Tag Archives: sick

Day 25 – F… This Day

No further text

…

Was what I intended to write. But I guess Nina would not let me get away with it. So here the cliff notes: The plan was to take it slow, go a bit past Dublin to Brú na Boinne to check out the really cool megalithic stuff there and then head to Dublin to get set for two full days of Dublin exploration.

So close and yet so far…Newgrange on the hill

Problem Number 1 – I have taken ill, for now with a moderate cough. So everything takes a bit more time, is a bit harder and done with a little less patience.

Number 2 – the curse of overbooking struck again. We failed to check ahead, and so it turned out that the site is booked out for the entire week. Last week before the school year starts and all. In short, we waisted 2 hrs on the motorway and a bit of toll for this folly, to see a bit of an underwhelming exhibition of the place we were locked out of seeing.

Right, so maybe a coffee place on the way back as consolation? Nope, nothing good. Instead, the kids started getting antsy and picking up on the moody vibe. Stern words were exchanged. Campground it was – and, well. That was not much consolation either. The standard “feels like roadside robbery” vibe of so many city camps grounds. At least it had a playground, and we had some peaceful hours before bedtime.

I did not last much longer, apart from a cheerful conversation with a Swiss couple that we kept running into for the last two days. Ever since Mizen Head – what a small world. I’m sick, let’s skip that day …

Number 3’s amazing ability to make friends on the playground gave the Agent someone to push her
So close and yet so far…Newgrange on the hill
Through the fake passage tunnel in the visitor centre…at least the kids had fun
Completely unrelated but summed up our day nicely: Fresh & tasty not in service
Buying things on the road is also important

Day 274 – Pasargadae

Looking along the nave with the stained glass windows

Looking along the nave with the stained glass windows

Time for us to move on. Shiraz has been very nice to us but we only have 30 days in Iran so we need to see more. However, we didn’t quite manage the early start that we had wanted. First, we slept in a bit and then met other travelers just outside the hotel. They saw us packing the bike and started a conversation…which was pleasant and thus lasted more than 30 minutes.

Second, there was one more sight in Shiraz we wanted to see. The mosque of Nasir-al-Molk is famous for its stained glass windows which colour the whole interior in the mornings. By now it was 10.30 am so “morning” had to be stretched a bit but we still managed to see some of the glory that guide books and postcards promise. It was an amazing sight.

Pasargadae! Success!

Pasargadae! Success!

From Shiraz we rode the 110 km to Pasargadae which is another archaeological site. Because it was so late, we had a roadside lunch before arriving at our next destination. It was another case of “we don’t have vegetarian food” and then serving up bread, yogurt with herbs and, especially for me, grilled tomatoes while Flo got his kebab.

In Pasargadae, the tomb of Cyrus the Great is the prominent sight. I liked it and Flo, as a history geek, was quite excited. We took many pictures of the tomb before moving on to the other things on display. I now seriously didn’t feel well so I sat down in the shade while Flo hopped from sight to sight and from sign to sign like a puppy. I’m glad he still had fun even if I was more of a spoilsport.

...and yes, you can! Just need to go off-road for a bit

…and yes, you can! Just need to go off-road for a bit

There was no way we would make it to Yazd tonight but we hadn’t really counted on it. Buying a cheap bread-cheese-veggies dinner in a shop was easy so we were all set for another night of camping. We kept riding until we found a spot that looked promising then went off-road for a bit and around a hill to be well and truly out of sight. Pitching our tent is routine work so in almost no time, we were set for the night; with enough time to spare for a nice, hot cup of tea to make my throat feel a little better.

 

Day 192 – Argh, argh!

Dragged ourselves out in our "sleeping" cotton shirts :)

Dragged ourselves out in our “sleeping” cotton shirts 🙂

We had planned to go on a little ride-out to find a lookout and hill station in the Bokor National Park. But once we had taken our breakfast at our still lovely guesthouse (we had decided to stay one more day, by the way) did the stomach demon strike. And that was it, pretty much.

We dragged ourselves out two more times to get food – Lunch at the Epic Arts (no experiments) and dinner at a more forgettable expat pizza joint in town, but that is it. A lot of sleeping, a lot of watching youtube.

No – honestly, that is it. So why don’t I use this to give an update on our more recent thoughts on the route from here on out and on our changing plans?

Why?

We had no illusions that all big plans we might have come up with in New Zealand had to have a level of flexibility when it comes to execution. Over the last two months, this has evolved and grown a bit beyond minor details. So, what are the issues? Why change?

First, because frankly, we have run out of money. Even though we have received incredible support to keep us going, we felt that we should at least consider cutting it a bit shorter to reduce our future outstanding obligations.

Further, we have felt an increasing pull to “come home” – to a single place for a good long while. Not so strong that we want to pull the plug entirely, but strong enough. We are both pretty sure that this will be a once in a lifetime trip and we would cut future adventures down to 1-3 months maximum.

Most importantly and urgently requiring a change of plan though was the fact that we realised that we do not want to go to Pakistan. Most importantly through Baluchistan. After a lot of talk it boils down to this: We do not want to risk our lives and more importantly the lives of some poor soldiers just to draw a line on a map. We, for now, have no pull towards Pakistan and would only be there to get to Iran.

There are other, minor bits: Nepal, our other big highlight, is in crisis right now with no clear end in sight. Myanmar required an expensive guide and can be well done some other time on smaller bikes. India is a mixed bag, but the long list of horror stories from the road (including fatalities) are playing into it as well.

The Plan 2.0

Right. So our new plan is to complete the Cambodia – Laos – Northern Thailand loop, then do Bangkok and fly either from there or from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. Then we would do a little loop through Oman to visit Nina’s best friend and her lovely husband and come back to Dubai to take the ferry into Iran. Persia is, after Laos, the big “want to go there” item on our list.

After that, we would travel on to Istanbul, as a sort of unofficial end point and dash, broke as we are, back home across Eastern Europe.

All of this will probably cut two months out of our trip, making a perfect early summer return date. If all goes according to plan … 😉

planning ...

planning …

Day 122 – On to Yogyakarta

I wasn’t really doing much better today. However, we both agreed that being so close to Yogya and with us not liking Solo that much, I needed to be tough and get through this day before crashing.

In Solo

In Solo

After breakfast, we tried the Batik quarter again, just to see if more shops were open in the morning. A couple more were open at 8 am but maybe this was now a bit too early for this rather sleepy town. Anyhow, that fancy shop yesterday with its hand-drawn batiks and natural colours had an impact on me liking the printed cloth now and I didn’t find a new sarong to add to my collection. Those fancy ones were really nice and way out of our price range though.

Slightly disappointed, we walked back and headed into one more Batik department store before we reached the hotel. The AC had cooled it down to icy cold so we took our time browsing the clothes and fabrics. Flo found a shirt that he really, really liked but all the sizes were too big on him until staff undressed a mannequin for him to get a smaller size available. We ended up buying it because it’s really, really nice and fancy. Yes, it cost more than we wanted to spend and yes, the price was still laughably small if Flo would still earn. So we went for it as it was one of the things we had agreed on before even starting the trip: New sarong for me, batik shirt for Flo. With the very limited space that we have, this seems a good compromise between not buying anything and wanting to have souvenirs.

Nice views despite the clouds

Nice views despite the clouds

Back in the hotel, we packed…I had a good round of vomiting…and we left for the temple Candi Sukuh halfway up Gunung Lawa. This was the only thing for today before heading to Yogyakarta. I was dreading the temple due to our experience in Bali but it turned out to be a very small one, unused by now with only one “warung souvenir”, no hawkers and almost no other tourists.

The temple itself is undergoing some maintenance at the moment which was a pity but the views down to the Solo plain were still great. We didn’t take long to move through the area once but it was lunch time by the time we moved on.

Only a couple of kilometers away, we stopped at a warung where I tried some plain rice in the hopes of keeping it but had to ditch my lemon squash as my stomach sent a clear “too early” message. Flo liked his food and the home-made sambal though.

Spelling again ...

Spelling again …

Finally, we were on our way to Yogya. Andy and Shinta who we met on Flores quite a while back have a cafe and a home stay where we were headed to crash a couple of days. In my perception, the last 100 km took forever but we arrived at the “AS coffee” at around 4 pm with neither Andy nor Shinta around. Staff was lovely though, telling us that Andy would be back at 6 pm so we settled down for a coffee. Despite my stomach, I had to try the “Java chocolate” and was drinking it in tiny sips to make sure it’s okay.

At some point, Andy called and we were invited to come to his other place which has a pool to hang out and drop our bike there as it has secure parking. That’s what we did.

Andy's cats chilling

Andy’s cats chilling

When we arrived, Andy and four backpackers were just getting ready to get food so we passed on the pool for now and tagged along. Since our bike would spend the night here, Andy sorted us with a small local bike which Flo loved instantly. We followed the jeep to a roadside warung which had quite the selection of unusual warung food, including sea snail skewers, whole roasted quail and cow skin. I still stuck to coconut rice and a bit of tofu though, not trusting the peace completely. It was good food. Andy collected the remaining meat scraps to take home for his four adopted cats and we went back to the cafe.

Cafe is probably a bit misleading as most of the space is filled with goods of Indonesia that you can buy. It is all very colourful and you can spend way too much money here: batik, leather bags and wallets, silver jewelry, clothes and all kinds of nifty tidbits. Of course, there are also tables inside and outside to sit at for your coffee and four cats running around….well, mostly sleeping really. A very home-y place.

The day had been long enough for me though so I headed straight upstairs to our room and slept while Flo shared stories and a beer with Andy.

Day 71 – First world problems and an enchanting city

Flo woke me up at 7am after a good night’s sleep. I had been very tired the evening before as the 3.30am start into the day did not go down well with me.

Herman was already up and back from his morning run (shame on me) so we had breakfast together before he headed off for work. Breakfast was delicious but I started to feel really unwell. Most of the morning saw me in bed with stomach pains. I am unsure if it was a reaction to the malaria prophylaxis in the morning, the local food yesterday or the crushed ice (aka tap water) in my juice last dinner. Whatever it was, it was most definitely a reaction of my body to something new.

Pretty and convincing for fake flowers.

Pretty and convincing for fake flowers.

So Flo had to go out without me to procure lunch which he did while I took a nap. He made it to a Vietnamese bakery close by where he bought some kind of sweet treat for me. When the lady at the counter asked for $1, he was sure that he was being ripped off because he’s malae but then he came home with a whole plastic bag full of the treats! More than enough for both of us for lunch. It turned out to be several quartered bananas wrapped in dough and then deep fried in oil. There was probably some honey put on it as well. Sweet, fatty and quite delicious.

Continue reading →

Day 29 – nothing, for real

We chilled or recuperated, respectively, today. Still shifting to more and more accept what is happening to us.

Nina is still properly sick, but it looks like a proper cold, to be over in 2 more days. The fever is down and  now the dripping and coughing has commenced 😛

I have caught up on writing blog entries and chased down the motorcycle some more. There is a chance we will get it tomorrow … for real! One more check and then the pickup. Should be doable.

Because of the uncertainty and Nina’s health, we have decided to stay until Thursday, at least. That gives me all of tomorrow to free the bike. Stay tuned …

Day 28 – VicRoads

Some homework from our (very nice) base

Some homework from our (very nice) base

Nina got sick for real today, with a decent fever and joint and muscle pains. Oddly enough that made our enforced stay somewhat less annoying than before. Yes – we got one blip of news from the bike today: While the ship is already in Sydney again, the container with our bike has not been touched …

Which gave me enough time for some golden conversations: “Hi, I am temporarily importing my bike, what do I need to do to be legal on the road?” “You have to register your bike” “No, it is already registered, in Germany.” “So it is unregistered!” “I just want to ride here for a month and then leave your lovely Federation again …” “No, you can’t ride that bike” …

10 minutes later, after some back and forth with a supervisor …

“Oh, it seems to be possible as you say, but I am not trained to do this. I will connect you with a senior administrator” “thank you!”

In the end, and lacking an Australian fax number, I had to take another 1 hr tram ride to go to a physical office of VicRoad. At least it took the 4 people who got pulled in over there only about 20 minutes to sort me out. I am now proud owner of a TAC 85 mandatory accident compensation certificate that covers 3rd party injury or personal harm in all of Australia, for mere $157 AUD. Or so I have been told. I will hope that this will not be tested. In the end, I guess only a judge or lawyer could determine if I am actually legal on the road outside of the state of Victoria.

At least we have a very nice and welcoming AirBnB host where we can extend our stay as required. We will probably have to stay until Thursday, with Nina ill and the bike still held in captivity.