Poland part 3

After the speedway, covered in dust and still hungover pats dad drove us the 50km to beata's mum's holiday caravans. Three blokes in the back of a polo, Pats dad racing through the lanes (not quite as fast with the wife in the car), we got there feeling a lot less than fresh! This all changed when we got there, a massive clear lake with our own jetty and a breeze to straighten us out, banging! Met Beata's mum and sister over a cup of tea, they where keen to make sure we had everything we needed, which included a canoe, pedalo and bottle of vodka! Awesome! After a brief discussion... 'Well I'm drinking it!' (Dunny) we did the vodka and went for a wander. The caravan is massive compared to the van so we slept in luxury! Woke up in -3 with little blankets fully clothed and all slept round the fire.

Had a massive lie in, went to the shop and as bottles of vodka are £4 we brought 2 and sat round playing cards and chatting bollocks. When the bottles had gone we went to the shop to get more. To our horror the shop shut at 4pm gutted! We went for a wander and found a mechanics/garage, 'wouldn't it be great if they sold booze' we got there 10 minutes to closing time and they sold oil, spare parts for cars and of course... Vodka! Shit hot! Another bottle of vodka later and we where on a peer singing and using the peer and bars as drums, class views of the silhouette of the horizon where discussed and then as the drink started to end the conversation turned to how nice it would be if we had some more... A car pulled up and we looked at it for a while, being midnight we where giggling like kids...'they MUST be dogging!' After a while we realised they weren't, they where boozing! We went over to ask to buy some. After I spoke to the fellas sister on the phone (no idea why?!) they just gave us vodka! This tour is blessed!

After a late start, shock! We went out on the pedalo cruising round the lake, 3 burnt heads later we had a well deserved afternoon nap (life is hard). When we finally got up we had an epic 2hour training session; pads, circuits, running and sparring. Best training for ages! Shattered, we made a curry and played cards and dominoes. Tomorrow we go to collect our van.

Dan has outdone himself! The van is purring along! Second spare on board we headed for presents then said our goodbyes, top people! Back to the lake via a massive supermarket to buy stuff to sort out the inside of the van tomorrow. We started work early and after 4 hours work it's looking quality! Shelves made from a long straight timbre we found and stripped the bark off is the best bit. We put up a calendar from the speedway curtesy of dan along with a load of stickers, maps and other items collected en route. To celebrate we treated ourselves to vodka. Pissed, singing and for some reason chopping cabbage we headed to a spot round the lake for a fire. We took the music and the booze, burnt through all the wood we could find, then turned our attention to a 40ft dead tree, between us we managed to get it down and spent the next four hours burning it, swimming and discussing becoming tree surgions... Piece of piss!

Our final day at the lake was spent packing up. We said goodbye to beata's mum and headed to Lithuania, via a touristy town she had given us brochures about. Lovely town with cracking food! Having no polish we ordered '3 of what she's got please, with chips'.  A walk round the old town and church, very nice, the church was really spooky, we started again on our way to Lithuania.

We have thoroughly enjoyed Poland and would like to say a big thank you to Pat and Beata and their families!

Poland Part 1

We crossed the border from Germany to Poland late afternoon so we headed to a forest to find a place to park for the night. It was a cracking spot, all pine trees with the ground covered in grass and plenty of dry wood to have a fire.

We wrote a shopping list for the next day for hardware type things but most importantly a goulash pot and tripod.

The first garden type shop had exactly what we needed, a tripod with a hanging grill and a big saucepan.

We went back to the same place in the woods and set up camp again, did some laundry in a bucket and set the goulash pot up for tea. The goulash pot is awesome, we all sat around it at night and chucked a load of food in it, plus we get to play with the fire. We have cooked on it every night since we bought it using free wood. 

We did some weights and a bit of pad work. I stepped back and took a picture (see below). This was when we realised how much we are like gypsies!

We slept in the same spot again. In the morning an official looking car drove up the fire road to where we were set up, two angry looking park rangers got out and said we have 20 mins to pack up and f*%k off.  20 mins later we were off.

Summery so far, 7 nights sleeping rough and 3 of those we were moved on. We are defiantly getting better at it though, arriving in the dark and leaving early in the morning.

Because our plans were scuppered we decided to put some miles under us and head towards Warsaw. We got beckoned over by police as we left a toll booth, but when they heard we were British they sent us on our way. We parked up in a rural area just outside Warsaw.

We stopped at a McDonalds and pike'ed their wifi, we didn't buy anything just sat outside. We found a campsite, Camping Wok 10km outside the centre. It was a nice campsite with good facilities. Our aim in Warsaw was to try and sort a Russian and Kazakhstan visa. After chatting to the campsite receptionist we found out it was a national holiday with street entertainers and parties. Oh well, we would have to get on it again!

We still cycled to try and find the embassy anyway to find where it was even though it was probably closed, we used Google maps but it sent us down a random lane with wooden huts, when we finally found it it was more like Buckingham Palace! It was closed so we cycled into old town to see the festivities.

There were police everywhere, riot vans and loads of coppers walking around. Then we saw why, a massive protest, all mental looking Polish skin heads marching through the city. We cycled right next to them, they were chanting something to do with socialism and capatalism but we couldn't work out exactly what they were protesting.

We had a few beers in the main square then cycled back to the campsite and got on it.

Rob

Germany

After setting our alarms and getting up on time we left ourselves a full day to get to Poland. Bollocks, we got up way after midday and had to head back to the dam for supplies. Then we headed to Poland , late night of driving ahead of us! 

A few hours of driving later we decided to break the journey and go to Berlin. After a night in a nearby German forest free camping (or trespassing depending on your point of view), cracking spot anyway we headed to ze capital. 

So Berlin.... don't go there, after a hammering during the war (well done lads) the post war divide between east and west has left the city with very few positives. What's left of the Berlin Wall is really cool though, loads of top graffiti all over it. 

Finally... Poland here we come!

Stew

Loose in holland (Denmark)

We started our trip in to holland by pulling up into a national park. Before we had even set foot out of the van a park ranger  flagged us over and told us we could not stay the night here, and had to be gone by nightfall. We decided to do a bit of training till then and move on. On the second lift I put my back out and had to sit the rest out. For the duration of that day I walked around like I had soiled myself. We moved on and eventually found a nice place in a farmers field where we stayed the night. 

The next day we got up early and set off for Amsterdam. We booked to stay in a campsite about 10km away in a place called amsterleven. We got set up and before you know it the drinks were flowing. Next thing on the agenda kings night!! We caught the bus in to Amsterdam and soaked up the atmosphere. This was possibly one of the best nights of my life. As we walked around there seemed to be little raves going on everywhere. So as you do we joined them and got loose as a goose.  The night fizzled out and we ended up getting a bus. It turned out to be the wrong one. We got off, got lost and didn't get back to the campsite till 7. 

Melting from the sun beaming through the windows we awoke about 1 the next day. We couldn't believe how good that night was!!!! Little did we know, it was all about today. Because it was so expensive to travel, to ride in was the only option. What a nice ride it was!! Couldn't believe how much the Dutch get behind this day. Every street we went down was beaming with orange. Little parties kicking off on any bit of spare land, people selling stuff, just a general good vibe. This was just the start. As we approached the city the more busy it got.  

Eventually we found a nice little place down by one of the canals, it turned out to be a cracking spot. Boat after boat sailed down the canal music blaring,    everyone just loving the love. It was like a sea of orange moving down towards us.  The three of us embraced this moment and felt privallaged to be there. As we walked into town it was obvious the whole of Amsterdam was out to party. There wasn't one person not enjoying themselves. Funds were short so we headed back to the campsite. knowing we had a long days driving ahead of us the next day we got our heads down. Poland here we come 

Dunny 

Setting off in the van

I had a busy but good weekend. I saw lots of family and friends and had a good party at Brockworth Rugby Club.

After some last minute packing we were ready to go.  We left Gloucester at 6.30 am and headed to Dover. The van developed a ticking noise when accelerating, it turned out to be a cracked exhaust manifold where it joins the egr valve. Quite a good outcome as I thought it may be an injector or a tappet. I will bodge it up for now then get someone to weld it up when we see somewhere suitable.

We stayed on a campsite in Dunkirk for the first night. It was next to a beach so we took Stew's 8m kite down which was fun, some serious pull on it. It was Dunny's birthday so there was one thing for it, Sambuca. 9 shots later Dunny was steaming. We used the next day to sort the van out, put some extra shelves in and give everything a home.

We drove to a forest near Bruges and found a nice spot in the woods to park up for the night. We got a campfire going and cooked up a nice meal.

Next thing a police car turns up and asks us what we were doing. They told us to put the campfire out and show them our passports.  It turned out the forest we were staying in belonged to a posh boarding school. They asked what our plans were, Stew said we were driving to India to set up a school.  They told us to pack up and move on, they returned to the police car where the teacher who called them was sitting. They then came back to us to tell us to follow them and we can park the van on school grounds for free. Its a good job they didn't turn up earlier, we were playing frizby where if you dropped it or messed up a throw you took an item of clothing off, Stew and Dunny messed up a fair few throws! We drove through the school and it was pretty epic, lots of grand buildings. They also said we can leave the van on the school grounds and cycle into Bruges tomorrow, so a good outcome afterall!

Rob

Koh Tao, koh Phangan, New year and full moon party

Mr J was our friendly hostel owner on Koh Tao. He was a funny guy with lots of strange posters around the place. We think he may of been a monk at some point. He recommended a quiet beach to visit we rode the motorbike there with our snorkeling kit. It was awesome, loads of nice coral and colourful fish swimming right up to us.

We had what was probably my favorite meal ever, a seafood platter, loads of awesome prawns, squid and fish. We went to a bar on the beach called lotus bar. It started off a chilled place with live acoustic music. Sitting on beanbags on the beach having a few Chang's. Then at 9PM the DJ and fire dancers arrived. The fire dancers were very talented. We sat for hours watching them. We did the same 2 nights running.

We did a boat trip around the island, snorkeling in lots of different bays, we got some good underwater photos.

Next was Koh Phangan. We got the ferry there from Koh Tao. We arrived on the Thai New year, they celebrate by a massive water fight. We checked in at the hotel and went to get involved. We stopped at a bar who had a water but and hose pipe on the pavement. It was great fun, had such a good time with the locals. Two Dutch girls we met in the taxi earlier who were staying at the same hotel walked past and joined in the fun. We stayed there for 5 hours drenching each other and anyone who walked past. We then went to a restaurant and had a some food and a wee.

The next day we hired a motorbike and went for a ride around the island. It was the day of the full moon party, so we got our fluorescent vests and body paint. We had a few predrinks then got a taxi with the Dutch girls.  Basically a massive beach party with buckets of vodka red bull and live DJ's. We stayed with the Dutch girls until they left then danced on a platform until the sun came up at 6.30 ish. We met some English guys on the platform and had a good crack. We got back to the hotel at 8am, mission complete!

We went to a Muay Thai fight night which was good, very high standard and a couple of Thai vs westerner fights.

We spent he next two days riding around the island, we went to a waterfall and walked through a jungle to a viewpoint.

We stopped at a cafe up in the mountains, it was also a Muay Thai gym. It overlooked a valley covered in jungle and the sea in the distance. I arranged to go back in the morning for a training session which was good fun and bloody hard work.

We went to a street food market, met a Norwegian guy and had an interesting chat about politics an economics! We went back to the bar where we had the water fight, they were pleased to see us and we had a fun night playing pool until 2am ish. They woke up their 10 year old daughter who we met at the water fight to come and say hello to us, then we got a good group photo. They were very welcoming and hospitable.

Now we are on the night train back to Bangkok, nice and comfortable, much better than the night bus down.

Meeting Helen and selling bike

I met Helen at the airport which all went to plan. We had a day in Bangkok before we were getting a bus to Koh Tao. 

We got some jabs done and booked our train back to Bangkok in two weeks time.

At this point my bike was becoming a bit of a burden, it was time do sell.  I wrote a sign and sat with it on Khaosan road.  A hour passed without much interest.  A camp British guy sitting next to us started asking what we were doing, he then tried to help us sell it by giving a sales pitch to people walking past. Pretty funny. Then a deaf guy who was begging came over and offered 100 baht (£2). I just gave it to him for nothing, he was over the moon, so happy.

The bike did me well.  I bought it in Hoi An, Vietnam, and cycled North up the coast.  I crossed the Hoi Van Pass, a killer climb that was filmed on the Top Gear special. Then up to Hue and the demilitarized zone. I then cycled to the Laos border, another killer climb at Khesan. Laos was very different to Vietnam, much more remote, I passed through small villages, all houses made from wood. I left Laos from the capital Vientiane, into Nong Khai, Thailand. I then used the bike or general transport around Bangkok and Hua Hin. All in all about 700 km on the bike. Bit emotional seeing it go but glad it went to good use.

We then got our bus and ferry to Koh Tao. The coach journey was horrible but it was worth it.

We are now on koh Tao, it's awesome here.  We have hired a moped and are touring/snorkeling our way around the island. Today we rode to shark bay, we didn't see any sharks but plenty of big fish amongst the coral. The beaches are awesome, white sands, Palm trees and warm clear waters.

We've got two more days here then heading to Koh phangan for Thai new year celebrations and full moon party.