The Forest Park was a nice spot and both kids were keen to go back to the playbus. So we took our time this morning to blog a little, let the kids play and go on a walk through the forest. The small loop track that Flo had picked didn’t lead through the forest unfortunately but meandered through the Arboretum of a now-abandoned manor house. Not quite what we had in mind for this morning.
From here, we went back to the coastal route. It was nearly lunch time already. After stocking up on groceries in a tiny supermarket (and gummybears. Always gummybears. Grandma had given a tiny bucket full of them to the kids before we left and it needs to be refilled regularly), Flo followed a roadside viewpoint sign to Carrigafoyle Castle. Another lovely picnic spot for us plus a “castle” for Number 3 to explore. It was actually quite cool to see how much of the ruin you could still explore.
Further down the coast we went, now in the county of Kerry. Kerry is full of things to do and see…just not right here. So we continued until we hit Tralee. The Lonely Planet recommended the Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre as an activity plus a location for coffee. We got to the parking lot, plugged in the charger and nearly collapsed. With the sleeping kids in the back, we seriously considered just taking a nap. Instead, Flo and I planned the next campground. The response we got was encouraging, basically saying “no need to book there will be spaces on the day”. This is our preferred way of travelling so I’m quite happy we can just see how far we get and then check for campsites there.
Finally, we went in. It was actually quite lovely to just walk around in the wetland. We saw a heron and a moorhen with chicks and lots of things that are common in Ireland. Number 3 had a sheet with all the flora you could see and the Agent had a sheet with all the birds you could spot…both of them took their jobs seriously.
Getting coffee was a harder task. The cafe in the Wetlands Centre was closed, the first recommended cafe in Tralee as well. In the end, we wandered around and had coffee in one of the many coffee places the pedestrian zone had to offer.
Our next scheduled campground was at Inch Beach at the start of the Dingle Peninsular loop. It had been a weird day without any real highlight but a lot of things to see anyway, so I was happy to just hit the campground a little earlier than we usually do.
It is right opposite the beach. The weather was still fine and I opted that we’re going to see the beach in sunshine. Flo protested meekly because going to the beach now meant we couldn’t cook dinner and had to improvise. However, the kids ran around ecstatically so this time, Flo also put his feet in the ocean.
On the way back, we chose convenient dinner from a fish & chips food truck at our campground. Expecting the usual grub, this one pleasantly surprised us with its quality. They only need to work on their trucks presentation a bit …
It was cold. Even with a real roof over our heads, the night was cold. Given that the temperature in Kars was shown as 9 degrees last evening, it might well have been below zero in the night. Without heating, that’s cold even in a house.
much better weather this morning
So we took our time in the morning, hoping for things to warm up a little before we left. Our hotel didn’t include breakfast so we ate bread with all sorts of remaining things (cream cheese, honey) in our room. The plan was to ride to Ani, the former Armenian capital, about 45km from Kars before heading further north and towards the Black Sea.
Kars, however, had charm when we stepped outside in the sunny morning. What looked grey and dreary in the rain and cold last night, now looked friendly and busy. Flo decided to fix our problem with mobile data right here and then so we searched for a Turkcel shop. Driving up and down one of the main roads, many honey and cheese (real cheese!) shops caught our eye. We just finished our pot of honey this morning and when was the last time we had real cheese? Not cream cheese, not feta, but the real thing? I sent Flo in one of the bigger shops where he purchased a 500g jar of honey and two different cheeses for all of NZ$10. He jumped out once to give me some cheese to try which was very nice and then suddenly, the owner looked out of the door, beckoned to me and said “çay!”. Again, we were invited to a glass of tea after a successful transaction. Slightly odd for the taste, we got more slices of cheese to try with our tea. Buying a fresh loaf of bread at the store on the opposite side, we were all set for a great lunch at Ani today. Continue reading →
Rejuvenated, we left our guest house in Hamadan in good time to tackle the 340 km for the day with little worry. I was looking forward to some more camping, but if we had to stay in a hotel, I wish it would always be like this one.
The road started out really flat, with only the occasional hill to hop along the way to Qasvin, the gateway to the Alamut valley. We reached it in time for a slightly late lunch and settled in our hurry for an overpriced restaurant in town, only to end up with kebab and salad once more.
All the more reason to leave for the mountains – not least to escape the heat. On our way out, we grabbed some of our now standard dinner / breakfast fare of bread and cheese. Once more, the local baker could not be persuaded to take our money.
Great views from the road
There are only two sealed passes from Qasvin over into the valleys – we decided to take the western one in, and work our way east to take the eastern one on our way out. That meant the first point of interest would be Lamiasar Castle, one of the famed castles of the Assassins.
But before that, the pass itself was the first real attraction. Rising steadily from 1200m to 2300m, this narrow mountain road was just our cup of tea. When we first dipped over and saw the snow-capped peaks of the Alborz Mountains, we slowed down and started exploring a bit. One of the dirt tracks leading off to a particularly epic lookout / picnic spot lead us right into another Persian encounter. A family seemed to have arrived shortly before us and was getting ready for their picnic. The spot was so nice that if it were not for them, we probably would have camped right there. Instead we took pictures and got invited to tea right away.
A better look on the affair
We once again did not share any language, so conversations were had by pointing and gesturing a lot. We got treated very kindly and had to take the chance to leave at an opportune moment, just before the chicken skewers over the fire were done or we probably would have spent the rest of the evening up here. We could not, though: there was a castle to be seen. We were not even stopped by the swarms of crickets trying to suicide themselves on the road in droves.
It looked even more like Altaïr in reality 🙂
It was a nice but exhausting climb up to the ruin of Lamiasar Castle. Not much is left up top, though. The Mongols really knew how to raze a castle. We still enjoyed climbing around the impressive site all on our own in the afternoon light.
Soon enough, it was time to look for a camp spot. Our first try further up the side valley was a nice ride, but did not score any good site. Instead, we headed back for the main road and towards the next point of interest from the guidebook. After maybe 3 more tries, we did find a lovely and secluded patch of green near the road but just out of view for anyone around. This time, we really appreciated the longer days further north, as we got everything set up just in time to have a sunset dinner …
On the road to the mountains
Break time in a meadow
Still going north
Great views from the road
Entering the valley rewarded us with nice views and a fun ride
Exploring the area a bit, we found many meadows and flowers but it was too early to camp
A view down into the valley
Would have made an epic camping spot…
…but we weren’t the first ones here. Two Persian families at their picnic
They invited us to tea and then shared cookies and fruit as well
The chicken skewers were put on the fire
A better look on the affair
Going down into the valley now
Hundreds if not thousands of crickets sat on the road
Great colours but slightly worrying
The hiking path to Lamiasar Castle
So.many.stairs.
Always good to stop and admire the view
Just keep walking
A resident of Lamiasar Castle
Why are the crickets so colourful?
It looked even more like Altaïr in reality 🙂
Climbing around the runins
The most preserved parts
The remnants of a watchtower are barely visible in the bottom right
red accents make everything look nicer
no hey, no jump …
possible camp spots in the back?
Nini descending
dirt road into a side valley
No flat spots here …
when the muddy bits started, it was time to turn around
Oh blissful sleep in a real bed. How we had missed you (and showers)! Not that we had any lack of sleep on the road. Going with the sun gives you plenty of that. But there is something to be said about having more than 50x180cm piece of inflated foam the thickness of my thumb for a resting place. Best of it all, we did not even have to pack anything until tomorrow!
Looking along the coast further west
Under such good starting conditions, it was not even too hard to get motivated to go on an excursion to explore west of Salalah. We thought of going about 75km towards the Yemeni border, where the mountains meet the sea once more. It was still relatively early but already sweltering hot. After some initial confusion that landed us near the harbour, we were on our way along the coastal plain baring west.
The first spot were some active blowholes at Mughsail, right where the first limestone cliffs meet the sea. In the end, the blowholes were nice but not overwhelming. What really got us squealing like school kids were the sea turtles feeding off the rocks right below one of the viewing platforms. The spectacular view westwards helped as well. Continue reading →
Perfect timing, just as we packed the last bits away
Our camping spot in the oasis remained lovely until we left. For once, we didn’t sweat packing the tent as the sun only peeked over the rocky outcrops when we were ready to leave. It was a hungry morning: We didn’t have enough water left last night to cook our pasta (I was against using the lake water) and we were also out of breakfast cereals. Thus, we really needed to get to Hasik which was about 40km away.
The road there was beautiful again so we just had to have a couple of photo stops. The cliffs continued to one side while the sea joined us on the other. All bathed in the early morning light.
Hasik was a bit of a divided town with a large block of newly built residences with wide streets but no shops and the old center of the village with tiny unpaved alleys but sporting coffee shops. Continue reading →
Night-time experiments but the moon was just so bright
A day of riding – a day on the road. Quite fitting for the day we surpass 30.000 km traveled on this trip. Yesterday ended up being one of the top three days in terms of distance covered, 520 km. Today, it was going to be one of the most impressive.
We got up with the first light, again, and methodically started packing the tent. Even though we’d spent some time last night to take another round of starlight pictures, we were packed and ready to go as early as ever.
At first, the ride continued the way it had ended yesterday. Almost perfectly straight on a vast gravel plain, few features as far as the eye can see. Something to mix it up were the two dry fords that had been completely washed over recently and had the road covered in sand. No fall to report, though. Continue reading →
Waking up with the first light of dawn can feel so natural. Especially when you went to bed at 8 pm the night before. 🙂 Although this was the first time in a long while, all our hard-earned camping reflexes were still working. I got our breakfast ready while Nina started packing inside the tent. It all worked out nicely to give us a lovely sunrise just as the kettle was boiled, so to speak. Our spot had been great, too. No disturbance or other nuisances to report.
By 8 am, we had covered the few short kilometres to Sur, ready to explore. If the Lonely Planet was anything to go by, forts would be the things to see. So we started with one right away. This one, Bilad Sur Castle, was a bit inland. It was built to protect the town from raids coming from the country’s interior. Nowadays, it has been completely absorbed by a suburb – which makes it look slightly out of place coming round a row of restaurants and shops. Continue reading →
Lovely French couple travelling the world in their Defender
Adamant that he is up to riding the bike today, Flo decided that we would go to Kuang Si to see the waterfall (even if we wouldn’t swim in it) and so that I could see the bears at the bear rescue there. We had originally planned this visit for an afternoon but Flo’s sickness made it fall through.
The ride there was about 30km long. We stopped once at the roadside when we thought that a modified Defender from France had a problem (which wasn’t the case) and stayed for a short chat with the French couple who spend their retirement travelling the world. They were very cute. 🙂
As I said, tourists are around
Parking the bike, we entered the “park” where the path leads you through the bear rescue first. We saw a couple of them but then they were called into the closed off part for food so we went on to see the waterfall before coming back for the bears. The waterfall is amazing! I know it is touristy and yes, many tourists are swimming in it but…it is so beautiful. The water has a turquoise colour. You approach it from the bottom where the water runs over some low steps and swimming is allowed here. Further up, the steps become even lower looking how I imagine the pink and white terraces in NZ would have looked like before their destruction.
The actual Kuang Si waterfall
The last view you are treated to is the actual, tall waterfall. Again, it’s a beautiful sight. We were very happy that we went on this detour. To make the visit even better, we managed to buy yummy and cheap rice paper spring rolls from a local lady in the park rather than sitting down in the expensive restaurant. So we took our little packed lunch close to one of the waterfalls and happily munched away before returning to the bears.
On the way there, we saw the French couple again, waved shortly and recommended the local lady for lunch. Luckily, Flo remembers way more of his French lessons than I do so it was actually okay to talk. Back at the bears, ALL of them seemed to be out and about, looking for hidden food or just hanging out. One of them gave his best impression of a bear skin rug while a super fluffy one sat at a “table” eating something.
A snap shot of a butterfly on the way out
It was already 1pm when we left so the 360km to Phonsavan were out of the picture. However, we just started on the journey to see how far we would make it. Not wanting to retrace our steps for too long, we now took the old road down from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. This one is in worse repair as it is significantly older than the “new” one we had taken on the way up. It is also more frequented by tour buses and apparently made for scooters as it twists and turns so sharply that it even effected us on the motorbike…at least speed-wise. Still, the landscape was pretty to both sides.
Somewhere on this road, we passed a sprinter with an Austrian number plate. This is usually a good indicator for overland travelers so we stopped at the next opportunity. And yes, the sprinter pulled up right behind us. Werner and Susi (www.naglwitz.com, it’s in German though) are travelling from Austria to Australia but in intervals of 6 to 8 weeks before returning home to their jobs. This way, it took them more than two years to get to Laos but they didn’t have to completely quit everything at home. More importantly, they didn’t have to save all of their travelling money in one go.
The great view from our abandoned guest house
At 4.30pm, with the sun already low above the horizon, Flo saw a roadside guest house by chance. He liked the look of it as it sat on the hillside, having a view so we stopped and asked for a room. Being on the cheaper side, we paid and asked for food. This ended in a rude-sounding conversation between two of the ladies and then the answer that food was not available. Slightly caught on the wrong foot, we looked around. The nicer one of the ladies than explained that we could eat out somewhere else in the village. First, we had trouble finding the place before it turned out that it really only was up the road from the guest house. Serving up a delicious vegetarian noodle soup, we then retired to our room.
No one who we had identified as the owners was still around, the shop tightly shut and really, it just looked abandoned when we were back. The only other person, also staying in the guest house tonight, was a dude with a Kalashnikov on his back who was busy putting his scooter into the hallway when we arrived. A dark, almost empty guest house didn’t feel too nice but it seemed to fill up some more before we went to bed.
The room turned out to be not so clean in the end as Flo had to dispose of a big spider before we realized that the bed or at least the pillows were molding. 🙁 Again though, I forget to take a picture as an example of one of our shabby cribs along the way.
Lovely French couple travelling the world in their Defender
First try at spotting bears but this one is on its way inside as the care giver called for feeding
Swimming area with the first (or last) step in the waterfall
Second swimming area and more of the waterfall
Playing with shutter speed to freeze the water
As I said, tourists are around
Swimming is not allowed further up but the falls are very pretty
This is how the pink and white terraces look in my mind
Selfie with a smaller step of the falls
Beautiful scene you pass on the way to the top
The actual Kuang Si waterfall
A selfie with the actual thing
Super fluffy bear eating food it found
Watching the bears was much fun
Bear skin rug impression
General chilling…I’ve forgotten what kind of bear it is
Man, I was excited for this day. Getting up at 6am and chomping down our breakfast pancakes so we could go meet the pick-up van at 7am in front of Cafe Hefalump. When we arrived at 6.50am, it soon dawned on us (mostly me) that the instruction email might have had some mistakes in it. Ours stated to be at the cafe at 7am for a 7.10am departure, so please have had breakfast already…which we had. All the other participants, however, arrived at 7am to sit down in the cafe, have their coffee and a breakfast cookie/cake. Luckily, departure was at 7.30am so we didn’t have to wait too long but I was slightly jealous of the cake for breakfast.
Instruction speech in the morning
A Dutch girl, Sabine, from our guesthouse showed up, too, so we had someone to talk to on the way to the Elephant Valley Project. The ride in the van was bumpy and very dusty, at least in the back row. All the dust from the 4WD seemed to be sucked up through the air vents to slowly settle down inside the car. When we stopped, I was happy to leave the dust trap and meet our guide for the day: John. He looked to be about 20 years old and is a volunteer at the project for one year.
The project offers different deals on seeing elephants; Flo and I had decided to go on a full day of elephant spotting instead of volunteering in the afternoon which would have made the whole thing cheaper but we would have seen less elephants. Continue reading →
The silver dolphin statue of our Silver Dolphin guesthouse. Didn’t I say they look like mini pot whales?
Leaving Kratie behind feels a lot like leaving the more “developed” part of Cambodia behind. As with the little shortcut we took to get here, the road leading east to the provincial capital of Sen Monorom was all but deserted. For the first half, still in the low lands, it was an almost exact copy: Very little traffic, small patches of settlement with mostly wooden buildings. But there was something else, something very subtle at first.
The ground got ever so slowly uneven – compared to the vast flatness of the lowlands. The occasional turn sneaked its way into the otherwise endlessly straight black ribbon. It really took off when we re-joined the southern road, following the Khmer-Vietnam border at a distance of about 50 km.
But before that, we hit one of those strange places you find on the wayside of all countries. At first, without proper context, we thought it was rather pretty. A monument clad in black marble, sitting on its island of red earth amidst the suddenly green bush all around. We stopped, took some photos and then I decided to go up to find out a bit more. I am still not 100% sure what this monument commemorates, but it was obviously not the appropriate place for happy selfies. The concrete murals at the base show the suffering of the Khmer people at the hands of Angkar and then some soldiers coming to liberate the people. I think. Definitively more “lest we forget” than “Remember that fun old King”.
That almost looks like jungle!
From here on, the environment changed rather drastically. The ground rose and the road became one of the most enjoyable rides on our trip so far. Long twists and turns through a green jungle on the slopes, then cool and otherworldly up on the plateau. Plus, virtually no traffic. Brilliant!
We made really good progress and decided to stop a bit before lunch time and only 40 km before our guesthouse. We actually only thought of having a drink of water, but got gently persuaded to have some lunch as well. When my weak defense of “we only eat vegetarian” got turned around on me and the lady of the lot produced fresh veggies with a friendly nod, we decided to stay. What a brilliant little coincidence again.
Local girl bottle feeding her pet monkey
The food was really good, plus our hosts were lovely and even commanded a bit of English. Enough to once again surprise them with our age and the fact that we still have no kids. She had a little boy and was looking after her sister’s daughter, because both her parents had gone to Phnom Penh to earn a living. The little girl had adopted a baby monkey and was nursing him with a bottle of milk. These tiny glimpses into other peoples’ lives are half what keeps us going. There are no easy categories – no lazy brown people here. Complex humans with lives that we sometimes can not understand at all.
Our guesthouse in Sen Monorom turned out to be the rustic kind we like, but lacking the hipster twist. It could be amazing, but for now it has to resign itself to being very affordable. After a very adventurous ride on their driveway and lugging our 50 kg of luggage another 20m downhill on a rickety wooden gangway, we settled into our bungalow for the next 3 nights. A bed, one light, no visible insects – $5 US a night.
To round off the day we walked into town to check how long it would take us to get to the pick up for the Elephant Valley Project the day after tomorrow. The answer turned out to be 15 minutes, so we grabbed a coffee / tea at the project’s little cafe before heading across the street for our dinner in the lonely planet recommended guesthouse.
A French traveller we met, riding a Cambodian bike (with a Cambodian helmet…)
The silver dolphin statue of our Silver Dolphin guesthouse. Didn’t I say they look like mini pot whales?
No one seems to be going east…even though it is getting greener
Suddenly, there was this giant monument next to the road
Pulling up at the steps to check it out
Atrocities by the Khmer Rouge would be my guess
Amazing contrast between the red earth and the green
That almost looks like jungle!
Local girl bottle feeding her pet monkey
Lovely people running a roadside eatery
Approaching some hills
The drain had been
Riding down the drive way
A strip of concrete in the middle meant no stopping is possible with the bike. Flo couldn’t reach the ground.
An abundance of benches along the main road
One of the commonly spotted rubbish bins made out of lorry tyres
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