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Die deutsche Gemütlichkeit

Posted on February 28, 2018February 28, 2018by Floris
Frozen Altmuhlsee near Gunzenhausen in Bayern

Despite the cold winter conditions during the last week, I have been surprised by the friendly people I encountered in Germany. One illustration is the multitude of generous warmshowers hosts that have invited me into their homes over the last two weeks. Another is when random strangers stop and ask if I need any directions […]

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🇧🇪🇯🇵 On February 14th I left home on t 🇧🇪🇯🇵 On February 14th I left home on two wheels heading for Tokyo. Yesterday my dream came to fruition after what has been the adventure of a lifetime. Many thanks to all the kind strangers and friends that crossed my path along the way. May I one day return the favor. I would also like to thank everyone that supported my world bicycle relief campaign. Together we made a significant and lasting impact on the lives of thirty-five children in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, I'd like to thank everyone that followed my adventure. I hope it may inspire your next adventure. Love, Floris.  #solongandthanksforallthefish
South Korea - four rivers trail. After the ferry f South Korea - four rivers trail. After the ferry from China, I set off from Incheon for a short ride to Seoul. It was a sunny day and it was great to see all the recreational cyclists out and about. It reminded me of a mild spring Sunday morning along de schelde back home. I even rode in a pace line for a while. In Seoul I was hosted by Jo Anna and her husband in their traditional Korean home with two cats 🐱. She'd invited some friends over and we got to share stories, food and drink: a great time. The next day I set off to visit Seoul, hiking the old city wall, counting the number of cafes (seriously, coffee is big business here) and visiting a number of palaces and the Jongmyo shrine. These are places of sanctuary right in the middle of a sprawling city. It was also interesting to see the importance of the spirit world in Korean mythology. After Seoul I followed the Hangang south towards the heart of the southern peninsula. Along the way I passed along the highest point on the path (530ish m), met a few friendly dogs, cats and other cyclists and been enjoying the midday warmth. It does cool down during the night and most mornings are misty. Cycling here is very different from China, with purpose build cycle paths far away from traffic. The infrastructure with public toilets and rest areas is the best I've ever seen anywhere. Camping has been a breeze as well. All of this makes cycling very accessible, as evident by the large number of Koreans on their bikes. Which has led resulted in numerous photos 🙂. It hasn't been the most adventurous touring, but it's nonetheless been very enjoyable. I'm now taking a rest day in Daegu (not that the cycling has been very tiring!), the third largest city in South Korea. Tomorrow I'm continuing south towards the port city of Busan. Annyeonghasaeyo!
China - the yellow sea. Fifty five days and 4 500k China - the yellow sea. Fifty five days and 4 500km after entering China, I reached the shores of the yellow sea in Qingdao! A huge milestone as China was a big challenge due to its sheer size and visa limits. While it's still early to reflect, China did surprise me in a number of ways. For one, it's much more developed than I anticipated. Secondly, the road conditions were the best of my entire trip so far and the highspeed rail is an engineering marvel. Also camping was fairly straightforward in the (populated) east and the food was tasty! On the other hand, my route after Xi'an quickly became monotonous and was often filled with trucks. This combined with the large distances made cycling feel like a chore. Fortunately, podcasts provided some distraction (thanks Sam Harris!) and helped to drown out the excessive honking from other road users (really, it's crazy). One other unexpected difficulty was the feeling of isolation as it's really challenging to communicate with local people. Overall, I'm very grateful though that I've been able to catch a glimpse of the diverse and exotic cultures in China. As for the rest of my trip: on Friday I'm crossing the yellow sea by ferry to Incheon, South Korea. But first I'm spending my last days in China exploring Qingdao. Its brief occupation by Germany at the beginning of the previous century makes it an interesting place in China. Even more so as it is the hometown of the Tsingtao beer 🍺 Talking about drinks: mark December 20th in your calendars as I'll be inviting all my supporters for a chat and drink back home 🥂More info to follow soon! Love, Floris
Throwback to October 27 2012 when Lasse, Sander an Throwback to October 27 2012 when Lasse, Sander and I set off for an overnighter in the south of Belgium on what was to be my first taste of bicycle touring! The hoge venen is the largest nature reserve in Belgium and it has been the backdrop to many of our outdoor adventures. I remember that at one point my rear rack came loose and dragged behind my bicycle for a while. Luckily we managed to fix it somehow. Sander was riding Lasse's old mountainbike and Lasse was on the classic Surely LHT. Unfortunately my bicycle was stolen some time later, but I'm still using the same panniers! A fun weekend that led to many more trips and a great reminder that you don't have to go far for adventure! #bicycletouring #throwback #2012 #outdoorisfree #memories
China - Qinghai. Cycling south from Zhangye, I ent China - Qinghai. Cycling south from Zhangye, I entered a new province: Qinghai. Here on the edge of the Tibetan plateau you get a sense of the Tibetan culture and Buddhism without actually having to go to Tibet (which involves an expensive permit). The camel caravan sculptures reminded me that after eight months of cycling, I'm still following the silk road. Eleanor and I had to part ways at this point, as I had to get a move on with my sixty day visa. The weather took a cold turn: one morning most of my water had frozen overnight. Fortunately there was a three hour climb waiting to warm up 😅. In such cold weather it's critical to regulate body temperature, as too much sweating will leave you shivering in the descent. Still, you can see me with most of my clothes on ready for the descent in the fourth picture. I zoomed through Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, eager to get to the Buddhist valleys to the south. The way to Tongren was filled with numerous Buddhist shrines: stupas, statues, murals and prayer flags lining the roads. I left the valley towards Tongren in favour of a road through the mountains to Guashize monastery. While exploring the monastery buildings I was ushered over by two young monks. From translating with the phone I found out that they were born in Tongren but came to the monastery at the age of sixteen, where they have now been for two years. This was followed by an impromptu photoshoot (I have a dozen more photos 😁) and sharing the result over wechat! By way of a parting gift, they offered me a large pot of yakh yoghurt: a very delicious snack! Feeling grateful for this encounter, I set off in the midday sun to ride another day 🌞
China - Gansu, Mati Si grottoes. These Buddhist te China - Gansu, Mati Si grottoes. These Buddhist temples are located 60km south of Zhangye. On our way there Eleanor and I cycled through colourful autumn landscapes, past farmers harvesting the last of their crop. Most of the temples around Mati Si are carved into a rock cliff, so it looks like they are hanging from the rock. Inside, the grottoes are decorated with many Buddha statues and colorful paint and wood work. The most spectacular temple is the southern one, which is known as the horseshoe temple. At the bottom there are numerous niches with Buddhist artwork, but the most interesting part is carved out of the cliff face above. It was fun to explore the many little grottoes by following narrow corridors and climbing (sometimes literally) steep staircases hewn from the rock. Not for the claustrophobic or those afraid of heights! It's seriously impressive that all of this was carved out over 700 years ago. We spend the night camping just outside the temple, which meant a prime view the next morning. Unfortunately the infrared light of the night cameras interfered with my night photography, so no star filled skies this time.
China - Gansu, Zhangye. After the rainbow mountain China - Gansu, Zhangye. After the rainbow mountains, Eleanor and I cycled to Zhangye. Zhangye is a city in the hexi corridor along the silk road. Despite being an old trading outpost, the city nowadays feels very modern (like most Chinese cities). Upon arrival we were immediately welcomed by some patriotic Chinese youth. The tower in the next photo is a pagoda, which are everywhere around China. Zhangye houses china's largest reclining Buddha. Although we didn't visit the temple, we did manage a peek from the entrance. Another (unfortunately) common sight is that of street dogs in China, they're typically small and rather cute. They seem to be able to fend for themselves though 👊 A special mention goes to the mechanics that fixed the kickstand of my bicycle. Some spectacular welding and grinding means the bicycle is freed from being precariously balanced against foreign objects. Lastly, we witnessed a bizarre public auctioning of what I think was jewelry. The guy fired up the crowd, urging them to offer money. Though it looked like some element of chance was involved as well. As fixing the kickstand took quite some time, I decided to take an unexpected rest day. Hopefully this won't interfere with my tight 60 day schedule for crossing China. To be continued!
China - Gansu. Last week was China's national holi China - Gansu. Last week was China's national holiday. In many towns this meant markets with excellent street food. The usual setup involves a big cooking pot suspended over a fire where noodles and veg are cooked in a spicy, oily broth. This lovely couple made us a bowl of delicious noodles. After stuffing ourselves, we pedaled onwards to Danxia national park. On the way we passed a mountain range and canyon, the milky way came out to say hello and there were a number of shooting stars in the night sky. We stayed in a hotel close to the park so we could catch the sunrise on the mountains. The aptly named rainbow mountains are called a geological wonder of the world and I was keen to find out more. The morning light made the red and yellow colours stand out. It was very crowded though and the park was my first  taste of packaged tourism in China: hot air balloons, powered paragliders and even helicopters all flew overhead. Still, the rainbow mountains were a stunning sight. And who better to have as a companion than Eleanor, who is a geologist 👍
China - Gansu. From Urumqi I took the overnight sl China - Gansu. From Urumqi I took the overnight sleeper train to Dunhuang. Doing so, I sped through 1000km of dessert and I saved time on my sixty day visa. The train ride took 14 hours and costed 260RMB (33 euro). It is actually a comfortable way to travel 😅. In Dunhuang I visited the Mogao caves, a collection of more than 400 caves filled with Buddha artwork: Buddha statues and murals dating back to the fourth century AD. It was interesting to see how well the clay stucco artwork preserved after all this time. After spending the night in a futuristic capsule, I set off east again. The next three days I cycled mostly through dessert along the Hexi corridor. Just like in the time of the silk road, long stretches of sand were broken up by the occasional oasis. Favorable winds on day two meant I broke the 200k barrier (i.e. a double metric century). Road works had me covered in dust by the many trucks passing by. I arrived in Jiayuguan around noon, where I met up with with Eleneaor @cycletothesunblog with whom I caught my first glimpse of the great wall. Funneled in by mountains to the north and south, silk road travellers would cross the Jiayuguan pass where they'd hit the western frontier of the Ming dynasty China. They would be welcomed by the frontier fortress build here. While the fortress appears to be totally rebuild today, it was nonetheless exciting to finally arrive at the great wall of China! Eleanor and I engaged in conversation typical to long distance tourers: bicycles, climate, home, memorable moments and places and our plans for the future. We decided to cycle together for the coming days, so I'm happy to report that I'm 🚴 back in a team now 👊. Bai-bai, Floris.
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My name is Floris and I am passionate about exploring the world by bicycle. On this website you can find my travel chronicles as I write about experiences and encounters along the way.

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