Pedaling from the Black Forest to the Yellow Sea

daily distance: 103km
total distance: 9212km
riding time: 6h

The sunrise was extraordinary and given that I had been sleeping outside, I enjoyed it as I was packing up. It made for some good foto ops too.

The wind had been OK the day before, but now it was back where it had been for days on end. I cycled right into it - while at the same time going uphill. I had been promised a long uphill, with a long downhill to Samarkand to follow. That one never came and so I kept slugging along into the wind until I turned a corner where things became a bit more pleasant. All the while feeling pretty exhausted and not well at all.

When I got to Samarkand, I was already stacked out with Islam’s relatives who were waiting for me there. We met at the Registan and took the necessary picture before heading to eat something. I should maybe say that I have been here a couple of times, so the usual tourist thingy didn’t really apply. But here is one of the welcome comittee with my bike at the Registan …

I was also pretty exhausted overall and just wanted a day off and not much inbetween. What I did want to do was upload some pictures and update the website (I am woefully behind in posting, I know). The first two internet cafes were no good. They allowed nothing, the third one was also restrictive, but has what I consider lightning speed. I haven’t seen anything like it anywhere. The uploads were blazingly fast and that’s why you have been and will be inundated with pictures from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan until Samarkand.

Islam’s relatives were simply great, they received me in their home with open arms - and plov, slightly different from the one I had enjoyed with Feruz’s family, but likewise delicious. A big thanks to Eljor and Fedya who - both in their own ways - made Samarkand a great stopover on my trip.

daily distance: 112km
total distance: 9109km
riding time: 6h

The wind was against me again. Not strongly, but clearly perceptible. I could feel it during the early hours before getting out of bed. Turning to the east meant putting my face into the wind.

Not sure how long the trip would be I set out. Yesterday I had been given various distances, ranging from 118km to only 60km only 10km later. What to make of this I don’t know. The ride was bit grueling, turned out to be 50km from where I was (meaning the 60km sign was on the mark) and found me arriving in Quarshi at 11am - exhausted and not feeling well. The previous day had taken its toll.

I knew that a former student in my hometown had arranged for me to stay with a friend of his. Given my early arrival, I wanted to move on to Samarkand. I called Islam and soon enough his friend tracked me down in a place that let me use their fast (1 MB/s - which is lightning speed to me right now) internet connection for a couple of hours. It was a place to pay the mobile bills and the owner and I tagged off for a few hours on the billing site and my website.

Food and sightseeing done, I headed out uphill from Quarshi. It was dry country, some oil wells here and there and it was slightly warm at 4pm. I cycled until 7pm when I tried to find a place to pitch.

The first farm turned me away rather rudely (no expectation on my side to be allowed to pitch, but the way this went was a bit on the different side), another taking me into their place in a rather friendly manner. One of the kids even seemed to take a liking to my bike I think.

daily distance: 118km
total distance: 8997km
riding time: 5-6h

I woke up in Feruz’s family home and felt at ease. I had slept sort unpeacefully though. I had dreamed about being in Germany and leaving for the trip. Everything had been a mess, the bike functioned only so-so and I remember the lens of my camera being completely smeared.

Waking up, the world was different. I continued sleeping in the fresh morning air outside of the house, being one of the first risers. At some point, Feruz’s father put a blanket on me, brought tea out and I fell back asleep with the smell of fresh green tea and a warm blanket around me.

We set out after a wonderful family breakfast and it of course took much longer than anticipated. But thanks to Feruz, we managed pretty much everything and he even went to Buchara with me despite him going into a different direction to be back with his wife and children in Tashkent. Thanks so much for everything Feruz, you made the days in Buchara so much more memorable than they would have been otherwise. Having been in Feruz’s hands also meant that I was loaded down with a lot of extra food weight, about 4kg of it plus a lot of water. Fresh and dried grapes, nuts, apricot seeds and tons of other goodies. This one - that’s a negative.

Leaving at just after noon I was smack in the middle of the hot period of the day. Buchara also happens to be a bit of an oasis, meaning I was in desert climate pretty soon and the temperatures reached 50C in the shade pretty quickly. I moved on making use of the tailwind that I finally caught on my road to Quarshi. I am choosing this detour deliberately, had hoped to not battle the wind for a day or so and that’s exactly what happened. The ride is longer and goes over some mountains, but I was dreading riding into the wind again and gave the longer way a shot.

The terrain was uneventful, I was able to cover miles and miles through calm-inducing areas (safe for the power plant and other not so pretty habitations). When it was time to find a place to sleep I found a shepherd who was more than happy to have me over. Together with some other farm workers we slept under the stars after a very light dinner. I was simply too spent to eat a lot and it would have been somewhat inappropriate to do so given the food that the others had available (dry bread soaked in water to make it eatable and water melon). This isn’t the right diet and it was too long a day to begin with, so we’ll see what happens.

I would like to say that I am roughing it on such days, but given that people like today’s hosts are doing this every day “roughing it” seems a bit out of place.

Note: my apologies for the number of posts that you are receiving all at once if you are subscribed to the newsletter. I am trying to catch up as I am finding myself 800km further up the road in Tashkent.

It was a good thing to start slowly. I was up early though and tried to work on some things on the web before finally meeting up with Feruz who had only arrived just after midnight. Given that his family lives half an hour away from Buchara we hadn’t had the chance to meet up anymore. It was a strange night … here I am, sleeping in a bed in a comfy hotel room and when I woke up it was the first time when I couldn’t outright say where I was. This usually doesn’t happen - but it seems like the whole biking-on-end-thing has taken its toll.

We did a bit of the tourist thing … given that I had seen part of Buchara before we took it easty which suited me just fine and after getting money from a bank (one which I couldn’t have even entered I am told) and some sightseeing we had lunch and after some more sightseeing actually drove out to Feruz’s home. Here are some of the pics …

Being invited to his home was - for me - the highlight of my time in Buchara. It was great to see where and how Feruz had grown up. Coming from a small village in a place like this, it is all the more challenging to head into the academic world as he has done.

We visited his family’s farm and I got an introduction to the cotton industry and especially the farming part of it. The Uzbek state is heavily involved - taking half of the production at a set price. Farmers are only allowed to sell the other 50% at market prices. Sounds like a sweet deal for the Uzbek state to me.

The local market … the only one in the village, which consists largely of two families.

It was then back to the house and for some traditional food - plov. Rice and a whole lot of other goodness. It was greatness and the welcome warm and comforting. To my surprise we ended up staying in his house for the night. This was not a bad thing at all, just a surprise. A good one at that. Here is Feruz with his niece …

Funny thing, those rest days … there are more pictures over at the flickr site.

daily distance: 82m
total distance: 8879km
riding time: 5h

I set out from Olot … the riding was uneventful. Safe for the wind. It was … I will spare you what I thought. It was just bad. Just take a look at these pictures instead.

When I drew closer to Buchara I had to think back about the city when I first visited. What I do remember most is the tower that stands in the center of town. Sure enough, you come to the city and it was the first thing I saw. It put a big gloat on my face. Not just a smirk, but a big, big smile. For some reason, this view made me happy and part of it had to do with overcoming the last few days, including today. Here is what I saw … tower in the center, way in the back …

Just as I arrived in the city, a car stops next to me. Two men inside. I wasn’t in the mood for much chatting, but it turns out that they had seen me trying to buy some water, with the owner overcharging quite a bit. I left. They said: “We saw what happened, it was not fair. But we thought that you need some water.” I was floored. “You came all the way?” “We are from Afghanistan, that’s what we do.” They drove off before I could say much more.

I then met up with Feruz’s brother. Feruz is a student of a former professor of mine, who likes bikes himself (the professor that is) and who thought that he would pass on my being here to his post-doc student. Feruz himself was not there yet, just made his way from Tashkent (an 8-hour drive) and as I found out, did this just so that he knew I was doing well and in good hands. I was pretty speechless. Furkat and I met up and with the help of a translator (who was also pulled in for this), they got me to a hotel (a nice one, really) and after some food we toured the city a bit.

It was marvellous and so much more than I could have expected. Such as the big stack of food and drinks that was placed in the hotel room while I was out. Fresh grapes, bread, melon and the like. Thank you so very much … it is now time to take some rest in Buchara.