For our first few weeks in China a lot of our meals will be in local restaurants and hotels.  When we eat as a group in China we will order for the entire group.  However when you are out cycling and want to stop at a restaurant you will need to order on your own. 

In larger towns and cities restaurants may have english menus or pictures of the food on the wall that you can point too. You can also walk around the restaurant and point at what other people are eating, a slightly embarrassing but effective method of ordering. In many of the small villages we cycle though you will have to make due with hand signals and making animal noises to place your order.
 
Smartphone owners can always use one of the travel apps we recommended in a previous post but others might find this food decoder handy.
 
Our local guide, Zabi (pictured above in the green jacket), provided us with this food decoder to help make the ordering process a bit easier.  Print it out and carry it with you on tour, I think you'll find it comes in pretty handy. 



I've reached out to Zabi to find out what 'agaric' and 'hairtail' are, if you know please tell us in the comments.  


 

I learned a lot of things on my scouting trip to China.  Here is a random assortment you may find helpful if you are joining us on our Silk Route Bike Tour.  These tips obviously apply to China. I'll share some tips for the other 6 countries we'll be riding through later on.

-Shanghai has two airports.  One is largely domestic, the other largely international (but not exclusively).  Be sure you know which one you fly into because they are 30 km apart.
 
-Most of our hotels in China do not have laundry service.  Local laundries require 24 hours to wash your clothes. 

-Don’t ever stop in middle of a road/bike path, unless you are fond of being run over by an electric scooter.

-Bring a bell or horn.  A really loud one. Also bring mirror and handlebar bag that has a map case.

-Wean yourself off of coffee before coming.  Get used to drinking tea. 



-Carry the name of each hotel we stay in written in Mandarin with you each day. Believe me, at some point this will save your ass.  Especially if you follow the advice at the end of this list.

-Internet in most of the hotels we stay in is cable only, no wifi, so iPad and Mac Air users are out of luck

-If you enter your hotel and the lights don’t work it is because you didn’t insert your key card into the automatic cut off switch at the door.
 
-Hotels charge for dirty towels and sheets.  A lot.  They will check your room thoroughly before you check out. So don't clean your bike with a towel and don't steal anything.



-SIM cards and phones are cheap in Shanghai, you should plan on getting one.

-Every time you take a cab take a picture of the cab’s ID and phone number, just in case you forget something.

-You will have to carry your bags upstairs at most hotels in China so pack accordingly.

-Always carry toilet paper. (this is a good rule for all our tours actually).

-If you don’t like noodles, I hope you like rice.



-Drink bottled water or boiled water.  A lot of the water is not safe to drink.

-Learn to use chopsticks. Long chopsticks were easier for me to use than short ones. Wooden ones were easier to use than plastic or metal. I've heard the reusable plastic chopsticks restaurants use are rarely cleaned well so its best to use the disposable ones or bring your own.

-Buy a filter mask for dust and smog (if you have allergies or asthma take extra precautions)

-No skinny tires.  All tires should be 28mm or wider.  You've been warned.

And Finally: Get lost! It’s fun and China is very safe and fun to explore.  Just get found again before I have to come looking for you!

Well there you go.  I told you they were assorted!  More coherent info about preparing for the Silk Route Bike Tour coming soon, including a food decoder and some awesome language tips. 

Been to China?  Have some tips of your own?  Love to hear them in the comments.

Paul


Images via Wikipedia


 

Silk Route Tour Leader Paul McManus took some nice photos while scouting the new route from Shanghai to Xi'an. Check them out here, here and here.

Right now I am wearing gloves in my hotel room just outside Dengfeng, China. The 70 CNY ($10) hotel we’ve chosen for the tour might be lacking a few of the finer things (like heat) but it does have one advantage, it is located 300 meters from the gate of the famous Shaolin Temple, birthplace of KungFu. 

I’m here scouting the new route of the 2012 Silk Route Bike Tour.  In 2012 the tour will run East to West (a much better direction) and it will start in Shanghai and finish in Istanbul. 

Fortunately for us when we bike through here on tour in 2012 the weather will be warm so the heat will not be a problem.  And the hotel is not without its charms.  It is run by a very nice Chinese family and has hot showers and internet.  The restaurant downstairs serves a wicked stir fired rabbit, complete with paws and face  (it’s surprisingly hard to eat a rabbit when you’re looking at its cooked face). 



Why do Monks a Priests Always put their temples at the top of a Mountain?

The ride into Dengfeng is a long one, about 150 km with a few good hills to finish the day (I know how much riders just love it when camp is at the top of a long climb).  The Temple is surrounded by mountains, a welcome relief from the rest of eastern china, which has been pathetically flat thus far.  The Shaolin Temple is located only 300 meters from our hotel and riders will have plenty of time to visit it in the morning before our short ride of 60 km to our rest day in Luoyang

Figuring I could see the Shaolin Temple when I return on tour, I took some time to climb to another nearby temple, the Songshan Temple.  The hotel owner told me it was difficult to get to but really that only made we want to do it more.  In my experience the more difficult something is to get to, the more rewarding the experience usually is.



Stair Master

A six kilometer long flight of stairs leads to the temple.  It was tough.  My guide dropped off after about a km of climbing.  I told him I would only go a little further then come back, I think we both new I was lying.  I wanted to reach the top. 

After about 2 kms the route begins to hug the mountain side, dip under rock ledges and cross some impressive gorges.   I felt a little like Frodo climbing to Mordor, save for the big fiery eye at the top. I was alone on the steps at seven in the morning and for two hours I climbed without seeing or hearing anyone but the wind and birds (a real treat after two weeks in China, which is never quiet). 

At the top the Temple was under renovation.  The grounds were full of stone cutters and carpenters hard at work in the chill air.  The temple itself was pretty impressive.  But more impressive were these guys. 

In the video it’s hard to see, but what you are witnessing is a group of about 15 men trying to drag what must be a 500 kg brass bell up to the top of the mountain.  And all the while that they are trying to heave this thing up one step at a time other men are passing them with 50 kg sacks of sand on their heads!  Made me feel a little silly for being winded at all. 



500 Yards of Foulness

"Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I can't even imagine. Or maybe I just don't want to." -  Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption

Before reaching Dengfeng riders will have to cycle through the city of Gao Zhou and I imagine that quote will resonate with them more than ever. 

Gao Zhou is perhaps one of the dirtiest cities I have ever visited in my life.  The streets are muddy and the air is filled with cement and coal dust from half dozen mines and factories that surround the city.  Everything is coated in a thick grey layer of dust. The landscape has been stripped bare in China’s search for resources to build the infrastructure to support 20% of the world’s population.  The dry air, mixed with all that dust gives you some pretty epic boogers. 

But riding through the city will only take an hour of so and soon the mountains that surround the Temples near Dengfeng will come into view and the road will improves. You climb into the mountains past centuries old temples and parks and up to the Shaolin Temple where a giant statue of a Monk greets you and humbles you.

All in all, I think it will be a pretty good day of riding. 

Here are some more photos of the area:

Most people in Samarkand, including emperor Timur could not read these as they were illiterate.

As it turns out quite a lot!

Especially if he was just there, as our guest author Ashok Vaish was.  He recently visited Samarkand with his family and his blog does a wonderful job of outlining some of the history and events that have impacted the city. He also highlights his words with some very nice photos.  Enjoy!

Samarkand

by Ashok Vaish

Samarkand has been at the center of many empires. Here’s a list for the history buff:

The Achaemenids (6th – 4th Century B.C.)
The Greeks with the conquest by Alexander the Great
(4th Cen. B. C. on)
Kushan  - A Greco-Indian Buddhist empire.
(1st – 3rd Century A.D.)
Sassanid – a Persian dynasty. Zoroastrian, Buddhist
(3rd-7th Century)
Arab – briefly part of the Caliphate after muslim conquest in eighth century.
Samanid – a Persian, Shia empire (9th and 10th Century)
Turkic Sunni Muslim rule from the Aral Sea kingdom of Khwarezm (11th -13th Cen.)
Completely destroyed, burned and looted by Genghis Khan (March 1220)
Rebuilt by Timur Lang, a descendant of Genghis
(14th Century)
Timur Lang and his dynasty (14th – 16th Century)
Uzbeks, Bukhara Emirates (16th – 18th Century)
Tsarist Russia and Soviet colonization. (19th & 20th Century)
Independent Uzbekistan (1991 – present)

Timur Lang’s monuments define Samarkand today. They have been restored somewhat from the ravages of time and violent cultures since the 14th century when they regally dominated the Samarkand skyline.

Timur’s Mausoleum



Timur ruled from 1370 – 1405. He saw himself as Genghis Khan’s heir and was a great conqueror in the Mongol tradition: a brutal destroyer, sacker and looter across Asia. But he was also a builder of a beautiful city and a patron of the arts. In 1404 he lost his favorite grandson in a battle and was devastated. Timor, the  murderer of more than a million people, is said to have cried for two days. He built this mausoleum in memory of his grandson. He is buried here too along with his other descendants.

The tombs inside the Mausoleum

There is a famous curse attached to opening Timur’s tomb: A sign is carved on it warning that whoever would dare disturb the tomb would bring unspeakable horror onto his land. The tomb lay unopened for 500 years.  On June 19, 1941 a Russian expeditionist, Mikhail Gerasimov, opened the tomb. Three days later he learned of the Nazi invasion of Russia which resulted in 30 million Russians being killed!
Other things to See in Samarkand:
Registan Square

Registan Square, Samarkand



This was the center of the city of Samarkand, built in desert motifs and consisted of places of worship and public discourse. It was a great bustling place with colleges teaching philosophy, math and astronomy as well as a silk route bazaar with eclectic wares from across Timur’s empire – from India to Persia and beyond.
Bibi Khanum’s Mosque

Timur built this mosque in memory of his wife, Bibi Khanum, in 1399 after he returned from his Indian campaign, where he sacked and looted Delhi, India, because “the sultanate there was too tolerant toward its Hindu subjects”.

He brought back more than 50,000 prisoners and 95 elephants who helped build this mosque with Indian architectural elements. Timur’s great grandson, Babur conquered India in 1526 founding the Moghul dynasty which ruled until 1847.

A huge stone Koran dominates the center of the square.

The whole complex is being restored with Russian assistance, a process that began in Soviet times.

Shah-e-Zinda Tombs



This is a beautiful necropolis not far from the Bibi Khanum mosque, where legend has it that Kusam ibn Abbas, prophet Mohammed’s cousin is buried. He came to Samarkand in the seventh century to preach Islam and was murdered by the Zoroastrians. His tomb was regarded for a long time as a pilgrimage site, equivalent to Mecca for those who could not afford the journey to Arabia.

Samarkand’s Bazaar



A bustling market of delights in Samarkand. Colorful dresses, scarves and headwear distinguish the vendors of fruits, vegetables, almonds and black sweet raisins.

Potatoes, potatoes.. selling New World food on the Old Silk Route

Big Thanks to Ashok for writing this wonderful post and sharing it with us! 

Related Links:

Info about our 12,000 km Silk Route Bike Tour from Shanghai to Istanbul:

http://tourdafrique.com/tours/silkroute/overview

An explanation of Confirmation Bias by one of my favorite blogs, You Are Not So Smart:

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/23/confirmation-bias/

Link to the original blog post by Venture Capitalist Ashok Vaish:

http://ayecapitalist.com/2011/10/21/samarkand-an-oasis-of-exotic-delights-on-the-old-silk-road/#comments

My heart sank a bit when I heard the ‘Ferry Overlord’ (I have no idea what his real title is) said there would be no ferry again today.  “100 percent no ferry?,.. no chance at all?” I pleaded.  “No ferry, maybe” was his cryptic reply.  Aydin, our local support and the bane of my existence at times flashed me an all to familiar look that at the same time expressed his disappointment but also managed to say ‘ this is not my fault’.  Aydin had actually been very helpful in Baku.  He knew the city well and was well connected.  I knew he was trying his best to organize the ferry crossing for us but it’s just not a process that lends itself to organization. 

First of all, no one seems to know exactly what building to go to get whichever set of papers you need to get your clients, or your van or the bikes on the ferry.  We walked around the compound a few times, asking in one office only to be sent to another office and eventually sent back to the original office.  Secondly, no one knows when the ferry will arrive in dock.  Our ferry was currently sitting a few miles off shore waiting for the train to arrive.  The ferries mostly carry train cars and trucks loaded with goods, or oil or coal or whatever…  If the train doesn’t arrive on time there is no point in the ferry docking because berthing fees are quite high and it’s free to float in the middle of the Caspian.  Thirdly, no one has any idea which ferry will arrive.  There are anywhere from 3 to 7 ferries between Turkmenbashy and Baku depending on who you ask.  For some reason that I could not seem to understand no one knows which one will arrive in port at any give time, until of course it actually arrives.  The prices for passengers and cargo are different for each ferry so you can’t buy a ticket until they know which one will dock.  The workers at the dock have a way of making you feel like you should somehow understand all this and act really bored when you ask questions that might possibly clarify how you are going to get across the Caspian Sea on one of their boats.  

The dock area has a sort of typical industrial look to it.  Pretty basic cement buildings and your smattering of portable buildings.  Strangely though there is a bar/restaurant right in the middle.  When we visited the docks at midnight to buy our tickets at midnight the place was alive with music and dancing.  Old, obviously wealthy men, sat in tight circles having private discussions.  The whole place had a gangster feel to it, like this was the group of people who actually ran the docks.  I wasn’t really in the party mood though.  Not having slept because at any moment the ferry overlord could call and tell me to come get my tickets now or risk missing the only ferry to arrive in 2 days.  We got the tickets from a nice lady in a well lit office who was polite and efficient.  Then we were sent down an alley and around the back of the compound to get the ticket for the Mercedes Van.  For a second I thought we had been sent down the wrong way ( I also had a strong feeling I was about to get mugged) but sure enough a few hundred yards down the alley was a dim light coming from an open door.  Inside were two men smoking cigarettes, drinking vodka and watching TV.  Everyone at the docks has their own TV in their office.  The ferry overlord always had his set to a music channel.  These guys were watching some kind of Turkish soap opera.  Aydin spoke to them and laughed with them and finally they wrote a ticket, I paid and they promised to call when the ferry was unloaded and ready to take passengers. 

At 5 am on the 19th we got the call to head to the docks.  At 7 am we cleared customs and climbed on to the ship where a large Russian women took our passports and tickets and gave us rooms.  ‘NYET NYET, I KEEP!”  She screamed at me when I politely asked if we could have our passports back.  I wasn’t going to argue.  The Ferry departed at 9 am on the 19th.  I SMS’d out local support in Turkmenistan the name of the ferry and the departure time so they hopefully would be able to meet us on the other side without too much hassle. 

The ferry itself was quite pleasant.  In contrast to the ferry from Aswan that we take on the Africa tour this ferry had almost no people on it.  The rooms were spacious and almost clean.  The restaurant served decent food ( although I’m not totally convinced that rabbit was actually rabbit, but the crew ate it as well so….) I spent most of my time up on deck in the sole lounge chair the boat had to offer, placed the shade of a bulkhead.  It was quiet, there was a cool breeze and I slept for a good 8 hrs. 

At 11:30 pm on the 19th we reached the gulf in Turkmenbashy.  I could see the lights of the city and still had hopes that maybe the tour would actually stay on schedule despite this crazy ferry.  Then I heard the anchor drop.  At 11 am on the 20th the anchor came back up and at 1 pm we docked.  At 5 pm on the 20th we had finally cleared customs and rode to the hotel.  Then the trip started to get surreal. 

We rode thru Turkmenbashy to a new area call Avazar.  Two years ago this place didn’t exist, it was nothing but desert.  Now there are dozens of kilometers of well lit streets snaking everywhere.  Some go nowhere, others are lined with 15 story hotels all lit with pastel flood lights like you’d see in Daytona beach.   There are discos and casinos and something called a Children’s Hotel, the Turkmeni version of summer camp.  Currently the Children’s Hotel was filled with 50 Hatians who had been rescued from the recent earthquakes there (really).  There is also a canal that takes water out of the Caspian only to return it back again 8 kms later.  You can take a boat trip on the canal for 3 manat ($1).  “To see the nice hotels and bridges” was the response I got when I asked why I would want to take a boat trip on the canal.  “ To see the bridges that were built so cars could drive over the canal?”  “Yes”. 

We are staying at the Kuwwat Hotel. It’s fabulous.  5 Star.  The showers are hot and powerful, the A/C is cold the beds are big and firm and the staff is really helpful.  We were supposed to stay the Hotel Hazar.  A 4 story soviet era hotel where the water is on for 2 hrs a day and the cockroaches help you clean up after dinner.  Our local support change the venue, at no cost to us, so that a TV crew could interview and film us riding our bikes in the new Avazar area.  Avazar is  kind of a pet project of the President to help bolster tourism on the Caspian.   The Caspian is beautiful here and the beaches are nice, the hotels that have been built are luxurious and ridiculously cheap for what they offer.  I guess the TV crew felt that if they filmed us riding near the Hazar and the President saw it he would be very upset that they had filmed tourists at a decrepit old building when he had just financed this beautiful new tourist area.  So we got a nice upgrade and they got a nice bit of propaganda.  Fair enough.  If the rest of Turkmenistan is as interesting as this I’m gonna love it.

Welcome to Azerbaijan, Good Luck.  That’s what the sign at the border said. I’m not kidding.  It made me chuckle as I passed under the sign on the way to immigration.  I had no idea how prescient that sign would turn out to be.  We’d been warned.  Our support staff in Azerbaijan would be difficult to communicate with and wouldn’t be good with details, I thought I was prepared.  I crossed the border first, to meet Aydin and Araz.  Immediately I could see that communication would be tough.  Aydin spoke very broken English and Araz none at all.  No big deal.  I’ve dealt with these situations before, just talk slowly, use hand signs, repeat yourself often.  I went over the route, three times.  I explained how our system of lunch and dinner and flagging works, how may riders we have, asked about where we were staying etc.. etc…  “NO PROBLEM, NO PROBLEM, I ARRANGE EVERYTHING was Aydin’s response (Aydin doesn’t speak as much as yell).  Well.  At the end of the day we had a 3 day transit paper for our vehicle (our trip thru Azerbaijan would take 5 days).  We missed a turn and took a route that was 20 kms longer than it should have been, and our hotel had been double booked.  Welcome to Azerbaijan, good luck. 

The good news is that Azerbaijan is a beautiful country, the riding was easy, the riders took everything in stride, and we all made it safely to the Karavanserai in Sheki (a beautiful and historic Silk Route hotel).  Over the next few days we would face similar frustrations but also have some really nice experiences.  I visited a village in the Caucus Mountains where for 4 generations they have made carpets, rugs and pillows by hand.  The men herd sheep and shear the wool.  The women dye the wool using plants and soil and weave it into intricate patterns. A small bath mat sized rug taking a month to make and larger ones up to 4 months.  We sat with them and had chai, homemade bread and cheese from sheep’s milk.  The view from the house was stunning and family was as welcoming as any I have met.  Experiences like that make all the frustration worthwhile, in fact the frustration make those experiences even better.  As I write this now I am in Baku.  The issue with the van has been sorted out, I’ve had a nap and shower and it seems that the upredictable ferry to Turkmentistan might actually leave on the 18^th as planned.

Aydin, our local guide, is obviously well connected in Baku.  As frustrating as it was to work with him on out route to the capital city once we arrived he helped to arrange visas, ferry tickets and to fix our problem with the van with efficiency and confidence.  He is an interesting character.  He studied tourism in school in the Soviet union (Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet union until 1991) and travelled all over the USSR as a tour guide.  He is affable, in a coarse way, generous at times and we had some fun moments together, in between yelling at each other.  Now that we are settled in Baku and will (hopefully) be on the ferry to Turkmenbashi the day after tomorrow I think the time spent with Aydin and Araz will be one of the better memories of the trip. 

“To our good memories and plans!”  That was the eighth or ninth toast of the night from our local guide Zaza.  We were at a local restaurant in Tblisi eating some of the most delicious food I’ve had in long time.  The meal consisted of six or seven courses starting with bread and salads then cheeses and moving on to dumplings, 3 kinds of Kebap, chicken, and finally homemade ice cream.  I was really hungry when we sat down so I began eating salad and bread voraciously when Zaza explained me I must go “slowly slowly” there was much more to come.  In addition to the many plates of food there were two kinds of local wine, local beer and of course, vodka on the table.  The Georgians have a tradition of toasting that is unparalleled in my experience.  Usually the oldest man at the table leads the toasts.  They progress in a particular order.  Starting with a toast to our ancestors, then our families, then our countries.  Then, after that warm feeling has thoroughly settle into your being the toast become more personal and more elaborate.  When it comes to enjoying food and drink the Georgians are true professionals.  

Our entry into Georgia was fairly easy.  The Georgian government is very pro-west (one of the reasons they fought a war with the Russians in 2008) so we didn’t even need visas.  Initially the roads from the border were very rough and it looked like it was going to be a long day.  But after only 15 or 20 kms the rough dirt turned o pavement and the rough, rocky, mountains of Turkey are transformed into the lush rolling green hills that characterize this part of Georgia.  The weather was warm, the breeze that was blowing was cool as we began to follow the Kura  river towards Tblisi.  

Georgia has been a wonderful surprise.  From the border we passed thru very rural areas where people live primarily as farmers and shepherds.  There is a large Armenian population in this part of the country and Russian is as common a language as Georgian.  Talking to one of our local support guides, Dato, who works as an archeologist at the national museum I learned so many fascinating things about the country.  Georgia was the setting of Jason and the Argonauts quest for the golden fleece, the oldest human remains found outside of Africa were discovered here (2.5 million BC), Christianity first came here in 400 AD, there are 27,000 rivers in Georgia…. The list was endless and made for great conversation on our drives to lunch every day.   Dato is obviously very proud of his county (as he should be) and continually in our conversations he would bring up the countries desire for peace and a stable democratic government.  The current president has apparently made great progress towards those ends by reforming the police, improving infrastructure and encouraging tourism.  But Georgia is a small country that shares a historical and cultural history with Iran, Russia, and Turkey and too often in its past the hunger for other nations to expand their boundaries have negatively impacted its progress and growth. 

Arriving in Tblisi we found a completely different Georgia.  Split into two parts, the old city and the new, Tblisi is pumping with energy.   Everywhere you look the city is being renovated.  From new pedestrian malls to cultural centers and the rehabilitation of 14^th century churches the city is improving at a rapid pace. It’s an attractive city (and not just because of Georgian women) and an easy city to walk around.  There are public art installations everywhere and dozens of cafes, art shops and stores lining the cobbled streets in the old city.  In the new city the vibe is very different.  From freedom square (so named in 2002 when Georgians held public demonstrations there to declare their independence) west the small locally owned shops gives way to Dolce and Gabana, Versace and large commercial banks.  There are quite a few beggars on the streets, an indication that while many in Georgia have found ways to make a decent living there are still many that have not. 

I’d love to have more time to explore Tblisi, the Caucus mountains in the northwest, the wine county in the east and the deserts in the south.  We spend only 5 days in country and certainly we only get a glimpse of what it has to offer.  But it’s a nice appetizer to be sure and someday I plan to come back and enjoy some more.

Things are starting to settle in a bit on the 2010 Silk Route.  The hectic start is a week behind us, we’ve all had a bit of rest and the riders have adjusted to the routine of the tour.   Running a tour with only 10 riders is quite different that running one with 70.  Attendance, for example, is a breeze.  At a glance you tell who is in camp and who is not.  We’ve gotten to know the riders, and their habits, much quicker so it’s easier to predict when they will arrive in camp.  Rider meetings are much less formal and can even be done over dinner.  We are a bit tight on space with only one van and a smaller support vehicle that we use for lunch.  Without lockers for the riders the staff have to pack the bags each and every day which, believe it or not, becomes a bit of a drag after a few days.   

A huge difference is the amount of food prepared.  Not only do we have 1/7^th the mouths to feed but the pace of the Silk Route is much more relaxed than the Africa tour and the riders eat much less than their African counterparts.  At first it just didn’t seem right setting up lunch with only two loaves of bread, one jar of peanut butter and jam and half a Kg of sandwich meat.  But there is always food leftover.  The morning coffee is a big improvement. With only 14 mouths to feed we’ve been using a French press to make the morning brew, a huge improvement over the ‘dirty sock’ method used on the Africa tour.

The route so far has offered some spectacular riding.  There have been days on tour that I have felt more remote and ‘in the middle of no where’ than I ever did in Sudan or Ethiopia.  The small size of the group and staff make the tour feel much more intimate.  Everyone has their own personal story to tell at the end of each day and they are usually pretty unique and interesting. 

We are nearing the end of our journey thru Turkey.  In a few days we will cross the border in to Georgia where I am told it is much more remote, the terrain gets rougher, the food choices less varied and the vodka much cheaper.  Our last rest day in Yusufeli is a good way to enjoy Turkey one last time.  We’re camped next to a raging river that apparently host some of the worlds best white water rafting, though the season doesn’t start for another month.  Last night we ate fresh trout from the river and washed it down with some Raki.  Nadia and I laughed about her ride into town.  “It was a tough one”, she said “I cursed your name many, many times! I was so angry that we had to climb all those hills on those narrow roads”.  “I know exactly how you feel” I said.  “I’ve also been on organized rides where it was so tough I yelled and swore under my breath at the guy who had organized it”.  “ But in the end, those days are some of my fondest memories of riding. Days where I pushed myself to the very limit.” 

I was glad Nadia was laughing about the day now, several riders has commented that her mood was not too good during the day.  She’s been pushing herself very hard for 12 days now.  She is determined to ride the whole route every day, despite the fact that she joined the tour in less than ideal shape.  She’s mentally very tough, and soon her body will adapt and she’ll get stronger.  It’s a transformation that is common on TdA tours and you can’t help but have a sense of admiration for clients who go through it. 

Today we left the busy D100 highway and headed once again in to the Black Sea mountains. The riding became more difficult with our return to the hills but roads were quieter and the views from the top made all the effort worthwhile.  The Terrain is changing.  The forests and lush greenery have given way to a more barren landscape with dune-like hills covered in low scrub and bushes.  It’s also getting hot!  Our water consumption has jumped by more that 50% and ice cream seems to be the favorite item to purchase at local shops.  Turkish ice cream (Marasa) is delicious.  Made using the sap of a tree it tastes similar to regular ice cream but it has a chewy consitency that is quite pleasant.   Only 4 riding days left in Turkey now.  Looking forward to some whitewater rafting on the rest day in Yusefeli and then we’ll be in Georgia before we know it!