Thursday 13 November 2008

More toilet humor

For the squires of the lunch table.

Leaving Geneva, and heading west, I make so so good time. It might be the fact that I'm a sloth, sleeping long into the day before getting on the saddle again, or that I actually never seem to remember to refill the air in the tires. Digression: I should perhaps tattoo somewhere on my body that I need to refill air. Every other day, the pressure should be checked to be 4,5 bars, or else biking will seem like a sirupy stroll. < /digression >

Well, 9 parts out of 10 of halfway to Bordeaux, something else hampers me. Waking up at the closed camping grounds, something is stirring in my tummy. I put it off as a too hasty breakfast or crummy pouring weather, but as any well anticipating reader already have deducted, it was something else entirely.

After the worst 15 km's of biking of my life, I claw my way into the first hotel I can find. Half crazed with fever, dehydrated, all body and especially joints hurting, I sit in the shower/tub for a few hours. Then I go to sleep, and wake up the next day with only the abdomen in cramping pain.

Spending a few days in a rather sorry state, I finally get back to some health. When going to McDonalds (pre-digested food and coka-cola is good for you) for some free internet, destiny reminds me that my life at the moment revolves around shit. Biking under a few trees, I hear a deafening chirping and whistling from them. This hides the sound of "Clatsh, klatsch, splut" emanating everywhere from the tarmac around me. My back tire actually slides out to the side by some slick substance on the ground, but I manage to keep my balance. As I'm in traffic, I have no alternative but to pass through: A literal rain of shit. The town of Montlucon is apparantly host to a number of migrating birds, who seem to especially like these particular trees as a resting place on their way to where ever.

What I've learned from all this?
-You should probably never travel with cheese.
(But, the cheese is sooo good here!)

And:

-Carry a bike mounted, recoil free, barrel loaded automated shotgun where ever you go.

Thursday 6 November 2008

Goodbye, Suisse! Hello, France!

My last days in Switzerland were spent melting in the seaside sauna and hammam, exploring the slightly charming old town, taking the grand tour at the UN building, celebrating Obamas election and spending time with two great hosts in the hospitality club and couch surfing. A good way to end over two months of a through-trip that was meant to last two weeks.

By the look of things, I'll never reach Marocco in the planned time interval. Well well. Learning some french is not a bad tradeoff.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

Suggestions, please!


Hello there, those of you that are of norwegian origin! (And everybody else that reads this crap.) I need some advice. As I travel around, I stay with many nice people, and we have a nice exchange of cultures. Among other things, we try out each other's different foods, and I've made a few norwegian dishes. As I'm not really a cook and my imagination is truly lame, can you help me?

So far I've made norwegian style pancakes (painnkak, sjø), chicken-in-the-stove with blasted potatoes (stekt kylling m. ovnsstekte potteta, sjø), salmon cotelettes with potatoes and cucumber salad (fesk, sjø), sour cream porridge (rømmegraut, sjø) and sheep-in-cabbage (fårikål, sainnt ja?). These dishes has been devoured with various reception, mostly positive.

What can I make next? It is often a bit difficult to get the right ingredients (I truly miss brown cheese and tyttebær (sjø)), so it's gotta be slightly simple. Post your comment today! Thank you in advance.