Meeting other cyclists

It was a bright and sunny day with clear skies which was a welcome change from the gloomy and rainy conditions from the previous day. We left Haskovo feeling very relaxed as the next town (Stara Zagora) was just 65km away, so there was no rush for us. While cycling out of Haskovo we bumped into a local cyclist, Lazar. He stopped us to take some photographs. He was really happy to see us, even though we could not communicate well, as he spoke very little English, so we just had to use sign language. Only after a few kilometres  we realised that he was going in the same direction to visit his friends in the next town (Dimitrovgrad), 15km away.  On the way he also noticed that my father’s rear wheel was warped and he signaled for us to follow him into Dimitrovgrad to have it fixed. About 3 km from Dimitrovgrad, we were greeted by Lazar’s friend, Nikolai,who is  an expert in wheel repairs. We rode into town and stopped outside Nikolai’s apartment, where he did the repairs. While waiting for the repairs to be finished two  more cyclists came to join us. Once the repairs were done they invited us for  tea at a local tea/coffee joint. Although none of them could speak English very well, we did manage to understand what they were saying. Lazar and Nikolai are also cycling – enthusiasts who have so far toured Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Maybe there are not many cycling- tourists who  pass through Bulgaria, that is why they were amazed and happy that we were in their town. After taking some pictures and exchanging Facebook and E-mail addresses we said our goodbyes . We pedalled on and by that time the sun was at its full strength. It was about 20c and for the first time in 3 months I was cycling in my T-shirt. Very soon I would be able to ride using my shorts again 🙂

Monument of Kapitan Petko in Haskovo

With Lazar in Haskovo

Relaxing over a cup of tea

Leaving Dimitrovgrad

The open road

At a park in Stara Zagora

Goodbye Turkey, Hello Bulgaria

I left Istanbul with a heavy heart. I really wish I will be able to go back one day, as I didn’t get to fully explore the city as we had limited time. The journey has to go on so we pedalled towards Edirne, the last town in Turkey. The first 15 km was mostly flat ground, but there were massive hills that we had to climb after that, some even stretching for 1-2 km. The hills in Bangsar and Bukit Gasing, where I trained, were nothing, compared to these killer hills and to make it worse we were sharing the road ( no shoulder) with buses and lorries,  that were just a few inches away from grazing our bikes. But there were  also some nice downhills once we got to the top. There was a nice downhill section where we could enjoy the beauty of the coastline. That was the upside, even though we couldn’t fully enjoy the view of the coast, as we were cycling on the right side of the road. We were a bit slow in our cycling due to all the hill- climbing, that we only got to Silivri.  As it was  getting dark  we decided to stop at a petrol pump to inquire if there was a budget hotel that we could put up for the night.  As there were none, we then asked the staff for permission if we could spend the night at the petrol pump, instead. They, then, ushered us into a small cabin which had 2 chairs, a small TV and a portable heater. We then spent the night there. We were very grateful to the staff that we had a place to spend the night, without freezing to death :p even if we had to spend the night sleeping on chairs.

Cycling out of Istanbul

Ottoman period bridge, somewhere before Silivri

View of the coast but too bad we were on far right of the road 😦

This is the petrol pump at Silivri, where we spent the night.

Our bikes spent the night in the garage

Fast food outlet in Silivri

We reached Edirne without much problems except for the usual headwinds and rolling hills. Most of the landscape after Istanbul were farmlands, with very few crops, as it is still winter. I can imagine how pleasant it would really be to cycle in Turkey during late spring and summer. While Edirne isn’t a big town, it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire before they shifted to Istanbul. There are a few mosques such as the Selimiye Mosque (Unesco world heritage site) and the ‘Old Mosque’ which are even older than the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. The mosques built during the Ottoman Empire are really magnificent works of architecture. It really makes one  wonder how they managed to build such beautiful structures.

Edirne shopping street (city centre)

Selimiye Mosque

Old Mosque

After Edirne, we cycled towards the Kapikule border of Turkey/Bulgaria and once we were done with immigration & customs, we cycled towards the border town of Svilengrad. It is a very small town with a lot of hotels with casinos. I guess a lot of people from Turkey cross over to Svilengrad to gamble. We didn’t go out much as there were gypsies around the town giving us strange looking stares, some would even come up to ask for cigarettes or money. Gypsies are also known for robbing people of their valuables.

😀

A Polish tourist on the way to Istanbul stopped us to take a picture

The next day we proceeded towards Stara Zagora, but after battling massive headwinds and crosswinds which slowed us down a lot, we decided to detour to Haskovo. After that it started to rain, where we were once again slowed down as we had to stop until the rain subsided. It was a tiring day and to top it off, it started to snow a few kilometres  from Haskovo. Well,that is why I signed up for this trip in the first place, to experience the adventures and challenges of bicycle-touring 😀

On the way to Haskovo. Check out the long climb, we climbed from the town behind us, and it started to rain after we reached the top 😦

Wonderful Istanbul!

Before I embarked on this journey, I had always dreamed of visiting Turkey, so I was very excited when I knew that we would be passing through Turkey. But it was just unfortunate that we entered Turkey while it was still winter. It would have been great to cycle most of the way but as we went further the conditions were really bad in a lot of places of the Anatolian region, as it was covered in snow. So after Agri we had no choice but to take a coach towards Ankara as we thought it would be better there and that we could cycle towards Istanbul. But when we got to Ankara it was still snowing heavily, that we couldn’t even get out of the bus terminal. We then had to make a tough decision to just take another coach to Istanbul.

A typical village house in the Anatolian region

Road conditions in the Anatolian region

Loving the snowy conditions but not good for cycling 😦

I am truly blessed to be here in Istanbul. It is a really magnificent city with a lot of beautiful historical buildings from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. You really have to be here to fully appreciate the beauty of Istanbul. We only visited the Blue Mosque as the entry was free. We just can’t afford to pay to enter museums and the other places of interest, but there are still many interesting relics and things to look at and take pictures of. Most of the tourist sites are located in the Sultanahmet area and are just jam- packed with tourists, even in winter! As with all tourist sites, there will be people trying to sell you something from Turkish carpets to locally made porcelain products, small trinkets and also guide books. Sometimes the sellers can be pushy, which can be quite annoying. Looking for affordable food can be quite a challenge, too. You will have to venture out from the Sultanahmet area and in to some quiet alley to look for a Lokantasi (restaurant) or a shack like cafe which sells ‘Doner kebab’.

The majestic Sultanahmet Mosque(Blue Mosque)

Ayasofya ( “Hagia Sophia” )

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

German Fountain (taken with Hipstamatic disposable)

Some of the few relics on the streets of Istanbul

Column of Constantine

Base of the column

Near the Galata Bridge (Golden Horn)

Some of the food found in a Lokantasi

Balik (fish) sandwich

Doner Kebab shack

Check out that huge Doner!

Chicken Doner with Pilav(rice)

While we were travelling from Dogubeyazit, towards Ankara, I received some very sad and shocking news. 2 of my friends Kathrine and Suleman whom we had befriended while in Pakistan(Lahore Backpakers) were shot dead in Peshawar, while they were out shopping at the local bazaar. The motive was unclear at first but after a few days, a local Taliban outfit admitted to the shooting and it was a revenge killing to what was going on in China with the killing of Uighur Muslims. I was truly shocked as she had left a comment on my facebook album the day we left for Ankara and that was the day they were shot. It just sent chills down my spine. It was just unfortunate as they were very nice people and we had good times together while in Lahore. May they R.I.P. Thinking back, we were really lucky that nothing untoward happened to us while we were in Peshawar. There are bombings and killings going on there everyday.

http://www.beijingshots.com/2012/02/2-including-one-chinese-woman-killed-in-peshawar/

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12827&Cat=13

Kathrine and Suleman beside me. Picture was taken on New Years eve 2011

Today is the last day we are going to be in Istanbul. Since it is no longer snowing we will start cycling towards Edirne and the Bulgarian border, and just hope and pray that the weather will be fine.

Iran and into Turkey

When we were done with the Iranian customs they assigned us a policeman to escort us to the bus terminal in Zahedan. Once we exited the immigration complex we were swarmed by taxi drivers wanting to take us to the bus terminal. Since there was only one guy who spoke English, he told us that we could not cycle as we were still in Balochistan (Iran side) and it is very dangerous for tourists as there are also kidnappings and the policeman will ensure that we get safely onto the bus to where ever we wanted to go. At the Zahedan terminal the police officer even escorted us to the loo and even paid for it. He wouldn’t let us out of his sight until he handed us over to the police personnel at the bus terminal. People in Zahedan were not so friendly and just gave us odd stares and communication really was a problem as they only speak Farsi. Even the sign-boards and menus are in Farsi so when ordering food we just used hand signals to show what we wanted to eat.

Being in Iran was a bit odd at first. With the country being an Islamic republic, I had imagined that Iran would be like Pakistan where there were no women on the streets, but it was completely the opposite. The women were doing their shopping, walking around hand in hand with their husbands or boyfriends and everyone was so fashionable with their winter wear/ overcoats and the women in their knee-high boots. After a few days in Tehran I began to understand that most Iranians are very liberal especially the younger generation. After speaking to a few people, a lot of Iranians have a strong dislike for the government, but they can’t express or say it aloud. They even showed me the hand gesture that they would be slaughtered like chickens if anyone from the government found out. In Tehran looking for a WiFi connection was impossible. Internet cafes are also hard to find. The internet is controlled and monitored. Most US websites and social networking services are blocked such as Facebook, Gmail, Blogger and WordPress but most people can get around it by using VPN. We were disconnected from the outside world for a week in Tehran.

After getting a bit bored, we decided to visit Karaj, a town about 45km from Tehran, where we met up with my friend Milad. I met Milad while he was on holiday in KL. We actually met by chance on the busy street of Bukit Bintang. My friends and I were on our bicycles when Milad approached us, asking where he could buy cross -country mountain bikes and if there were any races that he could join in Malaysia. We exchanged phone numbers and kept in touch through sms. Two weeks before I was to depart on this journey, he came back to KL again to take part in a DH (downhill race) in Kuantan and he got 3rd place. When he came to KL I told him about the journey that I was going to do and told him I would be passing by Karaj and he told me to just give him a call once I was in Tehran.

In Karaj, Milad introduced us to this Manager & friend, Afshin, and told us we would be staying with him. Afshin is a multi- talented sportsman. He does a lot of outdoor and extreme sports such as skiing, mountain climbing, cross country mountain biking and also big wall climbing. He also manages his own MTB club called Ofogh mountain bike club, Afshin also gets many tourists who come to ‘couch surf’ at his place and he brings them on skiing or mountain trekking trips.

At Afshin’s place

We also had the opportunity to tag along with Milad to watch him train. He took us to his usual training ground. The mountain was quite high and it took us about 30 minutes to climb up to his starting point. From up there we could get a bird’s eye- view of Karaj, but the view wasn’t so clear as the town was covered in smog. On weekends the mountain can get quite busy with many people enjoying the multiple- treks to the summit. Milad also introduced us to his family and hosted a dinner for us at his home. His family was very happy to see us. I guess most Iranian families do not get the opportunity to meet up with foreigners as they are mostly disconnected from the rest of the world.

The long hike up to Milad’s training ground

Milad, Iran’s top Downhill rider

Shredding

With Milad’s biking friends

Milad’s family

While we were having a real good time in Karaj, we had to leave for Turkey as our visa was expiring, so we headed for the border town of Maku in Iran. From there on, the landscape began to change with snow everywhere. There were huge snow-capped mountains. It was such an eye opener for me, as this was my first time seeing snow up close 🙂 Crossing into Turkey was no hassle as the police/immigration officers were very friendly and happy to know that we were from Malaysia. We then proceeded to cycle to the town of Dogubeyazit which was 45 km away. We got a taste of cycling in sub zero temperatures which was really torturous and to top it off there was a headwind of at least 20-25kph which really slowed us down. We cycled for 15 km before we decided that it was too cold and maybe dangerous to continue.It must have been at least -5 degrees. We tried to flag down a few vehicles but none of them would stop but finally a mini van with 3 people in it decided to stop and we loaded our bikes into the van. None of them could speak English, but one of them gestured to us that we were crazy to try and cycle in this weather :p lesson learned!

Dogubeyazit is a small town with mainly Kurdish people and most of them are very friendly. People on the streets would greet us with a smile. As it is winter now, there are not many tourists in town. The main attraction in Dogubeyazit is Mount Ararat (5,137m). The mountain is said to be where ‘Noah’s Ark’ landed and it really is quite a sight. Many tourists come here to climb the mountain during the summer. Another attraction is the Ishak Pasha Palace which was built during the Ottoman empire.

After crossing the border

😀

Peaks of Mt Ararat and little Ararat

View of Ararat from Dogubeyazit

Ishak Pasha Palace

Quetta to Taftan

We had such a good time in Pakistan. We made so many new friends and ate so much good food that we were getting too comfortable, but all good things must come an end especially while travelling like this. It was really hard saying goodbye to all of our friends, but time was running out as our visas were about to expire. We were advised by a lot of people to take the train to Quetta instead of taking a bus, for fear of it being attacked by rebels at the tribal areas. Following their advice we took the train from Lahore to Quetta. I really enjoy riding on trains, but this journey will be remembered for the rest of my life! A journey that was supposed to take 24 hours was delayed up to 38 hours. At Jacobabad the train stopped for about 6 hours, after the previous train was attacked by rebels. Soldiers boarded the train at Jacobabad all the way to Quetta to ensure the safety of passengers. After spending 2 nights on the train we arrived at Quetta in sub zero temperatures. We then rode to town in search for accommodation. In town there were many police and military check posts complete with sandbags and barbed wires. Quetta is notorious for killings and kidnappings. There have been many stories of tourists/aid workers getting kidnapped, so we were told not to wander the streets during the night. Luckily for us, there was a tikka shop opposite our hotel or we would have no dinner that night. Even during dinner or walking on the streets we got a few angry stares by the Balochis. We didn’t even bother to take pictures of the town as  we did not want to attract unnecessary attention.

The following day we boarded a bus for the final stretch of Pakistan. The journey from Quetta to Taftan was about 600km and took 12 hours. We had to register ourselves at various police/army check-posts and once the police were alerted of our presence they assigned an armed escort for the rest of the journey. All throughout the night I was thinking to myself whether this one policeman was enough to protect 30 passengers. If a party of 6 armed bandits were to ambush our bus we would be sitting ducks, for sure. We reached Taftan town at about 4am in total darkness and the only place opened was a restaurant where we had a quick bite (pratha) and ‘chai’ while we waited for sunrise and for the border to open. According to my Macau friend, Gordon, Lonely Planet described Taftan as ‘hell on earth’ and that description was not far off with just a few buildings and mostly barren wasteland. It really was a depressing place to be in. Checking out of Pakistan was easy, and after an hour we were done with Iranian immigrations and customs. After confirming that we only have 14 days on our visa, we decided to board a bus to Tehran.

So a short summary of our cycling in Pakistan. It is a bit more relaxed than India (trunk roads). On the trunk roads it was quite safe to cycle on the shoulder, but can be very bumpy, and also with hundreds of miles of farmland there is not much scenery. Bus drivers drive like they own the road, but they will honk to alert you. In the city, it is chaotic with the auto rickshaws and motorbikes. It can be dangerous when the auto-rickshaws just cut in without giving signal and just grind to a halt.
More on Iran in my next post.

Saying goodbye again

Our train the Quetta Express

Our 6 hour pit stop!

Huge naan bread

First time seeing snow

Taftan town

Hell on earth?

Peshawar

Peshawar is my favorite city so far in Pakistan, known as the oldest living city in Asia. It is the capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, land of the Pashtuns. It is a vibrant city with a rich history. For centuries it has been a trading centre between Afghanistan and Central Asia. Back in the old days, traders from all over Central Asia would pass through and stop to park their beasts (camels) at the caravan sarai (highway motel) for the night and they would have a meal and also share stories with other traders from distant lands. Peshawar is well known for its bazaars. They have huge separate bazaars for spices, dry fruits, crockery, meat and fish, and also vegetables.
Another thing that Peshawar is known for is their green tea (kawa). They are served in little rustic teapots. These tea shops were very popular, centuries ago, with the traders. One particular tea- shop that we visited has been operating for 300 years.

While in Peshawar, we were lucky to be guided by Prince and Kausar, who are truly amazing people. They are certified tour guides and they are also very active with their charity work. Prince runs his own NGO which is called ‘World Welfare’. We had a rare opportunity to visit an Afghan refugee camp which was under their care. While our time there was short, we were warmly greeted by the elders and children of the camp. The settlement was recently rebuilt as it was all washed away during the floods in August 2010.The houses are mostly built with bricks and mud. It was quite sad as they were really living with the bare necessities. Prince has done a lot of work in the settlement. He has helped them rebuild their houses and also install water- pumps. He also runs learning centres for the children, by  teaching them English and  having Computer classes and for the girls it’s mostly handicraft work.  The sad reality is that the children have to work in the brick factories for 10-12 hours to support their families, so the learning centers are always empty. In order to get the kids to come for classes, Prince sometimes has to fork out money for the families so that the kids can go to school.

Peshawar is also a city with the most gun shops around. I must have seen at least 25-30 gun shops. A long time ago people used to walk around town with their guns & rifles but are now forbidden.
It was too bad we didn’t have time to visit the tribal areas where they have a gun factory producing Kalashnikov (AK-47) rifles 😦

Public bus

Kawa master 🙂

The green pot is for milk tea and the cream colored pot is for green tea (kawa)

Enjoying kawa in a 300 year old shop

Antique Merryweather Fire Engine

Camel parking bays

Archaeological excavation site at Gor Khatri

Entrance to Gor Khatri

Afghan refugee settlement

Mosque

With the Prince of Peshawar

Food post

Pakistan so far has been a wonderful experience. I am just amazed at the warm nature and generosity of the Pakistani people. Every street or bazaar that we walk pass the people will think that we are from China(due to their friendly relations with China) and once they know that we are Malaysians they are very happy and will be offering us drinks or food which is really great because it has never happened to me before, even in my own country I don’t get this kind of treatment Ha Ha Ha! When I was in Lahore I frequented this popular Tikka eatery(mostly for take away) and the man who is in charge of cooking the meat will hand me a skewer of chicken tikka everytime im there, I get jealous stares everytime 🙂 Chicken seems to be main meat consumed here as it is the cheapest followed by beef and mutton. Mutton is really expensive as it is mainly exported to Iran and Saudi Arabia. Cannot get my lamb fix here 😦 Maybe I will have better luck in Iran 🙂 Enjoy the food pictures.

At the Tikka Shop

Best Tikka in Lahore! Tender & juicy

Sheek Kebab

Afghani Pulao, quite similar to briani it has sultanas, nuts, some dried fruit and also tender pieces of mutton. Yummy

A vegetable dish from Kashmir

huge samosa’s (with dhal & chili sauce)

Chapal kebab (beef patties with spices)

Tandoori chicken

Chicken briyani with potato patties

Chicken karahi being prepared

Chicken karahi (Pakistan speciality) similar to chicken masala

Slow roasting salted chicken

In to Pakistan

After our failure to cross the border we had to sleep at a motel near the border. With the help of Mr Singh, he got us a room for a decent price. Mr Singh had worked in Singapore for 7 years so he can speak Bahasa Malaysia quite fluently so communication was not a problem. He also brought us back to his house for some delicious home-cooked dinner and also to meet his family and we are very grateful for his hospitality. The next morning, after a few cups of tea on the house and picture-taking, we said our goodbyes to Mr Singh and proceeded to the border. It took us an hour and a half to settle immigration and custom procedures on both sides. We crossed into Pakistan at midday and from the border to Lahore it was an easy 30km ride. One thing I noticed after crossing into Pakistan, people on this side are friendlier. People just smile, nod or just wave to you. I guess they are just pleased to see tourists in their country, after the decline in tourism, no thanks to the western media portraying Pakistan to be a dangerous country.

So far our stay in Lahore has been very pleasant, thanks to the hospitality shown by Mr Sajjad Hussain, the manager of Lahore Backpackers. If you plan to come to Lahore, please do check out Lahore Backpackers. The rooms are clean and spacious.They also provide facilities like Internet/wifi, 24/7 hot shower, kitchen for cooking, and also a rooftop garden with TV room. Mr Sajjad is also a tour guide. He is very knowledgeable with all the historical sites and knows the ins and outs of Lahore. He is a very honest and friendly guy and is like a brother to me now.

So far I have only visited the Badshahi Mosque and the outside of Lahore Fort (there was an entry fee but didn’t feel like paying) I was also very lucky to visit Sajjad’s village where I met his uncle and other family members. Life in the village is very simple. Sajjad’s family rear livestock, like buffaloes and cows for their milk and also grow roses and other flowers to sell. He also brought me to his friend’s farm, where they grow guavas, wheat, parsnips and other vegetables. Sajjad also showed me something interesting. In the countryside, it seems that Cannabis grows wildly. When in the summer, I was told that the fields would be full of them and they grow up to 6-7 feet. But to the villagers they have no value as they cannot be sold, so they use it for medicinal purposes and also consume it in liquid form (by boiling it), something similar to’ daun ketum’. There are also people who take the opportunity to produce Hashish to sell, but that is illegal.

I had a slight flu a few days back and just recovered from it. I also had my tooth extracted today and will need to recover so that will take a few days. So far our stay here has been a wonderful experience and I hope it stays that way throughout Pakistan.

Rose Farm

Guava Orchard

Who wanna buy?

Farm owner Ijaz and his father Kalu

Beautiful huh? 🙂

Sajjad's Uncle

Sajjad's Nephew

Nafeez and his Uncle

My Pakistani brothers (L-R) Jamil, Sajjad and Kashif

Lahore Fort

Badshahi Mosque

Delhi to Amritsar

Our stay in Delhi was not so interesting other than staying in the room and just walking around the Pahar Ganj area. We didn’t go around much. The only place we actually visited was the Malaysian High Commission. My father’s visa was expiring and we were told trying to extend it would be risky as the process could take a long time, so we were advised to get to the India-Pakistan border as soon as possible. The staff at the high commission were very helpful and booked 2 bus tickets(night coach) to Amritsar. We had to cycle for 10 km to the bus terminal which was in Old Delhi and it gets dark fast during the winter so we didn’t get a chance to take pictures of the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, which was a shame. I was recommended by a friend to visit Karim’s, a very famous Briyani shop, near the Jama Masjid. Karim’s has been around since 1913. When we entered the premise it was full of  locals and tourists waiting in line for their tables. We had to wait around 10 minutes before we could get a table but it was worth the wait as the briyani was out of this world.

The bus ride from Delhi to Amritsar took about 13 hours and when we got there it was already midday. As soon as we got our bikes off the bus we started cycling towards the Wagah border and we had to cover about 30 km.  Some of the locals told us the border closes at 5pm so we just took it easy. When we reached the border it was 3.40pm and we were told the gate was already closed and would open at 10am the next morning.

Gyarah Murti Monument

New Everest Restaurant in Pahar Ganj, looks like a nice place to chill out

 

Karim's

 

Karim's famous Mughal Briyani

 

The Man!

With Mr Singh(blue Jacket) at his tea stall. He brought us back to his house for some home cooked dinner and also to meet his family after we couldn't cross the border. God bless his kind soul.

The ride from Agra to Delhi

The ride from Agra started at 7 am and it was a cold and foggy morning. Our ride  out of town was smooth as it was early and there was no traffic. It took us a good 15km before we actually got out of Agra town and on the so called Highway. Their highway is just a normal 2 lane road with a shoulder for motorcycles and bicycles. Our first 5km on the highway and suddenly we saw a truck coming from the opposite direction on the shoulder, which was a real shock and the driver was honking at us, so we had to give way. So after that incident it we had to be very alert for oncoming traffic. It was quite a challenge cycling on Indian roads! Imagine lorries and buses overtaking on the left lane barely inches away from my bike. We rode for 120km before we stopped for the night somewhere in Hodal spent the night at a petrol pump. The manager was kind enough to let us sleep in his staff’s quarters.

Taking a break and keeping warm at a tea stall

Pedal pedal!

with the petrol pump manager(blue shirt) in the staff quarter’s

The next morning we started at 6.30am it was even colder(with very thick fog) it was about 10c and with the cold wind we were making very slow progress. It took us 1h 30m to cover 10km but when the sun started to come out and the temps got higher we made good time we didn’t even stop for lunch. Reached Delhi at around 3pm and it was back to the city(traffic) madness! Tired and hungry we made our way to Pahar Ganj. This is where the budget tourist’s or backpackers come to stay there are hundred’s of guesthouses here. Our room was quite cheap cost us 350 rupees(you will have to bargain) if you are adventurous and like to rough it out this is the place to be.

Posing with the local Posse