Dragon expedition

CHiang Mai north Thailand

2012-01-31T18:46:00.000-08:00

We took Sarochs westy up to Chiang Mai, the next biggest Thai city , settled in a flat plateau nesttled in the mountains. Very buisy and touristic City, so we, prefering a more quiet settings moved to Doi Socet

where we found a top room in a guesthouse, sittuated near Tao Garden spiritual retreat complex, where Augusta practices daily her Tchi Kong and other meditations

Thailand - Saroch's shop, vws and resort

2012-01-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

We arrive in Thailand sooner than Augustas parents, who had to rescheadule their flight to a day after. Meanwchile we enjoyed our stay at a hostel in Bangkok, and we made our way to Sarochs Garage.
Saroch is a vw fan, whom, like Anto I met on vw shows in europe. Usually the good german shows like Bad Camberg, or Hannover. He asked me to phone him as we arrived in Thailand, so as soon as he realised that we were here, he invited us to his shop, and warmly insisted on visiting his vw resort, not too far from Katchanaburi, located on a nice slope near a river side in a quiet place umong the mountains. We stayed there and it pleased Augusta who was looking for a brake from traveling constantly in a vw bus. Filip went back to Bangkok to pickup Augustas Parents at the airport.

Finally the whole family was reunited, and Elios was happy to have his grandparents to play with, and Augusta relieved of her maternal duties. We rode elephants and visited the near places like the bridge over rivier quai, We used the Beetle and a 73 westy wchich needed some tune up before taking off for a bigger trip to the north mountains of Thailand. On wednesday, Sarochs wife Kun, guided us back to Bangkok, as we drove the 73 westy, to get a valve check, and an over all tune up before going off for a 2 week excursion.
We drive Sarochs bus for the first 350km, half way to Chiang Mai, and it does very well.

vw meeting in Bali

2012-01-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

The meeting was smaller than in Jogja, but was just as satisfying. A different island, so different habits, and culture. Here Hindu religion allowed to have a drink, so there was actually beer to be sold there. Equally hot, the vw meeting was guarded by a Hindu Shaman, who was acctually payed for good weather. In truth the rain fall anywhere but the meeting, and it really pored down at the conclusion. About 300 cars showed up from around Indonesia- the furthest came from Jakarta and Bandung. There was entertainment and good fun.

vw meeting in Jogyakarta

2012-01-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

Here a reminiscing full report from the vw meeting in Jogja.
It was our first vw meeting in Indonesia.
Together there were over 800cars, not including 200 from the local club.
A huge event for Indonesia.
The event was held at a nice City venue, where there were artistic butiques, and alot of other activities.
Concerts and Folk dancing, and a very hot sunny day.
Here Filip was first exposed to the vw sceene as it is - trade stands and proffesionals who make it happen!

Here are the photos

Singapore - in transition to thailand

2012-01-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

We flew out to Singapore, - wchich is like another world compared to Indonesia.
Very advanced and modern country. Here we visit Marcus, who drives us to the hotel and
invites us for a tasty sea food diner, along with our virtual friends, who like us travel with a little 3 year old boy from France, into Asia - with thier Iveco motor home. Our boys played on the beach as we indulged our best diner durring our travels so far. ;)

the Next day we go see the Singapore zoo.

the goodbyes

2012-01-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

After arriving in Jakarta, we went to visit Carburator springs- a restaurant where we first had a steak ;) There we met as in the begining - Endra this time with his familly, and Fobo. After that we came to pickup our friends Anita and Tomek who came from Poland to travel with us for a couple of days.
We made our way to Bandung, to stay with Nissa and her familly. Clean the bus and return it to Anto. We pickup Pala and Piotr, our Polish traveling friends who returned for a farewell party.
The party went smooth, we cooked polish soup, and other Polish specialities to serve the people whom we met that helped us on our way. Augusta made a spectacle or a fire show.
The next morning, mr Purba came to see us and we were driven to the airport by Michael the caretaker of Antos shop. Anto decided to keep the bus, as to him it has now a historical value.
He will restore it, and keep it, for next time we would like to visit Indonesia... A tempting option, as we still would like to go and see Sumatra Island.

Semarang Yumos shop

2012-01-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

We arrived in the late night at Yumos shop, and spent the night in the front of his shop.
That night the brakes of the bus got even worst, and at times they were braking very hard and uneffective, and than while pressing softly nice and correct. In Effect, Filip had to drive slowly keeping the distance, and it was best to arrive in Semerang, thtough the high mountains while it was relatively empty on the roads. Yumos was very welcoming, Elios could play with his children, while Filip took time to make a small interview about the brasilian - to split transformations. The basic idea is to use popular in Indoensia - Brasilian vw bus made from 1980 to 1984 and converting it by cutting the front off and building from start a new vw split front. The work takes time and an average conversion from fisrt cut to paint takes an average of 6 months. The back corners get rounded off to oval lamps. The air vents get cut out, fliped and an extra cm is added where its needed. Front goes off, and new body is brought out. All the sheet work is done by hand. Formed painstakingly by Yumos skilled workers. The front doors, as well as side doors are also made to look like the old split. Even the Bumpers are folded and welded together to make a reproduction bumper. Afterwards the whole bus is covered with epoxi fiberglass filler to even out the uneven welds.
The efect is amasing, and the new bus is resembling the actual vw split. Its however only a replica. Yumos took care of our bus, by taking it to his mechanic, where the bus had brakes looked at, and the horn put in order. After the necessary repair Filip can now finally drive the bus like he should be driving in Jawa = being able to brake and sound his horn. The next 3 days passed calmly in a rainy sea storm - following the coast to jakarta Airport.

Return through Java,

2012-01-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

We drove on through Bali, almost over night. Passing through the buisy Denpasar, we settled in on a beach on early morning hours. Filip went to sleep wchile Elios could simply go out and play on the nice beach.
soon the bus was sort of stuck due to a crowd of scooters brought by surfers. Taking adventage of the good early morn wave. Comeback to Java Island and again the traffic over crowded with scooters, moving everywhere, Filip got spoiled wchile driving on easy going Bali. We headed for Semarang and Yumos work shop. Famous for conversion of vw brasilian models into vw split replicas...

Newyears on Lombok

2012-01-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

We left Bali Island to cross to a Lombok Island, where we cought a night ferry across to that smaller island.
We drove to the far south west coast to a desolate place, where we picked up hitch hikers-and Irish-Czech couple, who were making their way to a "Palm beach Resort" held by a German Andreas. We chose a bungalow to share with our polish couple for the next 3 days, to spend new years celebration together.
Meanwhile Augusta recuperated her health. Once Augusta got better, she stayed with Elios, while the 3 poles went for a drive exploring the Islands south coast. Unexpectidely the roads got worst, and the villages got more and more authentic. The south beach is really alot more beautifull than any beach we have so far seen in Indonesia. Big waves. We tackled the bad road. After new years our Polish friends continued their travel to Flores, while we met with our french present bringers, at their hotel. walking on the beach and sharing a diner.
Than after the retourn trip began... Over 2000km to make before reaching Jakarta the 9th in order to pick up our vw friends from Poland Anita and Tomek.

Christmas in Bali

2012-01-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

That might sound like a dream... Well, actually we wondered for a while why this island was so crowded with tourists. After the quiet north west, we came to the hell of Kuta to meet again Marcin and David from Malang and got stuck in terrible traffic between the boutiques for "buleh" (the White). In Ubud however, we found more nice places, lots of artists, and we came accross a very unique Singaporean/French family which reminded Augusta of her origins. Then Paula and Piotr, Polish couple met in Saigon, joined us for the VW meeting, which was not such a big event but had hired a chamane to stop the rain over the week end! Around a few beers we met Pulu, the organizer of VW safari tours in Bali: there are about 150 tinks or 181 on the island and many are used to transport tourists. Pulu invited us to his palace near Ubud and that's where we spent Christmas eve, with a few home made pancakes with indonesian cheddar cheese. Next days we visited cocoa and banana plantations, drove thru small roads to a volcanic lake, tried a little bit of snorkelling and attended a show of Kecak Dance. We were very lucky that a friend of ours from Augusta's home town came to Bali just then and he brought us many presents from the family, especially Christmas foods and a real organic bread from Augusta's brother: that was so delicious and good for the soul too!

We spent the last days of the year on Lombok island, still with Paula and Piotr who happened to be very good partners for travelling, good as barmen, babysitters, photographs and company. We found a quiet and cheap bungalow in the South peninsula, admired the turquoise sea, relaxed for a while as Augusta needed some rest and the place was good for it. We came into the new year 7 hours ahead of Europe, watching fireworks after a good self made dinner and always with the expensive Bintang beers. Then we left the Polish couple and drove to our French friends again, we celebrated 2012 with a glass of wine and sheep cheese, we were dreaming of it for few months!

After that we headed back to Java, because we want to pick another Polish couple from Jakarta airport on Jan.9. We keep a good pace and stop in nice spots on beaches, in the jungle, near a lake, on playgrounds outdoors or indoors. One night in a hotel was needed for a better rest after 3 days, then we reached Semarang and Yumo's shop. The visit of his hand made conversion of Brasilian buses into special splits was amazing, and our bus got fixed, because the brakes needed revision. In the meanwhile Elios could play with a cute 4 yearold named Keno. Next stop was in Pekalongan with a visit of the batik museum. And then the North coast until Jakarta.

Wonorejo monkeys

2011-12-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

We drove to the Wonorejio national park, to follow the rocky road through a jungle and savannah to the beach. There we were welcomed by the monkeys who stolle in tottal: carrot, apple, that was long forgotten inside our bus, and scared Augusta to witts. Elios was couragous however walking around the monkeys with his big stick, like a Tarzan. see film

Bromo

2011-12-19T00:55:00.000-08:00

As we drove to Bromo, we were looking forward to finally getting out of the heat and into the cool hills. Just as the road started to get windy we got into a heavy rain storm with strong winds, that were knocking out branches. We decided to find a spot to wait out the storm, and as Elios was sleeping we too took a nap. 30 minutes latter everything was over with no more rain, and cool air around us. To our surprise a bamboo three fell behind our bus, as we slept. Latter as we continued, we found alot of cars lined up waiting for a removal of a huge three!
The whole village along with the drivers got together to remove the obstacle.(see film) Chopping it down in 2 places, than rolling it out of the road. Lucky for us we decided to stop, who knows maybe that three would fall in front of us or behind us, surely not on us, otherwise no more blog updates ;) As we drove up to the crater edge of the Bromo vulcano, we were told that we may not go further, and we had to sleep in the parking before the barier. We were told that we must rent a jeep to go further, as the road is not passable by normal car. In fact it was nothing as a trap. The barier was guarded till dunrise, so that the locals with their jeeps could drive up their pray = tourists up to the crater edge. Augusta decides to boldly walk up the mountian, and Filip stays with Elios to explore the village. She gets a lift to the top of the crater edge to see the beautifull site of the Bromo vulcano. After returning also by a lift we drive up, but by than it was already too foggy and rainy, so we returned to the valleys below, to drive on to the National park.

Surabaya

2011-12-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

We sepent our days again with our host familly in Surabaya. On sunday we were invited to a bbq of friends of Marta and Eric, our very nice host familly from CS. Menwhile Filip repaired the bus at the local vw garage.

The volkswagen surabaya garage, where Nonod a mechanic worked there, and insisted on Filips comming to the shop for a rewelding job. It was nice few hours spent in a great atmosphere of aircooled friends who latter insisted on inviting us for diner. We had to decline, as we already had an appointment to visit with Joni, Antos friend - a director of one of Antos bottle factories. We had a nice sleep, and the next day we visited the factory.

Madura Island

2011-12-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

We decided to go to Madura Island, though alot of people didnt recomend it to us. We were told that its hot, the roads are bad, no forests, its flat, and the people are hostile. In truth its hot here, the island is flat, but not tottally flat, in the middle there are some nice hills, the roads were not the best but at least we had for the first time a brake from the traffic and crowded roads. here the only problem are wide trucks that transpord lime stone and salt. We drove through the center on small roads, that are being in constant reconstruction. The people seem not to ever see a foreigner and as soon as we stop to buy water, or some fruits or vegetables, we become the main attraction. No foreign tourist so far as we traveled. We were hosted by a familly who held a restaurant, in Ketapang. We learned that here has been a large emigration from saudi arabia and other african muslim countries, that make the islands peoples very muslim and variable, dark skinned. As we followed along the beach we fell upon a beautifull festival in Ambuten, girls decorated with jasmin flowers and painted yellow almost like statues, were dancing on horses accompanied by musicians and dancers (see film). It was so beautifull and non commercial that we were really surprised and so amased byt the procession. Once the convoy arrived at the village cemetary, the girls were lined up for photos and people were offering (see film) the money to the girls whispering to their ears their wishes, and they in turn give to the dancers. Soon however the painted girls stood alone without attension as the whole village seemed fascinated with us. Taking photos of us from every angle with everyone who had a camera... as we made our way slowly to the bus, they couldnt end staring at the interior camping setup of the bus! We soon parted with some regret, and let them continue their celebrations, otherwise, I think, the whole village would simply be looking at us instead of admiring their festival... We continued on our quest to find a nice hidden beach, that was a bit sandy. In deed we found one, but the sea was hotter than the air, so we quickly left the beach to make our way to Sumenep. But to our surprise, something strange happened to the bus: it was driving on its own, driving in zigzag, hard to control!
So as soon as we found some shade, Filip inspected the bus to find that the main steering rod box had almost detached it self from the front beam. We auickly asked our indonesian friends how to call a welder = it was "las" like forest in polish. Sure enough as soon as we entered in a gungle forest village, there was a las near the beach dune. So we tryed to bend back the rod into place and get it wesded and than reinforced. It was a hot sandy sticky job, but we accomplished it! Than night we ended up in Sumenep , and we cracked, to get a hotel for 100 thou = about 10$ to get a nice hot shower and sleep well and hard in an airconditioned room.
A brake we deserved, a first hotel since one month;)

We're getting famous!

2011-12-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

After a short detour by the biggest buddhist temple in the world, Borobudur, we made our way to Malang through nice and fresh coll volcanic mountains with also one stop in an aircon mall with nice playground for Elios. When we stopped for the night in a village near a waterfall, a woman came to us saying: "Filip! Is this your son Elios? And where is Augusta?" She'd seen us and the bus in a newspaper article (see last post). Meanwhile, in France, they are publishing our first 2 months until Mongolia on the national Super VW magazine: 4 double pages and plenty of photos!!
No problem on the road, we're getting used to it even if it is not so easy, my biggest fear was when a monkey jumped on me to try to catch Elios's shiny feeding bottle at the waterfall!
After that we spent a few days in Malang, hosted by 2 Polish guys Dawid and Marcin, who teach English here in Indonesia. Marcin also has a very nice business organizing practices for Europeans in Malang, as a cultural experience. They introduced us to many people, Indonesian and foreigners, and we got together to the closest beach on the ocean, Golacina, a spot really unknown by foreigners. Last hours before leaving Malang we visited a Danish-Indonesian Muslim family which was very unique: Hassan is into ecology and sustainability for 30 years now and gave us a lot of tips and information for our future life. Filip took time to meet the vw people in Malang. Helped Mario with his black low rider bug to regulate his carb, and distributor. Mario in turn took him on a tour of vw shops and garages in an effort to fix the muffler, and the overcharging problem of the bus. On the way to Goacina in the heavy rain, the radio blew up in smoke and all the lights, and bulbs went out. It was due to overcharging, and thus battery went dry. After finding the distilled water, the problem diminished. In one shop the mechanic adjusted the regulator so it would charge less, but that is a half way sollution, next thing to do would be to find a regulator. The coil is overheating heavyly too, to the point that it starts to oooze out. Mario also showed to Filip a cool vw shop, led by Tarima, a muslim woman who lives in the shop along with the spare used and new parts. She kept the shop for over 25 years.

vw meeting in Yogjakarta the vw eruption

2011-11-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

This was our first meeting and at the same time the first drive in Indonesia.
After finishing up the last things on the bus, we hit the road, minutes before the rush hour from Bandung.
The night fell as usual around 6pm and Filip drove through the night to about 1am to make some distance, while Elios and Augusta slept. The night was much cooler , but also many unexpected obstacles. The mountain roads are a bit tight, and the express itercity passenger buses seem have the absolute priority, passing and simply honking to make things clear. In Indonesia there is no insureance for vehicules older than 8 years! This means that the bus is uninsuared, so are other vehicules around, making it a huge risque factor. It is why everyone learns to simply AVOID accidents, and it seems to be working well. Alot of scooters though everywhere, passing from any side, make it hard to turn suddenly. Driver must have his eyes around his head. Finally we reach Yogjakarta after 24hr drive. About 550km for a price of abot 14e worth of fuel. The meeting is in the fevor of preperaton. We meet the organisors an find a spot in a relative shade. Slowly some teams trickle in, but not like in Europe. The real flow of vws starts in the early morning hours before the sun rise. The organisors open the registration at 8 and already about 200 teams await registration. The participation fee is NOTHING, as the whole event is payed for by sponsors = a ciggaret company. Here smoking advertisement is legal. On saturday there is a sceeninc drive to the Volcano that blew up just last may! A convoy of about 30 vw buses tackles the lava, you could see it on this short film. There are alot of vendors too. Selling all kinds of gadgets, from traditional Batik shirts to rare in europe Airconditioning systems for bus, and stainles steel roof racks. Clubs from all over Indonesa come to this the "central" meeting, where its closer for all Indonesians to arrive. In tottal 789 teams are registered, so without counting 200 cars from Yojgja Club there was nearly a 1000 vws at the show! Prizes are given to people from as far as Papua, and Sumatra as well to us. Journalists interview us, and the article shows up in the sunday paper. We have warm invitations from alot of vw fans around Indonesia. Inviting us to stay at their homes, to see their islands ect. We slowly say good bye as we make our way to the next vw meeting , this time in Bali. On sunday night we stay at Purbas, another vw friend met at Bad Caberg 4 years ago.
For more photos of the vw show, please click HERE

Indonesia : The new bus

2011-11-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

PHOTOS Here we are in Indonesia, the greatest place we could imagine so far! People are the nicest, chocolate and coffee are delicious, so are fruits like goyava, lychees and avocado, and there are Volkswagens everywhere!
Filip had met Endra from Jakarta's VW association at Badcamberg meeting in Germany: this man was just like an angel for us, coming to pick us at the airport late at night to drive us through the huge 50 million inhab. city of Jakarta. We stayed just one day, in BSD, visiting the Pasar Modern and spent the evening at a perfect chill out place called the "Carburator Springs", which joins together a VW garage, a Steak house with very good meat, a street art gallery and kids playing the guitar and the djembe and singing Indonesian reggae.
Next day another VW friend Harry took us all the way to Bandung, 150 km south east of Jakarta. He showed us his friends who all have the most beautiful villas, and Filip went to Anto from Terror Garage, who has a marvelous surprise for us: after showing him his collection of rare VW, not only did he help us find the bus, but he also just offered to buy us a bus for our stay in Indonesia!
So the bus is a German one, year 68, color Bordeaux, that's why we called it Bordok. We stayed a few days here around Bandung until the bus could be ready: we were hosted by a very nice Muslim family with two boys aged 5 and 3, two very good friends for Elios. In the meanwhile, Bordok received seat belts, new wipers, etc. We customized it with many stickers from our sponsors. We borrowed a GPS and a baby seat, and Filip made his first driving tests in the terrible left side traffic full of scooters. Now we are ready and will leave in a few minutes to get tomorrow to our first Indonesian VW meeting, in Jogjakarta!!

Vietnam 1-15 November

2011-11-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

Only 15 days to reach Saigon...
On the first day, we took a wrong bus and couldn't find the border but were brought to a beautiful each instead. In the end we reached the bridge Dongxing-Mong Cai and felt relieve: we got out of China without losing our baby boy!
From the beginning, Vietnam is so different and so delicious: green tropical vegetation, cafes with terrace everywhere and even hot chocolate, cute balconies on two-storey houses. All is a little more poor and falling apart than in China, communication is not easier but more people speak English.
The first day we take a sleeping bus, very comfortable. In Hai Phong we got invited to a girl's birthday in a small flat crowded with people. Elios proved he was no more a baby and go to sleep even when his bottle was lost.
Next stop was in Thanh Hoa and Samson, on a nice beach, where we could swim and taste some delicious seafood, such as a crab - the first one for Filip. Our intention was then to buy a rickshaw to ride slowly southwards, but once we chose one the seller changed the price at the last minute. So we took a night train with a cabin special for foreigners, and arrived in DaNang with big rain. It rained for more than 24 hours so that the river came out and the streets became rivers. Taxis and scooters stopped working and we got stuck in the train station for the night, after crossing a street with our backpacks and the baby in our arms and water above the knees.
So we stayed 2 more days in DaNang, until everything could come back to order, it gave us time to visit touristic and beautiful HoiAn, to buy a new cheap telephone, to let Elios play for hours in a play room, swimming in plastic balls.
Next we stooped in Nha Trang, and the sun was back. This beautiful beach has big waves and deep water, white clean sand. For surfing the internet, we visited the slum which faced a 4 star hotel, kids were surrounding us and repeating Elios's words, or playing bear footed in sewer ground. On a rickshaw we made a small touristic tour to see a Buddhist temple and a cathedral: both religions are present here in a funny manner, you can find catholic churches with original decorations and Buddhas that look like Virgin Mary!
After that we had a hard day on a bus to reach DaLat, we were so frightened with that driver who was racing as much as he could horning loudly in the city, in the curves and in darkness. In DaLat, we met a couple of retired Germans who've lived on a boat for 15 years and already 4 years in Malaysia. One day we split, mama could walk in the mountains and tatus found 6 beetles and regulated their carburator, while Elios got a new haircut, so everyone was happy! Next day we rented a scooter and could see better and freely the beautiful surroundings.

Finally we got to Saigon, too noisy, too hot, we stayed in the tourists' street and visited only the playground of the park nearby, Elios appreciated it. In the end, the little one took his first flight, but he was more busy reading magazines than watching through the window.
So we made it by land in 4 months until Saigon and now, after jumping over the sea, we are on the other side of equator!

China 6 weeks behind us

2011-11-01T07:27:00.001-07:00

So almost 6 weeks of traveling in China. Mainly trains, but also alot with buses. Our travel style got a bit monotonous, always getting to and from bus/train station, to finding some cheep hotel, than finding parks, getting food and repeating the process...

Shanghai was a good surprise: a cosmopolitan and breathing city after that gray center of China. e stayed three days hosted by a French Qi Gong teacher, Marceau. Supermama would get up early to practice her favorite sport in the parks at 7, when they are crowded with old or younger Chinese. On the evening, she would test Marceau's invention, Qi Dance, a form of improvisation dance. We also met the son of our village's doctor for lunch in the commercial area and a former guest of our Strasburg's couch for dinner in the small streets of the French concession.

Fujian province
We chose a city randomly on the map towards South, took a train, watching lats years Walt Disney/Pixar studio movies and once we just got out, we heard: "Welcome to Ningde!" There stood Tony, a Cuban teaching Spanish in the University and Freddy, a Chinese-American teaching English. We sat in their pick-up and they showed us the English school where Elios could put the library upside down and forget it was late ad he was hungry. The following dinner was quite something:" we said we'd like fish, we're shown one fish, pretty big, around 80cm long, alive, just out of the aquarium, and a few minutes later it is cut in pieces and boiled in a bouillon on our table, we receive in our bowls the head, the tail and some delicious pieces. Next day we escaped to the mountain: we feel finally in the South, with green luxurious trees, the sounds of the jungle instead of that of the city. Then we passed through Xiamen, stayed one night in Longyan, famous for its Peanuts and got to Yongding, small city that abrina had recommended to us in Beijing. There, we visited some ancient houses called the "earth buildings", built in XVIII-XIXth cent., in clay and wood, all round. The small local buses we take to cross the countryside are getting more and more picturesque and in a poor condition.

Guangdong province: Canton and Zhaoqing
That night train was a nightmare: we misunderstood the lady at ticket office and received sitting tickets instead of sleeping places, and that in a full train, with the light on till 1 am, we couldn't close an eye. On top of that, the controller wouldn't let us out of the train station without our tickets, so that Filip had to go back all the way to our wagon and by chance found them. In Canton, we treat ourselves with a coffee for 4 euros in Starbucks, with great comfort. There we met a Polish guy, wearing a costume, leaving in Shanghai, and stared at the White people coming in and Chinese life going on outside. Canton seems less modern than Peking and Shanghai, bridges are covered with plants and buildings go back to the seventies-eighties. Zhaoqing is a charming city, some kilometers more west, its lakes and mountains attract many people from Canton and Hong Kong over the week-ends. We spent some time with an ex QiGong teacher, quite a unique person.
Guangxi province
We made some decisions for the months to come: we'll go to Indonesia soon, buy a new VWbus and visit some meetings there. We start to be tired of China. In Wuzhou, we got a room with computer to make some research and booked a flight Saigon-Jakarta for November 15. No time for Yunnan and Sichuan provinces but just some days in Guangxi, which is also magnificent.
The bus runs along a river, and mountains with incredible pointing shapes come out of the earth. We cannot believe to have reached these sites that we saw few months before on pictures at our neighbor's house in Montfort. We stay a few days in the breathtaking landscapes, in Yangshuo, and rent a tandem to cycle around the countryside. On that occasion, some woman who works in a travel agency tells us we will need to make our visas before entering Vietnam. It's a pretty bad news, we rush to Nanning after teaching one evening in an English school.
The province capital city is not so interesting, we choose a backpacker hostel to share some experiences with other travelers, then while the consulate is preparing our visas, we relax on the seaside, in Fanchengang. Elios loves it on the beach, to draw in the sand with sharp shells, and he finds a 12 year-old girl friend Hojahuj who takes care of him like a second mother. Filip sees the pacific ocean for the first time, and I just Relax, whaww!

2011-10-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

We are in China!

2011-10-09T05:53:00.000-07:00

Since in China we get used to the new way of moving. 3 backpacks with esencials, and one with Elios in it, that often serves as his bed. We take buses and trains, going to the usuall tourist traps for sightseeing. We slowly get used to the walks with Elios in the back, and the attention that it brings to us. Though the backpack is made in China, they dont ever think of using one like this. Its an evenement in it self for them, and we become the tourist attraction for the chineese tourists. And there are alot of those!
We also get used to an enormous contrast with Mongolia. Instead of Eagles circiling in the skys above you we find plastic bags, and instead of sky we find smog, a type of a permament fog. SOmetimes its 200m thick, sometimes just 1,2 kms. Though those are the negative aspects to get used to, China seems very modern. At times we feel like were in some batman movie type Gothem city, with surrealistic buildings. Everywhere people. On any street there are crouds. And often in the evening and mornings anyone seems to be selling anything on the sidewalk. Asspecially on weekends people get together on squares to sing what seems to be patriotic songs, dance, do chi-kong or orther group activities. Alot of ongoing construction that seems to be neverending. Many new apartment building complexes, that are half empty because average citizen cannot afford such a flat. The work is very efficient, and seems to be going on through the night. The nature is fighting for survival, and it seems that almost everywhere food is cultivated even on construction sites. Modern seems to be an aproach to polution. Many electric bikes, or old transporting trike conversions, that allow them to move more freely while poluting less. It seems that on the streets we see more hybrid electric bikes than the old style man powered bikes. Even scooters are electric. The style of driving here is rather hard to get used to. Its as if the dever learned how to ride a bike, than got a luxury car and started driving. You mainly drive with your horn, not necessarily with your lights on. Though there are traffic lights, and for the most they are obbeyed, there are always people, electric bikes - and so why not - also cars trying to sneak through to get to their lanes. The horn serves as a warning, that soon you will be passed by another vehicule on any side so just keep on going with your previsable speed and let it happen... Crossing the road is also an art of sorts. The zebras are there just to help the croud effect. The more people gather in a single place, the more of a chance that they would be able to pass. Those are the first hand differances we see.
We spent our first days in Datong, visiting the caves where the oldest Budda statues were carved in the caves. A huge complex that needs at least one day to really visit. We took a bus to Beiging, where we were hosted by Sabrina, a French couchsurfer living on a 25th floor of one of the appartments on a dynamically evolving avangard artist neighborhood.
She filled us in about the real prices of taxis and daily goods, and explained us how to get wround, bargain and hustle for our buys. It seems that in every touristic place the sellers will take advantage of you by asking higher prices. We have seen the Cricket market, where all kind of pets were for sale. Starting with crickets in capsules, that were ment to play for their masters for a good night sleep, or to poor squarels that were ment to jump around in furry in a cage... We have seen the summer palace park, and the Tianmin saquare. Afterwards we made our way to Jinan, where we were invited by a chineese chouchsurfing familly with their 4 year old daughter Uar, with whom Elios spent some nice playfull days. We were hosted by them for a few days, untill their leave for the holidays. The 1st oct Holidays is a real madness where everyone seems to be moving at once. The train stations are packed tight, and there are next to none free seats neither in buses or trains. This period we were able to wait out in Jinan, while staying at our hosts other apartment that was unfurnished but had a bed electricity and running water, wchich is better than an average squot in europe. Through our stay we did catch up on our emailing and went out to explore the city asspecially its parks. Our update has been made available by a friend who loaded up this text and chosen photos from Norway, as here in China blogs are banned as other google based sites. Next update will be in some other time...
This monday we go from Jinan to Nanjing in the direction of shanghai and south of it towards the hilly coast filled with tea plantations. We intend to find some non touristic rural place to experiance the other type of China. Our further deirection would be the general direction of Kunming.

From Tsetserleg to Ulan Bator

2011-09-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

In Tsetserled, Branio left us, and Elios said Ciao. After visiting a temple under the snow, we found a car to take us to the hot springs of Tsenher. We went through beautiful landscapes, rivers and trees, the sun was back. But once there, Filip got ill, a sort of flue, and we spent two days in a touristic ger camp. We finally managed to get away, the manager took us on his luxuous Land Cruiser until the main road, than we hitch hiked further. We made one more stop in Harhörin to visit ancient Kharakorum and then took a public and confortable autobus to Ulan-Bator.
Here we are now, Ulan Bator is a big city, not very interesting but we 're having good time. It doesn't look like the rest of Mongolia but more than half of the population live here. We contacted a polish speaking Mongolian called Nomi and are spending some time with her every day, getting an insight of the capital city's life. We stay at a Guest House full of travelers from the whole world. Tomorrow we'll get our chinese visa and then head to the South.

last days with Dragon

2011-09-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Last welding was fatal for our engine, it started burning oil 1liter in 20km. Smoldering spark plugs each 10km. And it even blew out 2 of the spark plugs. It seems all the bad things happened at once!

The bus is pulled up over mountain passes, on 2 blown out spark plugs, and smoking badly tons of oil, it was wiser to get a lift up over the mountains. There the sparkplugs were fixed again and again with liauid metal. This lasted usually untill first accelerations, but while coasting down hill, it was easy. Here we were towed by some young drivers. Their trailor was only attached with metal cable, so we gave them the 3ton strap, in fear of recieving the trailor flatening the poor Dragon, with us in it.

We met a nice restaurant owner lady, who proposed that she may keep the bus at her house in Tosinzingel City, so withrout hesitation we decided to leave the bus here in Tosontsengel, half way to UB, and take a minibus over night to continue East.

Once in town, I was recomended to put the bus up on wood, taking off the tyres, taking out the battery, do to the freezing -50 temperatures in winter, that can destroy the tyres.

So for a tank 50l full of gas, and loaned mudd tyres, and 3 20l water bottles, Dragon has safe keeping untill end of May, once the snow melts.

The kind restaurant owner and her husband, by the bus

Augusta with Elios and the lady, saying good bye to Dragon

The travel continues as planed, in public transportation, although 1000km earlyer. The mission accomplished, Dragon stays in Mongolia and awaits us in the spring, untill I bring the broken rings, and try to revive it for the road back.

Elios plays with Hotel hoses'es daughter.

the tight private bus, took us from Tosinzingel to Tsetseleg over night into the afternoon hours. A long trying ride.

Since we left the bus, were traveling with our backpacks. Still too heavy as we drag with us alot of warm clothes.
We made our way in a bus that drove over 500km in night and day, through a hard mongolian land. The snow started to fall on mountain peaks.Elios took the travel very well, trying to sleep like all of us on the bumpy road, playing with our very helpfull hitchiker Brani from Czechoslovakia, who is a student of Mongolian, as well as a fine babysitter ;)
A new phase of traveling is on. And we are doing fine now using sign language, and some basic phrases that we learned from our translator ;)

Ulangom Narambulag Songino welders

2011-09-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

First city in North West is named Ulaangom. We set up an appointment on with a welder who invited us to sleep at his court yard fenced in with wooden fences, with a yourt and garage, in the middle of the city.

inside their yourt

The welding platform

welding the exchaust, that possibly overheated the cilinders and demaged the rings

The next day, a very particular hitch hiker came to us: it's Branislav, or Branio, a Czech traveller studying mongolian , doing his doctorate research about nomadic peoples children in the mountains around Ulanbatar, but broke, looking for a ride. He becomes our interpreter and sometimes babysitter for the next ten days!

After going about 150km further to Narambulag, we find the next welder in his yourt. We arrive late so we are invited to his yourt to await tommorows welding

the Bump stop had to go back in place, and got reinforced.

The swing bar, was so badly displaced, that it was touching the frame, As you see I put a piece of rubber that I found on the road to keep it from bending, as it served as a temporary bump stop. In that day we once again raised the torsion arms making the rear higer, and awaiting again for it to twist back up...

swing arm disassambled

funky wiering system at the welders

the electric welding machine

welding platform and early morning welding

the bus seems higher, but again over and over the pipe holding the torsion rods, keeps twisting up

We arrive at one of the salt lakes, where we get badly stuck in the sand. Luckyly we met earlyer German students on their adventure ride , with their lada Niva, who got us out

once free of sand, we continue to sleep on open step, now the nights are getting windy and nights colder...

Once in Songino, we disassemble tottaly the torsion arm pipe, to do the final and definitive welding. Here you see just how badly the torsion arm tube is twisted! Everywhere where it was welded, it litterally peals off!

We also decided to reposition the swing axel

Welder at work, for 2 days

unfortunatelly the extensive welding with the unexperianced welder didnt help the engine. We suspect that its after this that the rings went bad. The engine started to smoke and smoldering the spark plugs to the point that they wouldnt spark

after 10 days we see the first forests

trees have to be though to survive here

Dust everywhere! even inside the carburator. It was not rust but fine dust particles that somehow ended up in the fuel. Muddy

nic, tylko sanki

spark plug very dirty after only 20km looses a spark

playing with Elios while the spark plugs luquid metal drys

getting a pull up over the mountain pass, spark plugs just arent holding under preassure, and 2 blown out spark plugs are 1 too much

Elios does his part in getting the bus from being stuck

Altai, border and first 200km in Mongolia

2011-09-05T03:47:00.001-07:00

a stop at the sacred OVO with a commemorative board

We finally see the first trees since Russia! about 9 days in high severe altitudes

Continuing east we finally reach the last passage through the high mountains in the direction of Ulangom

On the way east to Ulangom

a look back to one of the most beautifull mountains that I ever got to drive through

the engine takes a beating with the very fine powder dust, getting even through into the fuel and carb, that had to be cleaned each day!

the nomad elder smoking his pipe

Earlyer Elios gets to ride on a mongolian horse.

We pass a caravan of camels, that also are used to transport the whole yurt to the next location, perhaps 200km futher. Somehow we feel that we are going the same pase...

The next hard day contines, We let Elios sleep in the soft sleeping bag bed, as we drive no faster than 20km/h due to rocky road, and small tiny dust that keeps getting through the rusty holes in the bus, as well us shaking doors, through the seals

Another steep climb up to reach the other end of the huge valley.

As we found the correct road , and crossed the 3rd rivier, we started for the high passage at 2400m.

Before however we had to fix the gas pedal that fell through at the hinge, another vee-gyver trick had to do

The site was rewarding, another lake in a smaller valley, but still huge, the whole "crater of this valley streches out more than 100km.

We drove into a large impressive canyon with a large lake at the south, and 3 rivers going into that lake!

We were told that should we not make it through the rivers, than we shall come back and take the road more traveled.
We drove around a little lost looking for a river passage where we could acctually make it through. First river was easy, as we went higher up to its sourcem and where it would fork out.
The seccond passage was difficult to find, but we got some help from local boys, who also showed us a nice fruity and thorny bush, that we could eat.

Filip inspecting the passage through luckyly a low river.

while we were lost driving over rutts and big stones, the muffler got hit and disconected from the heatexchangers. There was even more of a threat that it would drown the engine...
after inspecting the exchaust, we fond small rocks that swam between the pushrod guards and the push rods, better to get them out before we keep on rocking on those roads...

a photo of the engine after the river, I kept it running after to dry out faster, but a big wave came through anyhow.

We reach the correct road after getting slowly used to gravel bumpy road, and very tempting soft sandy and dusty alternative roads,

The border crossing and the first rough kilometers took a toll on Filip who crashed on the first grassy bed he found, while Elios played in the sand

The Altai region was very beautifull, a real change from the flat swompy 2000km from Ural to Altai mountains.

The border went smooth, though we were supposed to register after being in russia 7 days, which we were told was not necessary. However the border officials let us slide. At the border we met a lot of people traveling on the Mongol Rally, some old ambulances and little cars. Good to meet some people from the west and learn their travel stories.

While rolling into Altai, we found a road sign describing the first 3 digits of the model of the bus so 237

some futher set backs with lights not working, so a vee gyver trick had to be used and a bridge made of aluminium candy wrpper

Another discovered fault = a cracked advance hose, so I had to cut the end and get it back on tight.

As a tourist attraction we have seen a prisoned camel, his owner gets 100 rubels for a photo shot.

spoted 'Russian samba" a minibus used in transportdurring the early 60s

As we waited on the border for monday to come, we hang out our loundry to dry on the border barbed wire

we asked the mongol rally participants waiting at the border to push the bus by that saving the precious fuel: 70l in the roof ural tank, 55l in the leaky original tank, 20l in a canister, 5l in a jerrycan, and on top of this 80l of LPG

really prepared for the Mongolian empty steps!

Upon reaching the lake shore, we stopped by some nomade yurt. We were greeted with goat cheze, sutece salty,greasy milk tea,

and a freshly killed marmotte!

The next day they chased the heard off to another location, and started to dismantel their yurt.

the famillys oldest grand grand grand father, and his wife, who walked only on her knees...

We helped to load up on a big truckm that actually carried 3 other yurts for the whole familly.

Kurgan -Omsk - Novosibirsk

2011-08-16T03:50:00.000-07:00

Near Kurgan, our CS hosts showed us a horse farm : there Elios had is first ride ever on a poney. After one whole day of driving, we arrived to Omsk, where we spent a night in the datcha (small country house) of Evgeniy, a VW bus lover who drives a... T4. Next day, he guided Filip to a market and a welder : now we are ready to attack Mogolia, equipped with 70L, torsion arm welded one more time in order to keep the gearbox free, and we still have time left. Omsk is bigger and more interesting than Kurgan, the second morning we walked around with a young engineer eager to improve her English and her French. From Omsk to Novosibirsk, the road is new at the beginning. The weather is now very hot and there are aggressive mosquitoes everywhere. We were overtaken by 2 off roaders driven by 4 Poles going to Mongolia : they gave us the Mongolian roadmap we had been desperately looking for ! 250 km after Omsk, we made a stop in Karachi lakes, one is salty, people float and cover themselves with mud, then go rince in the sweet lake in front. Now, in Novosibirsk, we went to visit old dear Ikea, with its free WiFi and nice playground for children. Here is the last big city before Ulan-Bator, or even until Beijing. We have 8 days left to get slowly to tha Mongolian border.

From Nizhniy Novgorod To Kurgan

2011-08-10T02:57:00.000-07:00

Last week with the good wi-fi connexion , Filip had contacted the club of VW bus fans in Russia (here they have mostly T4 and T5). Since morning we got the number of one of them, so that all day long the guys unloaded our bus from heavy pieces (spare engine, gearbox, cylinder, etc.) and helped Flip work on the suspensions, in a nice friendly atmosphere. On evening, one of them director of the autobus compagny of the city, invited us to psend the night in his house on the road to Kazan. Filip waned to please him and accepted to spend evening drinking vodka: next day it was terribly hard to stand up and go! However we made it to Kazan late in the night, the city was illuminated like Las Vegas. Then we crossed Tatarstan, the landscape is now made of hilly fields instead of flat land and forests and lots of small petrol driling sites are along the road. We also met a family of free horses. One night we slept in a forest and almost get stuck in the mud to go back to the road after rainy night! On saturday we arrived in Tuymazy, in a very nice small family. Valeriy and Irina hosted us with tchai, bortsch, beer, blinis and bania (sauna), their 4 year old son plays alone and Elios also, so relax! We also help them prepare a trip to France in a couple of weeks. On monday we passed Ural mountains, and now we are in Asia! Here Kurgan, waiting to discover the city with the next Couchsurfer.

Rybinsk-Nizhnij Novgorod

2011-08-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

At last some photos for you: https://picasaweb.google.com/filipfromPL/LvRuPskovJaroslav

In Rybinsk, we finally stayed overnight, invited by this group of friends with 2 babies, we went for a walk along the Volga drinking beer for hours...
Next day, sunday, we got to Yaroslavl. We didn't meet the Couchsurfer we counted on, but a nice couple who invited us to park the bus in the courtyard of their office and chat about stereotypes east-west drinking beer again till late. Yaroslavl is magnificent city with penty of cerkiev near the water and big parks, but it is also very touristic. On monday, Filip looked for a welder to reinforce again the rear of the bus, because the torsion arm had bent again. Meanwhile, we found a park with Elios for his nap, and fortunately it didn't rain. The same evening we got a 4 star Couchsurfing at Slava's in Kostroma. Yesterday morning we found a super cafe, tiny and popular, where to drink tea in plastic cup for 7 roubles (less than 20 euro cents) and where an old man offered Elios a bill of 100 roubles! Then we drove quite a lot, to arrive in the evening at Nizhnij Novgorod, where we're now using free Wi-Fi connexion of a big shopping centre.
The bus will not support the road much longer with such load, we need to unload the spare engine and gearbox, and we are thinking of entering Mongolia through the good road of Ulan-Ude instead of the hard path of the Altai.

26-30 July, St Peterburg-Rybinsk

2011-07-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Good road from Pskov to St Peterburg, bordered with poor villages of wooden houses. On arrival Filip was extremely учсшеувЖцу found a bus like ours on the petrol station!

One whole day in St Peterburg, parked in the touristic centre, in front of Mikhailskij palace. Nice tour on the bike. We also met again our friends Toques from Biarritz.
Then road again, good halt for sleeping in a quiet forest, just near a very big gaz pipeline, probably coming from Siberia. The weather is good all the time. Last night we should have met a Couchsurfer in Cherepovets, but she didn't answer sms, so one more night in the city, we prefer nature!

Today, nice people: looking for water we found workers from Kirghizie on a petrol station, they shared their lunch with us. Then in the nexy t town, rybinsk, as we were looking for an internet cafe, a nice guy took us to his house: that's where I am now!

First week : Poland-Lithuania-Latvia-Russia

2011-07-26T00:47:00.000-07:00

First day, first surprise : after leaving Fred in Brzeszcze who helped us with the stickers for the sponsors, we meet our friends from France travelling with four kids, they had just arrived in Auschwitz. Some hours of driving and we go sleeping in a forest, then drive again to Spioch’s house, a family farm North-East of Varsaw (Ostrow Mazowiecka).

Third day, we wanted to have a look at the nature of Mazury and see the village of Jedwabne where Jews were burnt in a barn during the war. Bad luck for us too, we jumped on some holes and the rear beam got completely deformed, it has turned into the frame, we cannot change the gear and have to weld in emergency. Filip finds with no delay a garage that can take us, Augusta and Elios have to stay outside, it’s so hot, and then comes the rain and a violent storm. We find refuge in the small shop nearby, and at 9, Elios begins to be sleepy and the works on the bus are finished (see technical part).

Next day, we join our friends Andrzej, Kasia, Zosia and Lila in Mazury, then leave together, in 2 VW buses, towards Lithuania, it rains again, Filip repairs the sweepers in two seconds, I twist my ankle violently but it gets better quickly. We get to the coast, a third VW bus joins us, that of Marcin, Ewa and Marianna, and we rest one day in a farm-camping in Pape national parc in Latvia.

On sunday, the weather gets better but we need to drive all day, we take a hitch-hicker who tells us a little about the country, stop in Riga, nice city with a chill out atmosphere, and then drive by night to get to the border early morning.

No problem at this border, paper work and waiting take us take us 2.5 hr, we find cheaper fuel before running out of fuel, not as cheap as it was 6 years ago though, now it’s about 0,60 euro/liter. So, we are in Russia ! Now we’ve got thirty days to cross it.

Pskov is a big town, very old (more than a thousand years), it’s the craddle of Russian chritianism. Its gigantic icons and different churches, along a nice river, are worth seing. A couple of Couchsurfers, Alex and Alesya, take us for a little walk and visit. Today, we have to hit the road again, direction St Petersbourg.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/filipfromPL/PlLvLtEst?authkey=Gv1sRgCPev06_spPaBdQ

The great departure

2011-07-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

Here we go, finally, away from Bielsko Biala. After loading the bus yesterday, we drove some 60km with no breakdown! That's good news, when you know that Filip spent his week working on the whole engine, repairing the brakes, adjusting electrics, making the whole basis of the vehicle higher, giving him bigger new tyres
So we've got a small week left to get to the russian border slowly, through Warsaw, Masurian lakes region Lithuania, Latvia and maybe Estonia.
Next news and pictures as soon as possible!

8-10 July: Garbojama: VW meeting in Cracow

2011-07-13T03:02:00.000-07:00

That's was meant to be our departure point. But we're still not ready: on the road there and back (2x100 km), not less than 4 breakdowns (fuel, GPL switch, lights not working in the middle of the night and fuel filter), so that there is a lot left to do! The meeting gave us already a feeling of being East: 7 buses came from Russia, and a few cars from the Baltic countries. And almost all Filip's friends were there to say good bye.
Now Elios is getting baptised today, and as soon as we can, we'll hit the road, Jack!

First stop, Poland

2011-06-24T07:44:00.001-07:00

We left our flat of Montfort-en-Chalosse on June 1st, as planned, whereas on the 31st we were still painting the house. The goodbyes had started with our wedding celebration on May 13th, we had nice moments, exciting and touching, with our familiars and friends. The hardest part was to leave our dog Tebel to Filip’s best friend Ludovic.

We spent a last night at my mother’s in Pau, ate a cassoulet in Castelnaudary, stoppped to repair Aurélie’s motor-home in Lunel, and stayed a couple of days in Grenoble to see someof the family, in particular my grandma who will soon be 99. The last stop in France was in Strasbourg, where I had to receive our Russian visas on the French passports: first time in a consulate, that was already a feeling that the trip was starting for good! Then, we crossed Germany by night, visited Filip’s grand-mother in South-West Poland, a last night in Wroclaw and finally we arrived in Bielsko exactly one week after departure. Through all this time, Elios was just perfect, he kept his rhythm for sleeping, stayed in his seat as long as necessary, patient, while I was inventing new games as we drove, songs, stories, drawings, cutting shapes, etc., etc.

Now, here we are, in the neighbourhood of blocks of flalts where Filip grew up. Bozena looks after Elios as much as possible. Filip has received his new passport, we went to the Russian consulate in Cracow for the visa but it was closed, as the day before was Constitution’s Day. So we asked for the help of an agency : the funny thing was they told us the Consul in Cracow doesn’t deliver tourist visas for 30 days, because he doesn’t see why tourists should want to visit his country more than 14 days !! But the agency sent the demand to Gdansk, and we had the visa at home as soon as three days later. Now, the passports are on their way to the Mongolian embassy. Filip is working very hard on the bus, even with a twisted ankle. He realised that even if the bus looks quite good from a distance, it is completely rotten underneath. He mounted the engine and GPL installation, we designed the interior and hopefully, there should be enough space for all our stuff. Now the Dragon has been reinforced by a metalworker, and then to the electrician.

Our T-shirts and stickers should be ready for the next meetings inBug-In Chimay (Belgium) and then in Cracow, Garbojama. We hope to earn a little more money for the road!