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Mongolia - Russia - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan - Russia - Geneva, Italy, France - Russia - Scandinavia.
Thursday
3/11/2010

I sorted the photo from Lake Baïkal, I will have a total of 6 or 7 stories all together. I just put the first one online.
My hips is back to normal and I have no broken spoke on the wheels.


Wednesday
3/10/2010

We arrived at Ulaanbaatar this afternoon. I took a shower but a persistent smell was still following me until I did the laundry !

It was an extraordinary ride, Chinzo was the perfect companion for this ride, and the sidecar was phenomenal !

I feel exhausted, but I am happy, I go to rest for the night, thanks for all your good words.

Yuruul


Monday
3/8/2010

Just out of Lake Baïkal, it was a surreal experience way above what I had imagined. We crossed the lake a second time to a different village on the Est side, get lost in a maze of ice craks several times, could not find a landing, slept on the middle of the lake, went north to a different island and we are back on earth ! - I wonder if google earth show the ice maze of the lake ?

Many photos to come but what an experience it was, the sidecar managed phenomenaly, even if we got stuck in the ice crossing so many ice cracks filed of snow.

We think to be back to Ulaanbaatar Wednesday night .


We slept on Lake Baïkal...


Did a lot of searching and passing of ice cracks...


and did a lot of work to get it going !!!


Thursday
3/4/2010

We crossed Lake Baïkal from the delta of the river Selenge - coming from Mongolia - at the village of Ranjurov where we slept last nitht, to the village of Buduldeika on the the West side of the lake. We drove north to the island of Okhlon where we are sleeping tonight.

The delta was complex to get out of it, the crossing was magnificient but the landing was quite difficult.

The sidecar was purring very nicely doing an excellent job on the 2WD.


The crossing of Lake Baïkal was an other memorabel ride, the real difficulty was in the landing.


Tuesday
3/2//2010

For one time, I really would like to transgress my own desire by crossing the Lake Baîkal "Horizontally" and definitely not "Vertically" if you see what i mean !

By now, we know that there are no such a thing as a "Traced road" anywhere to cross the lake, there are many traces made by the fishermen but you are on your own. There are many things that can happen in the middle of the lake like cracks and thin ice, so we are still investigating from Ulan Ude where we will have our passeport registered from the emigration office today. Tomorrow we will go to fishing villages and see from there.

 

PS: Not only Chinzo is fluent in English but I discovered since we are on the road together that he is also fluent in Russian, you have no idear how it change my life to be able to have informations instantly !


Monday
3/1//2010

2 good days of riding, we passed the Russian border this morning, and we are sleeping in Ulan Ude, no more than 50 miles from Lake Baïkal. Riding with Chinzo is pleasant, he has a great attitude. He adjusted his clothing a little bit, the sleeping bag that he is sitting on behind me a lot, burned his left leg pants on the gaz exhaust, but he is adjusting quite nicely.

We are investigating from here the best way to cross the lake without being trapped by the cracks on the ice, but as soon as we feel comfortable, we will go on the lake.


I told Chinzo to take 2 sleeping bags, a small one to seat on it behind me and the biggest he had as
a survival item if we are stuck on the lake. I did not told him that we will sleep on the lake no matter what !


Sunday
2/28//2010

8:00am: Vroom Vroom to Lake Baïkal !!!


Saturday
2/27//2010

Chinzo got his Russian visa, tomorrow morning, 8:00 am, we go together on my sidecar to Russia to cross the frozen Lake Baïkal. At the first week of March, the ice is supposed to be crystal clear.

It should take us 3 days to get there, a few days to fool around on it and came back to Ulaanbaatar

Vroom Vroom !!!


With my new driver licence Mongol, I bought an insurance for the sidecar.


Friday
2/26//2010

Zud: when an animal die by the extreme cold weather and malnutrition, Mongols peel their skin that they can sell but will abandon the carcasse for cultural and test reason. When Mongols kill an animal, they drain immeditaly the blood from it's body, the meat is white and not red. If the meat is red, Mongol would never eat it, because they don't like the test of it and it would be impure to eat such meat.

In the same maner, the fire is sacred. Mongol don't burn waste like paper, plastic ect...


Thursday
2/25/2010

Markas wrote: "Don't you have a group lined up to make the trip across the Lake with you?"

All the Australians are busy at work in the mining business and getting married. Chinzo who still want to come on my sidecar with me did not took care of his Russian visa. We met yesterday, discussed the programe and what is needed but I don't know if he will be able to have a Russina visa in a couple of days.

 

Frank wrote me this email about "Feeding the birds":

"I am unsure if I should have made that statement about not overfeeding the birds. I fear that because this is an international audience, too many will not understand what I was trying to say.

I was trying to say not to make a career of sitting at another mans table, only accept his invitation, nourish yourself and learn from his wisdom. At some point one should endeavor to emulate his teacher and go forth on his own.

That is true not only in the business world, but in life and adventure as well .

When you go "Missing" from the Blog for a few days, some of us get a little apprehensive, that is to be expected. You are right, a good cure for us is to get on our own bikes and create an adventure and introduce ourselves to our own abilities. Frank"

 

Frank you don't have to worry about a thing, all you need to do is to be honest in your telling. You or I or anybody can never please everybody and should not worry about that, no more that we should worry that everybody will understand what we really mean. I have been making jokes all my life that even my own daughter does not always understand, but I am still repeating some of them because they make me laugh !

Thank you, Frank and everybody else, for writting your soul.

 

About some comments from the guestbook and from emails I reveived:

I am not a reporter, an educator, a teacher, or a guide, I am just a simple traveller.

My stories are the reflect of my personal limited experience. They never pretend to be fully analysed or to be fair and balanced, they are just the miror of my personal understanding and how I felt when meeting with people or places that I have the privilege to visit.


Wednesday
2/24/2010

Once in a while, I love to tell my "Kubrik" story:
When I decided to leave New York for my "Ten Years on the Road", I invited all the motorcycle people I knew - friends and professionals - in New York for a BBQ at my place to make the announcement. Not everybody came, but we were a lot. They all knew me as the "Crazy Sidecar-ist" and some like Jean-Louis liked to call me the "Kubrik" because on the road, they never know where I am, they may see me on their right mirror but in the blink of an eye, they can't see me anymore and they may find me anywhere around, on their left or right as well as on the rear or in front of them !
So I asked any one in the room who want to have a ride with me to lift their hands, and almost every body did it.
Then I said, OK, keep your hand up if you are ready to come with me for a 10 years ride, and there were only a few hands left up.
Then I said, OK, we start this February by the Arctic Circle in Canada, and gone were the hands, there were no more candidates to ride with me.
This is to answer to Frank who wrote in the guestbook "BUT, Hubert is smart enough not to "overfeed" the birds, that they might someday "fly" on their own"
If I am travelling alone it's because nobody except Jean Louis when he could do it came with me. I love when people wrote me, "because of you, I bought a motorcycle or a sidecar" or "if Hubert can do it, I can do it, I go on the road"
It does not matter what you ride, or where you go or for how long you go as long as you hit the road, you are looking good.
And that's the way it is !
Yuruul

PS: I had a great ride coming back to Ulaanbaatar, I stopped at Pourou's ger and Dondov's ger. I am preparing to go cross Lake Baikal in Russia next week.


Samedi
2/20/2010

Vroom-Vrooom ! I will go from ger to ger the coming days.


Friday
2/19/2010

I spend a few outsanding days at the freezing Temujin Hotel. I arrived at the time of Tsangat Tsar, the Mongolian New Year. Everything was closed. I digged some of my survival food I keep in the sidecar. Mostly soups. I stayed enclosed in my bedroom most of the time, writting the Genghis Khan story, having naps when I felt like it. The first 2 days, I was alone in the hotel meaning there were no other human being in the building. Then people came back slowly from their celebrations in their families. I felt like when I passed the 3rd lock of the Panama Canal in the middle of the night, i was lying down on the bench of  the dining room on my tug boat. My eyes were closed the whole time, and I was visioning the manoeuvers of the tug boat with me inside like if I was on google earth, it was magic. I had the same feeling these last few days in my frozen room in the middle of the snowy steppes of Mongolia. I had nobody to talk to, and nobodty was talking to me, I was literally alone with nobody to respond or to be polite to.
I fully appreciate this life of simplicity.


In my hotel Tamujin in the middle of the snowy Mongolian steppe, I was in heaven by 45ºF in my bedroom.


Wednesday
2/17/2010

After leaving Ulaanbaatar, I stopped at Dondov's ger and spend the night there. The riding in the snow was ok but very slow for the next couple of days. The 2WD is doing what it's suppose to do, it's getting me through, a 1WD sidecar like my BMW would not go through these snowy tracks at all ! I did just few mistake. The 3rd day, the wind was strong and the floating snow was covering the track. I goofed 3 times in the first 30 miles by getting out of the track without knowing it and getting stack in soft snow. There were no way I could make it on time for the Camel Festival. I decided to come back to the last big village I passed in the middle of the Gobi desert and wait there. I have been since in the only hotel open. The room is between 45ºF at night and goes up to 50ºF during the day. I started to put together the story "The History of Genghis Khan" that fascinate me so much.

I appreciate having this time for myself with nobody to talk to or to listen to.

I may need an other day or 2 to do the traduction for the French web site and I will go back on the road.

My hip is improving very slowly and I am still limping but it's improving so the problem will resolve by itself.


Thursday
2/11/2010

I am leaving Ulaanbaatar on my sidecar to go from ger to ger to a camel festival in the village of Bulgan in the heart of the Gobi desert.

No internet connection in these area, you know the drill, I do the riding, you do the worrying !!!


Wednesday
2/10/2010

I spend these last few days resting on the coach of the guesthouse working on my videos. Last night I gave it a try to put the video
Blablabla, Miam. Miam.Miam & Vroom-Vroom-Vroom on Youtube. It means that now when you are on my web site and click on the small photo to view that video, the next page has the video - hosted on Youtube but you view it directly on the page of my web site. It should be more performing that it was on my general account server. I set up 2 sizes for the luckies who have a decent connection. Let me know if you have problem with this new set up and if it works I will always do that in the futur.

My hips problem is not going worst but improving very slowly.

I tried to rent a car to go to the camel festival this weekend but there are no Hertz around and nobody want to rent his car without a driver ! I will leave tomorrow morning on my sidecar and I will see how it goes. I packed all my bags this afternoon, went shopping Vodka and candies for gifts, printed the photo for Dondov and Pourou (the camel's ger) that i will visit on my way to the Govi desert, took a shower and did my laundry.

I might not find internet for a while so stay cool everybody and thank's for all your comments on the guestbook.


Tuesday
2/9/2010

More about the same answering many question people ask me regularly:

In November 2004, the year Jessica was to complete her college education in Madison Wisconsin, I had dinner with my friend Jean-Louis at l'Orange Bleu in Manhattan. At the end of that dinner, we clarified a few things that influenced greatly my future.

For ordinary people like me, no matter how much $ you make, on December 31, your pockets are empty because with the lifestyle of a big city like New York, you spend it all. If I was to sell everything's I had, I would have enough $ to travel for 10 years on my sidecar. I had 2 choices and it took me seconds to apply common sense and take a decision:

1 - I keep working for 10 years in New York and I will be poor after that !

2 - I sell everything I have, I go travel for 10 years and I will be poor after that !

Three month after that dinner, on February 16, 2005 at 6:04 am, I left New York for my "Ten Years on the Road !"

I am not doing a RTW (Round The World) because I don't have to. I just go horizontally and vertically where ever it works better for me on a day to day. I don't have to see every country or everything in each country I travel. I prefer to spend time in remote places than in big cities.

The most valuable item I have with me is "Time", I appreciate it every single day, i don't have to rush for any reason. My second most valuable thing I have now is "I don't have to sell anything anymore !". I was selling in my little businesses all my life and if I did not succeed, it was simply because I was never good at it and I did not know what else I could do. There is only one reason why people don't buy from you, it's because they dont' trust you ! People always liked me, but they never trusted me !!!

So when several time a week people ask me "Are you writing a book ?" My answer is 'No" and that is simply because if I want to write a book, I will have to sell it in a matter to please a publisher and go through the same system I used unsuccessfully all my life. I always complete my answer by saying "But I write a web site". I do it very carefully and completely as I can because I don't have to sell it, it's free !

Now more and more people ask me "At the end of your Ten Years, you can do a movie with all the material you have". I still answer no, because I don't want to sell anything anymore. Then came the $ question "But you could make some $ out of it !". It is true, I could make some $ out of it, but I don't need it, I would call that "Greed", because I sleep quite well in a ditch and I don't need much to be happy !

An this is my recipe to live fully my newly acquired FREEDOM!


Monday
2/8/2010

I got a call telling that my Mongolian driver licence is ready to be picked up tomorrow, I will be able to buy a motorcycle insurance with that. I slept lightly on the ice this everning and I hurt my hips in the process. I understand that my hips is going to bother me for a long time so I am ready to get used to it !

I am thinking to leave Wednesday for Bulgan in the Gobi desert where there is a camel festival for at the occasoin of the Mongolian New Year.


Sunday
2/7/2010

10:00am: New York time, I just posted and update of the video

 

Blablabla, Miam.Miam.Miam & Vroom-Vroom-Vroom !!!

 

 

While resting, I did a composite video about

Blablabla, Miam.Miam.Miam & Vroom-Vroom-Vroom !!!


Saturday
2/6/2010

After a week of blue sky and feeling the spring at the corner (between 0ºF and 10ºF) there is a nasty snow storm on all the West of the county. All the roads going where I want to go see the Mongols hunt wolves with their eagles are closed.

I am resting comfortably reading my books on Genghis Khan in my guesthouse of Ulaanbaatar for a few more days.


A - the rotula is curving nice and smooth. B - is my problem. Don't walk and rest is the doctor recommendation !


Thursday
2/4/2010

To Phil, Jojo, Claire, Rodolphe, Marion and many of you who wrote me emails regarding what Phil thought was a digress.

When I was a very little boy, I had nuts in my stomach every morning going at school because I was already disconnected with what was happening on the black board in front of me and I did not graduate from high school. I was not even close of having the level to go to college that my dad would have love paying for me.

My working life was about the same. Because I had no education or knowledge, I worked very hard to compensate and always thought I was overpaid for what I was doing. I lived in the red all my life and the spinning stopped only 5 years ago when I left New York for my Ten Years on the Road !

Thanks to their mothers and to me, fortunatly, none of my daughters followed my path. Eve did not use too much her 4 years in college but had ease at finding her way in the professional life in England, Lucie has a master in linguistic and psychologies and is raising her kid in France. Jessica has an MBA and is a corporate trainer in the USA - Eve and Jessica are already making more $ than I ever made in my life !

Today, my nomad life on the road is a dream come true because like when I was a little kid, I always felt disconected in any system I was, always wondering what I was supposed to do. We all have to find our way in life. For some, it takes longer than for others and there is nothing wrong with that. As for me I feel lucky because for some it might never happens !

Thank you to all of you who are following my travel and don't disconect your internet because I am not even half way through.


Wednesday
2/3/2010

What I mean by "Things were kind of easy for us" - the generation that matured in 1968 - is that all you had to do to have a job was to show up in the morning ! In comparaison, I remember about 10 years ago on a hot summer night in Arcachon, France, at a cafe were Gaelle was a waitress, the young generation telling me "We want to stay student as long as possible because when we graduate, we will be unemployed !". So getting a job was much easier but I still had to work as hard as anybody else all my life to pay my rent.


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