Back to Reality

After 48 hours of earned relaxation, its time to shift gears into working mode. Tomorrow is my first day at the office and I feel that my thoughts are still floating around more riding. It will be difficult in the coming days to adapt to the containment of the 4 walls of my meeting room and office after spending 21 days roaming freely. As always all good thing must come to an end and so will this Blog with this closing post. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my readers, who followed us over the course of this trip and in specific my wife and lovely children for supporting me on this trip, I hope you enjoyed this adventure.

Live your Dream and Ride on!

Hellraiser Signing off--------

Bilad Al Sham

Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are considered to fall under the infamous name of Bilad Al-Sham.

The unfortunate common denominator across these countries is the apparent poverty particularly visible in the small villages, I can not describe the state of the inhabitant of these areas, but low standard of living is a common sight, which bring me back to reality, that although we are enjoying ourselves we should consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to embark on such a journey. I was interviewed by a magazine in Jordan and a question was asked on what are the objective of this trip, to be honest, we never had any.
However I am positively impressed that the most common question asked by people all along the trip, why are we doing this? Is it that people sympathized with the hardship of riding a bike across so many countries, or is it because we should have adopted a cause. I have started writing this post prior to meeting Alex Wettstein, maybe next time we should think of adopting a cause, get sponsorship and achieve some sort of humanitarian relief.

Epilogue

From the desert of Saudi to the Ruins of Palmyra trough the mountains of Lebanon and along side the shores of the Dead Sea, this has been an unforgettable vacation and a memorable ride to treasure for years to come. After 7500km and 21 days of riding, here are some of the tips I would like to share with you, if you are planning to undertake such a vacation.Total cost of the trip 750KD, that's inclusive, Petrol, Insurance, Food, 5 Stars hotel accommodation.
Cost can be reduced with cheaper accommodation.
12 people was a bit of a crowd , it is recommended not to exceed a number of 6, that eases most of the movement.
Objective, make sure you know your traveling companion very well, before you embark on a such a journey, and you all agree on the same objective.
Riding Skills, I do not recommend this trip for novice riders, driving in Syria and Lebanon whether in the mountain or in the city can be pretty hazardous and involves swift reaction and proper vehicle control.
To insure safe riding, make sure to take thermo undies, Goretex, Cordura Jacket & Pants, Flip Up helmet to enjoy the weather on mountain trips, warm gloves, 2 pair of jeans, 5 T-shirts, fleece sweater, 2 long sleeves T-shirts.
Basic understanding of motorcycle repairs and proper tools.

I am in the process of planning my European Vacation in 2009, so expect some interesting blogs, meanwhile I will keep updating this blog with more pictures so keep visiting.

The Long Way Home

Tomorrow is the 20th day of the trip and the beginning of our return back to Kuwait. We will set off from Aqaba to Haditha a trip of 350km followed by another 400km to Ar'ar. This will be probably my last post until we reach Kuwait on the 29th. We have logged 5300km since the start of the trip on the 9th of this month with 1400km to go, we have exceeded the 6000km mark.

Taranalex the Children's Road

We met Alex Wettstein in Aqaba on his BMW GS1200 Adventure, we invited him to tag along with us to Wadi Rum and listened to his story. Alex a 40 years old of Swiss origin has started off his carrier as a nurse in his home town Geneva. 3 years ago he went to Indonesia with his girlfriend and saw the devastation of the Tsunami. As a professional photographer he shot pictures depicting the impact of the Tsunami on the inhabitants, focusing in specific on the children. Upon returning to Geneva he held an exhibition and the pictures were sold, all proceedings were used to buy basic school papers, pens and other needed material for the children. Since then, he managed to publish 2 books to help the plight of children in the Middles-East & Asia and established Taranalex an Association to help children in Asia . Alex dedicated his time to support the lesser fortunate children, he got sponsorship from BMW and other local companies to support him with his new initiative. His journey started from Geneva on September 2007 and he has managed to cover 9000km, passing through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Monte Negro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Jordan, he will be continuing to Egypt, Sudan, Oman, Iran and final destination India. Alex book is titled Dari-Mana? meaning Where do you come from? and can be purchased online from his website www.taranalex.com, we wish Alex a safe journey and best of luck in achieving his objective, the world is in need for the likes of Alex.

Picture of the Week

Got ambushed by a bunch of Karate School Kids in some little village in Jordan.

Mansaf at Abu El Jebain

Our Buddy Bu Faysal invited us today to his family House in Zay, this is the first time I try an Authentic Jordanian Mansaf. Mansaf is the traditional dish in Jordan. Its main ingredients are lamb, rice, and a dried yoghurt-like product called Jameed. I can not describe the settings of the beautiful home, the warm welcome and the tasty food, I will leave the pictures to do the talking. Thank you Bu Faysal for this invitation our Jordanian experience just got the icing it needed.

Tire Abuse

We have been driving over the course of the past 12 days in mountainous regions, worth 700km of winding roads and probably a guesstimate of 300 and more corners. Yesterday's ride saw the most abusive day of cornering, with speeds exceeding 150km/h, the bike's leaning angle was beyond the 40% mark, that's steep on a GS as a couple of degrees more might cost a trip to the canyon, on a couple of occasions the tire broke loose but was easily managed. This type of riding is unfortunately non-existent in Kuwait which leaves a lot of bike riders in a troubled situation.

Dead Sea

The drive down from Madaba took us through a beautiful long winding road towards the dead sea, passing through Ma'in Hot springs. The Dead Sea is a salt lake between the West Bank and Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. At 420 metres below sea level, its shores are the lowest point on Earth that are on dry land. At 330 m deep , the Dead Sea is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometers long and 18 kilometers wide at its widest point. Unfortunately we could not sample the water as we did not have any trunks with us.

Moses Spring

About 1 km east of Mount Nebo, you can see the spring of Prophet Moses, the road is torturous and steep the area is dotted by Eucalyptus trees, it is said that In need of water, Prophet Moses struck a rock with his staff and 12 springs emerged. Named Uyun Musa (Moses' springs) which are located near Madaba. We also encountered a fresh water crab living in the vicinity of the spring.

Mount Nebo

On the highest point of the mountain, Syagha, the remains of a church and monastery were discovered in 1933. The church was first constructed in the second half of the 4th century to commemorate the place of Moses' death. The church design follows a typical basilica pattern. It was enlarged in the late fifth century A.D. and rebuilt in A.D. 597. The church is first mentioned in an account of a pilgrimage made by a lady Aetheria in A.D. 394. Six tombs have been found hollowed from the natural rock beneath the mosaic-covered floor of the church. In the modern chapel presbytery, built to protect the site and provide worship space, you can see remnants of mosaic floors from different periods. The earliest of these is a panel with a braided cross presently placed on the east end of the south wall.

Chicha Obsession

Throughout this Journey 2 of my buddies are hardcore chicha smokers. I don't mind the occasional chicha, but not at 11:00 am. In any case we have been in and out of chicha places on a daily basis, the most authentic and interesting place was in Dinneyeh, it reminded me of a lost era where time stood still.

Day 13 - Grounded

I am not the superstitious type, however today I feel a bit awkward, about us staying in Beirut. On the 13th day of the trip we have been confined tour rooms, due to extremely poor weather conditions. Some of the guys went to see a movie, I opted to catch up on some work and much needed sleep. I am longing to hit the open road and head to Jordan, as I hate confinement and unplanned surprises. I will use this time to catch up with some more friends this never ends when you are in Beirut, you keep bumping into people you know. Tomorrow definitely we are out of here!

The waiting game

Its 11:00am in Beirut, we are still stuck at the hotel, due to some unforseen events. The weather over the last 24 hours has been disastrous, I am still hoping we will make a move towards the border today. It has been raining cats and dogs all night, and the thunder is triggering off the car alarms every 10 minutes or so. This is the view from my hotel window.

Christmas at ABC Mall

Today I spent 2 hours in ABC Mall, just looking around for my 50$ :) just kidding. I enjoyed looking at the shops, and the Christmas decoration that adds a flavor of coziness to the place. I am not a fan of malls however its worth posting some pics since this trip cost 50$.

Lebanon in Poverty

Every tourist coming to Lebanon is interested to have his pictures taken with symbolic sites, to experience a new culture or a new meal and maybe some belly dancing, then head back home with a digitized memory. In the past few days we have toured Lebanon, we did not visit exotic sights, we went discovering new roads and destinations, some intentionally other out of luck. We passed in villages where we, were considered an attraction. Narrow streets where neighboring houses are a meter apart, those villages bore witness to the misery this country is going through, with bare feet kids, lagging even the simplest luxury in their houses, electricity, phones, water and through it all we got big smiles and hospitality we could not resist, these people are the true Lebanese, they are simple, hard working and have a welcoming smile on their face even through hard times. I listened to many sad stories, businesses are suffering, people are suffering, families coming apart and so on. This experience made me think on whether my role model should be Carlos Ghosn and Bill Gates or George, Mohamad and Ali as these are the true survivors, people with a bleak outlook on their future but loads of positive attitude. So next time you are in this country and would like to sample our hospitality go to Sir Al Dinneyeh, Sannine or to the South, I guarantee you a welcoming smile and some great tea to go with it.

Weather Ahead

It seems our luck is running out the weather forecast looks gloomy for the coming days, we are departing to Damascus and Jordan on the 21st, given the road condition ahead there will be lots of slipping and sliding.

Pack of Wolves

You might be asking yourself by now, how is it like to travel with 11 other guys for 21 days. Well to tell you the truth it ain't easy. There is too much machismo too deal with, too many opinions and add to that different riding styles, you have a recipe for disaster. Having said that, the trip is going great we have been enjoying ourselves thoroughly for the exception of the commotion we manage to create around us.

The Pump Traffic	The assembly commotion
The group picture logistics	Sightseeing Traffic management
Overtaking Mayhem	Picture shooting

Autumn is in the Air

We are lucky to experience this time of year in Lebanon, the weather is great, no rain as of yet, nature is in the process of changing its colors which provided us with some magnificent scenery. A heavy thunderstorm is expected to hit the country on the 21st the day of our departure to Jordan, my only concerns are the roads which tend to get too slippery.