East Londoners Odyssey through Africa in 2011
Team Lipstick is heading straight to Zurich today from Waedenswil which is only a 20 minutes drive however the batteries in Lipstick were sucked dry overnight as the fridge door was left open causing the fridge to work under full
Despite lots of Syrian refugees rushing into Europe in general and Germany especially – the crossing of borders between the EEC countries were simple and easy. No passport control, no police stop for the crossings of Hungary to Austria, Austria
Early morning start and team Lipstick left Prague and went straight to Pilsen to have some breakfast Today also marks one of only a few days with some rainy weather and rather low temperatures which could however not dampen
As Lipstick was parked in another “danger zone” it needed to be moved to a ore secure side and after lotsof negotiations with the hotels staff Tem Lipstick was offered to use parking which normally is reserved for their staff
Video compilation from Andre
Toady Team Lipstick decided to do “The Triple” and be in what is often referred to as “the three pearls of the Danube River. After breakfast in Budapest this would mean lunch in Vienna and Dinner in Prague.
Driving to Budapest was ok but only half the distance to the border was on highways whereas the rest of the route saw the boys driving through the mountains of Dracula’s home ground in Transylvania.. Dracula is an 1897 Gothic
Night fall over Bucharest Having slept a night in Bucharest the first task of the Day (4the August) was to find a repair shop in order to replace Lipstick’s manifold gasket. Bucharest is the capital and largest city
Sunday lunchtime team Lipstick bid farewell to David & family as they need to board a flight back to Dubai and Andre & Willy will be on their way to Bulgaria. Team Lipstick enjoyed the time spent with Andre’s
Au revoir to this beautiful place on the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey which many compare to St Tropez in France. A last glimpse of the town could be seen as team Lipstick headed away from the coast climbing some mountains
The older part of Ankara is not very car friendly as too much traffic is trying to get through the narrow roads up and down on lots of hills – again the Sygic app on the iPhone was a bigger
Another beautiful sunny day and the boys decided to have a rest on a beachside along the black sea soon after leaving Kesap on the way to Ankara. Some liquid refreshment would give the boys wings on their way
Waking up in this small border village on the Turkish side of the Turkey and Iran border and the first task of the day was to get some local currency called the Turkish Lira and also a Turkish sim card
As the Garmins picked nothing up in detail team Lipstick downloaded Sygic a great navigation system which works on the cell phones. It was therefor no problem in getting out of Tehran and onto the highway up north towards Turkey.
Leaving their luggage at the hotels reception the boys went back by taxi to the customs area to try and get Lipstick through customs. Passing a small Café in the customs area the team was approached by a “Fixer” who
Again a nice breakfast buffet gave the boys a good start for the day and after packing their belongings into Lipstick they headed south towards Iran. The outskirts of Baku are full of oil wells with hundreds of pumps
It was a long day on the ferry crossing the Caspian Sea with not much to do for the boys other than hang around in the cabin or walk around the ferry to stretch their legs. Something similar like breakfast
After a well deserved sleep the first task of the day was to find a bank with a ATM machine in order to get some of the Kazakhstan Currency called Tinge. The 3rd Bank worked and the boys
First task in the morning was to find a bank to get some more of the Uzbekistan currency called “Soms”. However, it was Sunday and no bank was open… there are also no ATM’s in Uzbekistan as no ATM could
The team needs to head north today to Nukus which is the closest big town before the border to Kazakhstan. Whilst the original plan foresaw to travel from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan and then to Iran this had to be abandoned
The team needs to head north today to Nurus which is the closest big town before the border to Kazakhstan. Whilst the original plan foresaw to travel from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan and then to Iran this had to be
Bravo – no border post to be up against today as Lipstick would remain in Uzbekistan and travel to Samarkand … Heavy traffic was experienced getting out of Tashkent – the capital of Uzbekistan… Tashkent is the capital
Osh is very near the Uzbekistan border so team Lipstick thought t would be plain sailing today . Their thoughts were corrected by real life as they arrived at the border post… The first approach was made to a tiny
After breakfast the team went off to sort out new sim cards as their Chinese ones were no longer functioning in Kyrkistan. At first there was a big language problem as nobody at Beeline (the most used sell phone provider
Early wake up today and the special guide in charge of customs procedure Arrived at 8.15 at the hotels parking area with his driver to accompany team Lipstick towards the Chinese border. After about 100km the boys arrived at
Operation desert crossing today for team Lipstick as they turned south straight through the middle of the Gobi Desert. Fortunately, they encountered a fairly good tar road unlike the stretch they did through the Sahara in Mauretania 2 years
Hi all – its me again the editor of Lipsticks trave talks – Natnas – and whilst the boys are resting in Kashgar thought to give you all an overview of their experience during the travel so far.. First of
Today sees Lipstick driving along the mountains down to Kuche in a south westerly direction with not much other than rocks and sand to be seen on the road . There was very little traffic on beautiful roads winding around
Having left the oasis of Hami the team was back in desert and rock surroundings but enjoyed the straight roads enabling Lipstick to let loose an all cylinders… With outside temperatures in the mid forties it was however
Hamiis a prefecture-level city in eastern Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China. It is well known as the home of sweet Hami melons. The Xiongnu have been recorded to be the natives as early as the beginning of Han dynasty.
Lipstick today took the same route like the ancient Chinese explorers and the European traders who went off or to China. The so called Hexi corridor was the only way between two huge mountain ranges which would allow Marco
Early start today and the boys took off to see the big Buddha temple and on the way to there the team had to cross a square where various groups of Chinese pensioners had their morning dancing session. This seems
An early start today for team Lipstick as their first call today would be to reach lake Qinqai close to Zhangye. The owner of the hotel in Xining spoke very good English and presented the boys with a perfect breakfast.
Today was an uneventfull trip for team Lipstick as they just had to get a some mileage onto Lipstick in order to reach Xining which meant to drive just over 500km. Xining was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk
First off in the morning team Lipstick looked at some local engineering shops as they wanted to buy a proper set of tools for Lipstick but after looking at various hardware shops in town nothing suitable was found. So straight
Leaving the mega city of Xian meant that the team would now go through some more rural areas and to the Maijishan Grottoes close to Tianshui… The Maijishan Grottoes, are a series of 194 caves cut in the side of
The streets of Pingyuang were empty when Andre and Willy left early in the morning… Todays goal was to reach the city of Xian which many years ago was regarded as the biggest city in the world.
After leaving Datong team Lipstick headed further south towards the famous “Hanging Temples” near the town of Hunyuan. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the
The drive out of Beijing was easier than expected and some 40 km later the team reached the Great Wall of China. Whilst obviously having seen pictures of this monumental structure it still took the boys breath away
Another early morning start for Andre and Willy as they set foot onto the streets of Beijing and went straight down to the Tiananmen square where they first of all, visited the coffin with the mummified body of Mao
Andy fetched the boys from the guesthouse early morning and the team went straight to the area where Confucius used to hang around. For those who are not too familiar with Confucius here a few explanations about his life which
After a good rest the team set off to reach Shanghai today and it took a bit of time to get through the early morning traffic and reaching the highway leading north. On the subject of roads, it is worthwhile
What was meant to be a rest day in Shanghai turned out to be a no go. After waking up the team saw Shanghai under pouring rain and after assessing the situation the boys decided that instead of spending a
Teams Lipsticks patience is getting stretched to its limits as they were not able to get the car through customs yesterday. Andre and Willy booked out of the hotel as they were advised by Andy -the tour guide –
Yes its me again Natnas the constant travel companion of team Lipstick and I will try to give you up to the minute reports about the happenings of yet another adventure of Team Lipstick. So far the boys have been struck
On Monday (13-6-16 ) Andre and Willy met up with their Chinese tour guide ANDY and started the process to obtain a Chinese drivers licence which is essential to steer a car through the roads of China. The procedure
On 8th July both Andre and Willy started their journey from different places on the Globe. Andre would fly from Dubai ( where he spent a few days with his sons ) to Hongkong whereas Willy would fly in from