Georgia, finally

I'm in Georgia now, cycled all the way from Trabzon. The weather is graet, I'm hoping it will stay that way when heading for the mountains in two days.

This is not the end of my journey but I've reached the aim. Thats why I wan't to spend the day outside with the two French-Canadians (3months 8000ks from France headin east)I've met in Batumi.

I'll be writing about all this when its raining...

Soci-Trabzon...what???

like in the old times...

and so was was the hour long queueing at the counter. Its kind of strange having a young lady taking your orders directly into a wireless device whilst being pushed my all those Russian tourists for whom the restaurant with the golden M is like promise land.
Today, spending a large amount of money for a Big Mac Menue plus Salad, I celebrated my departure from Soci and Russia, at last...
I'm not going directly to Georgia but to Trabzon in Turkey. The last three days have been full of disappointments. It seems that You just cannot plan a journey ahead just relying on info from the Internet. Its still the Telefon and lots of imponderabilities meaning you have to be there and ask people and then again and again.
I hate being dependent on the good will of a bunch of corrupt post-sovjet guys operating the only ferry there is to Georgia. They wanted me to wait for three days and then stand infront of the counter for another 5 hours in the morning for a ticket that not only I but many, many other people wanted. If theres a demand why isn't there a supply. I call that a market disfunction, or a monopoly...
I even went to the Abchasian border to ask about the chances of making it to Georgia via this ...Ananas-Entity. Being de facto governed by Russia it wouldn't be much of a problem to get in and through. They just wouldn't let me in at the Georgian border. Thats what the guys in the UN SUV told me.
As always short in time, gotta catch that ferry

The new Fotos are on the first flickr account. Check out the date and time, the most recent foto is on top. Foto 1 – Foto 2

Russian Riviera

Leaving the Krimea...














The new Fotos are on both flickr accounts. Check out the date and time, the most recent foto is on top. Foto 1 – Foto 2


I'm in a Russian tourist resort 50kms outside of Novorossisk. Its 320 kms to Soci and theres a boat to catch on friday 5pm. Theres also the usual bureaucracy hassle with registration and all. Lets see, how hes going to manage all this in just 2 ½ days. Maybe my left knee is going to save me from doing it all by bike...
To all the sceptics about taking the bus: the official mileage Berlin Tbilisi is 3147kms. I'm going to do more than 4000kms, so keep your mouths shut ;)
Well, its Russia again. The prices are twofold compared to Ukraine and the infrastructure is better. I have not and maybe will not get used to the idea of now being in Russia. Its not that different from Ukrain. Its just that theres all that political stuff that I'm thinking about even when in Berlin that keeps me from embracing it.
Anyway, people are nice and of course very exited about my journey. Today I got a honey melon just when I ran out of water.
Seems that I'm running out of time...
Theres going to be extensive day-today coverage of all the little details in Ukraine and Russia within the next weeks. Maybe I will update the pictures earlier so check out both flickr accounts.
Foto 1 – Foto 2

The Corrections

After what turned out to be an hour long walk across the darker parts of Odesa I finally found an internet cafe where I could post what was written so hastily at the hostel (there the connection had broken down)
The hyperlink for the fotos didn't work and thers LOTS of spelling and Freudian mistakes in this one.
Its already late so I'm going to sleep well and a little bit longer in the morning before getting out of this town.

Odesa, staircases and naughty neighborhoods

sitting here in that Euro standard/price hostel in the busiest street of Odesa makes me think of Budapest, the hippie hostel and different the attitude of the travellers there. to cut it short, there's self complacent men sitting in the other room drinking beer wating for the night and all those cheap Ukrainian girls to come. Its amzing there's not a single female guest but all young and eager looking girls working at this place. There's those obligatory two japanese guys in my dorm looking kind of stressed out from whatever long journey they've been taking.
If you understand what the female stuff is talking about in a not so exerted friendliness they use when speaking english to the guests but in Ukrainian/Russian. You'll get a sense of what conflicting temptations the life of a young ambitious "Ukrainza" is exposed to. Its all about assumed options, for the (western) guys its just about getting laid or being flattered by women who need to get a husband if the want to move up the ladder (something not really to be found in those western countries they come from).
Lets all read Michel Houellebecq’s book's and be cynical about it, shall we...

Anyway, as I'm in Ukrain right now I had to be in Moldawia in the first place this is what happened:

Day23 (2.9.)

After another night out in the rain at a camp spot chosen rather haphazardly on a fiel right next to the street (I did and continue to do this for there is no reason, why one of the local clowns should attempt to rob the curious foreigner out there in the rain with cars coming by every 90secs or so) I got up early and rode the remaining 10ks to the border. Stocked up my food supplies and made it it in just under 10min across what is to be the future Schengen Border.
_
little interruption here: one of the female employees has just being surprised by a local friend with a bunch of little roses (as she joyfully exclaimed). Maybe thats a precautionary measure being taken by the local boys given the obvious avocations.
But to be honest I don't really see this blonde marrying the guy with the roses...
_
As I could already see when getting to the eastern parts of Romania things where about to get worse in just any sense. People are poorer, less fortunate (theres no real near time perspective for Mioldowa joining the EU) and they just lok like that. This is not to say that there aren't nice people you can have conversation with (I'm finally able to use my Russian again!).
After a couple of ks it started to rain again. I didn't bother to put on the haevy rain gear since the trousers aren't fitting too well and the neopren spats are just clumsy when walking on them.
The thing about cycling in the rain with short pants is that you can do that as long as you keep going. Theres nothing worse than getting up again in cooled down wet gear. Given this I made an early stop just 50ks out of Chisinau the Capital and aim for that day.
After a weird encounter with an aged lady making the sign of a cross many times at the sight of me and then telling me that she only rented out rooms to Jews and that she was much cheaper than the guy upstairs I sensed that I got into the wrong building. The right one was on the main street right next to the "Abmen Valuty" were I changed some money. Again the first encounter with the lady renting out teh rooms was somewhat funny since I was helloing for about five minutes in the hallway until I found out that she was in her office asleep at the desk.
She couldn't change the 100LEI bill (5,84 EUR) for the room was supposedly only 80. So I went out to buy some things and eat something not cooked by me in that little alupot meaning a Schnitzel with fries and salad plus the lemonade for just 2 EUR. You'll might get an idea what this about, Moldawia is cheap! When I came back to the hotel it turned out that the room was only 18LEI (*shame on me for missing the slight difference between 80 and 18 in Russian). Thats a new record even for me, 1 EUR for a room to sleep in alone for one night (there's alway SOMEthing included...)
This time it was the occasional cockroach running under the bed when turning the lights on plus a wedding party going on all night right outside my window (no, I was not ivited and didn't dare asking since everyone semmed to be really dressed up and s tuff). Sometime at night the music changed from humpta-humpta gypsie-style out of the ballroom to boom-boom out of the cars of the remainimg youngsters out on the parking lots.
I had a beer with the local boys at a billiard place nearby being invited to glasses of Moldowan Congnac (30yrs old, you could really taste the wood) out of a plastic bottle. Just when I left the place the girls showed up. I don't know what took them so long, maybe the fact that they really dolled themselves up. Despite all that I went back to my room listening to that music all night long.
Oh, and there was a rat fissling with the plastic bag containing the waste that lay on the floor close to the whole in the wall where there was to be a sink.

Day24 (3.9.)

The main reason for checking in to a hotel after a rainy day on the road is to dry things up, especially the shoes. I already told you about that little fan hair-dryer I always carry with me. It only takes about two hours of noise and someone elses energy to get the boots dry again.
Last nights party had somehow emerged into a jolly morning pint (bit less turbo folk and more humpta-humpta again)/ Anyway it was me leaving early for the Capital with only 18 hours left on my visa.
It took 90min of hammering on the road to get me there. I could only take a brief look a what seems to be a big and changing city for I was being guided to the right bus station to catch the BUS to Ukraina.
Wait a second... didn't that guy tell us he was goin to do it all on the pushie.
Well, I can tell You it was surely a one time only experience. Not that I hadn't taken the bus with bike and all the stuff on earlier occasions. It was just the fact that it took us 6 1/2 hours to do that 200km or so drive from a to b bypassing that banana-entity called PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC. I knew that border crossings in busses could take a while but this was a real one-time only chance of being treated like cattle in a bus that had been built before the invention of air conditioning.
I was really sorry that my passport had already been collected, otherwise I would have hopped of and done it all in 10 min instead of 2 dreadful hours.
We finally made it to Odesa where i got of at the bus station close to the main basar. I was tired and hungry and got the first dodgy hotel i could get. Now that one was up to set a new record in my personal statistic. Not that it was another one in those single digit EUR category, but it was the sheer size of this place that was amazing. Lots of thugs and floosies around. It was the way you would expect it to be in a really naughty neighborhood. (see the pictures)
The open window was only meters across the market. At night you could watch people going to sleep under the sales booth and a guy beating a young girl calling her a dirty whore for standing around acouple of yards away at the corner. Earlier on he had received money from her and it was obvious that she was dependent on him in a real sad way. It was a big drama that somehow reminded me of A Streetcal Named Desire but in the morning it was all getting up and to work.

Day25 (4.9.)

First thing in the morning upon leaving that place was to get a city map. I cycled a bit around town waiting for banks to open. I saw the staircase and lot of American tourists and then hooked up to a local mountain bike hero that seemed to know where to get things for the bike. He was really nice first showing me the expensive shop where he worked and then the stand at the basar being more affordable for the low tech stuff. I went back to his shop to let him do the maintenance and also baught a new fleeze sweater because minesomehow got lost the other day when getting of the bus on the basar. It was worth it because it wasn't expensive and the old Adidas one was really worn out after five years.
Next thing was getting to this hostel, washing clothes and making all those observations I've written in the above. I'm going to get out to get some fresh meat (no, just for the pasta sauce)...

leaving Romania with a bad stomach

Don't try this at home...

I'm in Iasi close to the Moldowan border. Yesterday I was puking along the highway. I don't really know what was taking its toll there, sure it left me with no real strengh and the need to slow things down a bit.

check out the new fotos from the Romanian countryside, the old ones you can find here (be aware that it starts with the most actual picture)

Day18 (28.8.)

After taking it all back to Rhegin I found out that it was sunday and that I would have to Spend those 20 EUR on a hotel rrom no matter what. I spend the whole day (17) watching TV and checking out downtown Rhegin wich is something that can be done in 30min.

The morning after it was already 12:30. Last night they showed Twin Peaks, but only starting at 2am. After leaving the hotel and buying that new "kautshuk" it was already 2pm. It sonn became claer that this was to be a real backroad. Bumpy cobblestone roads in the villages and disintegrating tarmac from the Breshnev era in the woods. It really reminded my of Georgia...

Upon reaching Lapusna, the aim for that day, it had already begun to rain. Thats when I saw the only building with lights on and peaople inside staring outside at me. I took my chances and asked if I could put up my tent in the backyard. I fiddled with the tent and asked for water and soon got invited to come inside. From that on the oldest of what turned out to be real Romanian Lumberjacks made it clear that I could stay inside and ordered me to get my luggage and bike inside aswell. Although there was somewhat of a language barrier we got along well and had a nice evening with very orginal food and all. The interior design was a real classic. Playboy calendars alongside with Husquarna pin-up girls holding up those chainsaws in a real sexy way.

I was told that the former state datcha of Ceaucescu was on the other side of the road and that back in the olden day he used to take his German business friends for a hunt from time to time.

Day19 (29.8.)

I took of at 9am and was told that the road ahead was a real "drum foristei" a forest road an d that I should just stick close to the river in order to keep on the right track. After 2km I was hailed and stopped immediately by a funny bunch of guys who turned out to be the lower cast in the hirarchy of Romanian Lumberjacks. They only had a little shack to sleep in and weren't really focussed on getting up and to work that morning. In fact most of them were really drunk and that was probably the reason for the whole extravaganza that followed. I had to drink of their moonshine, horses where dragged onto the scenery and jolly pictures where taken. In the end I managed to get of without paying for the wonderful pictures that had been staged, horses n all.

The next 15 or so kms where bumpy and uphill. But upon reaching the sumit I knew that the rest of the day would only be downhill. What a pleasure...

Things turned out differently somehow. After a few kms that took me out of the mountains I could see that the next 5 kms would be more of an ordeal than a nice ride down the valley. It was'nt just muddy the whole road was torn apart by the carterpillars that where usually driving on it and all soggy from the rain the night before. I fell of my bike twice and had to push it several times. At one time that kept me from drowning in a real swamp that consisted of a ditch filled up with sawdust and water. All alone I took the freedom of cursing, well Romanian road conditions and those responsible for it. In the end already close to the next village I could'nt even push the bike since the rear tire was blocked by clay and grass.

Upon entering that village it took me another 15 minutes to find someone who would'nt just stare at me in disbelief when telling them that I came all the f...... way from Laposna but letting me rinse and clean the bike with a water hose, something not so easy to find in rural villages. When I was done I was all soaked myself and found a motel down the road at a modest price of just 4 EUR for a double with TV.

With no Internet and nothing to do I took to the village a did what you do when nothing to and waiting for the shoes to dry. I got a haircut, baught some postcards, called home and drank a beer at a pub.

The rest of the night was again watching Romanian and Hungarian TV. There are funny shows featuring really well-equipped blondes that made a career in Italian TV. The other extreme are shows on national TV showing old people all geared up in traditional costumes singing lip-sync to what seems to be also very traditional music. I'm not against retaining traditions and such but the way they show it on Romanian TV really takes the cake. It looks sort of like a sedative once invented to let people forget about the horrors of their daily lives.

Day20 (30.8.)

Carrying a hair-dryer is really worth the weight. All you do is plug it in for two hours watch Agassi play his last US Open and in the end the shoes are dry.

Today was the last day of climbing those Carpathians that hadn't really worried me all too much. It was 10kms of switchback roads and a little rain. The descent lead me through a nice gorge that seemed to be major touristic destination. Its always funny when coming along places with people standing around buying souvenirs not really knowing what they are doing. Well, I guess that is what they call leasure time.

For me it was hard work in the pouring rain on a road that was'nt steep but covered with the coarsest gravel they have putting the rolling drag at the highest level imaginable. When reaching Piatra Neamt I checked in to a small pension sleeping in the doormans room for still a lot of Euros compared to normal Romanian prices.

Day21 (31.8.)

Getting that cheap bed was under the precondition of leaving at six o'clock. I had a muesli with lots of sunflower seeds - a bad idea as it turned out later - and took off for what was supposed to be the final ride to the border. The road conditions where ideal. Smooth tarmac and strong tailwinds. By 1pm i had alread done 100kms. The only thing was that my stomach started really worrying me. I took an extended lunch break and tried again. Nope, instead I took to the fields along the road puking it all out. I still don't know what it was. I had some water from a roadside fountain that teasted really good. Anyway, bought some Coke and pretztel sticks and set up my tent just before the rain set in.

The night was long since I got to bed at 4pm and it was'nt really quiet for it was raining all night.

Day22 (1.9.)

Today I had a quick ride into Iasi. Sorted out some financial problems before headin into the unknown (Moldawia and Transdnistria in particular) and cooked some pasta in the city park. I'm going to ride the remaining 30kms to the border to be able to get an early start into Moldawia by tomorrow morning.

check out the new fotos from the Romanian countryside, the old ones you can find here (be aware that it starts with the most actual picture)