• Trips
    • Central Asia on Bicycle
      • Preparation
      • Iran
      • Turkmenistan
      • Uzbekistan
      • Tajikistan
      • Kyrgyzstan
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
    • Borneo
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Thailand
    • Cambodia
    • Laos
    • Vietnam
    • Japan
  • Equipment
    • Trekking Bike
    • Electronics
  • About Me
Daniel's TravelsDaniel's Travels
  • Trips
    • Central Asia on Bicycle
      • Preparation
      • Iran
      • Turkmenistan
      • Uzbekistan
      • Tajikistan
      • Kyrgyzstan
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
    • Borneo
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Thailand
    • Cambodia
    • Laos
    • Vietnam
    • Japan
  • Equipment
    • Trekking Bike
    • Electronics
  • About Me

Welcome to my travel page where I will share my daily experiences of my cycling tour through Iran – Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan – Tajikistan (Pamir) – Kyrgyzstan with you. Whenever possible I will update this page daily with a journal entry. Should the Internet connection in these remote areas not be reliable enough for once, I will upload the daily post at the next possible moment.

Live Tracking

On this map you can follow me live through my adventure. When cycling, the map is updated every 10 minutes and shows my latest position, independent of mobile phone reception. On days where I will not be cycling (e.g. by sightseeing in a city), no progress will be displayed on the map as the tracking device is turned off.

If you want to see more about the daily track, you can click on the lines to see statistics of that day. Thick lines mean that I was actually cycling, thin lines mean that I had some other means of transportation (bus, truck, etc.).

With Bishkek I reached the last stop of my tour and hence the live tracking is finished for this trip. I will return to Switzerland on June 23 with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.

Latest Journal Entries

Below are the latest entries to my journal ordered by dates descending. If you want to read older posts about my daily adventures, you can go to the Journals page.

Day 92: Back to Switzerland

Day 92: Back to Switzerland

Today was the big day. After exactly three months of travelling Iran and Central Asia on bicycle, I was travelling […]

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Day 91: At Bishkek’s Animal Market

Day 91: At Bishkek’s Animal Market

On my last full day here in Bishkek I went with Kurmanbek and one of his friends that will have […]

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Day 90: Just Being – at Bishkek

Day 90: Just Being – at Bishkek

Bishkek is a nice city for just being. It does not have a lot of attractions and the few that […]

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Day 89: Finding Transport Box for Bicycle in Bishkek

Day 89: Finding Transport Box for Bicycle in Bishkek

The goal for today was, to find a suitable cardboard box for transporting my bicycle safely back to Switizerland. As […]

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Day 88: Last Cycling to Bishkek

Day 88: Last Cycling to Bishkek

Everything comes to an end eventually. In the past three months I was cycling through five countries, covered a distance […]

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Day 87: Down into the Heat

Day 87: Down into the Heat

Thanks to a shop owner of the small village named Toru-Aygyr I spent last night in a house instead of […]

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Day 86: Stormy Afternoon at Lake Issyk Kul

Day 86: Stormy Afternoon at Lake Issyk Kul

On day two following the north shore of Lake Issyk Kul, things continued the way they stopped yesterday. Beautiful weather, […]

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Day 85: Exploring the Northern Shore of Issyk Kul

Day 85: Exploring the Northern Shore of Issyk Kul

The Southern Shore of Issyk Kul was rather disappointing, so I had hopes in the morning that at least the […]

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Day 84: At the Eastern Tip of my Trip

Day 84: At the Eastern Tip of my Trip

Karakol is the eastern-most stop on my cycling tour and at the same time my turning point of the tour […]

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Day 83: Start Cycling Around Issyk Kul

Day 83: Start Cycling Around Issyk Kul

With a length of 182 km and a width of up to 62 km, it will take me 4 days […]

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Day 81: From Song Kol down to Kochkor

Day 81: From Song Kol down to Kochkor

After a cold night in a yurt at Lake Song Kol, I was welcomed by perfect weather when I got […]

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Day 80: Climbing Up to Song Kul

Day 80: Climbing Up to Song Kul

Song Kol is a large mountain lake located at 3000 m on a huge plateau and is surrounded by hills […]

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Day 79: The Bumpy Road Continues Up and Down

Day 79: The Bumpy Road Continues Up and Down

After spending the night with nomads, I continued today on my path to Lake Song Kol. After a short descent […]

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Day 78: Spending a Night with Nomads

Day 78: Spending a Night with Nomads

Today I was cycling up and down basically for the whole day. This was a bit unexpected because I was […]

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Day 77: Up and Down the Pass

Day 77: Up and Down the Pass

After a night on 2200 m at the foot of the Kaldamo Pass, I started the final climb of 800 […]

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Day 76: Going Back to the Mountains

Day 76: Going Back to the Mountains

After spending in total 4 days in the flatlands, the time has come to cycle in the mountains again. Today, […]

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Day 75: Waiting For Better Weather in Jalal Abad

Day 75: Waiting For Better Weather in Jalal Abad

In the next two days I plan to go through a remote mountain region over a pass above 3000 m […]

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Day 74: Through Green Hills

Day 74: Through Green Hills

After cycling in the mountains for several weeks, today was the first time since Uzbekistan where I was cycling in […]

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Day 73: Second Day in Osh

Day 73: Second Day in Osh

As one day of recovery was not enough, I decided already yesterday to stay another day in Osh. And also […]

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Day 72: Lazy Day in Osh

Day 72: Lazy Day in Osh

After the though weeks in Tajikistan, I need time for recovery. My hostel here in Osh is a good place […]

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Day 71: Into the Heat of Osh

Day 71: Into the Heat of Osh

After a quiet night in Gulcha on the countryside, today I cycled the remaining 80 km to Osh. After climbing […]

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Day 70: Green Kyrgyzstan

Day 70: Green Kyrgyzstan

My first impression of Kyrgyzstan was a muddy road that lead down from a pass on 4300 m to Sary […]

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Day 69: Good-Bye Tajikistan, Hello Kyrgyzstan

Day 69: Good-Bye Tajikistan, Hello Kyrgyzstan

After spending yesterday the whole day at Karakul due to the miserable weather, I started today another attempt to cross […]

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Day 68: Snowfall at Karakul

Day 68: Snowfall at Karakul

Sometimes thing come different as planned. Today, I wanted to cycle on over two passes to Kyrgyzstan. But when I […]

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Day 67: Reaching the Top of Pamir Highway

Day 67: Reaching the Top of Pamir Highway

There are quite a few high passes on the Pamir Highway, the highest of them is Ak-Baital Pass at an […]

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Day 66: Resting Day in Murghab

Day 66: Resting Day in Murghab

Yesterday’s 8 hour ride left me quite tired in the evening. Also, the next two or three cycling days will […]

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Day 65: Cycling Alone in the Pamir’s Fascinating Backcountry

Day 65: Cycling Alone in the Pamir’s Fascinating Backcountry

After a beautiful morning ride through a very remote nature road along Bulunkul Lake, a non-existing Geyser, a very remote […]

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Day 64: Crossing Khargush Pass to Bulunkul

Day 64: Crossing Khargush Pass to Bulunkul

For more than two weeks we have been following the Tajik-Afghan border. Today it was time to say goodbye to […]

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Day 63: Climbing on Sandy and Rocky Roads

Day 63: Climbing on Sandy and Rocky Roads

After a cold night on 3550 m we continued our climb towards Khargush Pass. Even though we only have to […]

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Day 62: Leaving Civilization

Day 62: Leaving Civilization

The last two weeks we followed mainly the Panj River from village to village. Every day we had at least […]

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Day 61: Hot Springs, Ruins, and beautiful Wakhan Valley

Day 61: Hot Springs, Ruins, and beautiful Wakhan Valley

Today, we started the day with a bath in the hot springs of Yamchun. The spring is located 600 m […]

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Day 60: Along the Wakhan Valley

Day 60: Along the Wakhan Valley

The Wakhan Valley is a small stretch of land belonging both to Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The Afghan section of the […]

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Day 59: From the Hot Springs to Ishkashim

Day 59: From the Hot Springs to Ishkashim

After a night at the Garmchashma hot springs we cycled down to the Panj Valley again and continued to climb […]

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Day 58: Relaxing in Hot Springs

Day 58: Relaxing in Hot Springs

It is very nice to relax after another exhausting cycling day in hot springs in the middle of beautiful mountains. […]

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Day 57: Another Day in Khorog

Day 57: Another Day in Khorog

Nothing really spectacular today. Anne is slowly doing better, but still she is not able to continue cycle. Therefore I […]

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Day 56: Exploring Remote Shakhdara Valley

Day 56: Exploring Remote Shakhdara Valley

Today we had another full day in Khorogh due to Anne’s recovery from her stomach problems. As we have seen […]

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Day 55: Restocking and Recovering in Khorog

Day 55: Restocking and Recovering in Khorog

After a full week of cycling, today our bicycle will stay at the Pamir Lodge in Khorog. As this is […]

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Day 54: Reaching Khorog

Day 54: Reaching Khorog

It has been exactly one week since we left Dushanbe. After cycling two days through populated areas we had 5 […]

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Day 53: Reaching Rushan

Day 53: Reaching Rushan

As in the previous days, today we followed the Panj River towards Khorog. In the morning, nothing eventful happened and […]

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Day 52: Making Slow Progress towards Khorog

Day 52: Making Slow Progress towards Khorog

It seems like we need more time than planned to reach Khorog, which in the morning was still 200 km […]

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Day 51: Reaching the Pamir Highway

Day 51: Reaching the Pamir Highway

In Kalai Kumb we finally reached the M-41, the famous Pamir Highway. During the wars with Afghanistan, this highway served […]

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Day 50: A glimpse of Afghanistan

Day 50: A glimpse of Afghanistan

In the next few days we will follow the Panj River upstream and gain more and more altitude until we […]

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Day 49: The Road to the Afghan Border

Day 49: The Road to the Afghan Border

Today we had to climb Shuroobod pass and descend into the Panj Valley. The valley is named after the Panj […]

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Day 48: Through Green Hills

Day 48: Through Green Hills

On our second day towards the Pamirs, we passed in the morning through beautiful green hills and descended from our […]

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Day 47: Heading out towards the Pamirs

Day 47: Heading out towards the Pamirs

The Pamirs cover the largest part of Tajikistan and are located in the eastern half of the country in the […]

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Day 46: Recovering and Relaxing in Dushanbe

Day 46: Recovering and Relaxing in Dushanbe

Because of my continuous back pain and the heavy rain in the morning, we all stayed another day in Dushanbe […]

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Day 45: One Day in Dushanbe

Day 45: One Day in Dushanbe

After a long day of cycling yesterday and in total 9 cycling days in a row, I was happy to […]

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Day 44: Exploding Tubes, Mountain Passes and Rain

Day 44: Exploding Tubes, Mountain Passes and Rain

Today was a very eventful day. When starting to cycle I discovered that my rear tire was out of air […]

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Day 43: A day in the Fann Mountains

Day 43: A day in the Fann Mountains

After yesterday’s very steep climb to Iskanderkul and a peaceful night at the lakeside in our tents, today we went […]

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Day 42: Visit to Iskanderkul

Day 42: Visit to Iskanderkul

Iskanderkul is a very beautiful mountain lake that is located at an altitude of 2200 m. It is only a […]

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Zarafshan Valley

Day 41: Through the Alps of Tajikistan

Today was one of the days I was looking forward most when planning my bicycle tour. We crossed the Turkestan […]

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Day 40: Visiting Istvarashan and climbing Shahriston Pass

Day 40: Visiting Istvarashan and climbing Shahriston Pass

After a morning of running errands (Tajik SIM Card, changing money) and visiting the Bazar and an old mosque of […]

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Day 39: First impressions of Tajikistan

Day 39: First impressions of Tajikistan

Today we finally crossed the border to Tajikistan after an unwanted detour of 260 km and followed the Uzbek border […]

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Day 37: Approaching the Tajik border

Day 37: Approaching the Tajik border

After a very relaxing and pleasant night and a nice breakfast, we left from Alec’s home. Today we only planned […]

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Day 36: The green side of Uzbekistan

Day 36: The green side of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan so far has not impressed me at all with very repetitive landscapes with some hundreds of kilometers going through […]

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Day 35: Exploring Samarkand

Day 35: Exploring Samarkand

After three days of cycling, we left the bikes at the hostel today and went exploring the historic city of […]

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Day 34: Finally reaching Samarqand

Day 34: Finally reaching Samarqand

After spending the night at a drunk guy’s home we needed to cycle around 90 km to finally reach our […]

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Day 33: Continuing towards Samarqand

Day 33: Continuing towards Samarqand

After an extremely unpleasant day yesterday, things could only get better. Since we only covered 85 km instead of 90 […]

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Day 32: Starting towards Samarqand

Day 32: Starting towards Samarqand

After the relaxing sightseeing day in Bukhara the time had come to start the 270 km transfer to Samarqand, the […]

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Day 31: Bukhara

Day 31: Bukhara

Today our bicycles stayed in the hotel and we went visiting the historical center of Bukhara. The whole historical center […]

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Day 30: Crossing to Uzbekistan

Day 30: Crossing to Uzbekistan

Today was one of the typical transit days on bicycle. First, we needed to leave Turkmenistan as our 5-day transit […]

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Day 29: From the desert to Turkmenabat

Day 29: From the desert to Turkmenabat

After a peaceful night in the desert, there remained around 85 km to reach the border city of Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan’s […]

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Day 28: Crossing Karakum Desert (Day 1)

Day 28: Crossing Karakum Desert (Day 1)

While we crossed the first part of Turkmenistan by car, we definitely wanted to cross Karakom Desert, Asia’s hottest desert, […]

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Day 27: Sightseeing in Mary and Merv

Day 27: Sightseeing in Mary and Merv

Today we went to see sightseeing with Guvanch and Aygul, two local brothers and sisters, Guvanch drove with us from […]

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Day 26: Good-Bye Iran, Hello Turkmenistan

Day 26: Good-Bye Iran, Hello Turkmenistan

Today was dedicated to passing first the Iranian and then the Turkmen border posts. Afterwards it was planned that some […]

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Day 25: Reaching the Turkmen Border

Day 25: Reaching the Turkmen Border

After a good night in Abravan we left today at a more decent hour in hope of good wind. However, […]

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Day 24: Crossing Mashhad towards East

Day 24: Crossing Mashhad towards East

This is our second last day in Iran. Today and tomorrow we have to travel around 200 km east to […]

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Day 23: Visiting Mashhad

Day 23: Visiting Mashhad

From the religious point of view, Mashhad is the most important city in Iran. During Iran’s public holidays such as […]

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Day 22: Don’t Eat Cheese that looks, tastes and smells bad

Day 22: Don’t Eat Cheese that looks, tastes and smells bad

Stomach Problems The night before, we ate some of the fresh cheese that we received from the family in Badianly […]

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Day 21: From Green Fields into the Desert

Day 21: From Green Fields into the Desert

Leaving Golestan After our rest day in Golestan, we started today our path towards Mashhad. And Golestan National Park remained […]

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Day 20: Political Minorities and Police Interrogations

Day 20: Political Minorities and Police Interrogations

Planned Sightseeing and Change of Plans After last night’s busy evening we decided to start cycling only in the afternoon […]

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Day 19: Green Iran and Turkmen Hospitality

Day 19: Green Iran and Turkmen Hospitality

Lowe and the waterfalls After our host offered us fresh bread for breakfast, we went on a short car ride […]

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Day 18: Hitchhiking through the north

Day 18: Hitchhiking through the north

Visa for Turkmenistan First the good news of today. My transit visa request for Turkmenistan got finally approved. Which means […]

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Day 17: To the Caspian Sea

Day 17: To the Caspian Sea

Leaving Alborz Mountains Around 40 km were between us and the Caspian Sea when we stopped yesterday after almost 140 […]

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Day 16: Crossing the Alborz Mountains

Day 16: Crossing the Alborz Mountains

Across the Alborz Mountains The Alborz Mountains are between the capital Teheran and the Caspian Sea. These mountains have several […]

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Day 15: To Teheran by Bus

Day 15: To Teheran by Bus

Catching up by bus Because we have to enter Turkmenistan on April 18 due to Lucie’s visa, we had to […]

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Day 14: Another Day in Esfahan

Day 14: Another Day in Esfahan

Running Errands Today we needed to take care of some things in Esfahan. Lucie needed to get a visa extension, […]

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Day 13: Esfahan

Day 13: Esfahan

Even though Esfahan calls itself bike-friendly, we decided not to use our bikes today. First, because we live at a […]

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Day 12: From the desert to Esfahan

Day 12: From the desert to Esfahan

Sunrise in the desert We learned from our mistake yesterday: We got up as early as possible to avoid the […]

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Day 11: Rain, Wind, and Sand

Day 11: Rain, Wind, and Sand

After being stopped prematurely by strong head wind yesterday, we decided to leave at 7:00 today because the strong wind […]

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Day 10: Heading towards Isfahan

Day 10: Heading towards Isfahan

Bad awakening for Lucie Just like the night before, we spent the night in a public park, me in my […]

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Day 9: Exploring Yazd

Day 9: Exploring Yazd

Cycling-free day After our long cycling days, today we only use the bicycle to get around Yazd. Even though the […]

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Day 8: Arrival in Yazd

Day 8: Arrival in Yazd

Getting up early After a rather noisy night by some locals who had the need to turn up the car […]

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Day 7: 115 km through the Desert

Day 7: 115 km through the Desert

Starting the day When we arrived in the dark last night and were looking for a place to put up […]

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Day 6: The wind is our friend

Day 6: The wind is our friend

Late start After a long night in Aspas with around 20 family members, we only started at around 10:40 that […]

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Day 5: 100km Through Remote High Plateau

Day 5: 100km Through Remote High Plateau

Tired of highways The last two days we were basically driving on busy roads or on the highway’s emergency lane. […]

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Day 4: From Seydan to Pasargad

Day 4: From Seydan to Pasargad

Early Start After a comfortable night at the place of some very traditional locals we wanted to go out earlier […]

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Day 3: Finally on the Road

Day 3: Finally on the Road

Luggage has arrived Today, my luggage has finally been delivered by Qatar Airways, so I went to the airport and […]

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Day 2: Rain in Shiraz

Day 2: Rain in Shiraz

When you hear about Iran, you probably think about heat and dry desert. However, today we experienced the complete opposite. […]

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Day 1: Arriving in Shiraz

Day 1: Arriving in Shiraz

Layover in Doha After the difficulties with the checking the previous day in Zurich I was hoping that the rest […]

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Day 0: Packing and leaving Zurich

Packing everything into two boxes All the equipment that I have collected piece by piece in the past weeks had […]

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Warming Up: From Zurich to Basel

Warming Up: From Zurich to Basel

After having assembled my bike this week together with my friend Phil, the time has come to put the material […]

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