Nomadonwheels: Icing on the Cake

The carriage of the train wobbles and jerks along, I have just finished my breakfast of olives, cheese, cucumber, tomato, sliced luncheon meat and rolls from plastic bags, if I am not mistaken that was the Turkish national railway version of “The Big Breakfast” I may pass on that one next time?

Once I had received my letter of invitation from Iran I headed off to the embassy in the centre of London, much to my surprise it was quite a reasonable affair, the guy behind the glass screen told me I could come back tomorrow at 2.00pm and collect it, I had visions of all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles I may have to overcome but lucky for me there was none, I would be a little shocked when it came to the Pakistan Embassy, I arrived to the door of the Embassy only to be directed out the back, there was a rather large marquee with probably a hundred or so people milling around, I also spotted a small shop selling food, I thought to myself well this is probably a indication of what the country will be like but it will be multiplied a hundred times, the visa took around ten days as there was some sort of three day Muslim holiday and the embassy was closed, the Indian visa was more professional but also took a long time to process as I am not a resident in the UK.

Pakistan Embassy Tent

The Embassy tuck shop near the tent

I was planning to leave on Tuesday with or without the Indian visa which was the only one I was waiting for, I was going to fly back from Turkey to collect it, I had to get to Germany to get my bike “Adventurised” or Farkled, at 1.00pm on Monday I got the email to say my Indian visa was ready! The next day I packed all my gear and more onto the bike, I said my goodbyes to The Selkirk’s who had been most generous and let me stay at their house whilst I organised myself for the adventure ahead, as I wobbled up the footpath I thought geez what am I doing! The nerves soon settled once I got out of London and headed for the coast and a ferry bound for Europe.

Waiting to Load at Dover

One of the best bits of Pork I have ever tasted! (Erlangen Germany)

Hostel (Hospital) in Koln Germany

The smoking yellow square at the train station in Koln

I was doing some last minute snack and instant food shopping in London at the local super market, a guy selling breakdown insurance at the bottom of the escalator asked me “Breakdown Sir" I replied with a little smirk “I would prefer not to” the guy stammered “No sir sorry I didn’t mean in that way” I chuckled and muttered a polite “No thanks” as I walked off I thought...well I would probably be your worst nightmare! “Hi this is Damon I have a flat and I am just east of Tehran near the small stream in the mountains”.....This is my main reason for changing bikes, the BMW F800 GS unfortunately does not live up to its name, BMW’s bikes reputation was built long ago 70’s and 80’s unfortunately now it is now run by the accountants and marketing people, the bike looks super cool but that matters none when you are stuck on the side of a mountain in Bolivia with a blown (Taiwanese) wheel bearing, and when you do get to a special BMW service centre they blame the roads, hang on one minute don’t you market this as the ultimate and to quote BMW “Unstoppable” around the world adventure bike?....the answer which surprises some especially the BMW Twat suit riders is an absolute NO! Stay away from BMW’s unless you have tons of money to burn and you look good in everything BMW including the famous twat suit! I was in Honduras and a small crowd had gathered around the bike, one of the locals commented “Oh it must be like having a top model for a girlfriend” I smiled and replied “Yeah great to look at but f’n high maintenance”

Adding the extras!

Yamaha XT660 Tenere’s have a blood line from Dakar and these bikes have been well tested, funny but this bike was the one I first wanted but it wasn’t available at the time in Australia, the bike is cheap and has some parts which are not the best quality but it is the perfect base for building a very capable Adventure bike, there is really not much out there that you can buy in this class, the bike was cheap at $6000, it had only done 2500km so was almost new, In Australia this bike is around $13,500, I took it to Germany and had a steering stabiliser, Ohlin’s rear shock, front springs, heated grips, new stronger handle bar, bash plate, crash bars and a new single exhaust without the heavy catalytic convertor fitted (4kg weight saving) the bike now sounds great and handles even better, these bikes are known as thumpers and have quite a distinct sound, I now feel like I am back on a proper bike and have my bike Mojo back!!

I needed to head South East as fast as I could because of the month delay with visa’s the winter was here and I had left it far too late, I think I am the last of the motorcycle riders going this way for the 2011 season!..It was toll roads all the way to Istanbul, there was freezing fog and it got down to -2 degrees, the ice started forming on my jacket and after six hours or so your body temperature really plummets, I had a small heated vest and without this I would have had to stop a lot more often, my heated grips were not finished in Germany and were not working, after a few hours it felt like a small cat was continually chewing on the end of my fingers, once my toes started to hurt I knew it was time to stop for something hot, some places served soup and I would cuddle it like a small child and once or twice burnt my tongue trying to get it inside me a fast as possible, I didn’t really care about the taste I just wanted to warm up, unfortunately you never warm up completely until you get to a hotel and shower for about an hour.

Frozen water on the ground

The Black Blimp....about ten layers thick!

Safety specs as the flip down screen would just fog up!

Flat Tyre Croatia...-1 degree...Yippeeee!

500+ Cars passed...who stopped?...no one!

Icing on the cake!

I arrived in Istanbul and was greeted by chaotic traffic, lucky no toll gates so I can ride though without stopping, I was helped by the Famous Adventure rider Aysun and spent a great few days in Istanbul enjoying some great food and getting some final work done on the bike at the local Yamaha dealer who was a great mechanic, the bike now has a new chain, fresh oil and everything is working perfectly.

Working on the bike was a team event

The sticker event attracted even a bigger crowd

At times I wasn't sure who was actually suppose to be doing the work?

I am going to try and meet two other riders in Iran and cross Pakistan with them, they are very nice as they are waiting for me to arrive in Kerman, so to save time and not get stuck in snow I decided to take the train and save a few days as it had been said that you could take a motor bike on the train, I say that because as soon as I arrived at the station after a hectic ride through Istanbul rush-hour traffic it was all No...No...And No you cannot take a motorbike on the train, even the baggage guy took his old dusty manual down off the shelf and proceed to point out how it was impossible!

It was only after four hours of effort by Aysun who had come to help me at the station that we managed to get the bike a ticket, after getting another guy to help we lifted it ½ a metre up to the baggage wagon and I finally relaxed, mind you some of the rocking on this train I wonder if it is still up right, if it does go it’s got plenty of soft luggage beside it to have a lie down and have a little bike snooze, at one station I did go and check, there was about thirty people in and milling around the baggage wagon, I jumped up in the back with everyone and made my way to the bike....suddenly I looked right and there was a small mountain of baggage which had just appeared, also all the people had gone and I heard the doors close. I jumped over the mountain of bags just as they were wiring the doors shut, I tapped on the window and got a surprised look from the guy with the wire...mmmm that could have been a cold night!

Lucky I had my Weetbix that morning!

Riding in the station...I got some strange looks!

We stopped at about 6.00pm on the edge of a lake, everyone disembarked and headed to the ferry, it was about -10 degrees, the freight wagon was pushed on board the ship with me of course waiting beside the wharf to make sure my precious cargo was loaded, the ferry took about five hours to cross the lake and I entertained myself and another Australian guy by watching “The Story of Bill Hicks” and a couple of episodes of “Flight of the Concords” we arrived to another freezing port but had to wait for our train which was an two hours late, even though we were still in Turkey it was now an Iranian train and was certainly more dilapidated.

Frozen water on the deck...around -10 degrees

Holding up my SPOT Tracker on the lake near Van, a few days later there was another earthquake here.

My Iranian travelling companion

There is a Kebab under the rice...this is about it in Iran for food!

Border crossing stop at 3.00am

My main goal when reaching the border was to complete my “Carnet du Passage” which is like a passport for my bike, we reached Tabriz well after another border stop and the customs guy then proceeded to tell me it should have been done at the previous border, everyone always tells you a different story, after a few tense minutes the guy said he does not have the special Carnet stamp, but mentioned he will ring the Chief of Customs, I wait patiently to the side because if I cannot get this stamp they could confiscate the bike at the exit border, finally a guy came and told me they had sent for a stamp and everything will be ok, it took about another hour but we finally filled it in and stamped it in the back of the baggage wagon, this is probably one of the most stressful things to get done especially when you are travelling by train as you cannot just stop on your own accord and have to be reliant on others.

"What you looking at Willis"

The next stage is Tabriz to Tehran, we have just had another stop about three kilometres outside the station at a mosque so everyone can pray, such is life in Iran, there is also music (Sort of) playing everywhere...more like wailing! Really adds to the atmosphere and certainly reminds you where you are and where you are headed!

The dinning car

Frozen ice in the river

Yes I now can see why I am not riding out there!

This was about all you could get (Turkish train)

I arrived in Tehran to chaos, everyone was panicking to get my bike off the train, like the train was about to leave and it would have taken the bike with it if they hadn’t all run around like chickens with their heads cut off...this continued in the baggage hall with a handful of spectators watching me trying to find my “Baggage ticket” for the bike, it was extremely important and the baggage guy was most annoyed, then as soon as it was clear that I wasn’t going to find the ticket they all walked away....I found it five minutes later but there was no one to give it to.....figures!

I rode around for a while looking for a gas station as they had insisted my bike be empty of fuel for the trip, I eventually found one and filled up, it was about 2.00am in the morning, I had no idea where I was and hotels are extremely difficult to find in Iran, I decided to head out of the city to Estafan which was about 500km away, I figured there would be a hotel on the way, the first problem was I had no GPS and no idea which way to go, I spent about an hour a bit lost driving around the city trying to figure a way out, my GPS showed the whole of Iran and the direction I was heading but no actual roads, at least I knew the basic direction, after asking several people I found the main road out of Tehran, the road had lights both sides and it was almost as good as day light, I kept going while it was safe to do so and kept a weary eye out for a hotel, after a few hundred kilometres I came to the conclusion that there wasn’t going to be any, I rode all night till sun up and arrived in Estafan a little tired.

Sun up at 6.00am between Tehran and Kerman -Iran

I asked a taxi where the hotels were and he pointed me in the right direction, after a about 14 hours sleep and a the worst pizza I ever had (Shaved luncheon meat and Tomato sauce) I left the following day and headed for Kerman where two other riders were waiting for me, Brian and Tanya had one of their Suzuki DRZ400’s blow a piston and had been in Kerman several weeks awaiting parts from the UK, they were both keen to get going after spending so much time in one place.