silkroad

Marco Polo Traverse Finale
...this has been the destination of our Marco Polo motorcycle expedition so we sat among the ruins, took photos as the sun went down, drank a bottle of Marco Polo wine we had brought from Korcula Island, Marco's birthplace in the Adriatic, and basked in the success of a mission accomplished....
19 July 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Silk Road, Great Wall and Rewi Alley
We had the pleasure of spending a couple of days with the folks of Shandan Bailie School which Rewi founded, these days a modern State polytech equivalent catering to the vocational training of 1,500 students. We were treated like royalty simply by virtue of the fact we are from his homeland. ...
12 July 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Xinjiang - Chinese Turkestan
The weather in this desert is extreme and fickle. We were hit by sandstorms - one that blew our tents away as we were trying to set up camp, and another that caked one of our riders and his bike in wet sand as he tried to pass through the maelstrom. ...
5 July 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Kyrgyzstan & the Silkriders' Charitable Project
The temperature in the At Bashi precinct gets to minus 50 degrees in the winter. The school has mud walls, asbestos roof, rotten floors and 300 kids attending in shifts, so as the classrooms built for 12 can be crammed with 30 kids per session. The Silkrider fundraising is targeted at the children of this fledgling democracy can see that there are citizens of the world prepared to help them realise the dreams that others have been fortunate enough to....
28 June 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Unusual Uzbekistan
Karimov the thug has exploited that business opportunity to his own ends, at the expense of the country's entrepreneurs. Suddenly his daughters are owners of major businesses in Uzbekistan. As soon as a business becomes successful the owner gets a visit informing them that this business now belongs to the Karimov clan....
21 June 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Aral Sea and the cost of letting the Desert Bloom
Certainly the Soviet schemes didn't have efficiency at their core. We have seen hundreds of kilometres of unlined open canals across the desert where the water loss though seepage and evaporation is substantial. And of course the ships - there they all were lying on the sand, stranded in port as the tide went out. It is a dramatic scene, and vivid testimony to the cost of the folly of the ...
14 June 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Turkmenistan or Anyone for Desert?
With its former USSR neighbours all in turbulence, as the former Soviet henchmen come inaugural Presidents each are brought to account by the population, Turkmenistan and its glorious leader will no doubt have their difficulties. But for now the country is peaceful, tourism is nascent at under 20,000 per annum and the country well worth visiting....
8 June 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Iran - Cry for me
From being on national television and newspapers one day extolling the potential of Iran as a tourist destination, to being placed under arrest the next, our trip across Iran proved to be anything but dull....
31 May 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Turkey: Where Europe meets Central Asia
Aside from the decidedly sick attitudes to women from the so-called conservative thugs that still dominate village religious and street life in Eastern Turkey, village visits are pure delight. Everybody gathers around the bikes, yarns are swapped, lies told and bon amie gushes....
24 May 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Gallipoli - A Shrine to Those Who Served for Us
I don't remember when it was that I last wept openly and I don't understand fully why I did at this visit to Gallipoli, but there was hardly a dry eye in our group after a visit around all the burial grounds, memorials and battle scenes....
17 May 2005 - Gareth Morgan

Motorbiking the Balkans
In the Balkan states, the farmers ride around on rotary hoes pulling their trailers, and the cars are the renowned global brands of Yugo, Stada and Zastava....
11 May 2005 - Gareth Morgan

On the Road At Last
Arriving at BMW Motorad Munich to find our bikes lined up, serviced and ready to ride was always going to be one of the most joyous occasions of this journey. After a week of battling bureaucracy it has been a relief to see the renowned German efficiency at last kick in and a unanimous vote of thanks to BMW for that....
3 May 2005 - Gareth Morgan

To the Front: Silkroad in Sight
Flying from Hong Kong to Germany we cross the Tibetan Plateau, the Taklemakan desert, the Aral and Caspian Seas and the snow is continual. How on earth we expect to cross all this on motorbikes in just a few weeks is beyond me at this time. The big thaw had better arrive soon or we're going to be a little "motorcycle lite" for the conditions. ...
26 April 2005 - Gareth Morgan