My kingdom for a bigger kingdom!

29/4/11

Targu Mures, Transylvania, Romania

This update is nothing special. It will not change your world. Do not expect it to buy you a nice steak and lobster dinner with that apple cobbler for dessert (lobster is just too much work for something unsubstantial and mostly butter and lemon, anyway).

It is just an update to let you know I am still alive.

And kicking.

Facebook says: Heading out? Stay connected!

Today, if all goes as planned, I will be a millionaire in lottery receipts. I mean I will be leaving Bulgaria and entering Romania. I know not how difficult it will be to cross the border, but if the Turkey-Bulgaria border is standard for borders in this neck of the woods, then I'm in for a long haul. Especially considering how this particular crossing is perhaps the only functioning border crossing between the two nations. You would think all former Soviet Bloc countries would get along splendidly following its collapse, considering they all wear t-shirts saying “I Survived the Soviet Bloc.” I suppose this is not the case.

Sorry about the lack of pix, but my camera is on strike. Damn unions. Actually, the connection is so slow that I fear even attempting to upload a picture will crash the connection and leave us all postless. I will instead try to paint picture in your head. Crap, all I have is red mental paint. OK, don't panic, we can still make some apples! But we all hate red delicious apples. I know! How about a nice sun. But is it rising or setting? Ah, forget all visuals. Let's move on.

The other day, just as I had decided to leave the last sizable city before the border, I spied a fellow touring cyclist stopped at an information booth just ahead. This was an entirely chance encounter because I had passed up the turning point for the road I wanted, which I shrugged off as I decided to see more of the city. The cyclist's name is Veronica, and she, too, had stopped because of fortune, though whether it is good or bad is up in the air. Her knee was giving her major problems, so she had to cut her tour short and thus was taking a train back to her home country of Romania that night. Instead of pressing on like I am wont to do, I thought it would be interesting and valuable to stay and talk with Veronica that day before her train. After all, she was the first touring cyclist I had the time to meet thus far on the trip. Needless to say, I had plenty of questions for her, and she for me.

Perhaps the best part of the encounter, outside of being able to speak fluent English with someone finally, was that we shared the same ideas about travel and living. We both appreciate and seek out freedom in life. Though she is a teacher of French and English living in the capital city of Romania, Bucharest, her dream is to move to the mountains of Transylvania, where she said she admires the simple life they live. Their favorite motto, roughly translated, is, “Wait, and things will solve. Have patience.”

A major reason why I take my bicycle is that it offermore freedom in traveling than through a plane, a train, a bus, or even a car. For instance, yesterday I spent a few minutes every now and then photographing the wildflowers on a deserted country road. This is an activity only possible through travel by your own power, and even in a car you speed along too quickly to notice any individual flower. At least I hope you would keep your eyes on the road in these hilly, curvy, dangerous road conditions. Also, all the people I interact with on this trip, I do so because I am on a bicycle, whether it be through the warmshowers website, the old men outside of cafes that I ask for directions and help, or the kids running after me shouting, “Hello! What is your name?” People give you respect (and a certain amount of distance; I am not sure if that is the smell or the fact they think I am crazy). People give you food and water. People give me more than mountains or rivers ever could. And all you have to do is pedal a few thousand miles to get it. Who would have thought paradise would be so easily attainable?

Gule Gule Turkey!

17/4/11

Edirne, Turkey

25 miles from Istanbul and the buildings spring up like weeds

Hello folks and folkettes! This is your neighborhood Bobby checking in following nearly a month's hiatus (thank you government of Turkey for blocking the blog website; and thank you Tor for your magical hiding of internet access locations). What has happened in that month, you ask? Why, nothing more than L.I.F.E. Somehow, Laura was able to secure and transport a travel-sized game of Life. That game's amazing, except that there is no bicycle piece – only cars. Then again, they don't really make tandems for babies, and there is very little respect for cops who ride around on bicycles (especially recumbent bikes (CORBS anyone?)). I digress. Oh how I do digress. I also ungress. Haha, jokey joke. It really shows that I haven't written in a while, eh?

Where am I at the moment? Where have I been? What the hell has been going on? I am in Turkey and am sitting within 5 km of both Greece and Bulgaria (wait, you're sitting?).

Ah, the joys of tavuk and kuzu "şiş" aka chicken and lamb shish kebab.

The lady I had scheduled to stay with (via warmshowers) is moving to Canada in a week and so has left me alone in a cluttered house while she spends the night in a more cluttered one in the city. I'm fine with this, except that the washing machine makes weird noises occasionally that make me jump.

Up until the 14^th, Laura and I had been touring Peloponnese, the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kos, and select parts of Turkey. I should stress “select” because all we really discovered was that we absolutely had to return in order to witness all the amazing things you can find here.

Mmm, that's some good vantage point

From the many breathtaking landscapes (huge coastlines, rocky hills with endless olive groves, desolate mountains of the east, wildflowers in bloom along the Black Sea, swaths of forest and farmland near Greece and Bulgaria, many pretty mountain-rimmed lakes, and impressive cities galore) to the insane number of historical sites (I'm talking “Dawn of Civilization” type stuff) and topped with genuine people who can't wait to ask me “What is your name?”, Turkey is the number one place I'd return to out of all the countries I've seen. I must admit that to do it on a bicycle, to tour the entirety of Turkey, could occupy the greater part of a year, but that is the best way to appreciate fully the richness of the land and the warmth of the people. Truly, there is no greater hospitality than that gifted to a young touring cyclist in need of shelter.

Laura and I went about things differently on our tour than I did with Sean. For one, we were happy to take our time, knowing full well that we'd need to take some extra form of transportation as Laura's flight approached. So we had days where we only rode 20 km, stopping to pick wildflowers all the while.

Such a kind Turkish village family that took me in; the full story is worth a post in itself!

But we also took fewer chances while camping; well, I should say that we took different chances, either climbing well out of sight or getting lucky with no one around. Indeed, the disparate landscapes of Greece/Turkey and the whole of Western Europe made the two trips quite different. There were many spots in Peloponnese that were absolutely free of people, especially during this off season. On the other hand, I'd say that only in Spain did we find regions completely devoid of people (at least living, breathing ones); everywhere else we had to either camp in forests just outside of cities where you could hear the motorway all night, or in the backyards of hotels perched on a dark hill and closed for the winter, or smack dab in the middle of a town but surrounded on all sides by a natural fortress of hedges.

Laura's departure was hard to face following the wonderful time we had together, but it was necessary for the both of us; she is now tending to her lovely pup Spartacus and working at her hospital while I am hightailing it to Frankfurt to meet up with Andorf in mid May. Tomorrow, I shall say goodbye to this fertile land of plenty and say hello to the next step in the journey: beautiful, bustling, beastly, bullish, bartending, bra-stealing, bear-chested, bubblicious, bbbbbb, average Bulgaria!

Oh, speaking of “bullish” there, let's all support our local basketball team, the Reed Rockets, who just took 5^th place in this weekend's tournament at Troy Junior High School. Go get 'em, Reed Rockets! Stone them! I mean rock!

Er, what I really meant to say was to be vocal and boisterous in supporting the Bulls, who just emerged victorious over the Pacers in Game 1 of their first series. For reference, they posted the same exact record this year as did our last championship team. Coincidence? You be the judge. Or fate. But don't we make our own fate? Exactly. And the Bulls have made themselves into fated champions of the world.