I've had a strange last week. The urge to use some of my newly rediscovered lateral thinking skills has been bubbling to the surface. I found Edward De Bono's book Lateral Thinking in a book shop in Quetta and through reading it, I've found inspiration to find new challenging adventures and varied experiences.

Indian food is addictive. To start with it's like 'curry for breakfast,lunch and dinner' - hmmmm.... But Indian food isn't really about just eating for the need of it. It's an experience of taste bud adventure pretty much every meal. In fact the whole Indian experience is a bit like a macrocosm of the eating experience.

I am in the Gujarat capital Amdavad spending a few days relaxing here before continuing on towards Mumbai. It's a nice city to spend some time. I've been using couchsurfing here and my hosts have made the experience.

I've visited a friend at the architectural university wandered about the lovely campus, attended some his lecture, saw an exhibition of Krishna paintings.

Amdavad is a cool place. Its got areas of new development lines of global brand shops and such but it manages to maintain personality and a nice atmosphere. I went to the old city today which was rammed with the sunday market. Crazy, people everywhere in the street, a bit smelly and polluted, people interested in my bike. Lots of stalls selling sarees, clothes, coconuts, tat, belts, watches etc.  The market under the bridge is rammed. People walking into me and staring at me.   But I feel happy and people are friendly. Its a little confusing why I attract so much attention.

I can't write a long blog post now. I haven't had time to sit and write on the net. India has been great. A real jewel of a country. It's got bags of everything- personality, culture,architecture, contradictions and hypocrisy, poverty and wealth. I'm having fun here. It's also frustrating and confusing at times. The cultural difference is more stark. Dealing with attracting so much attention is a challenge. I'm starting to face it more calmly.  It's an exercise in tolerance. People are always friendly and generally just interested in me. The disk brakes attract a lot of attention on the bike.

Anyway must go now. My plans are unclear at the moment. Money constrictions will play their part in my decisions as will my relationship with my girlfriend. Things will become clear as I go along.

I have noticed quite clearly that since I entered Pakistan and India the significant drop in air quality in general.

In Pakistan if I blew my nose I would get similar coloured nasal mucus to if I had spent a day in Central London.

India and the Golden Temple...

I'm in India. I feel tired to be honest. It's a good job I have the opportunity to rest for a few days. I rewind my memory, jolting to yesterday, riding to the Pakistan-India border, getting caught up with a load of super-rich Dutch classic car enthusiasts, sitting having a beer, contorting to film the border ceremony around hoards of people.

Hindi is buzzing around the humid atmosphere of the internet cafe.

The way to Lahere

I'm in Lahore after gradually making my way up here from Quetta.

The mountains down from Quetta to Sibi were beautiful but in Sibi I ran into my police escort. They proceeded to ruin the process for the next few days. This meant that I couldn't do what I wanted, I had to stay in cockroach infested cheap hotels, I wasn't allowed to stay with locals or follow the usual routine of camping.

New Lands

I cycled from Kerman. I was scared. I'd heard nothing positive about the road after Kerman. Luckily as usual the negative hot air is hyped out of proportion.

I met a great guy in Mahan who gave me a huge insight into the Iranian and Islamic way. He spoke good English and we chatted for about 4 hours.

Persia and other tales

Iran has at times been a challenge with regards to cycling alone. I have dealt with this mostly by recording myself talking on a voice recorder, singing, shouting, listening to the Mighty Boosh and occasionally weeping.

Path, direction and large floating triangles of rock

Just a quick one this. I've pedalled down into the south of Iran. The weather has been pretty hot during the middle of the day so I'm on the road by 6 to make the most of the cool clear mornings.

Back on the Road, for now.

Hi, I’m back in that bumpy, unforgiving place of discovery they call the road. This time I've only got myself and the wildlife for company.  I’m in exotic ancient Persia, or Iran on modern maps. I traversed the mountainous land of Armenia in a thigh burning, vodka toting, but rewarding 6 days.

The luxury of experience has offered me nuggets of wisedom when travelling by 2 wheeled steeds. Eat a huge amount, drink vast quantities, and use the flow.

Back on the Road, for now.

Hi, I’m back in that bumpy, unforgiving place of discovery they call the road. This time I've only got myself and the wildlife for company.  I’m in exotic ancient Persia, or Iran on modern maps. I traversed the mountainous land of Armenia in a thigh burning, vodka toting, but rewarding 6 days.

The luxury of experience has offered me nuggets of wisedom when travelling by 2 wheeled steeds. Eat a huge amount, drink vast quantities, and use the flow.

What I am doing right now?

Right now, I (Andy) am sitting in the garden of my girlfriend's house in France. I've just realised that one mosquito has bitten me on my neck, elbow and leg which is why I've been furiously scratching.

10 things I love about Extrawheel trailers

1. They are very light (3.5kg)


2. The wheel can be used as a spare.

Shiny New Extrawheel

I got my new Extrawheel trailer this morning. It is the original version. I have noticed some improvements over the one I broke whilst cycling in Austria.

The hood material has been reinforced where it had previously worn through on my old trailer. The frame seems more chunky and the hood is sturdier and integrated better into the frame. There is a reinforcing steel strut where the trailer-bike fork device attaches. This should help to make the frame stiffer with more responsive handling.

Extrawheel

 I am guilty of slating Extrawheel previously in a podcast. I described a problem I had on the trailer as a design error.

It was actually human error. At the start of the trip I massively overloaded the trailer which caused numerous problems. The drybags contained too many bulky objects which meant they stuck out at the sides and caused the trailer hood to rub on the wheel. If I took a sharp corner, the net and bags rubbed on the ground. This is entirely my own fault and due to a lack of experience using the trailer. However, at the time I was pre-occupied with getting used to the travelling to consider this.

Needle in a haystack

This morning I have been digging through the news about Georgia to find some articles which are closer to what I consider to be closer to the truth.

Typing 'real news' into Google I came across a news website which is member supported and do not accept advertising, government or corporate funding. We don't know who the members are but it's got to be a good start. I found the following pieces interesting:

Embattled nations in the Olympics

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilZCL7D8RFEr-W6z3jGp4e0d6k3wD92KN13O0

These athletes are still competing in the Olympics under very different training conditions to athletes in more luckier nations not affected by the blight of war.

It sends a message of the strength and determination of the human spirit in defiance of bureacracy and destruction wreaked by madmen and governments.

Mixed Feelings

I've been following the news on the situation in Georgia and observing the media frenzy in response to the conflict.  There are hundreds of media channels and I've been watching the news breaking on google.co.uk/news and it snowball over the last ten days.

War

Today Georgia declared a state of war with Russia. Luckily I'd left on the 26th of July to come home to England to surprise my family. I travelled by bus and train. I'm planning to start to travel back towards Georgia on Monday. I hope that by the time I intend to get back to Tbilisi (around the beginning of September) - the situation will have quietened down.

Need Encouragement?

Before Tom and I left on this expedition we spent a lot of time preparing. We created a research website which we named the 'Biki' (based on Wikipedia software).  It contains way more information than you would ever need to leave on a bicycle expedition from choosing a bike down to the last detail, to navigating using the stars.

 We opened it up to public use in November 2007. I thought I would bring it to light again.  The link is: biki.ride-earth.org.uk .  We hope that fellow expeditioners can use the resource and also contribute.

We added a list of inspiring quotes and links to the homepage and here they are again, I think still as poinient as ever:

Climate Survivor

Tom and I construed the idea to satisfy a desire to see the world. We minimalised our possessions, with most sold on ebay  to fund our trip or given away.

We researched the ideal items of equipment we would need for a life on the road. When we left we realised soon we still had way more than we needed. Since then we've been gradually getting rid of things that are not essential. The result is that by now we are getting near to carrying an optimal selection of equipment.

It’s Now Approaching Midnight

Peep through the door
It seems as though the grass was much greener before
The dead life has been washed upon the sea shore
Money and greed deluded what is truly pure
And yet our flesh keeps screeching out for more

Recommended viewing

It's a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis called The Trap.

Journeying on

At the moment, I'm working with Tom, on a website for a real estate company here in Georgia. This is because I have ran out of budget for the trip. I'm living with a Dutch architect and an English real estate company director. It's a nice novelty to live with an English, but we're just so bloody English...  The architect's dream is to cycle round the world, so it's nice to have something in common.

Environmentally Sustainable Building Technology in Tbilisi

I have recently designed a website for a new building in Tbilisi. It is the first Class A+ building, designed by a German architects Wandel Hoefer Lorch. It is an impressive looking structure with a glass fascade which stands out amongst traditional Tbilisi buildings.

The special thing about the building is that it is one of the first in the city featuring environmentally sustainable technology. The facade is made of windows called cavements which protrude out from the building's surface at different distances. They help to reduce the glasshouse effect by preventing direct sunlight and trapping pockets of air.

The result is that the building doesn't need the same level of climate control that a normal building would. The design also reduces noise pollution.

Considering that most energy consumption goes into buildings and domestic use it is good to see this new technology in a building in Tbilisi.

My friend who I'm living with in Tbilisi told me that most new high class architects around the world are evolving to implement energy saving technology as standard.

Procrasti-Nation

If you live in the UK you will have heard and probably know a little about climate change by now. It concerns me how I talk to people about the issue and it is possible to know the scientific evidence of what is happening and yet compartmentalise the problem and switch back to the everyday routine without doing anything.

In My Back Yard

I enjoy being outside in the countryside. I like to walk, swim in rivers and lakes but my main interest is mountain biking. Mountain biking took me out into the wilds, and gave me a way to move around, and unwittingly take in and immerse myself in the environment. I get a huge amount of enjoyment from breathing in fresh air and flying silently along a forest trail.

I developed a connection with nature when I was very young, having been brought up in a small village and spending time on the farm of my uncle. My appreciation of nature had a firm foundation which has developed through my life. Getting out into nature, enjoying and appreciating it eventually develops respect and awareness.

Practicing What You Preach

Last night I went to teach my English speaking lesson at the 'Georgian-Scottish-House' in Tbilisi. Recently I have had another gear-change with regards to my thinking on how I can do my bit to help reduce the now widely accepted human-induced climate change that is happening.

A main aim of Ride Earth is to observe and document the effects of climate change and to promote bicycle use. My time in Tbilisi is allowing me to realign how I approach achieving these things. I have been researching climate change on the internet and did a search for climate change documentaries.

Small is Beautiful

These are some quotes from E.F. Schumacher's series of books, Small is Beautiful:

"The most striking about modern industry is that it requires so much and accomplishes so little. Modern industry seems to be inefficient to a degree that surpasses one's ordinary powers of imagination. Its inefficiency therefore remains unnoticed."

"Ever bigger machines, entailing ever bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom. Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful."

"The way in which we experience and interpret the world obviously depends very much indeed on the kind of ideas that fill our minds. If they are mainly small, weak, superficial, and incoherent, life will appear insipid, uninteresting, petty, and chaotic. It is difficult to bear the resultant feeling of emptiness, and the vacuum of our minds may only too easily be filled by some big, fantastic notion – political or otherwise – which suddenly seems to illumine everything and to give meaning and purpose to our existence. It needs no emphasis that herein lies one of the great dangers of our time."

More here...

Space and Time

I'm in Tbilisi and hopefully this blog will fill in what has been happening with me. As you may know I arrived in Yerevan for the first time, by bicycle, on the 24th January. I met up with Tom in the city after we had cycled alone from near the Georgian border. Fanny came out to visit me in Yerevan and we stayed with friends, Max and Irene. We had wonderful times which passed too quickly. Whilst bargaining for sweet and spicy paprika at the market, Fanny and I met a very interesting American Armenian called Manoog.

It turned out he is a very interesting person who is very active in the community in Yerevan. We met and exchanged stories and he took us to see some excellent jazz music in the 'Stop Club'. He helped organise an event at a local NGO, where Tom and I made a presentation and showed our film footage from Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.

We were still waiting for our sleeping bags to be released from customs so I decided to hitch-hike back to Tbilisi. This was partly an exercise in hitch-hiking and partly to spend more time with friends in charming Tbilisi.

Marshrutka Experience

The driver's wearing a leather jacket, thick material. I think "that's too hot inside this cramped vehicle - it must be for the look". The driver looks like a gangster out of a Guy Ritchie film. Somehow I convinced myself to put my trust in this gold-teeth-laden man with gold ring and bracelet to match. He's wearing his savings.

Across his weathered typically Armenian face adorn a pair of dirty gold tinted sunglasses so I can't quite see the colour of his eyes in the rear view mirror. I'm sitting in the centre of a wide seat behind the driver. My legs are squashed against the faux-leather covering of the Ford Transit seating. I'm really trying not to think about how perfect my tradjectory would be through the windscreen if we crashed.

Why did we get so wet?

Last summer when we set off from England on our bicycles we had dreams of long wonderful summer days and leaving our waterproofs at home, replaced by an extra pannier of suncream. However, in practice we were reaching for the ponchos more than expected and precipitation was an often occurence. The rain fell in France, we got soaked in Switzerland, and really rather damp in Romania. When the sun came out it never lasted for as long as we hoped. It felt that whenever we starting turning the pedals again, raindrops starting appearing on the tarmac. This article on The Times website, provides some further insight on the phenomena that was last "summer's" weather and also the Church of England's stance.

Stillness and Realisation

I arrived in Yerevan last Wednesday. I have been staying with some wonderful new friends who work at the French Embassy here. From the first village after crossing the border into Armenia from Georgia, Tom and I decided to cycle alone to Yerevan.

Tbilisi Beneath the Ice

When Sylvester, the Polish cyclist we met on Christmas Day in Batumi, was explaining that conditions were difficult here for local people in Georgia, coping with the cold midwinter, I remember thinking, surely it's not as difficult as cycling round the world? What a weird comparison and abstract concept. People in places with extreme weather conditions, are obviously tough, live and learn to deal with it. Cycling round the world means something different to any person who cares to think of the concept. These 4 words represent, for someone who has already cycled round the world (or travelled a long distance by bike), a body of memories, a once experienced truth of a moment, part of a process. Memories, skewed and evolved over time, the mind puts it's own spin on things, censoring some things, making it's own story which makes some kind of sense, or is maybe useful to life.