First bike for a new female rider

[WesleyDRZ400]

The AJP looks good , and the price is great (thumbs)
I was going to suggest the honda Grom , small enough for everybody :laugh:

How long did it took you to ride from UK to the region where you beautifull wife came from ?

The exact route was

1-England
2-France
3-Belgium
4-Luxemburg
5-France
6-Germany
7-Czech Republic
8-Slovakia (Tatras mountains)
9-Poland
10-Ukraine (Carpathian mountains)
11-Romania (Carpathian mountains)
12-Republic of Moldova
13-Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) This country is not officially a country as most of the word governments don't recognize
14- Ukraine from West to East including Crimea (2013 so Crimea was then part of Ukraine, now after election is part of Russian Federation) East Ukraine Donbass region, Donetsk, lugansk (Before conflict)
15-Russia Sochi city
Russian Caucasus Republics
16-The Republic of Adygea
17-The Republic of North Ossetia
18-The Republic of Ingushetia
19-The Republic of Chechnya
20- Georgia
21-Kazakhstan
22-Kyrgyzstan (Pamir Mountains)
23-Tajikistan & Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region(Also known as Pamir, where wife is from)

All time traveling was around 3 months however i did leave my bike in East Ukraine (lugansk) and Georgia for a few weeks when i went home so that time is not included in the 3 months. Basically 3 months all in from England to Tajikistan.

Was very interesting as i only passed my full bike test the month before i set off so learning as i go like below in Romania :whistle:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDW0kbo8TKw

I am alittle bit better now at riding offroad

[WesleyDRZ400]

Lovely story and a good choice of bike, too!

I often think that the UK must seem pretty hostile to newcomers, given that in sparsely-populated parts of the world giving hospitality to strangers is seen as such a duty/virtue/pleasure.

And your story is one in the eye for bigots everywhere!

Having visited Morocco and Tunisia I can only say that the 'mainstream' view of Muslims in the UK is not representative of the Muslims that I have met in their own countries.

Well said Sir.
Congratulations to you both, fantastic adventure and surely a film in the making B) .
I first met my now Wife 35 years ago in a similarly romantic way, she was sitting on the Spar step with her mates when I rode passed on my RD250 and skidded on wet leaves :laugh: .

Well my claim to fame is i am the first non Tajik pamir Ismaili in the history of there entire population of the pamir region to marry a local pamiri women with myself not being either pamiri or Ismaili. Hence the whole visa application and documents needed was a total nightmare and took over 1 year

Mizhgona had to learn english in reading, writing, listerning & speaking to pass a UK Home office approved test as part of her visa application. No centers in Tajikistan so i sent her to Moscow to sit the test. She failed first time in the listening section (typical women :laugh: ) so had to wait another 3 months



Hope the RD250 was ok, collectors item now (thumbs)

[HAMMERHEAD]

you must have one hell of a pair of "cajones" to do all that after just passing your test. Welldone buddy, wish I had a pair like that. I been enjoying your bloggs. Thanks matey. (thumbs) (thumbs)

[Simon_100]

Thanks for these 'extras' - you've refuelled my dream plasma to explore the region - although I'd be doing this at the end of my working life - the 'ever receeding goal' :whistle: - rather than nearer the beginning!

And give the husky a special hug from me - we lost our two over the last few years due to old age and now we're looking for more ...

Simon

Yes they like there exercise that's for sure, my mother lost her first one due to tumor in brain, first sign was not normal behavior followed by eye changing color and scan reveled it was a tumor

Exercise is the word - especially as we live most of the time in the Pyrenees - or should that be Pyre-knees! (thumbs)

That's very interesting to read about the tumour symptoms, huskies are usually pretty indestructible but for hip dysplasia - which did for Streak (left) at 12 years - while Lucky, having a tint of German Shepherd in her DNA, was fit-as-a-flea until at 14 years and 8 months died very suddenly after suffering a twisted stomach - a horrible thing that we'd never heard of before.

Just the other day I was doing my tax return and stumbled across the credit card statement for that month with all those emergency vet's bills - cried all day - all the more reason to redouble the search for some more to adopt!

Back on topic - just for a change I hear all you cry! (thumbs)

I didn't realise you had a blog - how dumb! - so forgive me for asking here what you did for language? Years ago I learned a bit of Russian - part of a TEFL course was 100% immersion as they call it - a very interesting experience! Would that be a useful lingua franca or is English getting ubiquitous, or did you just use sign language - which is possibly the best option anyway?

Regs

Simon

[Mike54]

This is an amazing story Wesley, big congrats to you both, fantastic! (thumbs) (thumbs) (thumbs)

[daytona-supersport]

This is an amazing story Wesley, big congrats to you both, fantastic! (thumbs) (thumbs) (thumbs)

+1 (thumbs)

[WesleyDRZ400]

you must have one hell of a pair of "cajones" to do all that after just passing your test. Welldone buddy, wish I had a pair like that. I been enjoying your bloggs. Thanks matey. (thumbs) (thumbs)

I have always traveled alot before on my own to country so the travelling part was already easy but thinking back maybe it was a good help.

During my lessons i would always first morning practice riding round the cones and also emergency stop and avoidance you have to do for your part 2 which on the trip in Ukraine, Georgia & Kyrgyzstan where driving rules are different i think saved my life on numerous situations where drivers did u turns with out looking and so on.

Also shoulder checks are a must every time you change position, in Georgia i was about to overtake and just before i did like my riding instructor would always pull me up on and decided to do a shoulder check and luck i did as between the traffic both ways a crazy lorry driver was driving in the middle lane of both lanes which i would of pulled into to.

I think as straight after test these were all drilled into me rather than later getting complacent, but yes looking back i wish i did more offroad practice as i did alot of this riding offroad on the trip and really you can compare the two. I was lucky to meet a well traveled guy in Georgia called terry brown who i rode with for a few days and he taught me basic moves for riding offroad.

As a new rider to offroad even 1 days paid training would of helped alot like, rider postion, engine breaking downhill, standing up looking ahead and not down ect ect

I planed to do this but in the end never had time

I never had any medical insurance/cover the whole trip which looking back on was a mistake and i should of really took a policy out.

[WesleyDRZ400]

Message below (double sent)

[WesleyDRZ400]

Thanks for these 'extras' - you've refuelled my dream plasma to explore the region - although I'd be doing this at the end of my working life - the 'ever receeding goal' :whistle: - rather than nearer the beginning!

And give the husky a special hug from me - we lost our two over the last few years due to old age and now we're looking for more ...

Simon

Yes they like there exercise that's for sure, my mother lost her first one due to tumor in brain, first sign was not normal behavior followed by eye changing color and scan reveled it was a tumor

Exercise is the word - especially as we live most of the time in the Pyrenees - or should that be Pyre-knees! (thumbs)

That's very interesting to read about the tumour symptoms, huskies are usually pretty indestructible but for hip dysplasia - which did for Streak (left) at 12 years - while Lucky, having a tint of German Shepherd in her DNA, was fit-as-a-flea until at 14 years and 8 months died very suddenly after suffering a twisted stomach - a horrible thing that we'd never heard of before.

Just the other day I was doing my tax return and stumbled across the credit card statement for that month with all those emergency vet's bills - cried all day - all the more reason to redouble the search for some more to adopt!

Back on topic - just for a change I hear all you cry! (thumbs)

I didn't realise you had a blog - how dumb! - so forgive me for asking here what you did for language? Years ago I learned a bit of Russian - part of a TEFL course was 100% immersion as they call it - a very interesting experience! Would that be a useful lingua franca or is English getting ubiquitous, or did you just use sign language - which is possibly the best option anyway?

Regs

Simon

Well its interesting subject on language, for most of Ukraine, Russia (national language off course) Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan & Tajikistan people speak Russian

well for all ex USSR country's people say 30 or older will speak Russian

A Ukraine girl i met and stayed with in East Ukraine told me around 30 basic words which helped, but really when you stop on you bike people can see you are traveler and know what you need with out language commutation and help you , food & shelter ect ect

I never used a GPS only paper maps so i would stop and asked for directions in russian and always soon i would then find myself in various house's as there guest like below.

People love maps and its a conversation starter (thumbs)

Russia i stopped for directions i stayed the night
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpsyW8_Pz0E

Again asking for directions in Russia ended the same
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvHQGxXpI2M

And Georgia also which turned into live concert for the traveler (thumbs)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET-eqvYPZzE

And East Ukraine a solo live concert
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipXfY2w7Mpg (thumbs)

As for my wife she speaks Tajik which is persian Farsi shared between Tajikistan, Iran & Afghanistan however she reads in Russian Cyrillic and not arabic and cant understand arabic alphabet. She also speak Russian which is as foreign to her as it is to you and me but they learn it, not all learn it but some do. However as she is Pamiri she also speaks her local language which is Pamiri and is only spoken and not written, they speak this in pamir and Tajik only speakers cant understand. And now she is also learning English :whistle:

Pamir people are different in looks to Tajikistan people speak a different language (spoken & not written) and also are of a different culture and religion

Tajikistan are sunni muslim where as pamiri are Ismaili sect of Shia Islam.

Pamiris look European in features and historians have stated they are Alexander the Great's long-lost descendants as when he was about to pass the Hindu Kush mountian range he decided to leave all the wounded soldiers as they would not make the pass and collect them on the way back which never happened and they integrated with locals

Alot of Pamiris have green eyes, blond hair features mostly not ethnically local to this area however historians believe it to be related to Albanian Illyria which is adjacent to Macedonia where Alexander the Great is from

Here you can see a photo of my wife someone took when she was younger which is greenish eyes and features more like European looks.

3587871935_bb957fb6cb_o.jpg (32.35 KiB) Viewed 1823 times

The Pamir language is shared with some Albania words and also the dress pattern is shared with Albania traditional clothing

[tuftywhite]

It seems like you've managed to hijack your own thread!!!!!

Great story, lovely missus and a great choice of bike.