HIT THE ROAD: Start preparing by learning how much bike touring costs and how you can keep your budget low.

NEW ZEALAND: One of the most beautifully stunning places to tour, especially if you get off the beaten track.

KEEPING CLEAN: Take a dip, wash under a tap or visit a hammam. There are many ways to keep clean on tour.

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Beautiful Cycling Videos

Posted January 20th, 2010

You might not know Dutch, but nevertheless, take a look at the gorgeous cycling videos on Toko op Fietsvakantie, the site of our Wereldfietser friends Marijcke and Dennis.

They put a lot of time and effort into their videos and it really shows. There are tons of videos to choose from, to get you inspired for future trips, but we’ll highlight two here: one from last weekend’s winter camping trip (we shouldn’t be too hard to spot in the crowd) and one from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Make sure to watch them in full screen to really appreciate the scenery.

Winterweekend 2010 met de Wereldfietser from Dennis Koomen on Vimeo.

Cycling Kazachstan & Kyrgyzstan documentary from Dennis Koomen on Vimeo.

Posted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands, Video

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Podcast 18: More on Central Asia

Posted August 3rd, 2008

Greg cooking us breakfast In the Cambodian beach resort of Sihanoukville, we put together our latest podcast. This time we talk more about Central Asia – the amazing Lake Song Kol in Kyrgyzstan, our favourite and not-so-favourite parts of the region and what to bring. Plus we have an interview with Greg, a Hungarian cycling the Silk Road who made us a great vegetarian breakfast. And we tell you why it’s important to know how to say ‘I am a carrot’ in Russian. Or you could read the blog of Hirsch, the cyclist who introduced us to this important phrase!

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Posted in Cycling Trips, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Radio Shows, Trip Equipment , Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

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Video Fiesta

Posted July 30th, 2008

Here goes with another bunch of movies from the road. First in the list is a cooking video. We had an idea in Central Asia that it would be fun to do a series of shows about the food we cook on the road so this video is the first attempt. With so much good and cheap street food in Southeast Asia we’re unlikely to do another one in the near future but let us know if you like it and if we should continue the series in Australia and New Zealand.

The second video is a rather funny one about what we found when we tried to seek shade in a bus shelter in Kazakhstan and we also have a video about our first day rolling in Kazakhstan. Happy viewing!

Posted in Cycling Trips, Kazakhstan, Video

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The bumpy road to Karakol

Posted May 24th, 2008

672km Taldykorgan-Karakol

Where to start on a journey that’s taken us across some of Kazakhstan’s more remote and beautiful places over the past eight days and through the back door into Kyrgyzstan, where we sit now on the edge of one of the world’s largest alpine lakes. How about with the sound of two hundred hoofs thundering on the ground around us as a troop of at least fifty horses, their glossy coats gleaming in the afternoon sunshine, raced past us in a high mountain pasture?

Or maybe we should begin with thunder of another kind; thunder and lightening that chased us over bumpy dirt roads into Kyrgyzstan where we dashed for shelter under the eaves of a farmhouse. As the rain poured down from the heavens, over the edge of the roof and into our shoes, we found a local teenager standing next to us, eyeing us up with surprise and a smile. Apparently they don’t get many tourists in his tiny village.

Then there was the lady who insisted we come in for tea when we arrived in her shop to buy some food. “Chai, chai,” she said, beckoning us over with a wave. Out came two cups of tea accompanied by bread, sausage, cookies and candies on the small and rickety table in her crowded kitchen, which served doubly as her bedroom. (more…)

Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

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Towards Taldykorgan

Posted May 16th, 2008

368km Almaty-Taldykorgan

After nearly a week in Almaty it was time to hit the road again, although we were slightly reluctant having had the good fortune to meet such a generous host as Abe, who let us crash in his apartment for our extended stay. This is really one of the great delights of our trip, meeting such wonderful people as we go. Abe not only restored our bodies with a place to rest for a few days but also had plenty of stories of his own to share from his experience bicycling from Korea to Kazakhstan and years of backpacking. We wished him all the best for his tour of Central Asia this summer and set off to tackle Almaty traffic for the last time.

Drivers here are exceptionally impatient. We had one going mad behind us, honking his horn and gesturing wildly, to try and get around us despite the fact that a fire truck was going through the intersection with sirens on full blast. Where we’re from this means all traffic stops until the fire truck is safely on its way but not in Almaty apparently. It was a long drive out, made even longer by the fact that we got lost and ended up putting ourselves a day out of our way. This didn’t put us in a great mood, our nerves already worn a little thin by the intense heat.

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Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Kazakhstan

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