tsiklonaut
Well-known
Armenian landscape got relatively flat in north.
But there's lots of space to set up a (windy) camp.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Geghard monastery in Armenia, partly built into the mountain.
Geghard.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Divine light inside. People went circles around the pillars, light the candles, say their prayers, cross themselves to seek their renewals,
I just stand still, observe the human affection in chaos and stare the systematic light above, changing the angle very slowly
but steadily as the Sun goes over the point of zenith, the epitome of my daily enlightment.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Eternal light with candles lit up all the time.
The sky opening up above Lake Van, Armenia.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Lake Van wasn't far off to have the Aral sea destiny in the Soviet era of irresponsible engineering. Diverted water for farming irrigation sucked many
meters of it's level down, but Armenian scientists came to their senses before the real catastrophe hit.
Now the lake is slowly recovering but you can still see the "greed scars" on Van's shores.
Lake Van on moonlight.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Nearly a thousand years old church where we wild camped, off the tourist trail and off tourist map thus nobody around, just you and the wind. It was fairly hard to get here, obviously.
The door was ripped off (as you can see on the pic), but everything inside the church was untouched - golden pieces on altar etc. Unbelieavably refreshing.
I love this kind of trust based World, a very anti-capitalistic and anti-consumerist way of doing and sharing things, gives some hope to mankind.
You know when it is a moment of life's high.
Paulbe
Well-known
tsiklonaut--amazing! I love the photos--you can feel the freedom and the openness.
A question on logistics--how much extra fuel do you carry? And is it hard to find there?
Thanks!
Paul
A question on logistics--how much extra fuel do you carry? And is it hard to find there?
Thanks!
Paul
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Thanks, Paul!
We carry only what fits inside the tank. Both of our bikes have bigger modified fuel tanks. My old R1100GS takes 32 liters (vs 24L original) that gives me 600-650km range. Wife's DRZ400 takes 28 liters (vs 10L original) that gives her a stunning 800 kilometer range (for a motorcycle). So if I ran out, we can go with DRZ to fetch some fuel
We never needed this though, only when doing Lake Turkana cattle track from Ethiopia to Kenya that required over 1000 km of autonomy in rough offroad conditions we carried extra canisters to cover the distance, everywhere else in the world we've managed fine.On this route the hard-to-get fuel is in north Uzbekistan since all that area works on LPG gas (including LPG gas-powered cars). We bought the fuel from random people in the village that was usually meant as a grass-cutter fuel (only those don't work on LPG gas).
Cheers,
Margus
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Riding in the mountains never gets old.
Watchtowers were to warn if the neighbouring village clan was coming to attack. They moved all the village into the towers so this created a stalemate
situation most of the time.
Our home sweet home.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Ancient arches and unique scripts embedded in the floor - Christianity and it's rites are among the oldest in the World here. Sanahin monastery from the 10th century.
Gergeti Trinity.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Those churches are so old the small trees literally grow on their roofs and walls. Sanahin.
Our favourite "secret" little church on a mountaintop, nearing a thousand years old. Favourite because a rough track leading here.
Bikes parked under the tree in the background - this is where we slept in a complete silence, so silent you could hear your heart pumping the blood in your arteries.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Armenian butchers from Gyumri. They specialize on lamb heads which is a local delicacy in Gyumri.
All Armenia makes jokes about them, but they are fabulous folk. On the market they showed their craft
and invited us for a little "lemonade" at the local unofficial market bar in a dark corner. The "lemonade"
turned out to be a super strong moonshine. Till a local university history professor showed up and stunned
us with is knowlede about Estonia. It's a small world of coincidence and with that moonshine oh boy it was a day to remember!
Thud
Established
I look at these photos and I feel I'm on the trip with you.
Thanks
Thanks
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Fantastic photographs and writing! I love it, you should make a book.
Erik.
Erik.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Thank you so much guys!
Not sure about a new book since the last book took us 4 years to make of hard work. It seems to me these days people want only instant satisfaction, "now or never" consumerism mentality (aka digital). Just as the art of patience the art of film or hard work speaks only to very few it looks to me.
Cheers,
Margus
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Port of Baku, Azerbaijan.
Waiting for our ship in Baku. Soviet Union ruined many areas with oil spills from dirty careless pumping, the devastation is still seen today.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Qobustan mud volcanoes.
Otherworldly landscapes in Azerbaijan.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Yes, books are out of fashion, but they have a longer life than anything else.
Erik.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
tsiklonaut
Well-known
If crossing the Black sea was rather a masculine experience then the coming Caspian sea was a different story...