We're German, German
- krolesh
- Aug 22, 2024
- 19 min read
Parts 1 to 5
So there I was, stuck in Napoli, with no flights, and no bike.
Well ... I can think of way worse places to be stuck.
My free internet at the airport had timed out, and, believe it or not, I couldn't buy a SIM card there, so I decided to take the local bus into the city to work out what to do next.
Naples airport transport is a bit of a shambles, I gotta say. There was a huge line of people waiting for buses in the hot sun, the buses were infrequent, signage was poor, and it all seemed designed to get people frustrated enough to take the expensive cabs, the drivers of which constantly spruiked the new arrivals.
You never seem to be too far from some sort of a scam around here.
I eventually got to the city centre, got a SIM card, and booked a hostel bed for the night.
It was a long walk there, but I didn't mind, as I got to check out the hugely interesting streets and laneways of Storico Centro, the historical centre of the city.
Walking way up the hill to my hostel
My hostel laneway
And the hostel courtyard.
After chatting with Carmen and Manu I came up with a plan. I discovered that I could get a (relatively) cheap flight back to Bishkek from Stuttgart, of all places, so I decided to book a bus ticket to there, to visit Carmen and Manu for a few days, and then fly back to Central Asia, to carry on with my little bike ride.
My flight cancellations were a blessing in disguise. I was gonna get to hang on the farm in Baiereck again.
After sorting all that out I rested, ate, and then headed out again, down the hill.
Napoli is amazing!
The Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona is a superstar here, as he once played for Napoli, and led them to their first ever Italian title, in 1987.
The burbs near my place
Meat meat meat. Even in cupcakes.
Piazza Dante
Herbal medicine store
Of course I had to sit for a beer and some peanuts
Piazza del Gesù Nuovo (New Jesus Square)
I watched the full moon from the harbour. It was all very magnificent.
I can't believe the things I get to see in my life.
After a huge day, and after counting my blessings-in-disguise, I wandered home very late, despite my early bus the next morning.
To Germania
My Flixbuses to Stuttgart travelled via Milano and then Heidelberg, and then I was booked on a Flixtrain from there to Stutty.
Following those Appenines again, northwest this time
Lampugnano bus and train station, on the outskirts of Milano, was pretty dodgy at night. I arrived there very late, hung for a couple of hours, and then caught my overnight connecting Flixbus to Heidelberg. It was tiring, after already being on a bus for a whole day.
TV screen built into the mirror in the toilets at Heidelberg Hbf. Never seen that before.
I had three hours to kill there, so I drank coffee and ate Laugenbrezeln, my favouritest of German savoury bakery snacks.
Baiereck
After the usual Deutschebahn (German railway company) delays, I finally made it to Ebersbach, and Manu and Carmen were waiting at the station to greet me.
It was so great to see them, especially because it was sort of a spontaneous thing. I hadn't stopped off in Germany at the beginning of this little Europe trip because I wanted to keep the whole trip short so I didn't miss the Central Asian summer, but, luckily, the universe had other ideas.
Carmen and Manu have been living at Gudrun and Michael's place, a beautiful local couple who have a farm in the tiny village of Baiereck, and have horses and other animals (which Manu loves), and a big garden (which Carmen loves).
Carmen seems to have made a career out of rejuvenating and making other people's gardens beautiful and productive, and then harvesting the organic produce to cook up all sorts of delectable storms, for herself and others.
I've gotta say that in my opinion Carmen probably treads the lightest on this planet of all of the people I know (which is a lot), and, with all her tree planting and garden magic, her carbon footprint is probably in credit, I'd say.
As opposed to mine, after a lifetime of stomping around the planet.
I'm trying though.
Gudrun and Michael have been so welcoming of me over the years, I've stayed with them a couple of times already, and, although they had their own family coming, they still made room for me at their place. Sweeties.
The view from my upstairs window.
I spent the next couple of days and nights just chilling out on the farm, going for walks, helping a little here and there, jamming with Manu, and visiting other friends nearby. It was so restful and nurturing.
Michael and Gudrun are also musicians, run music classes and choirs, and have a stack of instruments, including 2 beautiful pianos. The bliss!
The other hand's holding the phone
Manu with her buddies.
Very healthy looking rooster
Flowers galore
The first night we went to a birthday gathering and jammed. It was fun, and I met some super nice people.
One day Claudi and Matthias invited us to go for a stroll along a little river near their place. I know those guys through Carmen, both are super lovely people, very accomplished musicians too, and we've had many amazing jams over the years. They're the sweetest people ever.
Strolling through the fields
See the Schloss, or castle, on the hill?
Carmen and Manu playing games
The swimming hole
Looking up at the cosmic truth, from a lie
Mum, dad, and our darling progeny
Manu's art shots
In other words, danger, high voltage
Green, burgundy and purple blackberries
And black ones
Fresh apples. Ahhhh, summer!
A bee home
We couldn't resist our sweet teeth, and went to get gelati
Later we went back to Claudi and Matthias' pad, jammed, and ate the most delicious dinner.
They cooked it on their solar cooker. Works a treat.
One afternoon I borrowed Michael's bike and rode to Uhingen, to visit Manu at her supermarket job.
It was green and delicious
Shoppingland
Hell beer. Hell means bright, not hellish. Erheltlich means available. Get the multicultural vibe.
Manu carrying the Dolomites
If you're a Kaufland member, you can pick these scanners up as you enter the supermarket, and scan your products as you put them in your trolley, then pay at the end.
Later I sat in an Italian-named café and ordered a big cappuccino. After I'd ordered in German and went to pay, the waiter rattled something off in very fast German, and, before giving my brain time to think, I replied, "ah, mi dispiace, non parlo italiano." (sorry, I don't speak Italian). D'oh. Forgot where I was, didn't I. He looked at me blankly for awhile and then said, "Deutsch Oder Englisch." Ooops, sorry cobber, me brain went into a spin.
Beautiful traditional fachwerk buildings
It was stunning riding home in the eve.
Baiereck is famous for its glassblowers. The green thing is a "book wardrobe," basically a free swap library.
"In the valley of the happy."
Later Manu and I went off to walk Kalle, Gudrun and Michael's rather large, and very sweet, dog.
Indian neighbours
Please don't eat me
Manu knows these two stocky fellas from when they lived at Gudrun and Michael's. Unfortunately they really trashed one of the paddocks, as it was raining for weeks at that time, and each bull weighs about the same as a small truck.
Home sweet home
And so it was eventually time to leave Germany. Amazingly, another flight was cancelled the night before I left, and I got an extra day and night. But eventually I had to go.
Bobby summed up my jammin' German leg perfectly, just in case you were wondering where I got the blog title from:
What an amazing three and a half weeks it's been in Europe. I got the chance to catch up with Manu and Michael, to hang with Brad and Amy, Rich and Imo, to meet Gerry and Monica in Dublin, to feast on the the joys of southern Italy in the summer, and to spend an extra few unexpected days with Manu and Carmen in Germany.
This is the Italian and German parts of my trip. I started in Napoli, hung around the Adriatic coast for awhile, then returned to Napoli and bussed and trained it to Stuttgart and Baiereck.
Europe's amazing, I've gotta say. The countryside is beautiful, and cared for. The food is unbelievably good. The cultures and languages are so diverse, and so interesting.
I'd better go back.
Oh yeah, I am going back. In fact, I'm riding there, I forgot.
But before then I've got many lands to explore. And mountains to climb.
For now, it's time to go back to the land of horses, of hard salty qurut, of vast fields, towering mountain passes, round, plain bread, and warm, welcoming smiles.
Yeah, it's time to return to Kyrgyzstan.
A Coffee And A Bish-kek
Carmen walked with me to the local bus stop.
Local cycle posse.
The train station at Schorndorf, where I took the train to the city of Stuttgart, and then the local Ubahn to the airport.
I was lucky enough to have a window seat out of Stuttgart.
German fields
The busy port of Istanbul
Metropolis.
It was a pretty uneventful second leg, from Istanbul back to Kyrgyzstan, but I didn't sleep much, as I had an aisle seat down the back near the toilets, and pretty much every single person that needed to do their business accidentally knocked some body part of mine as they passed.
I arrived early in the morn, and took a marshrutka, a shared van, to the bazaar. It cost me the huge amount of 50c.
Ah, big out breath. I can live within my flimsy budget once again, for awhile.
As soon as I got out and started walking through the bustling streets to the bazaar I suddenly got a really nice feeling of being home. Wow. I hadn't expected that.
I sorta know this city a little now, I know how people are, I know what and where to eat and drink, and where to shop, and I know some people.
I know exactly where to get a really good coffee and a bish-kek.
After a few weeks of being with friends and family, which was amazing, I'm suddenly travelling alone again, and doing it all my own way.
It feels good.
I wandered around the bazaar, and found myself in the meat department.
Axe murderers
Don't ask me what all the bits are.
Ah yes, that reminds me! My guitar's waiting for me back at the hostel!
Fruit kompot, basically puréed fruit or juice.
I hung out in this locals eating house for ages, as it was too early to check in to the hostel.
Pizza and kompot. Mmmmmm. So great to be back.
On Yer Bike
It was so good to get back to the hostel, to hang out with Naveed, Ayganesha, Aydana, Insan, Pavil and the rest of the crew again.
Of course, there's always new people too, and this time I also got to hang with Jeremy from California, and Ev and Rex from Kuala Lumpur.
Jeremy's a really sweet dude man, he's warm and gentle, super relaxed, has a great sense of humour, and loves bugs and really depressing songs, of all things. He's spent a year in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including nine months in Budapest, and is on his way home.
We've been jamming, as he's a really good guitarist and singer, and sings many songs (about suicide and depression) very well. He's not a depressed sorta guy though, he has a great sense of humour and is quite cheery - well, he was when I was with him. He even lets me call him Jizza, but won't allow Jiss.
Ev and Rex are on a short holiday, they're super cool people, Ev does the best Australian accent ever, in fact I swear she's lived in Australia for years, but she denies it. She acts so much like a super switched-on Gen Zedder that pretty much all of us fell off our seats when she told us she was actually 33.
She keeps her age tucked in extremely well.
Naveed had the great idea of riding around Bishkek on hired bikes for a day, so, after a little encouragement, they all agreed to join in.
It was a great day. Hot and dry.
We all had the local drinks, maksym, chalap and kvas. I've had them all before, kvas is my fave, I have it all the time. Sorta cola-esque, but a bit soury too. 25c a cup.
The day was basically one big photo shoot.
Ev with her real smile
Really? Another one?
Watching the local chess masters.
The city looks rather grand in the summer.
The old art deco circus building, which is being renovated, so we couldn't go inside.
I remember these things from when I was a kid. What not to do. They worked.
We had a few errands to run, and eventually went to a Buffet place to eat. Buffet is a great place to eat in Bishkek, it's a restaurant chain, you can get loads of good cheap local food. Unsurprisingly, it's buffet style.
We also went for bubble tea.
Makin' eyes
Ev + attitude
Lovers come here and hang their wishes up on the board, and they always come true, as long as they buy a few expensive bubble teas.
We went to the bazaar, I looked after the bikes while they explored. The bazaar is a dodgy place to leave expensive things, even the cops wouldn't let us leave our bikes right by their copshop because they didn't want to be responsible for them.
Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence does it.
Pizza dinner.
Ala-Archa National Park
The next day we all went for a hike in this beautiful park close to the city. Well, almost all of us went. Naveed wanted to sleep.
We shared a Yandex to the park entrance, about 30 clicks from the city.
Everyone's happy. That apricot yoghurt drink's the bomb, btw.
Yay, the mountains again!
We saw 0% of these critters. Well, maybe a vulture or two, but that was it.
A Kyrgyz man doing a squirrel impersonation. See the cute little fella at the back?
These massive birds live for up to 30 years, and have a wingspan of up to 3 metres. That's over one and a half times my height. And they're spread all over the mountain ranges of Asia.
Glorious river
Yeah it was pretty much another all-day photo shoot.
I came up with the idea of building a drone that follows you when you're hiking or walking around or just doing your thing, and takes pics of you from all angles using AI technology, so you don't even have to think about it. It'd know what sort of pics you like, which side is your best profile, and would always find the best light and the best angles, and spruce you up right at the end, during its little AI post-production process.
I suggested the idea to Ev, she said that drones like that already exists.
Yeah, of course they bloody do.
We had a lovely picnic, but it was scorching hot and there was absolutely no shade whatsoever.
Ev and Rex made the announcement that this is the first time in their lives that they've ever had a picnic in nature like this, on the ground, not within a manicured park or on a picnic table somewhere.
Well there ya go.
The lives people lead!
I guess growing up in hygiene-conscious built-up Kuala Lumpur, you just don't do this sort of thing much.
We walked upstream. The track and the river were sort of the same thing for awhile.
Wild, wild horses.
Every now and then Jeremy would bug-ger off
It really was a sweet day.
Ev and Rex couldn't get their heads around the fact that Jeremy and I were drinking straight from the river, despite me explaining that the water is coming directly from a glacier way up in the mountains.
Eventually time got away from us, and we headed back, and had to hustle to get a lift back to Bishkek, paying a lot more than we did on the way there, because the drivers have a little cartel goin' on, and they've got ya by the balls, don't they.
Westwards Ho
No, I wouldn't call you that.
Eventually it was time to leave Bishkek, and I wasn't the only one choofing off.
Ev and sexy Rexy went off to Kazakhstan.
Jeremy was heading to Tashkent, and then to Samarkand, in Uzbekistan. He forgot to take off his plastic shoe covers, which people were wearing in the hostel, because they were too lazy to take off their shoes. Tut tut.
I said goodbye to my friends Pakistani Naveed and Russian Pavil.
And Aydana too.
They're the sweetest people, I'll miss them.
And finally I was on the road again. It'd been a while since I was back on the saddle of my fully loaded Black Bewdy, and it felt good. My legs definitely felt the ride by the end of the day though, they're a little outa shape after all this public transport and cars and rubbish.
The road skirted along the mountains the whole day. I'll be heading south tomorrow, and will need to get over them.
Back to lunches of lepeishka (nan), tomatoes and cucumbers.
My random lunch spot in the shade. It was bloody hot.
Watermelon man
Cemetery
Ol' Vlad Lenin is still ubiquitous in Central Asia, even after all these troubled years
So are gorgeous and unique mosques
This little fella turned up as I arrived at a guest house in a small town called Kara Balta.
I sent the pic to Jeremy. He was jealous.
Random scenes from riding around town
Over The Hills And Far Away
The next day I had no option but to face it.
It was time to climb some mountains again, really high ones, and I was a little late in getting going.
But the day really didn't turn out anything like I thought it would.
Heading to the hills
This region has gas reserves, there were a few of these on the plains.
And then I started the climb.
Not too long into one of the steep climbs, as I was feeling the pain, a small truck was parked on the side of the road, and the driver was outside his truck, and asked me if I wanted a lift through the tunnels up ahead.
Well, what a bloody stroke of luck that was, as I already knew the tunnels up there are super dangerous due to lack of ventilation, and cyclists aren't allowed inside anyway.
So I accepted the kind offer, and before I knew it, my bike and gear was in the back of the truck, and I was heading up the hill without killing my legs.
Timur, the driver, turned out to be the most warm, generous, hospitable and amazing man. It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with him.
Suddenly I'm in a truck!
Timur, a great man.
Local campers
Moulting sheep, and a little rain
The views were absolutely amazing, I gotta say
Roadside yurt snack stop
Wow, these switchbacks are so easy in a truck!
The tunnel entrance
Inside the death chamber. Vehicles were pumping out thick pollution, and despite our closed windows, it was pretty horrible in there.
The view over the other side of the first high pass. There were more passes to come.
Timur was very happy to have me in his truck - actually, no, I lie - Timur really loved having me in his truck, and insisted I stay with him through the next tunnels.
I wasn't arguing, it was so nice to spend time with him, even though he didn't speak a word of English. We communicated in Russian via Google Translate.
We stopped for an early dinner, of anything veg I could get my hands on, including a Greek-ish salad and some deep-fried samsy, and Timur absolutely insisted on paying. He honestly wouldn't let me get my purse out. Ever.
What a guy.
Love the cracked windscreen.
Timur is sweet. He has three daughters, like me, and one is getting married at the end of the month. He invited me to the wedding in Bishkek, which would be an absolute hoot, but I politely declined, as I'll more than likely be a long way from there by the end of the month.
But we talked a lot, he told me all sorts of things about his life, the struggles he has, and really opened up to me in a way that I'm sure he doesn't necessarily get the chance to do that often. He seemed to really appreciate our conversations. Well, he didn't seem to, he told me many many times how good it felt for him to spend time with me. So so sweet. And of course the feeling was mutual.
The evening scenery was an absolute treat.
Droving on a bike! Well that's new.
The stunning Kyrgyz steppe
Manas on his horse again, unfortunately it looks like his lance got stuck in the Kyrgyz flag, must be so annoying for him.
Cruisin over another pass, this time into Jalal-abad oblast (province).
It was green and forested over the other side of the pass
And then, as the sun was setting, we approached the incredible shores of Lake Toktogul, and the views were to die for, but, confusingly, we didn't need to die for them, they were just there.
Don't see this sort of stuff every day, do ya
Timur insisted we stop and spend the night in a hostel in the town of Kara-kul, and, despite my protestations that I was fine in my tent or even in the truck, he wouldn't allow me to pay for the accomodation either. So sweet.
We shared a small room, and he kept me awake for ages with his snoring, but hopefully I got him back later in the night with my own.
But that's something I guess I'll never know.
To Kochkor-Ata
Timur was also actually supposed to be working while we were galavanting around the countryside.
He drives a refrigerated truck, and delivers frozen and refrigerated foods to supermarkets and other food outlets all over the place.
He got up early and did some deliveries in the town, then did another couple of rounds with me after I got up a little while later.
Our hostel street
The small town of Kara-kul
One of the reasons Timur had insisted we sleep in Kara-kul was because he wanted me to see a certain part of the Naryn River in the daylight. So thoughtful.
Gorgeous colour innit
Fish farms
Another great warrior
Tucking in, Timur scoffed three pieces, me one
Timur kept telling me how much he was enjoying himself
Sweet huh. Even though Timur said these things in private, I think he'd be ok with me sharing them. It just shows you what kind of amazing guy he is.
The truck
Timur had a whole lot of deliveries to do in Maylisuu, a region way up some dirt roads, a long way off the main road.
It was slow, but interesting. The thing is, it was his first time delivering in this region, and, rather than using offline navigation, (which is quite problematic out here anyway because most of the small shops don't appear on any maps), Timur found places simply by stopping all the time and asking people.
It was like being in a rickshaw in India. And just like in India, it took forever.
Old school oil wells. Just like in those old movies in Texas.
Fatima supermarket. One of our many delivery spots.
Off to get a bottle of kvas.
One way to cool off.
Eventually we made it back to the main road, and, of course, Timur bought me dinner didn't he.
Kyrgyzstan is really divided into two separate regions, north and south. The north is way more Russified, the south much more traditional Islamic. Timur referred to people in the south as 'uncivilised,' which is miles away from what I've experienced.
We shared a room again, a bigger one this time.
Dodgy as. A fan without a protective covering, installed right in the doorway. Watch the fuck out as you come in.
Never seen a shithole with such artistic feet
To Jalal-abad
In the morn it was finally time for me to move on, as Timur was going in a different direction.
It had been an amazing couple of days with him, we had a really beautiful connection, and it was super interesting for both of us as well.
Timur wobbling around on my bike in the morn.
He cried as we said goodbye. Really.
Watering the weeds. Actually, there were a few small planted bushes in there as well.
My guest house balcony
Fruit flavoured tea is big here.
Resting from the hot road
People suffer from birdik here too, but generally after too much vodka, rather than beer
Pumpkin acrobatic troupe having a rest
Gourd heavens
Roadside memorial
The hot road to Jalal-abad. Not the Jalalabad in Afghanistan of course, which actually isn't that far away, as the golden eagle flies.
I parked here for awhile, chatting with Lali on WhatsApp about her Uni subject options and exchange possibilities. Talk about different worlds. The range kept being dodgy though.
Romantic roadside stop
They love their flags around here
My guest house didn't exist. I farted around on these dodgy roads for ages in the blazing sun looking for it. Frustrating. Eventually I went back into the guts of the city and found a Russian hostel.
The bazaar in Jalal-abad was good, but nowhere near as big as I'd expected, given that the city is the third largest in Kyrgyzstan.
To be fair, it's not a big city though, with a population of 120,000, out of a total country population of about 7 million.
Russian travel agent
I was so tired I didn't even climb this hill.
I know. Pretty unlike me, huh.
Head and collars above the rest
It's hard to admit, but this was my dinner. Everything I saw on the streets was so meaty that I couldn't bear it anymore.
My sweatart
Kurt and Darina
The next morn, as I took off from Jalal-abad, I bumped into Swiss Kurt, who was waiting on the side of the road for his Irish partner Darina to finish chatting to some local guy.
We chatted for awhile, Darina eventually caught up, and before we knew it we'd become a threesome, in the most wholesome way possible.
Kurt and Darina are amazingly interesting, warm and super friendly people. Both have a deep love for music, so we immediately connected, chatting about all these random bands that at least one of us had heard of.
Those guys have also travelled more than pretty much anyone I've ever met, and most of it has been on bicycles. They've been everywhere, man. In fact, both have been to over 100 countries each, which, if you think about it, is a lot.
And besides the initial getting there, they do it all by pedal power.
Yet another mosque portrait
Takin a back road out of Jalal-abad
Darina pretending she's happy, whilst climbing a hill in the hot sun
Great that they've got rubbish bins. Bummer hardly anyone uses them.
Yay, we made it over the low pass
Another of the five thousand horsemen of the apocalypse
Stock photo
We stopped for gallons of cold sweet drinks and some lunch, and a couple of Italian cyclists from Roma turned up too.
Yep, Kyrgyzstan is a bit of a cyclist mecca at the moment, especially this part of it. There's a lot of masochists out there.
I gave this little girl and her cousin some fat bangles I've been carrying around since India. At last, I got rid of them! This girl was so happy, she kept walking past showing me she was wearing it, although it's still a little too big for her.
Just like bloody sheep
We passed through a super interesting town, Özgön, and we would've loved to stay there, as it was Friday, mosque day, and the town was pumping. But there was nowhere decent to stay, so we rode on.
Nice hats aren't they
As it got late we looked around for campsites, and Kurt found a nice one by a canal.
Darina kindly offered to cook, so Kurt and I could jam - me on guitar and him on gas bottle.
This is the bloody life innit
To Osh
The next morning we headed off to the second largest city in the country, Osh.
It's not really that big though, with only about 250,000 Oshalians living there.
Starting to look like his crop
We stopped for brekky, and guzzled Coke
And samsy
On the outskirts of Osh
Ride 'em, cowboys
The traffic was thick, but we breathed in and slid between it all.
G-osh!
I've wanted to go to Osh forever. I've always wanted to see what it was like. And now I'm here to explore it.
Kurt, Darina and I plan to do some riding in the hills away from the city for a few days, before they fly all the way back to Switzerland.
It's so great that I'll get the chance to hang with them some more, we've been having such a great time together.
Once they've gone I'll stay for a little longer, before embarking on yet another leg of what has become rather a millipedal journey.
Yeah, soon I'm gonna head over the border, to the magnificent and historic land of Uzbekistan.
It just keeps getting better, innit❤️
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