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The Silk Road
Already
in the 30st century before Chr., the secret process to weave
silk from the cocoons of moths was known in China. From the
days of the Han-Dinasty (2nd century BC), the Chinese build
up a lucrative trade with the Western world. This trade gave
form to the Silk routes, of which the first ran from China
to the Black Sea and on to Rome, where Julius Ceasar had restricted
the wearing of silk to himself and his chosen ones.
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Mausoleum in Turkestan, Kaz.
Novosibirsk
Irkutsk
Olkhon - Lake Baikal
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Netherlands
The Netherlands is a good country to do your preparations, good to
be waved goodbye and leave it behind and that's exactely what we are
going to do.
Germany
We will start getting underway a bit and drive past Berlin. Looking
for some travelbugs to bite us?
Poland
We will also travel through Poland rather quickly. The 3rd day we'll
cross the Ukrainian border and maybe start get the feeling that
we are 'on the road'.
Ukraine
We will stay one day in Kiev, to visit this beautiful city and breathe
the air of the revolution. We'll visit the Dnepr factory. After
that we will head on going east towards Russia.
Russia
The landscape will become more extensive, the fields with grain
and sunflowers bigger and the roads narrower. We will keep on going
to Saratov, a nice city on the banks of the river Volga. From there
we go again east to the Kazachstan border.
Kazachstan
We will enter the dessert in Kazachstan, with some very bad roads.
Temperature will rise to around 40 degrees during the day and we'll
get cool nights. We'll visit the dry lake Aral and head on to Shimkent
and Tarras, which was destroyed by Jenghis Kahn long ago. In Central
Asia we will ride part of the Golden Route which is the most important
of the Silk Roads. At Tarras we will turn right towards the Kyrgiz
border.
Kyrgistan
There are not many surfaced roads in Kyrgistan. We will turn right
onto a magic gravel track that runs along the mountainsides and
over some great passes with spectacular views to Kara-Kul. No hurry
here. We'll enjoy every kilometre, will make some nice bushcamps
and stay overnight in a yurt-camp. After that the direction is north
to Bishkek and accross the Kazach border to Almaty.
Kazachstan
Our route is northbound through vast landscapes with scattered villages
where camel markets are common, untill we'll arrive in Semej (Semipalatisk),
not far from the mighty Altaj Mountains and the Russian border.
Siberia
The Altaj Mountains lie ahead. Unfortunately we do not have
a lot of choices concerning our route in this part of the world.
Closer to Novosibirsk we'll come out of the mountains in vast grassy
steppes. The road is good and we'll make long days, untill
we'll arrive in Irkutsk and will visit one of the wonders of the
world: Lake Baikal.
In Irkutsk we'll park the chase car and all persue on our tour by
bike. To save time, we will do part of the route in East Siberia
by train. We have to be in time in Vladivostok, to catch the ferry
to Japan.
Japan
The old Nezdanova has sunk last year, which we regret. The new ferry
will be of RoRo type, meaning that our motorcycles do not have to
be craned on the deck, but we'll drive them on board, after we have
survived the time-consuming business of getting the bikes customs-cleared.
In Japan a cultureshock is awaiting us. Everything is small, fine
and organised in detail. We will be welcomed in the port by some
Japanese friends and maybe a delegation of Yamaha Netherlands.
On our way to Yamaha we will visit Kyoto with it's beautiful tempels.
For those who want it is possible to visit the World Expo in Aichi
Pref. and we will pass Mount Fuji on our way to Tokyo.
In Iwata we will visit the Yamaha factories and the Communication
Plaza (Yamaha museum).
Finally it will be time to bring our dear motorcycles to Yokohama-port.
On August 17th we'll return to Holland by plane.
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Kaara Bura Pas in Kirgistan
Kaara Bura Pas in Kirgistan
Alma Ata, Kazachstan
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Jenghis Kahn
We will
follow some of the footsteps of Jenghis Kahn (1167?-1227),
the infamous conqueror and founder of the Mongolian imperium
which extended itself from the Ukraine to Korea.
Being named after an imprisoned landlord, Tijumen lost his
father at a very young age. In a period of unrest and tribal
wars all his father had build up was destroyed, at first by
the Tartars and later also by the Taichi'ut.
Tijumen
grew up wanting only one thing: A conquest which in size and
impact can be equalled to those of Alexander the Great. It
earned him next to his imperium also his name and the title
of "Great Kanh".
After
his death his sons ruled over extensive parts of his territories
for long.
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Yamaha museum, Iwata |
