In the meantime we also got interviewed and there’s been an article in the local newspaper. It is in dutch, so sorry, no translation, but you don’t miss too much, as there are quite some errors in it. But still, it’s nice to have articles about your trips!

We also bought two e-readers, since traveling with books is always a problem: they are heavy and take up a lot of space. With the digital version we won’t have these problems any more and we can take more than a few books with us, since we like reading and on a computer screen or iphone it’s really not good for some relax time in or around the tent at the end of a day. The bikes are also completely prepped up, just need to change one last tire and we are ready to go, finally! For months we are busy with this trip and now it all goes really quick as it’s almost there. Just have the feeling that I forgot so many things that have to be done…

We are on our final countdown; only 14 more working days for us and then for 6 months we won’t have to go to work anymore… Adventure here we come!

There are still some tricky parts on the route such as Afghanistan (but shorten), Iran, Iraq and the south of Turkey along the Syrian border. But we’ll see en route what the security issues are and (try to) adapt accordingly.

In the meantime the double entry visa for us and the bikes for Kazachstan are fixed, later this week we should have also the double entry visas for Tajikistan and the GBAO permits (to ride the piste along the Afghan border and be able to cross into Afghanistan from Tajikistan) . The Russian humanitarian multi entry visa is also in the making, so this should be ok in a week or two or so.

The bikes are almost completely ready to go for the big adventure. Just need to change the tires the week before we’ll leave for new ones (already delivered). We’re also “testing” everything now in the weekends, and some problems need to be fixed, as one strap for a bag melt down due to heat from the exhaust.

Another thing that happened in the meantime, actually yesterday evening, is that I fractured my small toe… I kid you not! So it’s taped and I can’t walk normally and I hope its fixed or at least better by the time we’ll leave. Leaving with a fractured toe would be another add-on for this adventure…

We also decided on the electronics department of our gear. So the photo camera will be the small one: Canon Powershot G12; the videocamera will be the Canon Legria HF G10 and two Contour Roam camera’s for on the helmets and bikes. A tripod and RF remote for the G12 and of course my trusted MacBoor Air.

So this brings us to the blog: we’ll keep you updated throughout the blog of course with English texts and pictures, but this time no video on the road as I will be making a complete DVD film of the entire 5-6 months trip once we’re back. Sorry for that but we are pretty convinced that it should be worthwhile to wait for the DVD to come out to enjoy an evening going around the world with us…

The other good news is that we found a bike for Kim. Also a DRZ that looks really good. The mechanics are now looking at it and doing some work that needs to be done to change some stuff. I got my bike back last saturday after it stayed a really long time with the mechanics as I needed to change a lot more on my bike, including a new custom made exhaust, racks, other subframe (the original one cracked on the last trip) etc. I was happy as a kid when I finally had my bike back, but… the bike is not ok! So I will need to bring her back, again, to check her out. This was not in the plans, that’s for sure! The problem is that the bike stalls a lot, I mean when I’m at a red light and want to take off she just dies… I don’t understand it, she never had that problem before. Anyway,so were are still not ready to take off…

Other thing, I was looking at the visas wee need to get, wanted to apply for the first in a long row this week when I counted the number of pages left in Kim’s passport. She still has 7 double pages… we need at least 9 visa… and some stamps… bugger! So now she’s off for a new passport, wich will delay all my visa requests with two weeks again. If you don’t have a clue how visa works for countries like Russia, Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan, just be happy that you haven’t actually been confronted with this “marathon”. It’s not like boarding a plane and just getting a stamp when you arrive… I wish it was! On the other hand, this is also what defines overland adventure traveling on a motorbike across half of the world.

Other news: We will be shooting a lot of video footage, as the idea is to make a decent DVD when we are back. So the movies on the road on the blog will be limited (unless I am bored waiting somewhere for a visa…) but the small stories and pictures will be even more there, especially the pictures, as if we talk too much, none of you will ever buy our DVD…

Please also consider making a small donation towards this trip. All the info you can find on the sponsorpage but basically it comes down to this: it will be a very expensive trip and we need your support to make it happen. We could lie to the whole world and ride for some sort of charity, so you would easier give some cash for this, or we can be honest and just say that any help would be greatly appreciated. We have made some stickers with our logo, they are weather proof and look really good! But if you have some more money to spare, you can buy your sticker that we will put up somewhere far and remote, take a picture of it, share it on the blog and send you the original. Of course, the more popular regions for this are likely to get taken soon, so if you want “your” sticker to be put in Mongolia, Siberia or Afghanistan, don’t wait to long for showing some support, the biggest sponsors get the best spots of course! But don’t feel obligated, it’s all completely free… we won’t look at you any different than we do now if or if not you give us fuelmoney…

Having said this, we are also waiting that an article will be published in a local newspaper about our trip, so once we have it, of course we will put it up on the blog as well. Enough said, need time to continue preparations so stay tuned for the next updates and our final departure on the 28th of May 2013 for a 5 months adventurous trip that you won’t find easily anywhere else!

I say ‘we’ as in the last month Kim changed her mind (…) and decided to join the adventure. This means changing the plans a bit, also after finding new information and places to see and stuff, so now it looks a bit like this:

The other main issue is now to find a bike for her, as after some discussions we decided to go with the DRZ’s and not with better or newer (and more expensive) bikes. Thing is that you don’t find them around every corner, so everyday we’re looking for this on the net. Anyways, I think it’s good news that she will join me, so we can do this together (maybe somebody else will still join us, who knows…) but this also means a big difference on the financial side of things. Once we found a bike for her, we’ll start asking for the visa for Russia and Kazakhstan, as those will be the first two big ‘problems’ concerning paperwork. Once we have these we can start trying to get all the other visa for Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Iran etc. The Visa for Mongolia we will fix when we are in Kazakhstan.

We are also trying to find some sponsors, not big ones (as we understand that this is maybe not the right time in the actual economy) but smaller things can and will make the difference for us. Our first sponsor is found, but more about this soon on a different page that I will make just for those who will help us a bit making those big travels possible.

My bike should be ready within the next three weeks or so, as I changed again a lot of stuff since the last trip to make things better. Or at least so I think…

I am making big plans for next summer and even more time consuming preparations, as I will reveal the trip, or at least what the plan is for the moment:

So, as you can see, I will cover some ground on this one (again?!)… At this time the idea is to leave Belgium end of May 2013 as I need to go to the HUBB UK Meeting (HorizonsUnlimited.com) to give a photography workshop and do a presentation of our last trip to scandinavia and Russia etc on the DRZ’s.

So from the UK I will go across Europe (haven’t decided yet as if I will go again through the Balkans or the more conventional route) into Ukraine (as I liked it pretty much on this year’s trip) into Russia (again) then going over the Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia, maybe also Azerbaijan – not sure at this time).

South again through Turkey into Iraq, then Iran going back up into Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to go southeast again to Afghanistan. It’s also possible that I skip T’stan and Uz’stan and go from Iran straight into Afghanistan. Still checking this out with embassies and consular services as you imagine not a lot of people apply for tourist visa there… Let’s change this!

Anyways, I want to do the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan (I read that last year they issued 15 authorizations for ‘tourists’ to go there) and then head into Tajikistan for the Pamir Highway (if they’re not fighting in Khorog anymore), further north into Kyrgyzstan and then Kazachstan to enter for the second time this trip Russia, going for Mongolia and make a left turn in Ulaan Bataar to re-enter Russia for the third time, see Lake Baikal and then go all the way back in direction of Moscow and the EU through Siberia…

I will do this alone, or if I find somebody crazy enough to come with me I won’t be alone… My bike of choice will once again be my trustworthy Suzuki DRZ400E. (I really need to get some sponsorship by now from Suzuki for all the good stuff I already said about this bike!) which is already now being prepared and modified for this trip. Since the trip to N-Afrika, and then the second big trip to Scandinavia, Russia, Ukraine etc I am still fine-tuning the bike, the bags and my kit, gear and stuff I take with me. It’s a never ending fine-tuning that should reach a 99% satisfactory level this time hopefully.

O yes, the idea is also to go as much off-road as possible! There’s no need for any of you to send me a mail to tell me that I am crazy, I know this already and probably longer than you do… One life, live it!

So, stay tuned for hopefully a ride of a lifetime and I will try to entertain you with some good pictures and stories as the preparations and finally the trip are going on, only 5 more months and vroem-vroem….

Seb

For those who are receiving this through mail, please have a look on our website: www.wanderingsouls.be and then select VIDEOS as the RSS feed does not allow movies to be send by mail…

This will also be the last post in the current blog section, as this will move to the “past blogs” as preparations are already being made for the next adventures…

Later we also went to the electronics plaza… Just imagine the “Wijnegem Shopping Centre” but then only for electronics. Bingo it’s heaven for Seb!

Some sights of Bangkok:

Another interesting thing they have here is a riding ATM and of course the riding bars:

As we still had our helmets that we bought in Phuket and that we had on our heads for 2500km while driving on the scooter, we thought we would have some fun at the airport and in the plane by putting them on when checking in. The lady was looking rather confused until Kim told her that we heard that it was the pilot’s first time and that we took our precautions… she had a good laugh of course!

So, again with some delay we arrived finally back in Belgium and we are happy and working again. In that order. Or something like that.

The movie of Thailand will be posted in a few days or so online on our website: www.wanderingsouls.be under the tab “videos” as I can’t mail it to you all.

Unfortunately this was it for 2012… but I think that some of you would think that it was more than enough. We also think it has been enough so we’ll try to stay in Belgium for some time before going on a holiday/vacation/journey/travel again. But the plans are already made for the next journey… so stay tuned as you won’t regret it!

Seb & Kim