Panchoy - Barry Kaiser

In my late twenties, I decided that I wanted to see the world, but I didn't want to make it too easy, so I decided to do it on a bike. I had taken up cycling seriously a few years prior.

In 1989-90, I cycled around the world, where I visited 5 continents, 22 countries, and logged 22,000 km, I thought that would take the travel bug out of me -- not a chance. I have been cycling in different parts of the world nearly every year since.

The one thing has been consistent with my trips has been the developing world. The colour, hospitality, food, and culture (in no particular order) are second to none. For cyclists, there is also the added benefit of so much life on the roads to keep the day's ride that much more enjoyable.

Tour 2006 - The Food Tour - Southeast Asia
November 26th 2006 -» December 15th 2006 Tour 2007 - The Volcano Tour - Central America
November 24th 2007 -» December 8th 2007 Seoul 2008 - The Culinary Capital of NE Asia
September 17th 2008 -» September 27th 2008 Tour 2008 - The Unconventional Tour - West Africa
October 31st 2008 -» November 22nd 2008 Tokyo 2009 - The Transportation Capital
April 1st 2009 -» April 12th 2009 Tour 2009 - The Empire Tour - SE Europe
October 3rd 2009 -» October 25th 2009

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Joined on: October 1st 2009
Last Login: November 28th 2009

Blog Entries: 39
Photos: 61
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Panchoy, order by Date newest first.

By Panchoy
October 24th 2009

The weather gods have blessed us on our last three days Europe » Bulgaria » West » Sofia

Church

We couldn't have asked for better weather for our last three days here in Sofia. Temperatues reached the high teens and overnight temperatures were warmer than the they have been since Alexandroupolis. The rain even stayed away. I was able to where my shorts on Friday eventhough I was probably the one person in the city doing so. We spent Thursday doing most of our sightseeing. Because Sofia is so small, almost all of the major attractions were very central. We really lucked out this time, because our hotel was close to the tourist attractions and shopping. We may have lost [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 21st 2009

And I thought we would never make it here on bicycles... Europe » Bulgaria » West » Sofia

Village Scene

Total Distance Cycled: 854km over 9 cycling days The forecast for Tuesday and the rest of the week was suppose to be nice, but overnight and into the morning there was no sign of that. I'm not sure if we had even seen the sun since a week ago Sunday. We took our time until there was some confirmation that the weather was starting to break. It finally did, and we were off by 9:30! We found a side road for the first 25km that avoided the main highway that had driven Shauna bit nuts the other day. The road was [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 19th 2009

There is no doubt about it... We are in a different country Europe » Bulgaria » South » Sandanski

Cyprus

Total Distance Cycled: 672km We seemed to had a window to cycle on Saturday. It was warm and overcast, but no rain, so we went for it. Other than climbing out of the hole we had in Kavala (on the coast, but totally surrounded by hills), the ride was pretty good and we did have the aid of the wind for most of the day (that makes three in a row now :-)). This was certainly our second best bike day of the trip so far. Just like the other day from Komotini to Xanthi, we spent most of the day [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 16th 2009

Where did the cold weather come from? Europe » Greece » Central Macedonia » Kavala

Old Greek Woman

Total Distance Cycled: 516km The winds calmed down overnight, but we were still left with cold weather. We wore our jackets and gloves for the first time. We first had to climb over a mountain pass, which brought the temperature down much too low for comfort. We could see our breath at this point… After that, though, the rest of the day was our best so far. We cycled at least half of the day on one of Greece’s new freeways, which was quite impressive. 130kmh is the speed limit here! We even had the wind working with us now! Since [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 13th 2009

Where did this wind come from? Europe » Greece » Thrace » Alexandroupoli

Downtown

Total Distance Cycled: 357km We were off to Greece today. We weren’t sure about what expect for hills but at least we knew we had a 300m drop in elevation. Unfortunately, 100m of that came from just getting out of Malkara! I hadn’t even got out of town, when I realized that the small repair I made to my gears yesterday had created more problems than I had fixed. Over countless stops I finally got my gears working enough to get to our end destination. While we had to deal with traffic and hills on the first two days, today would [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 11th 2009

Where did these hills come from? Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Malkara

Fishing Boats

Total Distance Cycled: 254km We are finally on the road today. After two bike rides in Istanbul, I was itching to head out in to the countryside. At the very least, my pocketbook would enjoy it. The first 15km was along a so called bike trail. This trail changed character too many times to remember. It would go from asphalt to concrete to brick to dirt and back again. In between all of this, there were the odd 9” curbs to crawl up and down. It was still probably better than Kennedy Cad, as there was no shoulder there and the [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 8th 2009

This city is larger than life Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

Spice Bazzar

Total Distance Cycled: 54km I can’t seem to keep up with Shauna with all of her Facebook posts and blog entries, as I have been spending too much time planning and too much time adjusting to all of this new technology. I’m also trying out TravelBlog, which connects with Facebook, instead of Ball of Dirt for a travel website. Ball of Dirt also hasn’t made any material changes to its website in a number of years - resting on its laurals. In order to catch up, I’m going to summarize my four days in Istanbul in to one entry. I never [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
October 4th 2009

Another stressful first day... Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

We had a unique start to our trip this year this year. Upon the recommendation of the airport tourist office, we decided to cycle a few kilometers down to the coast and take the train into town. Unfortunately those four kilometers were in the rain, but they were a good test for our rain gear, as I’m sure we will have a bit more rain over the next three weeks. The attendants at the train station were very friendly and for $2.50 we couldn’t beat the price. Trying to arrange transportation for two people, two bikes, and two bags has always [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
April 12th 2009

It was all too easy... Asia » Japan » Tokyo

Cherry Blossoms

I'm not sure why I waited this long to visit Tokyo. It certainly wasn't as expensive as I thought, and probably even less so than New York or London these days. Years of deflation have certainly helped this cause. The city also didn't look like it was in a depression (or soon to be depression). There were more people in the shopping malls and restaurants than I could have ever imagined. The themes for this trip were food (isn't it always), people, transportation, and cleaniness. I was surprised to see how diverse the Japanese cooking can really be. Coming from the [View Full Entry]

By Panchoy
November 20th 2008

Mission Accomplished Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » Accra

Transit: 12km for a total of 907km (8 full cycling days and 55 hours of riding time) With only a day left, we headed back to Accra to prepare for our flight tomorrow -- not a minute too soon for Shauna. The bus ride was long and hot. We crossed the border again with our bikes, and then caught a bus from the Ghanaian border town of Aflao. There were lots of police blockades to stop at on our ride back to Accra. The bus driver seemed to be getting quite annoyed at all the requests by officers to check luggage. [View Full Entry]

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