to India and back by ... bicycle | finished in October 2007

CYCLING IN VARANASI

robb — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:13:21 +0000

here She comes

ANOTHER SIDE

robb — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:41:35 +0000

BBC NEWS

Fashion chain Gap has withdrawn from sale children’s clothing allegedly made using forced child labour in India. A 10-year-old boy was filmed making clothes for Gap shops in the US and Europe as part of an investigation by the UK’s Observer newspaper.
The boy told the Observer he had been sold to a factory owner by his family.
Gap, which has made commitments not to use child labour, said that only one item – a girl’s smock blouse – was involved.
The boy said he had been working for four months without pay and would not be allowed to leave the job until the fee his family had received was repaid.
Another boy of 12 said children were beaten if bosses thought they were not working hard enough, the paper reported.

more here

btw .. there is NO WORD on the GAP webpage about it

CHEESECAKE FOR DINNER

robb — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:34:01 +0000

So here we are … we left the great landscapes of Macedonia, the friendly people of Serbia, the bad weather and not-so-friendly people of Hungary … behind us.

We took few trains across Slovkia … welcomed by 3 cm of snow … by great hills and an asshole … the polish border officer (poor old man … may the peace be with Him …) ….

And here we are … safe and sound .. at home … eating cheesecake and lot of other … delicious home made food

Hard to belive it’s over …. hard to find a place we know … even if everything looks the same …

Thank you for being with us .. all this time … we will let you know about any new pictures etc.

May the Love and Peace be with you !

WE STILL DREAM OF INDIA

robb — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:47:10 +0000

IT’S COMMING !

robb — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 12:49:24 +0000

the first band in the history … selling their music in the net …. for the price YOU want to pay …. you decide how much it’s worth .. … can not wait ….

btw … Thom has birthday today !!

A LITTLE DIGRESSION

robb — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:09:59 +0000

made by our friend in London …

TO FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BALKANS

robb — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:53:12 +0000

LAST SMELL OF SUMMER

ania — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:36:19 +0000

hi everyone .. so after all these months we are in Macedonia … in Ohrid to be precise .. sunny place … coffee bars at the bank of this great lake … pizza etc … 2 days of holidays. real vacations
looks like the summer if finally leaving … frost in the mornings …. tent and grass looks the same but this time is a white .. not green anymore noons still look like summer but less and less …
we keep going north … as long by bikes as the weather will allow us … we will see … we are almost “there” .. just trying to postpone it as looooong as we can every single day counts ….
Macedonia looks great ! Good roads surrounded by green-yellow hills. Smell of red peppers hanging on the walls of the houses … apple trees everywhere … free apples for brave cyclist ))

as soon as we get Home we will be in real touch with all of you
keep smiling !

btw … Macedonia has the most “happy” flag in the whole Europe … maybe even in the whole World

THESSALONIKI

translated by gmyzka — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:28:58 +0000

Yasus
We arrived into beautiful Thessaloniki We passed clear blue waters of the sea and golden sands of the beaches (and fields of watermelons, grapes, apples, nectarines, olive trees:-))
We are doing fine here, but feeling like going back home as well
More info about our time in Greece – another day
Stay warm – as Autumn is approaching
Greetings from the country of Arystoteles, Alexander and few more great people

COWS ID

robb — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:24:03 +0000

Local estimates say that between 20,000 and 30,000 cows are smuggled into Bangladesh every day from India, mostly through the state of West Bengal. Exporting cattle is illegal in India, but cows are smuggled in large numbers to Bangladesh and Pakistan regularly, primarily for beef. The smuggling is at its highest during Muslim festivals.

Traffickers bring the cows by truck to West Bengal from as far as Haryana and Punjab in northern India. “The traffickers have a strong network in the border villages, where the cattle are kept in transit, before being sent across the border,” said BSF official in Murshidabad, Surinder Singh. “Locals are paid for that, so they have a vested interest in the smuggling. These ID cards can help us easily identify the cattle brought for smuggling.”

People in border villages say having their cattle photographed is a problem because it requires them to take time off work.

But they have agreed to the identity cards to avoid harassment by the BSF and police who often raid villages in search of cattle waiting to be smuggled to Bangladesh slaughterhouses.

Authorities say crime syndicates find it easy to tamper with branding or tattooing of the cattle – hence the idea for photo identity cards which should be difficult to falsify.

Valid for two years, each laminated cattle ID card displays the picture of the animal and its owner. It also carries vital information about the animal, such as its colour, height, sex and length of horns.

It carries the owner’s name and address and sometimes other details about the animal – like one “horn missing” or “half tail lost”.
greetings still from Istanbul