village where they dried fish on the floor, of course all this was enjoyed by the dogs, cats and birds. Trucks, cars, motorcycles and other vehicles passed us all loaded with dried fish. The smell was everywhere. Some of them even lost some of their loadings. It was not possible to keep breath to avoid the smell and pedaling at the same time. Therefore, for the first time, we asked for a beer at the next restaurant. We expected them to have beer, but to our surprise, it was not available. A young boy brought us through little alleys and far away he was able to find a cold bottle covered in a plastic bag. We had no idea that it was so difficult to organize beer. However, we got it. 

We were looking forward to a long stretched uninterrupted beach. Here we found it. We established us for our daily lunch pick nick, jumped quickly into the water and enjoyed the lunch. But then we realized that the lonely beach does not offer any sanitary equipment and if there is, then one is not alone anymore. So we moved on with our dream of a candle light dinner on the beach. The beach is here a working place. We watched fishermen doing their little business on the beach which was washed away from the next wave of water and then the fisherman’s work went on. Or the herdsman walks with his cows along the water as it is shorter for him to get to his place. Once we met a community of 42 men. They had a very big tree trunk boat with a big net to catch fish. The 42 men where needed to move the trunk boat forward. They had a daily catch of about 10 buckets full of fish everyday to feed their community. 

Towards the end of this coast line we found a beautiful beach. Full of pleasure we followed the sign Sumati-Resort. We were surprised to find ordinary beach houses with palm leave roofs. Our room even had a cold shower. The son of the owner promised us to prepapre a nice fishthali with chai. We where the only visitors and we enjoyed watching the people working on the water. Maja did not feel comfortable swimming in the sea as the local ladies do not wear bikinis. What fascinated us most were the animals along the water. We saw the first time living mussels who dig themselves back into the sand after they were washed out of their shells. Or the tiny snails making their traces in the sand. Maesi was dreaming for a long time to climb a coconut tree and there were many in our camp. After a young boy demonstrated him how to climb a coconut tree, Maesi climbed himself up, however, he needed much more strength then expected. The locals enjoyed this very much it was a pleasure to see how these little boys with no muscles where able to climb. Maesi did slight miss to reach the coconuts but arriving back on ground with soft legs and arms Maja decided the action as mission completed. There are more palm trees in this region!

Overall the locals did not disturb us, came respectfully close, but where not obtrusive at all. They are always very friendly and helpful and gave us lot’s of tips to find roads. No beggars in this region, as there are hardly any tourists. We have the impression people have a better live here then in the cities. They have nice houses with palm and banana trees. We also realized that they have many children. Every village has several schools. Many of the lessons are held outside with all the kids sitting on the ground. The population growth in India is at about 20% and we are convinced that this figure is correct. We always have close contact with the locals, they are always very friendly and correct and this way traveling makes real fun. Even the ladies who are carrying everything on their head from water buckets to wood where able to give us a smile. These are the ladies from the lower cast who have to do this heavy work and they deserve a gold medal enduring it. 

The state of Goa is getting closer. We knew that there were many visitors who arrived from European countries and stayed to enjoy the beaches and climate. The easy access to drugs created lot’s of attractions and rave parties where all along the beaches. Others fascinated by esoteric treatment or Shiva followers lost in their dreams. Already some km before Goa we met some westerner tourists on their motorbikes and scooters. Full of excitement we were waving at them but nobody seemed interested in us. Of course there are so many tourists in Goa why should they wave us back! On the ordinary tour we always got greeted by other tourists but here in Goa with so many tourists we just fit in as regular tourists. The contrast was quite tremendous. We had hardly crossed the river which separates Goa from Maharashatra, we met tourists in their bikinis on Vespas or cool bearded longhair guys with their babes on their Enfield motorcycles. The restaurants offered Mexican, Italian, American or Tibetan food and of course Indian. As we are still in India although we can hardly feel and see it. We rather felt being in Ibiza or Mallorca that’s how we see these places. We were completely flabbergasted, after weeks of experiencing real India and then suddenly a tourist spot like this. We were quite amused to see these young ladies with feeders in their hair or bolted belts around their hip or the rather old grey haired hippy sitting in the Internet café studying the stock market or the old hairy kiffer dancing to the music from his ear plugs. As we were looking for a room we coincidentally met a hippy wearing a baseball cap with the FCB logo (Football Club of Basel). Maja of course spoke to him in baseldiitsch and he was so surprised to ask her whether she knows him. No, she answered but with this cap you can only be from Basel. 
As we found out he was from Dorneck, lives already 20 years in Goa and spends summer mostly in Thailand. A few words and gone was he. 

For the next few days we enjoyed this tourist oasis. We ate through every menu from apple struddle to whole wheat bread it’s a long time since we had food like this! Enjoyed a Pinacolada watching the sunset and if we wanted a beer it was available in tons. We did not cycle much just from beach to beach. Visiting the beach wearing a bikini is accepted here and the locals are not turning their heads after every girl. They are happy selling stuff to tourists. Prices are competitive and many tourists are taking the opportunity to do shopping. We personally consider it expensive here in comparison to the prices on the country side up to three times are the prices higher. The last week we spent south of Goa in a quiet beach visited by locals only listening to their Indian music with loud speakers fully open. Besides this it is very relaxed, so relaxed that one has to wait long time to get ones food in the restaurants. But we have time, we are able to relax, eating good food and swimming in warm water. We met Reni and Tobi who arrived on their motorcycles from Germany. For hours we were sitting on the veranda telling each other our stories, eating tiger prawns and baby sharks.

PS 1: We are on the car ferry watching an Indian parking his car. Several times he has to move forward and backwards and on every backward move the sound of Jingle Bells, although he was Hindu and they don’t celebrate Christmas!

PS 2: Monsoon is arriving soon. We have to rush if we want to reach the most southern part of India. Therefore please receive our greetings and we move on….

Maja and Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

19th Travelreport, March 29, 2006

Ridden to the edge

It is bouncing back and forward the aircon distributing cool air we are in a train. Within 43 hours we are putting a distance of 3000 Km behind us. If we would have done it by bicycle it would have taken us more then 2 months. As our Visa's are running out and the heat is getting unbearable in the southern part of India we decided to take the train. We feel as if we are sitting in a fridge with our jackets on and watching the landscape passing by in horrendous speed. It seems that the land is already getting dryer with less life from the heat. The local passengers are not interested how it looks in India however we are fascinated as it looks more or less similar we have done on the bicycles earlier. Although we were enjoying the sunset everyday we watch it with wonder again disappearing between the palm trees. Again the locals are not interested in this wonderful power of nature. We wonder whether we would act the same if we were sitting in a train in Switzerland!

After some relaxing days in Goa we are cycling with our newly polished bicycles towards Karnataka. It reminds us of Maharashatra, ladies carrying loads of stuff on their heads. Fishing is done on boats without engine. The people are very friendly smiling towards us. The countryside gets greener, with big rivers finding their ways through the landscape. In four days we are crossing the state of Karnataka following the road closest to the sea. Finding places for overnight was getting more difficult. One day we arrived in a village famous for Hindu pilgrimage with the biggest Shiva-Statue on earth situated on a hill directly at the sea and if you find a temple you can be sure there are hotels. It was Sunday and the roads where crowded. The locals visit the temple and the sea but only the men go into the water to swim and to enjoy themselves. The women go into the water with their saris and change afterwards. Nobody lies on a towel there are no toilets no armchairs or umbrellas. But there are fruit and ice cream dealers pushing their products in boxes mounted on their bicycles.

After we had to avoid the cows in Karnataka constantly we hardly see them in the next state, Kerala. Here they enjoy very much politics. We see communist flags everywhere and beside it the party flag of Sonia Gandhi. Roads and house walls are fully covered with their political paroles. The first time we see a car driving school. We were surprised to find one, looking at the way they drive in India. The student approaches at crossings, horns and keeps on driving! This is the way driving is done here, the way they learn it! Always the one who comes from behind has to cover up all the mess in front of him. If someone moves into a main road he would never check whether another car is arriving. Many times we had to stop abruptly. More important for them is to horn then watching other traffic!

Kerala is the country of the coconut palm trees. We enjoy this coastline state with its huge back waters and palm trees. We enjoy the sweet pineapples, papayas, bananas which you find here in all size and color. Also the mango season has just started. We have not cooked for long time as the Indian food is excellent and cheap. The different sauces of the Thali are mixed with rise and formed into a ball and stuffed by hand into the mouth. We very much enjoy this although we do not command it perfectly and the locals enjoy watching us eating this way. In tourist restaurants the food is not so much spiced as in Indian hotels, this is the way the call the local restaurants. In here we get food which is very well spiced which we like very much in the meantime. That these India hotels do not offer rooms confused us at the beginning. Kerala is a very well developed state with the lowest an alphabetical rate in India. The people live in nice houses, along the national highway No. 17 even in big villas. Shacks and tent villages do not exist here although population is very high. Every meter of space belongs to someone; we can not enjoy a single stop without being watched. Using open toilets is getting a serious problem for Maja as everybody is watching. There is no private spare anymore and if we ask for it they do not understand it. We watch them sitting in their gardens and preparing coconuts into chips. The remaining fiber parts will be prepared into strings which is used for carpet manufacturing, building industry or packaging industry. The oil they get out of the coconuts is used for cooking or they use it for hair and body treatment.

The backwaters are a huge canal system which flows either into the sea or lakes. Many live directly on the water which serves their living style. The tourists come to Kerala to enjoy the water and do make tours on the backwater canals which are very idyllic and exotic. The big thing for locals is to tour around in a houseboat. We can't think of it being romantic, as one is always surrounded by the crew who cooks for them and the night they spend open watching the stars. Here we cashed in our wedding gift for the 10'000th kilometer which we received from Maja's parents. We set ourselves into the posh seat directly behind the captain. Unfortunately we realized that this is not very romantic as there are so many house boats on the water some of them built up like swimming palaces. Our captain is only touring wide canals as he considers our boat too big for the smaller ones. The night we spent in rows of boats towed up next to each other beside a temple listening to the prayers all night. We cycled allot along the backwaters but to see the life on water was quit revealing to us. The water is rather thirty polluted by all the boats and the soap used by the locals on the boats. The father is shampooing himself while his wife is washing the crockery next to him with the same water and the daughter drinks the water a bit further away! To observe this is very interesting to us especially thinking about the ecological impact.

Since weeks clouds are building up every afternoon the sign of monsoon coming closer. Soon the ladies will use the umbrellas not to protect again sun but against rain. Excited we are waiting for the rain to arrive, which then finally arrives in mid March accompanied by thunder and lightening. The following evenings we were watching the lightening everyday it became more humid and hot and the Indians are still telling us it becomes worse. It means from April to May it will be very hot and humid. We won't be here by then but we would be happy experiencing a monsoon here in India.

Religion plays a major role in India. Cycling along the coast line we saw one temple after the other. Surprised we were on the many Muslims some villages had. Ladies covered in their black dresses and men wearing their round huts. We were happy to see churches especially in Goa. The Portuguese settled here about 450 years ago and brought Christianity into the country. Hindus we find everywhere especially in Kerala where all the 3 religions are represented. It was very interesting to see the churches, temples and mosques next to each other. While visiting churches we were surprised to see that they also decorate Jesus with flowers and joss sticks. The Christians do the same ritual as the Hindus they go down to the floor, kiss and touch the statues and on Fridays they enjoy loud music in the church. They want to get the attention from God.

Everyday we get closer to the very south of India. On our way we make some stops visiting some nice beaches. Then we arrive in the region which Maja visited five years ago. It was a pleasure for her to see these places again and to show them to Marcel. A very exciting moment for us was to arrive at the very southern point in India in Kanyakumari. To demonstrate gratitude to our bicycles we decorated them with flowers for the last 10.5 Km. Also a special moment the following day as our compass suddenly showed us that we are heading north and the sun shone from right in the morning instead from the left. The most southern part of India belongs to Tamil Nadu. The scenery has changed again. There are lots of banana plantations shining in the sun. There are also lot's swamps covered with lotus flowers. Unfortunately men are picking the seeds before the flowers blossom. However it creates a very nice picture with all these men picking seeds, sitting in their boats surrounded by the green plants.

We had some more days before we got to the train in Trivandrum. Maja would like to enjoy Ayurveda and Marcel would rather visit an Ashram to practice Yoga. As the Ayurveda treatment was too expensive we decided for Ashram where they also offered massage treatment. We had no idea what to expect we knew only that we had a fixed day routine to follow with only one meal for the day. Men and women should not get to close to each other. Our routine was as follows: wake up 5:20 am, 6 am Satsang (meditation, singing and praying) 7:30 am tea, 8 am Asana (Yoga) 10 am brunch, 11 am lecture (deepening yoga knowledge) 12:30 Karma Yoga (cleaning) 13:30 tea, 14:00 free Yoga training, 16:00 Asana (Yoga) 18:00 Dinner, 20:00 Satsang, 22:30 Bed time
Well, it was not too much of stress. On the first day we had to get used to the rhythm. We were not used to take orders from others and in the evening we were getting back to our rooms with muscle pain from the exercise, of course separate rooms for men and women.
During these five days we got real insight into Ashram. We were also able to use all of our muscles without any pain. Masi seems to be on his best way to become a Yogi-Guru as he can stand on his head for several minutes! Maja has allocated her ambitions rather to an appointment for Ayurveda massage. We felt the positive energy from joint singing, yoga and eating in quietness. We completely forgot the hectic of the day and we also found our inner energy back. Om shanty, shanty, shanty (peace in us, peace around us, peace on earth)

PS 1) In south India men are having a moustache and a lunghi. (A 2 meter long piece of clothes which is carried around the hip) Masi adapts 50% to it, without moustache however with lunghi. But it is not as easy as he loses it from time to time and he has to cover himself up not to stand on the road in his underwear!

PS2) A full program is waiting for us in Delhi. Repairing and cleaning our cycles. Prepare Visas, shopping and the visit of our aunty Elsbeth from Switzerland. We are looking forward to it. More info will follow about our next step.

Maja and Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

20th Travelreport, April 21, 06

One jubilee hunts the other !

What do we have to celebrate at this very moment ? Although if it happens in a very humble way for us it is very important and loaded with excitement. First of all; we drove our 10'000th kilometer on bicycle, had our 1st civil wedding anniversary and our 1st Christian wedding anniversary and besides all these we are still on our honey moon! Exactly on April 16th (our weeding day) our kilometer reading showed the magical 5 digit figure of 11'111 .
One more reason for a big kiss and a hug right next to the street where the figure showed up, and this all in India, the country we dreamed so much about it! Now we are in preparation to leave this country after having spent here 4 months and we are heading into a new adventure. Furthermore we will celebrate on May 6th our 365th day on bicycle!
We shall see how many more, and you active readers are reading at the 20th travel report. Also you demonstrate endurance! Thank you very much.

After the very long train ride from the most southern point in India we arrive in Delhi where we establish ourselves next to Dilip and his family. It was like coming home as we were already here at the beginning of the year on our way coming down form northern India. There are lot's of people living here in crowded circumstances, very simply apartments or rooms and very basic kitchen facilities. On the streets there is always live the little shops are open day and night. Fresh food is brought in on bicycles and dealers on bicycles are showing up selling their plastic items or any other products. A knife sharpener on his bicycle while pedaling on his bicycle he sharpens the knives. The locals are admiring us in full length but over time they get used to us. This part of the city belongs rather to the rich, as on every block there are security guards positioned. Two different worlds right next to each other. No doubt, we felt much more comfortable in our district then the next to it which is in rather poor stage or the very rich with their villas. There is live in our streets in comparison to the streets where the rich life. We were heartily welcomed by Aasha, Jacob and Usha the kids of Dilip and his wife. Although their English is still basic we had lot's to tell and laugh!

During the following two weeks we had lot's to organize. We had to do some shopping, develop pictures, work on our bicycles and prepare the reception of our aunty Elsbeth arriving from Switzerland who will deliver some important parts for our bicycles, Swiss chocolates and dried Swiss beef. In mid February she surprised us with the message to visit us in India. We are very happy about having visitors from home. India is not a country to travel alone so easily and we won't have too much time to spend with her. We are planning to visit with her the India Gate and the memorial place of Mahatma Ghandi. Aunty has planned to spend one week with us and the rest she will spend with local tour guides. We will also have time to show her the hectic life of Delhi where they sell dead chicken hanging on their rails, beggars and handicapped who are trying to get some money, rickshaw drivers fighting over passengers, open water canals smelling like hell, next to it food places with great dishes and of course cows going through waste piles and trying to get some food out of plastic bags. It is a place to see very interesting faces and situations, people branded by hardship and not from luxury life style and futuristic shopping centers.

Spontaneously we decided for an outing into the countryside. Overngiht we drove by train without the luxury of comfort to the Corbett National Park. Aunty Elsbeth cool she is enjoyed very much the journey and also agreed to buy the cheapest class ticket. A 4.00 Swiss Frank ticket for a journey of 6 hours! Where can you get that? We enjoyed the journey except that it was very cold at night time. For the safari on the park we rented a Jeep with a driver. During the first few kilometers we did not see any animals until a deer showed up and later on a crocodile watching us sitting on a river bank and a huge lizard disappearing into her hiding place. After these little encounters we discovered swimming turtles, crocodiles and huge cat fish. A bit further ahead elephants bathing in the water and we were watching them showering each other with their trunks. After a break in the park we started the evening tour cruising through forest, bushes and rivers until we discovered a heard of elephants, various deer's and birds like eagles, wild boars, peacocks, jackals and monkeys. Our driver was using roads not to frighten the animals. We enjoyed the safari very much and we all were very happy about it. We are happy to see that there are places where the animals are the kings and not human beings. The only king in the park is the tiger and of course we dreamed of seeing one.

The following day we started into another direction. With sharp eyes we searched in the bushes for tigers and finally we discovered food prints on the sandy road. Suddenly our jeep speeds ahead to meet another tour group ahead of us. We expected the tiger to leave as we were approaching with this high speed, but wrong, he was happily laying there and enjoying his audience. A beautiful tiger watching us only 10 meters away laying comfortably in the bush. He is laying there looking boringly in our directions got up and finally left towards the forest. Further ahead we saw a group of deer's who were looking anxiously into the direction where the tiger disappeared. There are only about 150 tigers in this park and we were happy having seen one of them.

After aunty Elsbeth left for the Indian Highlands, Masi started working on our bicycles. Changed the rims of the wheels, fixed a new chain, checked and oiled every screw, arranged some minor work and polished them to shiny sparking bicycles. Maja was fighting with stomach problems, reading Swiss newspapers and journals, sorted pictures for our website, updated our daily writings and informed herself about our next days. We prepared our Visa for Pakistan which we finally got for 60 days and not only 30 days what is the usual practice. Driving around in Delhi is cheapest by rickshaws however one has to bargain about the price all the time. Temperature is reaching 40 degree in day time. In our sunny bedroom we had 36 degree daytime and at nights 33 degree. The floor tiles and walls were hot, bicycles glowing of heat and the chocolates were melting immediately after taking out of the fridge. From the cold water tap we got hot water! It was not possible to cool down. But rather hot water then no water! For about 40 hours we had water shortage which was terrible and this in the capital city. Being westerners it is good to make such experience! Also the regular power failures make us aware what life style we have back home! However, there is no wonder that they have power failures with all these power lines hanging so low. All potentials for accidents. So we are moving ahead with sweating and smelling without fresh water being available. Our evaporation has also changed to local standards.

Visting India is a must going to a movie house watching a bollywood movie. However, in our guest family the TV is running every day so we were able seeing all the famous soap operas and dramatic movies from India. Very popular are the movies running 24 hours showing fashion, wrestling and of course cricket which is the national sport here. On our journey up to Iran, football was the big topic. Since Pakistan it is cricket. Boys and girls play it everyday on the road, in parks, bazaars, school yards and beaches. If they own nothing but you can bet that they have a cricket bat.

To celebrate farewell our guest family invited us to dinner. Although we ate so much it cost only CHF 10.00 for a meal of 6 person. As a contrast we cashed in one of our wedding coupons, we visited a 5 star hotel had 2 juices and 2 pieces of cakes for CHF 15.00. Another interesting comparison is the rickshaw cycle driver who sweats himself nearly to death in this heat and pollution and for one hour we pay 30 Rupees (CHF 1.00).
In an ordinary restaurant you get half a plate of rice for the same amount of money and in the fast-food place around the corner food for the full day.

Finally we leave for the Pakistan boarder. The 6 days pedaling are rather routine to us. But after a break of nearly 4 weeks of cycling the flat area is a good training for us. Our body and muscles get used to the exercise, the back side a bit painful at the beginning and the cycles in full strength after the master work of Masi. Luckily the cycles are perfect and nothing goes wrong. After two rather unpleasant overnight places we find a very nice hotel with a very friendly owner who surprises us with an introduction to a journalist who wants to write a story about our tour. Full of enjoyment we receive the following day the article written in Hindi and Punjabi.

Finally we are leaving India where many asked us whether we want to end up in the Guinness Book or Records. Not many could imagine where Switzerland is they did not even know how big their country is! We were treated quite often like stars and had to give autographs into their daily books. On the other hand we were squashed away from the road or covered up in dust by ruthless car and bus drivers! India is well worth a journey. But now we are looking forward getting into the mountains, away from the crowd into remote places with much less traffic and clean air. We want to see the Himalaya!

PS 1) Masi enjoyed an artistic rest during our jubilee issue!

PS 2) The India circle is closing. We are in Amritsar at the golden temple. Here we spent the first days in India and now the last. Our plans for continuation are as following: In Islamabad (Pakistan) we try to get Visa's for China to explore by foot the deserted valleys of Karakorum. Via Khunjerab crossing at an altitude of 4700 m we would like to reach south west of China. A long steep uphill way with many high crossings and bad roads will bring us to the high plateau of Tibet. Via Mount Kailash the holy mountain and Lhasa we plan to arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal in September.

Maja and Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

21st Travelreport, May 14, 2006

Highs and lows or highways to hell !

You will always find highs and lows on every journey, not only at home! We experienced them so far only geographically, climbed up many mountain passes and enjoyed afterwards the run down hill. However, we experienced them also psychologically and physically, but never too serious that it built serious pressure on us. Daily facing the challenges of the road, traffic, weather, hunger, thirst, frustrating and motivating areas, cultures and religions needs a lot of energy but this is all part of a tour. We purposely decided to use bicycles as we expect to get all these impressions more in-depth.

Since we left Delhi we are facing lots of downs and ups.

First the road to the boarder of Pakistan is very boring. Heavy traffic, flat, smelly and very hot. We had to do about 100 Km daily to put it behind us. This meant, to get up at 4:30 am in order to leave at 6 am and already from 9 am onwards it was very hot and then we had to cycle for about 5-6 hours in this heat. Early morning there is less traffic then day time. At the beginning we were very proud that we were able to have this routine as usually we have difficulties to get to bed early and to get up early. Surprisingly also the Indian and Pakistani get up very early to benefit from the cooler weather. The daily routine begins very early for them. We see them doing their morning toilet along the road. The dead and very smelly water accompanies us for the rest of the day, unfortunately.

We take overnight at a hotel at the boarder of Pakistan and in the evening we watch how they close the boarder for overnight. The two countries are enemies since 1948 when the boarder was drawn by England. Therefore many thousands are watching this ceremony everyday. We were sitting on the Pakistani side but we felt sympathy for both of them. Of course we are also shouting long live Pakistan and the locals enjoy this very much. The soldiers made their shows shouting and walking in formation and obviously felt like kings in front of their enemy. After this the flags where taken down on both sides. This show happened exactly the same on both sides. After this we bought Pakistani flags to fix on our bicycles in the hope to get friendly smiles and greetings on the Karakorum Highway.

From the boarder to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, the road and condition was the same as before except the pollution was even worse. Black clouds coming from the exhaust pipes. We find only very bad hotels where the toilet never saw a bucket of water. Every evening a big fight against mosquitoes. As Maja started coughing again we decided to take the bus for the last day. Islamabad is relatively new with lots of greenery and traffic is also very organized. There are no rishkas and no donkeys pulling carts creating problems to the traffic. However, transportation is also becoming more expensive. We visited the China Embassy by bicycle and received a visa for 90 days.

We established us on the camping area allocated only for tourists. We met a lot of travelers all waiting for their visas and many are jealous as they are not allowed to enter China with their mobile homes or cars. We have no problems with this and will be welcomed in China with bicycles. On the camping ground we met Judith and Michi who travel in a converted truck, we also met Tina, Heiko and their son Timo who travel in a post bus. They started their tour at the same time as we did. It was really nice to meet Swiss and we all had to chat a lot. As Maja was not happy with her hair for quite a time, too thick and creating heat, she asked them whether they would cut her hair. However, both declared that they have no experience in cutting hair. But Tina had a hair scissor and Judith started cutting Maja's hair. She tried very hard but as Maja looked worse then before Masi mentioned to finish it up with a shaver! In the end Judith cut Maja's hair down to 14 mili meters and left some long tails. Masi called her Nena as she looked similar. After a few days Maja got used to her new look and started to like it. Furthermore it will also be more comfortable on the journey. Besides that she will be much faster taking a shower and in Pakistan Maja will have to cover up her hair anyway. Thank you to Judith for your courage.

Leaving Islamabad we finally cycled towards the mountains on the famous Karakorum Highway. This highway got it's name from the connecting road from Pakistan to China crossing through the Karakorum mountain range. The western part of the Himalaya mountains. But to enjoy better air quality we had to travel about 3 days. Talking about highway this is not a highway what we would expect. It is only an ordinary road with tons of holes not even a middle line. The landscape became extremely nice following the mountain range moving slightly higher every kilometer. Besides the lushes green farmland, forest and rice terraces which look like staircases, we also saw the horrible destruction from the earth quake in October 8, 2005. We passed very close through the area where the epicenter of the earth quake was. Constantly we see huge tent villages and ruins covered with corrugated iron roofs. Various aid groups where on ground like Red Cross, Unicef, Johanniter, UN and others. The majority of the houses are collapsed and roads destroyed. Surprisingly the locals where very friendly towards us, they waived us and tried to get into a discussion with us and invited us to chai. We could not see any desperation. The sadness and tragedy is huge but live goes on and it seems they are supported well by above organization. They are very happy that tourists are still arriving then Pakistan is not spoiled by tourists. After this tough however also very beautiful journey we found a camping ground on 1600 m above sea level with a stunning view over the valley we just crossed. Up to Gilgit this is the highest point and after Gilgit it moves up to 4700 m towards the Khunjerab Crossing. Out little camp ground belongs to the Government hotel which was just repaired and renovated. Next to is one of the aid groups located responsible for distributing water in the valley. Already in the afternoon we got visit from Olaf a Norwegian working for the Norwegian Church Aid. After we told him about our journey he gave us details about the earth quake. Which was a total shock to us. Olaf is in charge of installing toilets for all schools, camps and homes. He also takes care of water supply for every house and is involved in repairing water pipes and informing locals about quality of the water. Some people already suffer from cholera. Pakistan still an underdeveloped country never had high standards in terms of infrastructure. People life a very simple live and are very happy with little they have. He also tells us about villages which completely disappeared and also from the tribes in the mountains who never lived an ordinary life according the rules of the government. Especially here nobody has an idea how many people died during the earth quake. Up to now they refused any help and showed their guns when aid groups approached them. To us it sounds like Wilde West 150 years ago. The government estimates about 70'000 people who died others mentioned up to 400'000. The Pakistany army arrived very quickly in this region and supported the locals us much as they could. They are very efficient and disciplined. Unfortunately the local farmers where sent back to their destroyed villages after the winter was over. They had to move back into their destroyed villages with all the knowledge that many of their family members are buried under the debris. Nobody knows how these farmers will survive with no houses, cows, land destroyed and no water. The Norwegian camp manager invited us to dinner and we were introduced to many other help workers. Except Maria also from Norway all the others where from Pakistan. Women are in charge of schools and homes to teach locals about hygiene efforts, how to use toilets or latrines, properly wash their hands and to keep themselves clean. All seem to be very happy have they achieved a lot since they started their work.

We had plans to move on the following day. However, Masi got unexpected fever and did not feel well. Already in Islamabad we had to postpone our departure as he did not feel well. As he also suffered from terrible head ache we thought it might be malaria. A driver from the camp drove us into the next bigger city to visit a medical doctor. He diagnosed malaria or typhus as both symptoms seem to be similar. Masi received lots of medicaments which he had to take immediately. In fact the doctor was surprised to find out that we were traveling in this region without having done any preventive steps. As in the region we were traveling there were lot's of insects. However, after several visits in Switzerland before we left, at the medical doctor specialized for tropic illness, nobody ever told us about malaria in this region. This was very disappointing especially as this part of the tour was very enduring. Our driver, a Pakistani, drove us back to the camp and Masi suffering from head ache after every bump on the road. Back in our camp he immediately went to our tent and took a rest. The following morning he felt much better, however still very weak. Luckily he did not show any side effects. Absolutely great was the support from the camp aid workers. They constantly brought us food and asked for our well being. Especially the Pakistani were very nice and friendly and spoiled us with their hospitality. Maja was very happy to see that Masi was recovering and also his appetite came back again. But then she also started feeling weak. Maria a nurse from the camp who worked for many years in Ethiopia, experienced with malaria illness recommended her to do the same treatment before it breaks out. As we are always together we expect that the same insect also infected Maja. Unfortunately she felt immediately side effects. The medicaments are very strong. She had fever, had to vomit, felt hunger but had no appetite. Soon she looked very weak and pale. The camp manager recommended to stop with our tour and to get home. But at this time Maja would not have been fit for traveling home and best for her was to rest. Later we found out that he actually did not wanted us to stay any longer in the camp. As we had no water, toilette and shower we were fully dependent on them. All Pakistani and Norwegian could not believe this and could see that we were really very weak. From now onwards we had to look for hide a ways to do our toilet business but we felt very weak and had to support each other. We were very disappointed. We did not expect this from the humanitarian aid manager. Everywhere they build toilets and water supply but we had to look for it in the bush. Out of pity Rahil a Pakistani girl brought us food every day. To the next shop we would have to cycle 5 Km, however we were not strong enough. Especially Maja felt very weak and we had to contact a doctor for her to subscribe stronger medicaments. After this she slightly recovered and was able to eat again. The bad temper of the aid manager went on and finally we also did not get any food anymore. Without being informed before. After a while nobody showed any interest in us any more. Only the little kitten cat came to visit us miauing about food. Finally also our cooker broke down! The Pakistani gasoline stuffed up the little pipes. Therefore we started eating our reserves. Over a week we spent on this hill trying to improve on our health. Fortunately it was a very beautiful area with a stunning view. The nights were pleasantly cool, perfect for a healthy sleep. It is painful if one has to do such experiences and we will remember it for the rest of our live. Unbelievable what disappointments one can experience.

Before we cycled on we heard from the hotel manager nearby that a cyclist tourist was killed in the region of Kohistan, the region we will travel through the next few days. It was a shock to us. We heard that two cyclists are on the road to the north as this region is famous for kids throwing stones at tourists. Since a while this region is famous for trouble, the conservative Moslems do not have any education and are influenced by the talibans, who see in every non Moslem an enemy. We decided to cross Kohistan on the bus. From a police man at boarder crossing we heard that the tourist was killed by stones falling from above. First we did not believe this but sitting in this bus we soon realized that this is easy possible with so many stones falling down from the mountain region. The road goes like a line along the mountain range with steep cliffs up to 300 meters down where the river Indus is cutting itself into the massive mountain region. The road was completely covered with rocks. Furthermore we had to trust a very young driver who most probably compared himself with a Formula 1 driver. Maja was sitting on the very outside and very often she only saw water about 300 meters further down. Luckily we changed to the other side of the river and she was sitting inside facing the steep mountain. Ahead and in front of us the locals did their business out of the windows! Before we left we asked how much the ride would take and they mentioned 6 hours, In Shallah!!! What ever it takes! Our little bus was only a little tiny needle in this huge region. During the building of this road from 1966 to 1978 many people died. The toughness of this region is also visible in the peoples face. They are not famous for hospitability. One does not see any women.

From Chilas onwards we cycled again and we were happy about it. The sun came out already at 5 am and we tried to cycle us much as we could before the full heat was out. The road was quite hilly and strenuous. Especially as one sees only rocks and no shady places to rest. The people here are very poor and children are badly dressed. Thanks to the mountain rivers they are able to plant some wheat and have some goats. The only chance to get some milk and meat. Towards lunch time, we had not reached our target, Maja was too tired to move on. The temperature moved towards 40 degree and Maja nearly collapsed. Masi stopped the next bus and we were driven to the next city Gilgit. Here we learned that the temperature is about 10 degree higher then normal. We decided to take another rest in this village, as we only came out of illness recently. We were looking forward to the northern road were temperature is much cooler.

PS 1.) Bird Flu! If one sees these huge chicken farms and trucks loaded with chicken with their heads hanging out of the truck, one looses any appetite eating chicken the number one food here.

PS 2.) We are in Gilgit at 1500 meters above sea level. Temperature of 40 degree. We stay in a pleasant hotel with a quite garden. We met also some overlanders whom we met before. Luckily the cooker is working again. Thanks to the help of everyone

Maja and Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

22nd Travelreport, June 26, 2006

The last month in the Muslim country!

The month of May was a difficult month for us. We actually started it full of enthusiasm in the direction of North to explore the Karakorum National Highway (KKH) and after three days we ended up fighting against malaria. First we took a rest of 8 days, then 1 more, then another 3 days, another 5 days and finally we gave up counting the days. Finally we cycled only 5 days in May and made only 320 km. Besides this we lost a lot of weight. Maja had problems with digestion after she got these hard-core medicaments and could not eat any food afterwards and she became weaker and weaker. And also Maesi could not eat anymore for quite a while. In Gilgit the centre of North Pakistan we took a room in a guest house for a few days were we had to endure more up and downs. A high light was the young team who really cared about us they brought us to see the doctor and tried to take the burden from us as much as they could. Many times we dreamed about being in Switzerland where the waiting rooms in the clinics are clean and well organized. But instead testing results where not really taken care and Maja only got more stronger medicaments. The only explanation from the doctor we got was that tourists quite open have this problem and that she will handle the side effects well. She took the medicaments regularly but they did not help. After more days on diet eating boiled potatoes we visited another doctor who confirmed that the test results were ok. Thanks to an enormous amount of drinking Maja was able to eat other food again. Medicaments are so cheap here that they are prescribed all the time.

We never had so much trouble with eating then here in Pakistan. After the fine kitchen in India we had to eat chicken, lamb, rice, beans and chapatti. This is the standard kitchen here. Soon we missed the vegetarian food we enjoyed in India. Especially after having seen the chicken farms in Pakistan. Crowded in small containers and then transported in trucks getting all this pollution and if the truck had a break down the chicken were lying in the boxes with no water and food for hours in the heat. More and more we were cocking our own food if we were able to buy proper and fresh food. It was very difficult to find proper food in small villages they usually only had biscuits and washing powder. It was frustrating while we were ill as we lost more and more weight. We started dreaming about Swiss food, fondue, cordon bleu, appenzeller cheese and carrot cake. How nice it would be to eat some dried beef, bratwurst or a nice mixed salad. Maesi was trying very hard to cook for Maja. Out of simple ingredients and herbs he tried to make something to eat. Luckily we found a tourist village in Karimabad quite far in the north and we visited the Hidden Paradise Restaurant where the owner Ali Lutfi organized the traditional Hunzaessen for us. It reminded us on a real heavy farmers meal however they also use dried apricots, seeds and fresh cheese together with hunzapizzas; chapattis filled with sliced chicken and beef. Very nice was also the bread it was like dark Swiss bread. During 5 days we visited the restaurant for lunch and dinner and even took apricot soup along for breakfast. A meal in Ali's restaurant was about CHF 8.00 for which you only get 2 coffees back home. Our health improved from day to day. Besides the heavy meals we also ate a lot of Crepe's with Nutella and nut cakes, done the similar way we get in Engadin. As the weather was very rainy we were quite happy to indulge in this eating feast. Also the mango season started which we enjoy very much. For weeks we saw them along our way and finally we can enjoy them and they are really nice!

We decided to take the National Highway through the Karakorum mountain region in the hope to make some hikes in the valleys. We discovered the Fairy Madows on an altitude of 3400 meters above sea and decided to make a nice walk. We have a stunning view of the Nanga Parbat mountain region. Together with Laurence and Pierre a French couple who travels with a range rover, we rent a jeep with driver who brings as into the valley. We passed 15 Km and made 1000 m altitude. Although the driver has very good knowledge of this region and knows the jeep very well it is very frightening. Especially Maja was very frightened as sometimes right next to the jeep the valley went down several hundred meters. The Pakistani consider their National Highway as one of the 8 world wonders and this road along the valley as the 9. world wonder. The maintaining of this road takes hard hand work in a very dangerous environment. While driving up the mountain we think of our loved ones at home and we are glad that they only learn about our dangerous tour afterwards. Afterwards we were hiking for about 3 hours upwards watching the sunset and arriving in the famous Meadow we established our tent. Unfortunately we had rain the following day and we couldn't see anything. After a heavy storm in the afternoon all clouds disappeared and the Nanga Parbat mountain region was standing right in front of us covered with snow surrounded with a crystal blue sky. The highest point is 8125 meters therefore it is the 9.tallest mountain in the world. Maja and our companions saw for the first time a mountain higher then 8000 meters and they were all seriously impressed. To imagine the size we thought of our loved Matterhorn only about half the size.

While driving the KKH we passed an interesting geological area. First of all the big Indus river is joining the Gilgit river. Secondly the three mountain regions Himalaya, Karakorum and Hindu Kush are joinging together. From here we hiked up to the Rakaposhi, 7788 meters, which is the beginning part of the Karakorum mountain range. During 5 hours we walked uphill to reach the base-camp with the Rakaposhi on our right and the Diran 7257 meters on our left and in the middle a 35 kilometer long glacier. In the front part various different glaciers are joining to become the Minaping glacier. Which has very nice and artistic ice formations. Arriving on the edge we are stunned by the huge ice, snow and rock mountains in front of us. Behind the moraine we see the many kilometer long Fairy Madows which we would never expect on an altitude of 3400 meters. Here we spent 2 very cold nights but sunny days and celebrated Maja's birthday. Within 24 hours we saw 8 avalanches thundering down and we woke up at nights because of more avalanches. During these 3 days we met 8 locals and 3 tourists. The mountains of Pakistan are so big and hardly get any visitors. We thoroughly enjoyed the calm area and also the fresh air.

Up to the area of Gilgit we were traveling in a very conservative region. All men are wearing the Shalwar Kameez, wide long trousers and shirt all in same color. We hardly saw women and the ones we saw were fully covered. They spend their days in their houses to take care of their family. Taking pictures was not allowed. We heard that in certain valleys girls are still not allowed to go to school. Men run a shop, clean hotel rooms or stand along the road and watch tourists. Some look very busy others rather bored. The roads are very dusty and the water canals are smelly and thirty. Next to hanging chicken half cut the butcher enjoys a drink with his friends and at the same time prepares a goat to be cut and hangs it next to the chicken. It is a very different world to us however we like it. We also got used that there are more men around then women. But we missed the women power, their innovation and cleanliness. After our Fairy Madows adventure we cycled towards the Hunza Valley and suddenly women are on the road again, friendly greeting, they come to say hello to Maja, take her hand and Assalam Alaikum and a few more words. It was very long ago to experience this nice gesture! The head cover is mainly on their shoulder the older generation is wearing round huts and have bony tails and wearing a white head cover. Why this dramatic change? The northern part of Pakistan only joined Pakistan in 1974. Before they had their own little kingdoms. They did not have proper road connection and hence very little contact with the south. Most of them are Ismailis a very liberal section of the Islam. They are followers of the Aga Khan, their spiritual leader and they live an esoteric philosophy. Women have more rights and are educated in order to bring it forward to their children. They pray twice a day only at sunrise and sunset. The mosques are places to meet and are not covered with loud speakers and minarettes with the monotones Mullah prayer. Aga Khan supported his folks in developing their places, built schools and hospitals and gave them financial support. There is no money coming from the government they rather spend it on the army, new roads and corruption. We found that there are many mentally or physically handicapped. One reason could be marriages between relatives. Equally charming is the landscape along the KKH. Quite often for short distances we need hours as we enjoy the landscape, the pleasant temperature and to make pictures. In Karimabad we have a stunning view all around us with several 7000 meter mountains. The city is on 2400 meters above sea level. This place is considered as the tourist city in the north. One souvenir shop after the other and many hotels but no tourists. Since we arrived in Pakistan all hotel managers tell us the same story that they have no more tourists since 09.11.2001. Many had to give up their jobs and find something extra. Luckily the people are so flexible and don't need much money. However, we are surprised that he shops have lots of crystals, gems and handy crafts to offer. Despite no visitors to buy. We wish that the western world will discover Pakistan and give them a chance and that many tourists will visit it. Everybody should have the chance to visit this country and to see how friendly they are and what beautiful country they have.

Another hike brings us during 5 days to the Batura Glacier which is located very north. Together with Nico (Swiss) and Roger (Dutch) who travel together in a bus, we hire a guide. As Maja has rather strong legs then shoulders, Maesi was carrying the heavy rucksack during five days and felt like Tenzing Sherpa or like a Yak. But Maesi wanted to give Maja a chance to recover fully. The glacier is huge and one could walk around for days. On the first and last day we had to cross it and the walking on the lose stones was very difficult. We built our tents near little villages of stone houses where elderly ladies are taking care of sheep and goats. They welcomed us warmly and gave us home made yogurt. The highest camp we had on 3500 meters and in the morning we were snowed in. Instead of climbing a nice view point we were establishing us in a stone house to warm up. The other days we enjoyed the sun, the view of the glacier and the snow mountains and watched the yaks.

Up to 2 months ago we found in every village an internet café to update the outside world and to keep us informed. This was not possible in this part of Pakistan. Unless one wants to spend 20 minutes in front of a PC to read one line of text. But we did not miss the PC world. Television has became rare too so we expected to miss the football world champion ship. While the football teams in Germany where fighting with each other we hiked in the mountains in northern Pakistan. After we arrived after 5 day hiking in Passu we learned that we are allowed to watch football on the only TV in the village. Pakistan is not a football country but they showed interest in it. The footballs are manufactured in Pakistan, 100% child labor! We watched our Swiss team with Chinese comments and imagined that it sounded like Beni National. The second Swiss game we saw in China and the last one we missed. Unfortunately!

The Karakorum Highway is a challenge for many cyclists. Therefore we meet so many cyclist tourists here. One of them is Norbi from Switzerland. Traveling for 3 years already. As we are moving in the same direction we decide the cycle together for a while. We had to take a bus from the last village in Pakistan over the Khunjerabpass to the first village in China. This is a rule set by China as some tourists cycled into other valleys into which were not allowed to enter. However we did not wanted to miss cycling the first 4700 meter pass and we were allowed to cycle the last 2000 meters. Which took us 2 days to do. The road was very narrow sometimes covered with stones and rocks. Then we entered the Khunjerab Nationalpark. The landscape was very try but beautiful with crystal blue rivers crossing the landscape. Only the big Chinese lorries were a hassle. The KKH will be very important for Chinese/Pakistani trade. Starting from 2007 they will extend it into 4 lanes and in Karachi they will build a new port to export products faster. We were quite shocked about this imagining the heavy traffic in future. Traffic was little sometimes we only met 5 trucks in one day. On the hole climb only 15. We are convinced that the locals and the landscape will suffer from the extension. Arriving at the top it was getting icy cold and the air was getting thinner. However the run down was a reward. Now we know that we are ready for Tibet. As we will be only on such altitude. The following day we took the bus in Sost after the boarder guards had checked our luggage very extensively. The road was in very bad condition and was mainly under construction. The luggage control in China was easy going we just had to leave back 1 mango and we arrived in a hotel in time for the second Swiss football match and enjoyed a beer.

PS 1) Hemp, Hemp and Hemp again. Along the KKH one sees only Hemp. The smell is our constant companion. It must be a paradise for hemp consumers.

PS 2) In the meantime we arrived in Kashgar a big city at the end of the KKH. We sit in a big internet café with 70 PC's and all function perfectly. The change from Pakistan to China was very dramatic. More in our next report…. and cheers!

Maja and Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

23rd Travelreport, July 17, 2006

Welcome to the land of short noses !

We actually wanted to use the title "in the land of Schlitzaugen (narrow eyes)" however, we did not see any of them in the west of China. We were very surprised to see Chinese people with western style faces. They rather look like Russian, Kirgisen or Tatshiken. They have round eyes quite often in blue with brown or black hair. Men are wearing trousers which are much too short a dirty blazer and a pere. (French style hut). In fact Tashkurgan the first city after the Pakistani boarder is very close to the Kirgish and Tatshikisch boarder and explains the multi culture. The province is called Xinjiang and the people are called Uiguren. They would like to be independent from China. Their culture, look and religion are completely different. They are Moslem and also their food differs from China. Also their writing and language is different sometimes it sounds Turkish. During the last years many Chinese were moved here in order not to move too much towards independence. We liked this folk immediately and therefore we decided to stay a few days and to enjoy the atmosphere. Although we are surrounded by Moslem we did not feel the strict obedience like other Moslem countries have. Women are wearing skirts, they use makeup, are smiling and wear round high huts or a head scarf. We consider this type of dressing as fashion in Tashkurgan. The head scarf is matching quite often their clothes and one can see their hair color underneath. They all wear white stocking and leggings were they hide their money. After the conservative Pakistani fashion we find their style here sexy. While we enjoy for the first time Uiguri food we analyze our first impressions. We get the impression that this area reminds us a lot of Russia after the war, which we saw on movies. The old style fashion of men together with the sexy style of the women matches our impression. Women also wear strongly colored skirts which sparkle in the sun. In contrast to this the strict Moslem are wearing their religious clothing. A horrendous contrast!

They are really wondrous. We can hardly stop, immediately there are hundreds of people around us, talking, chatting and pointing towards us. They even touch us and take our map from us and try to read it. After Iran, Pakistan and India we can hardly believe that there are even more wondrous people on earth. When our cycles are left alone they study every detail on them. If eyes could steel, our bikes would have gone long ago. Therefore we are especially careful about our bikes. One of us has always an eye on them. We prefer to take them into the rooms or tie them up on our tent.

Together with Norbi, a Swiss biker friend, we were cycling from Tashkurgan onwards in the direction of Kashgar. After a very tough ride the road full of rock debris we had to take rest and set up our tents in the middle of a sand desert. This was very tough especially when the wind came. So it happened that our tent was soon full of sand which covered everything, also our cooking pots were full of sand dust. The following night we spent at the Karakulsee on 4000 meters on green grass with a stunning view of the Muztagh Ata (7500 meters) a mountain famous for ski touring. Although the road was not much better we were compensated with this beautiful lake. We made many pictures.
When we talked about China we learned that they have a very specific way of building roads. Now we were able to see it ourselves. First they open the complete road which is under repair or construction, from the boarder of Pakistan right to Kashgar about 400 Km, then they work on it in different places and this apparently already for years. Therefore we had sometimes a road full of rocks and then suddenly again an asphalt like a runway of an airport. Then again gravel road or swamp. We could not imagine how they work. We had conditions like hell or then like a dream. But all dreams have an end….

Kashgar was a very important trading city along the silk road. The only reminders are the old part of the city and the weekly market on Sundays. The rest of the city is very strictly arranged. Six lane roads, huge roundabouts and very spacious pavements, high buildings and a very clean environment. Nearly sterile if there wouldn't be the Uigures who mix the Chinese discipline with their chaotic live style. On the market we watch interesting faces and how they make home made noodles. The dough will be treated by hand and thrown up in the air from one hand to the other until the noodles are very thin and more then 1 meter long. Shortly into the hotpot, adding some fresh vegetable, magic sauce and already we enjoy a delicious noodle soup. Well, how do we eat this soup! By chop sticks? We look around and learn fast, especially as we are hungry! Take the noodles with your chop sticks, stuff them into your mouth, make big noise while sucking them in and add a few vegetable pieces. All Chinese make big noise while eating, slurping, eating with full mouth, smoking, trop leftovers on the floor and many other noises. They were watching us with interest as it was so quite on our table. But slowly we also learnd their mentality, we hope we can leave it behind before we get home!

Again we were in a big city strolling around and are surprised about the many shopping centers where you get anything what you want. All the products are written in Chinese language. If there would not be a picture on it, we would have been lost. No Chinese speaks English, except "hello" and this is what we can say in Chinese. Brand names we can identify as they look the same back home. For expl. Nivea is Avone and looks the same way as back home. So we tip on the pictures and get what we want.

After a few days in Kashgar we say goodbye to Norbi as he will further explore Central Asia and back towards Europe and we plan to target Tibet. First we are cycling through the Xinjiang province for a few days. So many things are not really Chinese here and they also have their own time. So we had to change our time by 3 hours forward although we traveled north and not east. It did not matter to us, as we are mainly traveling with the sun. Except if we wanted to visit a bank of course we had to know the time. The unofficial Xinjiang time is however 2 hours different. If they would use the Peking time in Xinjiang the sunrise would be at 8 am. Official places like banks and post offices open according Peking time. Therefore all the opening hours are changing respectively. If they announce a time one should always know which one they mean.

On our morning departure many Chinese are over taking us with their very modern bicycles and very well equipped accessories and cyclist clothing. In the next village they make a watermelon stop and we learned that 10 of them will also cycle to Lhasa. Everyone has only half of the luggage then we have and they make a very sporty impression. Although we crossed only a flat area most of them could not keep up with us and we were able following very easily the stronger ones. Maja was able to speak to a Chinese lady who originally comes from Eastern China. To our question how she likes Western China she mentioned it is very nice but a bit poor. This was also our impression especially since we met the Easterners. In the East they have cars and here they still use donkeys with carts. Constantly we are overtaking donkeys with carts quite often all the family on it transporting material. In the villages they have parking for the donkeys. They all are standing next to each other and if one makes Eaaaah… all the others follow!

So we are cycling again on the silk road and on the third day we are moving from the flat area into the mountains. No ore asphalt and cycling is not so smooth anymore. During the first days we have to climb from 1600 to 3000 meters and after a long down hill we stay overnight on nice grassland on 2500 meter above sea level. The following 2 days we had to climb up to 4950 meters which was very tough. We were very exhausted and luckily the temperature was getting cooler. We know that we have to eat and drink a lot in this altitude and we have no problem with it. If you have conquered such a mountain road you are looking forward to the down hill. But the road condition was so bad that we could not go very fast. Comparing going a speed of 4-6 km/h uphill we were going only with about 8-18 km downhill full on the brakes nearly getting cramps on our fingers from braking and our eyes fully concentrating on the next 2 meters. The road as well as the landscape where just full of rocks. To find a nice camping place in the evening was not possible. We could not find a big stone to protect from wind so we had to get used to it and the sand was blowing into our tent. Besides this also our bags and we ourselves are full of dust. The bicycles are not recognizable anymore as they are fully covered with dust. This type of cycling does not make fun especially to Maja as she has to concentrate all the time on the road and has no moment to enjoy the scenery. It would be too dangerous to look around and fall over with the bike. Especially the looking around and enjoying the scenery is the pleasure while cycling. This road is actually only suitable for 4wheel cars and heavy trucks and some crazy cyclists… After a few more mountain crossings we reach the Aksay Chin Plateau and are cycling on 4800 meters with several more 5000 meter crossings. This area belonged to India but was taken by China at the same time when they took Tibet. The change of scenery became more and more visible and we started to like it despite the heavy head wind. After about 10 days cycling we took a rest on about 5000 meters and enjoyed a very nice lake. Full of enthusiasm we were looking forward to a nice day with plenty of water, reading and eating. However, we had hardly arranged our washing line the wind plow over everything. After several tries we had to give it up and hang the clothes on the bikes. Until all clothes were dry they were many more times blown off the bikes and not cleaner then before. Finally it also became colder and we were not able to wash us and had to use moisturized tissue papers again. However, we learnt something; washing day before the wind starts! Or never start with it, they will be thirty anyway again. As we accept each other this way we just look forward to the next shower. The only part which got plenty of water since Kashgar where our feet, our digestive system and our lower legs as we had to carry our cycles 11 times through ice cold rivers which were created crossing the road. An adventure which needed lots of strength and good nerves.

Last week wind was our loyal accompanier, unfortunately always against us no matter in what direction we were cycling. Especially now cycling on 5000 meters altitude, air very thin, cycling uphill is getting very tough. The wind was sometimes so strong that we had to get off the bikes. Quite often we had to push Elif and Tigi (our bikes) and we were breathing like old locomotives. We estimated a wind speed of about 70 to 100 Km/h and fighting against it made us really tired. Luckily there are truck stops from time to time where we get a nice noodle soup with vegetable to recover. We can also get tea as much as we want and we are also allowed to fill up our bottles with hot water.

Our only motivation to endure this difficult and tiring road was to reach Tibet. Since we spent a few days in Mc Leod Ganj in India where the 14th Dalai Lama lives in exile together with Tibetans, creating such a nice feeling of peace and harmony, we knew that we want to visit Tibet. Unfortunately traveling there is controlled by China, either one pays a lot of money or one goes by bicycle. Our motivation told us to do it now.

Looking at the world map one sees a white little spot in the north of India. Exactly there we are traveling now and we will spend some weeks in this region. However, this spot is not white at all. This area is full of beautiful natural colors. Sometimes the color is so strong that it looks unreal. The safire blue and turkis colored lakes gives such a great contrast to the cooper red, mustard yellow and mocca brown sand dunes with their black edges and the green simmering of little plants. Only on the top of the mountains it is white. The everlasting snow at the top. One gets the impression one can touch the clouds in the blue sky. Every evening the color changes from yellow to orange, red, pink to turkis until they disappear in the distance. We arrived in Tibet, the roof of the world!

PS 1) Tibetan Harley: A modified, decorated small tractor with a hand made carpet on the seat. The Tibetans sit very casually on it wearing a big cowboy hut and mirrored sun classes. Riders on the storm….

PS 2) We are now in Ali the first big city in the western part of Tibet. Our clothes are in the wash saloon, the cycles got plenty of water and we took an endless shower. Of course in the shower salon! The hotels have no shower facility. We are fine and how are you?
Greetings Maja and Marcel

Maja and Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

24th Travelreport August 13th, 2006

Every day action !

The entrance from the Xinjiang Province to Tibet is signposted in a very dry style. A sign board shows two soldiers in front of the holy mountain Kailash and a Chinese banner crossing the road. The kilometer stones along the road had an important meaning for us. We know we have to cycle very hard to arrive in Tibet. The bad road condition gets even worse and the wind is equally hard blowing into our faces. Besides this we have to cross many river beds. However, we are in Tibet! We knew it will not be a Sunday ride! The next overnights we always stayed above 5000 m above sea-level. We slept very well had no breathing problems. During the days we crossed several passes with an altitude between 5200 m and 5400 m. As we are above the Tibetan high plateau the altitude is not changing so much anymore. However we need lots of energy every little mountain crossing is hard work, although the altitude is not so much. Especially with strong wind against us. For the last 7 Km we needed two hours fighting against this very strong wind. To compensate we enjoy a Snickers which we bought in Pakistan. One more reward are the prayer flags on top of every mountain crossing. These flags have always five different colors (blue, white, red, green, yellow). Each of the colors represents a symbol of Tibetan life. The Buddhist arrange these flags on every high mountain and hill so that the wind blows the prayers into every direction.

Before we entered China, we knew that the 90 days visa is rather short for us. The extra trip to Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet would only be possible if we cycle very hard and neglect some of the sightseeing’s. However, as we both enjoy culture and people we decide to use also other means of transportation were ever possible. From others we learned that especially one specific route before the west Tibetan city Ali is in very bad condition. Therefore we decided to stop a truck, which took us a very long time, as there are not many trucks on this part of the world. Finally one truck driver stopped and took us along. We loaded everything on the truck and off we went. If a Chinese only speaks Chinese and the two Swiss no Chinese then conversation is difficult. Despite language problems we were able to communicate that we would like to get to Ali. He was not able to tell us that this part would be very long. Towards the evening we were still very far away from Ali and the driver somehow informed us that he would only move on tomorrow morning as he plans to stay overnight in this little town. We therefore loaded our bags onto the empty loading deck of the truck and started sleeping. In the morning a school class woke us up who was running under the command of the teacher along our bus. We thought that this must be the daily school exercise. The following 120 Km were very difficult. From the beginning right to the end all under construction. Many workers with machines working along the road. Once in a while the road is finished but not open as water drainage was not done yet. The cars and trucks are trying to find their way through this mess. Many jeep drivers are traveling on the country side and damage nature as they do not want to drive behind trucks. The valley is getting wider and the road surface is changing from gravel to sand. Our truck is moving with about 20 Km an hour and skillfully he maneuvers around debris. In between we think that we are not on the Xinjiang-Tibet-Highway but on a cross-country motorcycle track or on the Paris-Dakar rally track. However, we were very happy not to cycle on this very bad road. It took us 10 hours to Ali for 120 Km and we finally arrived late evening as sunset already started. We were looking forward to a real bed and shower after having traveled 2 weeks in wilderness. As we wanted to leave the truck the driver looked us up and demanded money. We were shocked. All day along we fed him with our food paid for the breakfast and now this! We offered him some money but he leaned back lighted a cigarette and just waited for a better offer. We were getting angry! Why did we never ask before how much he might ask for? Well, after long waiting he became nervous and finally he was happy with half of it he initially asked for. With shaky knees we finally left with all our belongings and were happy that we quickly found a suitable hotel. Unfortunately the next 300 Km to Lhasa were also under construction. However powered with excellent Chinese food we were cycling ahead. One Chinese warned us about the road condition; and he was right. Besides the very bad road condition it also rained like hell. Sometimes for hours, our tent was constantly wet. We had to change our clothing several times during the day. In the morning horribly cold and finally warming up a bit during the day from cycling. Hardly warmed up rain starts again, putting on rain gear and trying to keep warm! On one day we had 5 thunder storms above us with grey clouds, lightening over the mountains and thunder. The road became worse like a river bed. The weather in Tibet demonstrated us who is in command! Such bad weather we never encountered before. Constantly we had to cross river beds. Once we were standing in front of one of them and had no idea how to cross it. Therefore we had to check how deep the water was. Maesi took off his trousers and walked into it, knee deep wearing this helmet, underwear and rain jacket. At the same moment a jeep arrived, and every body was just watching and laughing. The driver’s son immediately sensed the situation and offered us to load our staff into their jeep and drove us to the other side of the truck.

Shortly before Darchen, the city where the pilgrimage around the mountain Kailash starts a huge river stopped us to move on. As it was raining cats and dogs for days the river was very high and had a very strong stream. We hoped that someone might be helping us! But every truck driver wanted money for this little crossing of less then 100 meters. The frustration became so big that we finally decided to do it at our own and with all energy and strength we made it. We expected the mentality to be different in Tibet, however it seems that they are more and more influenced by the Chinese. Of course we also met very friendly Tibetans and Chinese, but especially here, were there are so many tourists, money is becoming more and more important. We arrived in Darchen and expected a spiritual place as there are many pilgrims visiting, however the opposite was the case. The city is a huge place of construction. Rows of detached houses and hotels are under construction all over the place. Everywhere dirt and waste. As quick as possible we wanted to look in our cycles and luggage to explore the city, but nothing held us back in this city. Before sunset we set up our tent next on a patch of the pilgrimage route and we were looking forward to the next few days while exploring the Kora.

Kailash for the Buddhist and Hindus is the place of gods. Besides Tibetans we also meet Indians who arrive in groups. Most are circling the mountain on the back of a horse as they are not acclimatized or sporty enough when they arrive here. The Hindus call the tour Pamikrama and see the Kailash as the palace of their lord Shiva. The Tibetans who call it Kora, however, walk the tour which is 52 Km. All circumvent it against the clock, except the Boen which are a separate section of the Buddhists. We made the tour in 3 days and we had enough time to watch the various pilgrims. Many went very fast, by mumbling “om mani padme hum” or other mantras or they were singing. Some had a prayers mill in their hands and moved it all along. Inside the paper mill is a moving paper roll which brings the prayer around the world. The little paper rolls have the same meaning as the colored flags. If they overtake or cross someone on the path they say “tashi delek”, which means good luck and congratulations. On many places there are piles of stones. Pilgrimages are lying stones on it. Also clothes, hats and shoes are given away. Others place prayer inscription on stones or deer horns and heads. The second night we spent on the north side of the mountain Kailash which is considered the famous part. It was a picture in blue sky with snow stripes on it. The following day we crossed the Dolma La, the crossing on the pilgrimage with 5600 meters altitude. So far our highest point we reached. It was very hard for us on this altitude with difficult breathing we arrived. In contrast, the locals had no difficulties climbing on this altitude. But we were very happy and proud of ourselves. The air becomes thinner and breathing gets more difficult. We had hardly taken a photo when it started snowing. On the way it had 3 monasteries and we visited one of them. Devotedly they are throwing themselves down to demonstrate their believe in their religion. We heard that some of them are measuring the complete route with their body length. They have to do about 26’000 devotions all the way around the mountain. On the last day we met 5 young Tibetans who did it like this. They were wearing knee covers made out of tyres filled with straw and wood plates on their hands. Despite hard work they were praying and mumbling. Full of admiration we were watching them. We were wondering how long it will take them. Back in Darchen we were left with the memories of this spiritual place, the beautiful nature and the Kailash, the centre point. A disappointment was the rubbish all over the place. Everything is just left behind. In tents were locals could stay overnight they only sell noodle soup and the cups are just left on ground. Fast food also arrived here!

While hiking around the mountain we were lucky with the weather. Back on the cycles rained started again. One takes it rather easy the first two ours with 8 river crossings within 2.5 Km! But after 8 Km, 5 hours cycling, wet feet, despite chocolate bars and tried fruits still hungry, our nerves are getting stressed with all these arrogant jeep drivers in full speed splashing at us at every occasion. Our sense of feeling is sometimes making us mad with all these bad roads, good and bad weather, friendly and unfriendly locals, good and boring food! But there is always light somewhere ahead of us! Especially as Maja had fever mitten in the nowhere land and the only chance for help was to stop a Jeep who brought us to the next village. We are aware that it is very difficult for them to take us along with our muddy cycles and bags! As we were waiting for hours to stop a jeep we were thinking about the 6 young students from Poland we met a few days before! As tourist one is only allowed to enter with money, as rental a jeep and driver is not cheap. Buses only take Chinese passengers therefore they depended on the goodwill of the jeep drivers to stop and to take them along. They had a sign board showing that they are students with no money! However, since having passed Darchen money plays all the game. We never saw them again, but we heard that they were stranded for days as they had no money. We were lucky as young Chinese took as along and helped Maja to get medicaments. We are illegally in Tibet, without official permission to stay and decided to take it as it comes. We would have to pay the same fine whether we are here legal or illegal. (CHF 100 fine and CHF 20 for permission) This money disappears in the Chinese bureaucracy anyway which we do not want to support. After we had no problems with officials in Darchen we arrived at a road check in Saga. Other travelers were sent back or had to pay a fine. With hearts beating we arrived in the morning at the check point. Quickly we realized the sleeping guard and moved our cycles across the check point without being noticed. Behind the next curve we were joddeling out of enjoyment.

In India we took a Tibetan cooking lesson and we were looking forward to the food. But our disappointment was big. In every village we tried to buy good food. The only food we got was noodle soup or Tsampa. Tsampa is Tibetan but we could not eat it. Therefore we depended heavily on our food from our bags. But it was also difficult to find good food in the bigger village to fill up our bags. What we are eating is polenta, sausages, eggs, tried fruits, nuts, chocolate bars and tried yak meat. Yak is a local deer. It is not possible to cook rice and noodles on this altitude. The locals do this with steam cookers. Although we wanted to support the Tibetans we had to visit very often the Chinese restaurants were we get very good food. The Tibetan houses are built with mud and the colored flag on it where the Chinese build their houses with brick stones. Inside, the Tibetans have beautifully painted the walls and furniture in different colors and a little altar is always present. The Chinese houses are rather dull no paint with only a few kitschy pictures. There are no toilets. The basic means is help yourself! One goes behind the house and finds an unspoiled little place. What a live! Always and everywhere one sees someone crouched behind houses. The Tibetan women have it easier with their long skirts. In a small hotel we take a room for a change. It has five beds and one basin. The lady owner brought us a char with hot water and pointed to the well outside for the cold water. The used water is simply emptied in front of the house. To our surprise it has a toilet. Basically a little tank underground and a hole. Fortunately it was raining to cover up the smell! In the cities there are sometimes several holes in the ground with no walls in between and no water to flush. As many Chinese use no paper we wonder about hygienic standards! We try to avoid these toilets.

Instead of the tourist guide we bought the book from Heinrich Harrer, “7 years in Tibet”. One part of our route goes in line with his. Respectively with his flight from Tibet. His story is very exciting. Although we know what happened during the last 60 years we are disappointed to see the drastic changes we encounter. The Chinese influence is permanent and rather negative. As we do not speak Tibetan we are not able to discuss with locals about the changes. There are also positive sides, like electricity. But when we see how and where they build roads, right through the middle of beautiful land, we believe that Tibet will not for long be able to preserve it’s beauty. Tibet experiences a building boom. One sees construction everywhere. Row of houses everywhere. It is not possible that the Tibetans people will grow so quickly to fill up these houses! We hardly arrive in cities, children are running towards us, begging for money and putting their hands into our pockets. The same goes for the old Tibetans. Rather aggressive! We never experienced something like this and are disappointed. Heinrich Harrer never mentioned begging in his book. We ask ourselves what happened to the religion! One only sees old people with the paper praying mill. Fathers give cigarettes to their kids, rubbish is just left outside the house and everything is about money. Within 4 days somebody stole things from our cycles which were important for us, while leaving the cycles in front of the restaurant not attended for only 1 minute. By now already 6 things are missing! Mao always mentioned “religion is poisoning”, however, we believe money and greed are also poisoning. The only thing we can take from the book written by Heinrich Harrer is the wonderful view of the Himalayas. They arrive in the horizon in good weather all in white. We then enjoy setting up our tent in peace in tranquility and enjoy nature and the wonderful view.

Further on to Lhasa the road was very bad. To redirect the traffic the river bed was useful. Everything is under water. The rivers are coming down from everywhere. The road was not fit for cycling anymore. A pick-up truck took as a long and not further ahead his pumper and number plate was gone. Soon after we got stuck in the mad! After long waiting another truck pulled us out and in the next village the pick up truck was repaired. After a puncture on one of our cycles another river stopped us moving on. It was already midnight and Maja expected the worst. We got stuck in the river. Water was right up to the saddle. After 15 minutes a truck passed by and helped us to get out of the water and to take us along. But first we had to haggle about 20 minutes about the price of the help. But then we were out of water. After a few minutes again nothing moved anymore. Two of the Chinese got on another truck to get help. We spend a very cold night in the truck with everything wet around us. In the morning the truck was towed to the next village and repaired. Besides this the truck owner left his keys in the truck which was closed and it took another hour to open the truck! Finally the journey went on.

PS1: we are just sitting in a restaurant, eating chicken! It does not look like chicken and we have not yet touched it!

PS2: We are in Lhasa, have already visited the most fascinating building on our journey, the Potala Palace. Maesi get the worst diarrhea he ever encountered! We are visiting a festival in a monastery. We try to gain weight and exploring the big supermarkets with only Chinese food! We are not excited about it: Pork meals, marinated chicken and pork feet, guineapig heads and other indefinable goodies!

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

25th Travelreport August 29, 2006

Lhasa and surroundings

A few kilometers before Lhasa the vegetation changed. After we had not seen a single tree for weeks while traveling in West Tibet we where very surprised to see vegetation including trees. Many times we wished to get under a tree while cycling under this heat or heavy rain fall. At the same time landscape became greener, water channels for farming are in place and corn fields are shining in gold. We even saw cows again! We lost on altitude and after many weeks we are back on about 4000 meters above sea level. The distance from village to village became shorter and friendly Tibetans are waiving us along the street while we are passing by. After many days of horrendous rain and cold in no-man’s-land we are happy to be back in civilization.

Shortly before Lhasa we are surprised about the many detached houses along the streets. All in Tibetan style, windows of wood and walls painted with different colors. On every roof one sees the praying flags together with the China flag. Most probably to show visitors that they are in China’s Tibet. As soon as we turned left in one of the big junctions these picturesque houses changed. Detached houses with stores. Some stores were closed others still open. A six lane road with cycling tracks on the side and big advertising boards along the road, written in Chinese with small subtitles in Tibetan. This six lane road took 10 kilometers and brought us directly into the main part of the city. The houses are getting bigger with huge advertising boards, traffic is increasing and badly controlled rickshaw cyclists are coming against us. We did not see a single Tibetan face! Only Chinese stressed with shopping bags sitting behind their cars. Desperately we were looking for the Potala Palace which should be taller then most buildings. However nowadays with all these new tall buildings such as China Mobile Tower, TV Tower and many others the Palace can hardly be seen anymore. We got in panic! Is there no Tibetan Lhasa anymore! Without city map and tourist guide we would not know where to go! Of course we expected that Lhasa will not be the same anymore as at times of Heinrich Harrer. But so much change with all these modern buildings surprised us completely.

Sunset started already as we finally arrived at the Potala Palace, the winter residence of the Dalai Lama. Beautifully placed in white, shining in red on the little hill. Golden roofs with many towers pointing into the sky. For a moment we were thinking about the Dalai Lama who had to flee from his country and was never allowed to see this palace again. Perhaps it is better like this, then there is no lake in front of the palace anymore. There is a big road and a square with the memorial of the liberation of Tibet on it and on top of it the Chinese flag. Next to it thousands of lights in various colors shining in all directions and classical music combined with a water fountain. Within 1 square kilometer a clash of several different centenaries. The architectural beauty of Tibet and the Disney Land of China!

The following day we are strolling through the city with all the shopping centers until we finally find a city map with which we are able to find the Tibetan quarter. Luckily, it does still exist! The center is the Barkhor with the Jokhang Monastery in the middle of it. The square as well as the roads are filled with product stalls which are representing the Kora for the monastery. Pilgrims are constantly walking against the clock around the building, reading prayers, turning the prayer drums and presenting greeneries to be burned. Many are lying several times down in front of the temple. We finally find the Tibetan spirit again which we were looking for, for such a long time. Although this place is very touristy it has lots of charm. Even the constant “looke, looke, looke very cheap!” does not bother us.

Tibetans are very cheerful and friendly people. Young or old, men or women, they always greet us friendly and warmly reply to our “Tashi Delek”. They are amazed about our fair skin and Maja’s blond hair. They are interested in the hair of Maesi on his arms. Once we visited a temple with a huge prayers mill. More then 10 men and women moved around it, with the right hand they moved the mill forward and with the left hand they moved their rosary. After they invited us to join we moved into the group and joined them. Afterwards as Maesi made a picture one of the women stopped and touched the hair on Maesi’s arm and was crazy about it. With her action she stopped the group and all pushed into each other like a domino. Instead of praying suddenly Maesi was the attraction and all wanted to touch his arm. Another time a Tibetan showed his naked underarms and as Maesi showed him his hear on his breast he was shocked but then started laughing. He opened his shirt and said: nothing!

In Lhasa and surroundings there are many monasteries. During our stay we visit some of them. One of them was the Ganden Monastery. We found out from other cyclists that there will be a festival there and we decided to visit it. Once a year they pull up a big poster “Thanka” to a wall. The monks were wearing their clothing with yellow head covers. Some played trumpets and drums and others hit their cymbals. Many moved towards the monastery and after the opening of the Thankas they offered white silk bands and money. Afterwards we were allowed to enter every room and saw where the monks are praying and living. Basically an open day for all visitors. We saw many temples with hundreds of gold statues and Buddha’s in all size. Everywhere we see offerings of money, tsampa flower, rice corns, and butter for the butter lamps. While we enjoy exploring the faithful are throwing themselves down, touch statues with their forehead and are moving the prayer mills.

For the first time we meet 3 Swiss couples who are traveling with their mobile homes. In order to travel with a mobile home one needs a special permission and a tour guide. All of them where in Tibet before and decided to visit again but this time with their mobile home. Exciting was the exchange of our experience. But we were more interested in learning about Tibet before and nowadays. If we compare with what they tell us we get the impression everything has changed. Tibet is losing it’s identity more and more. The development has taken over everything. Many Tibetan are not happy about it. Seven years ago the roads were still muddy, donkeys and cows were pulling carriages and today asphalt and luxury cars. Cyclists are more and more taken over by scooters.

The Chinese destroyed most monasteries and burned them down. Also the Ganden Monastery was destroyed but was rebuilt about 20 years ago. One still sees some ruins of this destruction. A contradiction in itself; first they destroyed everything, forced the monks to road work, then forced them to rebuild the monasteries and nowadays for every entrance is charged a lot of money which brings good income to the government. Only the offerings within the monasteries goes directly to the monks. Religion is allowed again which attracts many tourists. Besides all this the Tibetan are still laughing!

Since July 1, 2006 the railway is open from Beijing to Lhasa which covers a distance of 5000 Km. This brings a lot of tourists to Tibet. Hotel prices are moving up and also the entrance fee into monasteries has increased. For the Chinese a big success and for the Tibetans most probably the final no to ever get back to their roots and independence. Houses are built all over the place and it is expected that many Chinese will move here to benefit from clean air. The rich eastern Chinese are arriving with their expensive cameras and make pictures of themselves at least a thousand times. In hordes they are moved through the Potala Palace and we are wondering what the tour guide will tell them about what happened to the Tibetans!

Also the beggars are benefiting from the tourists, we see them everywhere. They also enter into restaurants and ask for money while we are still eating. Really aggressive are some monks, if they are real monks! It seems also they have to earn money to cover their mobile phone bills! In a book shop we wanted to buy a guide book. The sales lady informed us that it is forbidden to sell guide books such as Lonely Planet or Footprint. In an other book shop we read in German that the Tibetans where liberated by the Chinese! Freely liberated! We were wondering from what. It was also written that the majority Tibet are Tibetans, but nowadays they are the minority in their own country.

After the very hard, enduring days in West Tibet we enjoyed two wonderful weeks in Lhasa. We had excellent food, mingled under the tourists and visited several times the Potala Palace, other monasteries and our new Swiss friends. In charming gatherings and chatting we enjoyed the Lhasa beer, the company and just doing nothing. As they are planning to travel towards West Tibet they were getting into contact with others in Darchen, where we visited the holy mountain Kailash some weeks before. They were informed about the bad weather and it was said that they never had so much rain before, with 21 days of rain non-stop. The Kailash was snowed in and the visitors could not circle the Kora anymore! We look at each other, counting back the days and realized M&M did it again and went right through the middle!

PS 1: Chinese sales ladies are very helpful. They don’t waste any effort to increase sales. As Maja wanted to buy shaving crème for Maesi, the sales lady wanted to show the product to Maja! In the end with all the chatting she pushed the button and Maja was full of shaving crème! Immediately she excused herself with; soly, soly!

PS 2: After this long break it took an effort to get back on our cycles. Especially as we had a tough stage ahead of us. But in the meantime we are already in Shigaze and are moving in direction of the Everest Base Camp. In between there are a number of crossings with 5000 meters altitude!

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

26th Travelreport September 21, 2006

The last kilometers in Tibet

Already 5 Km outside the big city Lhasa women are washing their clothing on the river banks again. To our surprise the toilettes in restaurants and hotels were acceptable. Outside the city one has to find a quite place behind houses as there are no toilettes around anymore. Further away from Lhasa we were allowed to visit a monastery free of charge, for a change! Young open minded monks invited us to tea and showed us around. They were very happy when we made pictures of them and asked us to join them in their prayers and they also invited us to stay for lunch. As we left they blessed us and mentioned “you friends”! After several hugging and wishing good by we finally left with very nice and lasting memories.

Instead of cycling on the south route towards Nepal we decided to make a side step into the Brahmaputra valley. For several days we were cycling along this huge river. It is one of the four rivers which starts at the holy mountain Kailash. We visited monasteries and one of them was the Samye Monastery. It had also been destroyed during the cultural revolution and they are still working on rebuilding it. We learned that also in this monastery and many others they kept live stock until the 1980’s when they started rebuilding. Besides many chapels and statues with beautiful paintings we watched the monks praying and discussing. One is asking a question slaps his hands and expects an immediate answer! Several groups are filling the garden the noise and tension are high. It was very interesting to watch monks loaded with full energy and euphoria discussing and exchanging knowledge.

The first few days we enjoy perfect road condition with asphalt which made it easy for us to climb up the mountain crossing up to the Yamdruk lake. The top is a famous outing as it provides a spectacular view over the lake. While we are fighting us up the mountain we are taken over constantly by cars loaded with Chinese leaning out of the window and taking pictures from us and showing their thumb up sign to us. As we arrive at the top they are posing in front of our cycles and let themselves photographing. Demonstrating as if they had climbed it. Quite often they want us to be on the picture too. As a joke we ask for “wu quai” (five yuan, approx 1 CHF). As they realize our joke they are laughing and enjoying themselves. Quite often many Tibetans are asking for money when we make pictures of them, on the other hand many Chinese make pictures of us. In general Chinese are nice people, enjoy having contact and are entertaining. However employees in restaurants and shops can sometimes be a bit rough and cold. Most probably we assume as our language skills are limited. We try with every means to make us understandable but their fantasy is not always the same as ours. It was also difficult in restaurants when they had no English menus. At the beginning we copied chicken noise to demonstrate that we would like to eat chicken and received duck. Despite our Mandarin language booklet quite often we had tofu in the soup instead of beef. As we filled up our cycle bottles and wanted to drink we realized that the content was foaming and found out that there was cleaning powder in it. After all these experiences we usually walked straight into the kitchen and showed them what we wanted. Better was to look into the others plate and pointing that we wanted the same. This was usually for both sides very entertaining. They also enjoyed watching us eating with job sticks but in the meantime we are professionals.

The road from Lhasa to Kathmandu is very popular for cyclists. However the Chinese authority is creating difficulties so that many tourists are booking an organized tour instead. Many tourists do not know that one can cycle the roads independently, like we have done, although it is not completely legal. Therefore we met many different groups. The sporty ones have their own high powered mountain bikes with the luggage transported in vans. Nearly every group has a cycle guide and a SUV vehicle to collect the tired enthusiasts. When they arrive at their target, a tent is already established, food is ready and in the morning they move on in style. An enjoyable however expensive experience. We found it a pity to cycle this beautiful area in such a speed without visiting the sightseeing’s along the road. We feel the busy tourism flow especially as there are so many children along the roads asking for money and pen’s! In another valley the children were very aggressive and throw stones in our direction as they realized they do not get anything from us. Quite often they built a chain by standing together and holding their hands to stop us. To avoid having all these kids around us we had to cycle on until they opened the chain.

Sakya is one of the origin places of the four main parts of Buddhism. On recommendation we are targeting it. The visit in the monastery was especially nice. Every day the monks are celebrating. The monks where not allowed to leave the monastery during the last 45 days and celebrated the end of this curfew with playing instruments, wearing special clothing and followed with their movement to the sound of the music. The Tibetans were sitting around them watching and drinking butter tea. As a thunderstorm arrived they just sat together closer and only when hail started they moved under the roof. Nobody had an umbrella it seems this does not exist here. We put on fairly soon our rain gear however they made the impression as if they were water tight. They are real origins one sees that immediately. Especially the old people their faces stamped from a very hard life. Also wealthy tourists are here. In front of the monastery were their horses waiting for them and bit further away their trailers. In rural areas the locals are moving around with their farming vehicles mostly the whole family on it. Seeing all these SUV vehicles we are wondering who is benefiting from this tourist boom in Tibet! Well, Tibet is booming soon they will only have asphalt roads and the expensive SUV’s are only for the prestige!

The Tibetans are still wearing their original clothing. Women are wearing colored blouses and a skirt tied up on the side and an apron on top of it. Some of them are using a big silver buckle in front. They have long hair sometimes extended with yarn. The long hair is tide up into a tail, sometimes built up around their head or tide together on their back. Babies are mostly carried on mothers back. The funny part is, the legs looking out of the bundle of clothing they are tied in. The clothing they are tied up is open on their back side which seems very practical if the babies have to do their necessary business! Some of them are well brought up and do their necessary business at the pavement. The children on the country side are mostly very dirty. Clothing is mostly too small or too big or not complete. They are coughing very often and noses are running. However, their laughing is always warm and friendly and the hello never stops. Men are wearing trousers mainly too big and a warm fur coat tied up around their waste and a cowboy hut. The horse is decorated with colored fabrics hanging down, bells and a carpet instead of a saddle. Men and women are wearing felt boots which must be very warm in summer! Attention take the men with long hair extended with red yarn. The red end is usually tied up on their head and turquoise and coral red stones in their ears. These are the Khampas, years ago the road bandits in certain regions. Nowadays they live in villages wearing big knives but became harmless. Their women are similarly dressed like their men to demonstrate wealth. Also their cows and yaks are decorated with red yarn. Tibetans are drinking beer like water. In every village beer bottles are stapled in front of their houses. We find all the time glass splitter on the road, which is sometimes difficult for us to avoid it. They enjoy singing also without having had beer.

Already in India we organized pictures from the 14th Dalai Lama which we smuggled into China to distribute to the locals. We knew that some will be very happy getting these pictures. The Dalai Lama is considered a criminal by the Chinese authority therefore having a picture of him is not allowed. We had to be careful handing out the pictures. The first picture we gave to the guest house owner in Darchen were we stored our luggage and bicycles while we walked around the Kora. His eyes were shining as he saw the picture. He pressed the picture to his forehead and put it immediately into his wallet. Another one we gave to a beggar in a monastery. He allowed us photographing him tried to communicate with us and smiled warmly. We wanted to test his devoutness. First Maesi wanted to give him money and then showed him the picture. He wanted to take immediately the money but when he saw the picture he withdrew his hand his eyes shining took the picture pressed it on to his forehead and hide it away full of gratitude. We felt good about it.

As we left Lhasa behind us rain started again on a daily basis. We never had to use the rain gears so much during the last 2 months in comparison to the 14 months before. Now we knew why we brought it along. The September 4th was a special day. We knew that we will cycle the 15’000st kilometer, however not that after a very tough uphill struggle with 42 turns, 18 kilometer, 1000 meter altitude and a very dirty road we will have a spectacular view of the highest mountain on earth. Soon we had passed the prayer flags at the top of the crossing we saw the Mount Everest, Makalu, Cho Oyu and the Shishapangma. 4 moutains all bigger then 8000 meters. At the beginning hidden behind a cloud but then in full view. Five kilometer further down we set up our tent and celebrated this high light without rain! In the morning the four big mountains greeted us with the sun starting to shine on them. 64 turns further down we were back in another valley and the next steep mountain started again. This road brought us to Rhombuk from where one hikes into the northern Everest base camp. We decided to do this on a horse carriage instead of climbing it ourselves. However the horse seemed to be very tired we would have been up much faster. On the other hand the down hill was rather fast. The northern part of the Mount Everest we saw shining in total blue sky.

One day we meet a cyclist loaded with packs totally alone cycling along. His name was Coco from Japan who wants to cycle around the world in 4 years. As he takes the same route we decided to cycle together. Our meals we did together which gave us the opportunity to experience his Japanese dishes. Before we separated as he was going towards Kailash we had a hot bath in one of the hot springs. In a near by expensive Chinese hotel with a Spa we found more hot springs which we used to wash our clothing and taking showers. Coco the pathfinder was very clever and pushed the pipe of the waterfilter into a little spring so that we had constant fresh water in our bottles. By now our new friend is already on the road again towards Kailash, we wish him good luck, see you in Switzerland!

Tibet is saying good by as it welcomed us, with strong wind against us. The last two 5000er crossings were very tough but we were rewarded with stunning views on ice and snow mountains. We were happy to leave this high plateau behind us. It was very tough cycling during the last 10 weeks. However the memory of the lonely and beautiful places were we built up our tent the closeness to the mountains and the constant change of weather were an exciting experience. Never in our live we dreamed so much of good food such as polenta overbaked with raclette cheese! We were convinced that our constant buying of eggs, in order to compensate lack of protein increased the demand for eggs in this country. We lost a lot of weight. The only fat left might have been in our hair! Also our hygiene level suffered. Within 9 weeks we could only have 8 showers, except in Lhasa. We are carrying a 10 liter water bag which had to last quite a while. Besides this we had seen many stormy rivers, crossed many of them, 34 times taken off our shoes and pushing the bikes. Despite all this we were not able to circumvent the Monsoon. After 12 mountain crossings all with more then 5000 meter altitude, 11 crossings with over 4000 meter altitude we now started the biggest down hill. Starting on 5150 m above sea-level we will cycle down a distance of 150 Km down to 700 meters above sea-level. One day all the time constantly on the brakes. We started wearing warm clothing, double socks and cloves and in the evening with t-shirt only. Nepal welcomed us with a dirty road and tropical weather. The Monsoon was not over yet. Water fountains were splashing out from between the green vegetation, road slides stopped us in between and it was raining cats and dogs. Besides all this it was quite a contrast to what we experienced high up in the mountains.

Tibet has really moved us especially the political situation gave us a lot to think about. We always identified us with the place where we stayed therefore it also concerned us. By reading the book “Sieben Jahre in Tibet” of Heinrich Harrer we got a lot of impressions which built the basics for us to start with. We can hardly believe that this beautiful part of the world has been completely destroyed and nobody has supported them or stopped the brutal destruction. Will the Tibetans ever find peace on earth?

PS 1: OM MANI PADME HOM

PS 2: If we did not yet arrive in Kathmandu we would still cycle down hill!

Maja & Marcel www.2bicycles1world.ch

27th Travelreport October 10, 2006

Bad Luck !

It took us 3 days from the boarder up to Kathmandu. First through a wild however tropical landscape a very thirty road which was completely swampy from monsun rain. We also saw many landslides. We were sweating like hell, after many month on high altitude in Tibet with dry air, then suddenly into this wet environment, was a real challenge for us. Over time roads were tared and finally we ended up in a hugh traffic jam. Clouded in smoke from all these exhaust pipes we finally arrived in the tourist city of Thamel. The next few days we spent in this city, recovered from the hard work, strolling through the village, met other cyclist tourists, did some repair work on the cycles and watched the multi-cultural TV programs, and we were looking forward to the visit of Maja’s brother Jörg. Since his last visit in Istanbul it is already 13 months. Together we visited these very impressive temples of the hindus, stupas and monasteries of the Buddhists.

Nepal has to offer so much, from sport, landscape as well as cultural. We decided for a small cycle tour to visit the Chitwan National Park where we will see rhinos. We rented a top mountain bike and helmet for Jörg and on we left. Definitely a special experience for him to cycle on Asian roads which are full of surprises. However, he handled it with style and did not get upset about the horrendously risky riding motorists in Nepal. After we left the highway we came into a beautiful panorama road and on the following morning we had a stunning view to one of the 8000er mountains in Nepal. Tired from the first day cycling we enjoyed the 54 km down hill road the following day. One curve after the other and temperature moving higher after every curve. Through his job Jörg is quite interested in public transportation therefore we decided to do the following day on the bus. Coincidentally a minibus was ready waiting for us we loaded the cycles on the roof and off we went. At the beginning there was ample place in the bus but the more he stopped the more the bus filled up until every little space was taken. We could not see each other anymore and we only communicated by load talking to each other. Jörg was sitting at the window with all bags piled in front of him. Maja had a child on her knees and Maesi was standing somewhere. Suddenly a big bang a tyre burst! The bus started shaking and the driver started to break. We immediately thought that he can handle the bus, however, the bus started running into troubles, turned 180 degrees, and fell on the side where Jörg was standing. Glass splitter falling around and the passengers started screaming and panicking. We did not exactly know how, but we were able to climb out of the bus. “Thanks to God” we survived and hugged each other. After that Maesi sat down and could not get up again. His bottom and back gave him lots of pain. At the place of accident there was a huge panic with passengers screaming and crying. Everywhere we saw blood. Our cycles where lying next to the bus damaged. With a taxi Maja brought Maesi to the next hospital and Jörg stayed with the bags and cycles. The next hours where real horror! Another country other customs! Hair-raising circumstances! Without taking the pain of Maesi serious they wanted to pull him out of the car until he cried seriously of pain. They brought a stretcher full of blood from patients before and carried him into the emergency room which was completely crowded. No curtains between beds no privacy! One lies wearing under ware on his bed with an infusion on his arm, bandage around his head and they are working on is leg! Over there they work on a child who had broken the collarbone, a woman her head full in blood has already been moved three times, she screams and cries! They pull the sheet over an old man’s head, he just died! After several check ups and x-ray tests the diagnosis is done for Maesi. The pubic bones are broken in two parts and also twice broken his wrist. Well!!! Did this really have to happen! The following day we transported Maesi with an ambulance to a better hospital. They confirmed the diagnosis and mentioned that the wrist should be operated immediately. Furthermore they told us, to our shock, that Maesi has to lie in bed for 4 weeks so that the broken pubic bones can heal and the strained spinal coloumn can relax. Still in shock from the terrible accident and the bad diagnosis we slowly realized that our beautiful honeymoon is suddenly and painfully going to end after 17months traveling!

With the support of Rega (Safety and Emergency Airline Company from Switzerland) and thanks to the never ending help and moral support of Jörg in regards to organization and motivation we were able to bring the first week after the accident behind us. Maesi is on his way to Switzerland organized by Rega where he will spend the 4 weeks lying in bed at this parents place and Maja will stay another 2 weeks with her brother in Nepal and travel back towards the end of October together with Jörg. Jörg came specifically to visit us and planned to stay for 3 weeks. As the accident happened during the first week we decided that we do not let him alone in Nepal. Maesi will be taken in good care by his parents and Maja and Jörg will do some hikes in the Himalayan Mountains and trying to recover and overcome the shock from the accident.

We all are very sad about this happening, had this really have to happen! However, it could have been much worse, we believe strongly we had thousand of guardian angels. What helps us to overcome the disappointment is that we will be able to see our family and friends back home.

To recollect the last beautiful months we shall present our Tibetan photographs on our website very soon.

Our journey is not over yet! It will go on, momentarily only in our hearts and minds. Sometime in future we will get on our bikes Elif and Tigi again and we will cycle through this exciting and wonderful world. Time heals wounds! With best regards Maja and Maesi.

Maja and Maesi www.2bicycles1world.ch