Himalaya by bike Hi, Erika Bird and Robin Searle,
I am impressed to read your Sikkim cycling diary.
There is a new book " Himalaya by Bike" by Laura Stone which is in its first edition at present.
I hope you will come across this book for more maps, routes and details on cycling trip in Sikkim.
Keep it up!
Satish Bardewa
Yak and Yeti Travels, Sikkim India
http://www.yakandyetitravels.com
Great Writeup Sumatra...a fantastic place....and your pix are great, as is the focus on the incredibly friendly people...sad to hear the forest is still falling. Did you try some of that fantastic Rendang curry??
Misunderstandings..... Dear Ali Jan Baloch,
We did indeed have great time in your country and in Balochistan in particular as you note. I am sorry if my somewhat sensationalist title has offended you but I do feel you have completely misunderstood the sentiments of our blog.
Pakistan is one of our favourite countries because of the warmth, generosity and hospitality of the people there. I thought this was clear from our blog, as you seem aware of it yourself I guess it must be. I am not sure why you think we have forgotten this or what we are blaming Pakistan for?
Please don't confuse us with our idiotic British government that is right now only trying to distract away from their economic incompetence by talking only about terrorism in Pakistan.
Our intention was to write an honest account of our experiences in a place many westerners have misconceptions about or are just too scared to visit. Should we not have mentioned the charas and opium people were so keen to share with us? To me this was simply another example of their hospitality. I do not judge people simply because they use these things or continue to trade them. People are only smugglers because their ancient trade has been banned by modern governments and there is no alternative economic opportunities being provided. Again I do not make negative judgments about these people or the country as a whole, I feel it is you the reader who has made these judgments and attributed them to me.
When writing this and my other blogs on Pakistan I was keen to highlight that although people may be drug smugglers, although they may sympathise with the Taliban or Bin Laden they still showed us big smiles, fed us and gave us safe places to sleep, despite the fact we were British and non-Muslim. I know for a fact that at least some travellers that would not have gone to Balochistan did go there after reading this blog, and of course they had a great time too. Please read my other blogs about your country, especially "Chelo Pakistan".
I really hope you are reading this. If you wish to reply please do so by private message and we can continue this discussion privately by e-mail.
Pakistan is a great country and it's people may well be better than us. We can only hope to better ourselves with the example of the many amazing people we have met (in many different countries) in our hearts. Only Allah can be the judge.
Salaams from Indonesia. Pakistan Zindabad!!
Robin / Daud
Amazing You both went all these places. It is ming shatering to go through all these countries, and cultures. This remided me of Che Guevara. If you truly did all this travling, you deseve to be international figures
Interisting blog, i think is very sad wht is happening in Israel and Palestine whit the two side suffering to much, but i think that Palestinian are facing the worst side because are so opresed inside their lands (western bank and gaza) specially in the western bank.
Of at side the two side are friendly, jewish and arab people are very friendly to the tourist, and the hospitality are among deeply part of their culture, both Israelis and Palestinians are so similar think they are like brothers, even i see programs and blogs about Israeli-Palestinian couples, unfortanaly a war between brothers are much worse than a war between unknow people.
Im aganist extremists in the both side because they dont want peace. Examples are settlers who are west bank who are generally are extremist people and Hamas who is organization who are aganist feelings of Palestinans and who only supports the idea of a Islamic State.
I want go some day to Israel and Palestine see the people, the opinions the sights of the two sides. Thanks to much write this blog.
You people are too much! I am really amazed to see your guys memories of being in Pakistan. I don't know who you people are are but our govt official give you security and escort and really enjoy highclass hospitality from the people of Pakistan but when you guys reach home, you forget everything and just remember, "SMUGGLERS, TALIBAN, OPIUM, CHARAS and LOTS and LOTS".
Don't ever forget that time the local tribesman spends with you. Don't forget the escort that police and law enforcing agencies gives to you. But you people visit Pakistan and enjoy your stay here and on return you just blame Pakistan for having all these shits.. Pakistan and Pakistani people are far better than you, we are poor, but we have courage and God blessed us with big hearts to accomdate and entertain the selfish people like you.
May God help you.
Finally Caught Up I've caught up with the last 3 years of your journey and I'm amazed. I have many new places on my "must see" list now, thanks soley to you two. Good luck in the future with whatever you choose to do; I just hope it's exciting so I can continue to live vicariously through you. :)
Wonderful !! Dear Robin and Erika,
I like your blog on the net, we are also planning to take the same route, till bodh Gaya, but will go on our Motor Bike - 500 cc, will continue from Varanasi to Gaya - Rajgir, Kushinagar - Lumbini and then Nepal.
It was really wonderful comment and writeup .... regards.. Gautam
Nice writeup Like Erika, I couldn't believe how much better BKK's air was when I revisited this year - even the traffic seems more manageable!
I really hope you managed to keep those bike saddles, or posted them home.....what classic souvenirs!
Time for New Continent Been following your blog for awhile, looks like you totally traversed Asia! Time to Start your South America Trip in Panama right?
pictures ? guys ... where are the pics ? all I can see are big black holes :-( and the LHD doesn't even work yet :-)
keep it easy .. I mean the trip .. I don't know eather - I'm too old fashion, too hard core, too stupid .. or ... the "user friendly" is just wrong .. and I'm ok :-)
love
robb and ania
Congratulations on getting this far! Pity we didn't meet on the island - if I'd known you were here I would have headed over to Coral Bay - oh well - next time :)
What to do next? Well, if you want some challenging riding, why not take a ferry across to Sumatra - some of those roads are really dodgy!! and the people are nice...or what about Borneo?
In fact you should be able to island hop all the way to Australia without flying...and when you cycle down the East Coast, I 'll buy you a beer at Byron Bay - now isn't that enough to get you peddling???
Trying times! Keep your chins up you two. Life's mad isn't it - staying at home presents it's own challenges and can be dull and cycling round the world presents challenges and also can be dull! What a conundrum (I still think cycling around the world edges it slightly ;) - the things you've seen!). Will you find a place to call home soon or will you keep going? Why not enter to 2009 Tour de France? We wait with baited breath...
Excellent account Thanks for posting this excellent account of your visit. I have wanted to visit Palestine for some time and this gives me a general idea of what I would experience. The apartheid wall reminds me of those I saw visiting concentration camps in Europe-completely fascist. I guess it just shows that the ugly side of humanity is not unique to any one tribe. I would still love to visit the area and see historic sites (including Arab areas in Israel if they have left any standing).
Nice trip Hello, my name is Ali and I'm from southern Lebanon. I read your entire post and it looks like you really took the scenic route on your trip to my country. Hopefully you had fun and good luck on your next trip.
P.S. Taxi's cabs are a royal pain in the rear here. haha
petrol yaar pakistan have petrol in balochistan sector mey be 30 persent what can our govt do about that nothing then we have 49 persent gas in same sector if pakistan get our petrol so there is so many problems solve in pakistan
jun 2008 mmmmmm albania best country in ballkan ,,,about the mercedes yes i have one my self at and guess what i got that with my hard work left home at 14 and workt and made money,,,travell the world all the way 2 hollywood ...is a lot of ignorance on this world but hey we love life ,our sports cars ,mercedes,and our country proud to be albanian ,,,,1 thing u all should now albanians love their country and they r the best looking race in the world and all the foreigner girls love as....................
disappointed As a Canadian reading this post, I'm disappointed in my fellow countryman. In true Canadian style I'm going to apologise, on Canada's behalf.
We are Erika and Robin from Scotland and in April 2005 we quit our jobs and set off to cycle from Scotland to İstanbul.
We reached İstanbul in October 2005 having discovered that cycling truly is the best way to travel and so decided to keep going beyond the Bosphorous......
We had never cycled any long distance before but had been wanting to travel for a long time and had finally saved enough and realised ıf we didn't set off now we never would. We decided cycling would be the best form of transport as we wanted to learn more about the countries and people we passed through at a s... full info
Satish Bardewa
non-member comment
Himalaya by bike
Hi, Erika Bird and Robin Searle, I am impressed to read your Sikkim cycling diary. There is a new book " Himalaya by Bike" by Laura Stone which is in its first edition at present. I hope you will come across this book for more maps, routes and details on cycling trip in Sikkim. Keep it up! Satish Bardewa Yak and Yeti Travels, Sikkim India http://www.yakandyetitravels.com