Jinji Sadan

Usually I like to write on places that you, my friends, would like to be and to feel but in this post I have to write about a place that I don’t think that anyone want to be, a place so boring that it start to be special.

desert storm

The desert from Kazakhstan to west Uzbekistan(qaralapakistan desert) is not a place for a wick heart people or women in pregnant…

1000 km of almost nothing with more camels then people and they (the camels) look like they are lost.

"i told you we are lost!"

There are many deferent’s between cyclists that on a travel and cyclist on a journey and one of them are this kind of places. Only guys that say that they are cycling all the time with no short cuts or buses and train will cycle in this places, guys that understand and accept that in order to be in a special place(physically and mentally) you need to cross nowhere.

The boat to cross the Caspian Sea was funny because we were 10 tourists with stories to share (5 motorcyclist and 5 cyclists) and when we landed we say good bye and wish for each other the luck that we need on the road.

on the boat in the Caspian sea

We started 5 cyclist together in Kazakhstan (I didn’t had the time to celebrate my starting in central Asia because I had a crazy desert to cross but to celebrating I can do it anytime), one cyclist knew already that he don’t want to tackle the desert so he took a long train and after 4 long days also the amazing couple ,katia and mirco, said enough is enough (do to broken bike trailer) so we were only me and young Chris from Sweden to test our limits in the big stretch of nothing.

Mid June is not the best time to cycle here its can be very hot but also the locals (the few of them) and the camels (I am sure…) thought that 57 degrees in mid day is a little too much…

are we in hell yet?

Because of this crazy heat we had really long days:

5 am-woke up before sunrise eat something and go.

7.30 am- the sun start to show how strong she can be so it’s time to put sun cream.

10 am- we need to find a shelter for hid from the heat.

4 pm- start to move again

7.30 –find a place to camp (no problem here) and eat something.

8.45- sunset and good night (no light good night)

no light good night

There is no much water in this place so we needed to carry with us 7 liters of water and when a truck came we asked them for water so we didn’t had problems with that truckers were very happy to help us and they can drive only with vodka so they don’t need water…

my desert look

One trucker told me something that sound familiar to me from my Russian friends in the army but some words I didn’t understand so his friend explain me in English-

“FUCK WHAT DO YOU DO HER IN THIS CRAZY PLACE ON A BICYCLE YOU CRAZY MOTHER FUCKER!?”

(WHAT DO YOU DO HER IN THIS CRAZY PLACE ON a BICYCLE- was the part that I didn’t understand in the beginning…).

my shower!!!

The border crossing was also funny and the guards thought that they can money from me just because I am a tourist but after they look and smell (in 10 days only one shower with 1 liter of water) me they knew that its waste of time. They check our bags and ask me if I am a terrorist from Israel and ask Chris if he have drugs in the bags and tasted the salt if its heroin and check our veins to see if we don’t have needles marks.

waiting in the border

“If I will take drags here I could not cycle “I explain him with my hands.

“If you take drugs here it will be much more easer for you to cross it” he explain me with broken English and hands and we laugh.

After the border we said hello to Uzbekistan with a 180 km of no place to eat or a shade from the sun (no tries here) but we were ready for it and had enough food to the road.

before the nothing for 200km...

The road was bad most of the time with bad gravel and sand but it was good for me to be focused on the road and not on the horizon.

The most boring horizon that I have ever seen 360 degrees of nothing only flat and plain desert.

So boring that I needed to count camels just to pass my time on the paddles.

1 camel, 2 camel

200km before the city of nukus Chris got stomach problem (common in these places) and he could not go on like this so he took a truck to the city and will wait for me there.

So there I was alone again in the desert (really like it) but with also a bad stomach and I was really wick after vomiting hard.

After 10 long days in the desert I got to nukus the capital of nowhere in west Uzbekistan.

I lost 5 kg in these days and my body and mind needs to recover.

“In the desert you can forget your name”

Roei “jinji” sadan

Nukus

Uzbekistan

Asia

The world

Chris and his girl...

a thorn in the desert become a flower....

Hello my friends.

First I would like to thank everyone for the kind and warm words after the last post about our friend malte, it’s always hard to go on but life and the show must go on.

I am in a little delay with my post because many things happen fast and I didn’t find the time to write but I will try my best to remember what happen 2 weeks ago…

While I was waiting for my visa to Azerbaijan I found the time to travel a little into the mountains of north Georgia what amazing place to see I just wanted to go higher and higher to see the churches in the top of the mountain, it seems that god really know how to choose the location of his houses ha?

in the mountains

Finally I got the visa and was excited to go back to emuna and cycling life.

The border wasn’t so far from me and the crossing was strange they ask me if I am from the mosad or the FBI and when I answer no they start to smile and ask me questions about their guns.

I didn’t know nothing about Azerbaijan country I knew only the things that I really needed to know like the distances and I my direction to Baku the capital from their I need to get the special cargo boat to Kazakhstan.

They cycling was ok with small hills and farmers that working on their fields. To get money out from the cash machine it something that I didn’t see in any place in the world there is a crowd of people next to it pushing everyone and looking about your balance or how much money you take, I actually needed to push people to get money out but I like to

“Work hard for the money”

wait for the money

Its start to be hot in mid day so I need to drink a lot of water and to rest in the warm time of the day.

clean water....

After 2 days I meet 2 cyclists (ben and deniss) that they also going to the east so we cycle together a little in the desert of Azerbaijan. Its look like people here really like to have golden teeth in their mouth even children have it… maybe it’s a way to show how much money you got in your mouth but I will never understand it…

After one big climb I was happy to see that there is a stand of water melon sellers and they gave me a piece and water and I start to talk with them a little (some Turkish, English and body language).

“Where are you from?” the nice people.

“America” I answer. (It’s safer than to say Israel in these places).

“America is a friend but it’s no good because she is also a friend of Israel and the Jewish people, Israel is very bad and they kill children and woman these days (it was in the days of the “peace” boat came to Israel and all the problems with that).

I try my best to tell them that it’s not like that but they were shouting about Israel and America…

When my friends came to the top of the hill they got the water melon price and the same question.

When they say that they are from Germany the locals told them:

“Germany it’s very good we like Hitler and the Nazis did good things they killed the Jewish people”

This is when I took the bike and cycled down the hill to the desert.

What can I say?

It’s sad to see how people think about this stuff.

I got to Baku the capital of Azerbaijan that because of the oil boom that gave a lot of money to this city its look like fake but also she got an old city inside ancient walls.

I needed now to work on my future visas (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) and also to see if there is a boat to catch.

No one knows whets going on with this boat because it’s a cargo boat and its leaving when its full and if you missed it’s a tough life because you need to wait again another 2 weeks .

Only one boat in this line from Baku to aktao in Kazakhstan that crossing the Caspian Sea.

The boat was in the port but wasn’t full enough so I had more time to deal with this visa stuff and to use my contact with the Israel embassy in Uzbekistan to get everything faster.

Every day they say tomorrow and the boat is about to leave I was so close to losing itbecouse if I missed it I will be really late in my schedule.

There were another 5 cyclists waited for the boat and check and call every day to see what going on and finally the boat people say that its going tomorrow  and I didn’t had my visas yet…

The god of beucrasy (there is one like this in the central Asia mythology) heard me and I got the visa and in the last minute could buy the ticket!

The next post will be on one of the toughest places that ever cycled.

The desert from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan where also the camels feel that they lost in this place.

All you need is luck the beetles or its love????

Welcome to central Asia my friends.

Roei “jinji”sadan

Aktao

Kazakhstan

Asia

The world