Month: September 2016

I was invited over to Nikolais house this morning before I push off to meet his family and have breakfast.  And what a breakfast indeed. Homemade tomato spread on mixed grained toast and homemade cheese. After awhile Nikolai’s mom brought some porridge as well. Even though it’s carb central I really cannot not eat it after they took so much trouble to host me. What a fantastic introduction to Bulgarian hospitality. 

Before I left I was give 2 huge slabs of homemade cheese, some meatballs for lunch and also a jar of honey. 

Fortunately I found a Warmshowers host in the next town called Haskovo. Thanks to Teri who accommodated me even though she is hosting another cyclist from Canada. I told her I don’t mind to take the couch. The condition is that I must arrive at her place before 530pm as they are going for a free jazz concert in town. 

So with meatballs and cheese in tow, I started my journey towards Haskovo.  I stopped at a town called Harmanli for lunch finishing the delicious meatballs. 

I finally reach Teri’s apartment in time for a quick shower before heading out with them to town to enjoy the free jazz concert. 

Lions Project : RM 37.48

Today will be the day I will head off to Bulgaria.  Engin was convincing me to stay one more day but I told him the weather was very good and I didn’t want to miss riding in these conditions.

By the time we said our goodbyes and photo taking, it was pass noon before I headed out. This was ok as I do not plan to ride too far as I anticipate the immigration and customs check at the border will take time.  

When I am around 8km from the first checkpoint I saw the last truck in queue. It was the first time I had seen such a long queue of any sort. I learned from someone later that the queue can be as long as 15km!  I was really feeling for the truckers and also admire their patience. They all appeared calm as the are probably used to it. I am not sure really how long a wait for them. 

Checking out of the Turk immigration was uneventful and quick but I was held back by a lady customs officer yelling something about paper. I thought what paper and said no paper. It went on for awhile until they gave up and another officer just wave me through. I am guessing it must be the customs declaration form or something. 

Anyway onward to Bulgarian clearance and the queue for cars was longer but the motorist just waved me to the front seeing me on a bicycle. How nice. And I cleared immigration quickly  without a hitch and finally set foot on Bulgarian soil. The landscape is quite similar to Turkey except there were no mosque in sight. Bulgaria is around 83% Orthodox Christian and 12% Muslim and the rest others. 

The town that I intended to stay for the night is called Svilengrad. A charming small border town with more than 6 casinos and more being built. Seems like a lot of Turks and Greeks come over here to gamble. 

After going to the ATM and getting a prepaid sim data plan card ( 5 Euros for 100 mins call and 1GB data for 20 days) I had a quick bite before riding around town to have a look see and also scan for places to stay. 

As I was riding around I was hailed down by a young Bulgarian in a car for a chat. He introduced himself as Nikolai and seemed very curious about what I am doing and we chatted awhile. Turns out he saw my Malaysian  flag and since he knows a few things about Malaysia he wanted to have a chat with me. He had told he has seen many cyclist before and hosted some. But it seems he is not able to host me because of some personal issues at home. 

We decided to exchange phone numbers so we could meet later and he would show me around town and tell me more about this place. 

After a few circling back and forth the town ,I found a hostel for 10 Euros for a huge room with 3 beds. 

Had a quick shower want quick bite to eat and meet up with Nikolai. We walked around the town for close to 2 hours and he chatted with me about Bulgarian and its history and politics and just about everything else. 

Tomorrow I am asked to swing by Nikolais moms cheese and jam shop as they wanted to gift me something to take on my journey. How nice. Day 1 in Bulgaria and I am impressed already with their hospitality. 

Lions Project : RM 30.49

Another day to chill and rest at Engins place. Just as well as we had one superb night riding out to Greece for a bit of eating and a lot of drinking. Engin is really the super host. Anyway today I decided to go visit one museum on the outskirts of the town. It’s a very interesting museum about Ottoman health care system and medicine. It seemed to have won several world museum awards. 

Headed back to do some grocery shopping to cook dinner for Engin and friends. After a wonderful dinner with them Engin and I cap the night off with a visit to a local bar to hear some live local Turkish band play. 

It was another great day spent at Edirne. 

This was what happened the night before. 

Another fantastic day of sunshine and warm weather. Perfect for riding. After packing my stuff I headed for a Turkish breakfast ie soup and bread. Nice warm up before heading out. 

Borh Warmshowers host at Vize and Kirklareli did not reply so I guess I have to find my own accommodation. Maybe wild camping. Anyway headed towards Vize for a coffee break. 

Had a wonderful encounter at the coffee place first with a customer who told me was a butcher via goggle translate and then bought me a cup of coffee. After he left order a Turkish coffee and the owner of the shop offered me FOC. What a great stop. 

Head off to direction of Kirklareli and had a lunch stop at Pinarhisar. Took a break from standard Turkish fare and had a burger instead. Ate half the bun of course still watching my carbs consumption. The owner there was also very chatty and mentioned that last year he host 2 German cyclist. I was tempted to ask if he could host me but it’s only 2pm and I still like to do some more cycling. So did not ask la. 

I was making good time so I decided to push through to Kirklareli and start to look for accommodation options there. First stop to buy water and had a good chat with the owner. I asked where I should sleep or camp. Well no offer lot he says sleep either at the cemetery or a corner which he pointed that looks kinda crappy. In the end I said my goodbyes and left looking for other options. Next up a petrol station with a big car wash. Also cannot so push forward somemore and then saw what look like 2 police officer having a break at a small park and I asked where I could camp. They said I could camp here. Ok the place is small but there is a part that looks very discrete so I found my camping stop for the night. Tent set up. Raki sipped , a small bite ala cold cuts and now getting ready for bed. Hopefully everything will turn out ok. Sweet dreams. See you tomorrow. 

Lions Project : RM 20.38

Probably overpaid for the fruits and egg i bought from her but i guess it pays for the selfie.

A complete contrast to yesterday. From the sunrise it looks certain it will be a bright and sunny day. After having a couple of Turkish coffees, some peanuts and a peach for breakfast, I was ready to start packing. The plan was to finish packing and be ready to ride out at 9am. Turns out packing was not all easy and took longer that I thought.  I was all packed and ready to roll by 930 am.  

The initial part of the road comes with large emergency lanes. The second part the roads are not as good and shoulder almost non existent. Thankfully as I edged further and further away from Istanbul, traffic became much  lesser. 

The road condition was also quite good until around 30km to Saray when the Tarmac was quite broken up making it a very rough ride. Combined with the relentless dragon backs up until the last 3 km the ride was one of the more challenging 68KM ride. Maybe because I have a hauling a 40 kilo bike or maybe I did not have enough food. I ran out of Turkish Lira and was trying to get more from ATM along the way. Turns out none to be found in smaller towns. Luckily I had plenty of water and peanuts to sustain me until Saray. Well a passerby in a car did stop to ask if I needed water food or money. I should have said yes. But I say no because I did have Euros and peanuts and water. What a kind gesture anyway. 

I was elated to finally come out of the dragon backs and into the flat. And with Saray city in sight I was energize immediately and push hard to reach my end point of the day. 

All the time I was eyeing potential place to camp or to ask for permission go camp but I saw nothing really works for me. 

Saray looks like a busy town but it’s so dusty and chaotic. I went to the first bank I saw and notice that their ATM did not have any PLUS or Cirrus signs so maybe cannot use. Oh Oh. Panic No Money. That’s my primitive brain speaking. Anyway I went inside the bank to ask to exchange my Euros instead. I was give a number by a security guard and waited my turn. Turns out that the system allow them to only change money with locals as a local passport is needed. Very weird. No matter after a few Turkish chatter here and there, the lady type something on my google translator which said Jeweller. Huh ? Yes they saw the jewelry shop will change for me. So the security guard escorted me to the jewellery shop and got me the exchange. I was thankful. Actually as I ventured further there was plenty of ATM with PLUS and Cirrus. 

Now that is sorted my next task is to look for a place to stay. I really didn’t want to camp or ride around anymore to ask people if I could camp at their place so decided to ask the town folks where is the cheapest hotel. I was always hoping when asking where to stay someone would offer to host me. But no such luck but another luck appeared as I found a nice little hotel for a fair deal of 35Liras. It had twin beds shower tv and free internet access. So I grabbed it and was happy. 

I am not fully set up to have a shower , dinner and some rest to prepare for my ride tomorrow. Till then goodnight. 

Lions Project : RM 12.45

  

Fantastic outcome. They delivered my bike box and luggage finally at around 945 pm today. From a quick look it seems everything is in order. Will set up tomorrow and probably ride out later heading north.