Rarely have I seen such a long line of waiting trucks at a border. After a fruitless attempt to cross the normal border to Kyrgyzstan because Piggy appears to be too large, I have to take another border. It is made clear to me that large cars have to cross the border 20 km away via another border crossing. I suspect that I will once again be seen as a truck, while I already made it clear to the of...

It appears that it is not possible to obtain a longer-term visa for Russia. A 10-day transit visa is the only option. I am obliged to travel the 3000 km to Kazakhstan and to apply for another visa if necessary. Possibly I have to return to the Netherlands via Kazakhstan and Russia. All depends on Piggy. The Russian visa is date specific. So the entry and exit dates are set. Later entry is possible...

After a one month's stay in the Netherlands, I am dropped off at Schiphol by friends and meet my fellow traveler, Sjoukje, who will travel with me for a few weeks through Mongolia and some Stan countries. The flight to Moscow has a delay, which means that the arrival time is very limited to make the connection with Ulaanbaatar. Sprinting no longer helps. The plane is already busy with its ride ...

The bangs of the fireworks hurt my ears. But the burst of star rain is phenomenal. It is Chinese New Year. The year of the pig is heralded. So it is the year of Piggy !! Unsuspectingly, I booked my flight to Singapore on this 5th of February. The reason to go to Singapore is because my Indonesian visa has almost expired. I could easily apply for a new visa for 2 months. But yeah. All offices are c...

After the three-week stay in the Philippines, I return to my hostel in Kuta, Bali, where my bike and luggage are stored in a storeroom by the friendly staff. As far as I'm concerned, Kuta is not the place where I want to stay for a long time, but the many advantages such as luggage storage, the proximity to the airport...

Here is the third and final part of the bicycle trip through Sulawesi. Again this part is written by Sjoukje and concerns her personal impressions of this trip. I want to thank her for these 3 blogs. She saved me a lot of work. Next you can expect a blog written by me again, describing my backpacking trip in the north of the Philippines.   Today, finally back on the bike again,...

Below is the second part of the bicycle trip through Sulawesi together with Sjoukje. Again, this is Sjoukje's personal diary and a continuation of her story in the previous blog that ended with the funeral ritual of the Torajas. The meat from the slaughtered pigs is distributed on the spot, so now and then one can see someone walking around, carrying an unidentifiable bloody piece of pig on a s...

It took a while, but here is the next blog. The blog is about the cycling trip on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, which I made together with cycling buddy Sjoukje between 23 September and 20 November 2018. On 21 September, after a few delays in my flight flight to Indonesia, I have to transfer Ulaanbaatar-Beijing - Jakarta to the more complicated route via Beijing and Kuala Lumpur. The pl...

Border crossings always make me nervous. Waiting times, forms in foreign languages and characters, extensive inspection of the truck, people jumping the queue and being dependent of the sometimes badly-minded officials. A good dose of Zen is essential. And when you think that everything is over, a car insurance policy must be taken out. Credit cards are not accepted. People want cash in loca...