Dawson City, Kanada

Kominn i enn eitt landid.  Nu er eg i Kanada og er thad gott og gaman.  Eg a godar og skemmtilegar minningar fra Kanada fra thvi ad eg var taept eitt ar i Gimli og Winnepeg 1989 ad laera ad fljuga.  Kanadabuar eru gott folk og vingjarnlegt.  Fra thvi ad vid forum fra Anchorage, hefur vedrid verid frekar blautt og skyjad.  Vid hjoludum i att ad Fairbanks fra Anchorage og forum fyrsta daginn langleidina ad Denali thjodgardinum.  Vid hjoludum vid raetur haesta fjalls nordur-Ameriku, Mt. McKinley, en thvi midur tha saum vid thad aldrei vegna thoku og rigningar.  En vid gistum a litlu vegamoteli, sem heitir Mary McKinley hotel.  Thad var ekta ameriskt og i fjalla og Alaskastemmingu, en thad sem var merkilegast var ad konan sem a hotelid, sem er a fullordinsaldri sagdi mer ad mamma hennar hefdi verid mikill kvenskorungur og a morg met her i Alaska og vidar.  Hun for medal annars til allra landa i heiminum, nema sudurskautslandsins, og hun meira ad segja reyndi ad fara thangad thegar hun var niraed.  Hun var fyrsta konan til af klifa McKinley fjall ad vetri til, hun gekk lengsta thjodveg i Alaska thegar verid var ad byggja hann ofl ofl.  Konan sagdi mer ad thad vaeri i undirbuninga ad gera biomynd um thessa konu og Julia Roberts eatti ad leika hana !  Skemmtilegt spjall.  Daginn eftir forum vid i Denali thjodgardinn, sem er einn staersti thjodgardur i heimi og gridarlega fallegur og mikid lif thar.  I gardinum  er til ad mynda um 350 grizzli birnir, um 2000 hreindyr, um 2000 elgir ofl.  Mjog fallegt tharna.  Vid vorum heppnir thegar vid komum thangad thvi solin var farin ad skina.  Afram heldum vid og komum til borgarinnar Fairbanks, sem er 32000 manna baer.  Thar snyst lifid mikid um oliuinnsluna sem fer fram fyrir nordan vid Prudhoe Bay.  Thadan liggur svo oliuleidslan fraega sem er um 800 milna long til sudurs og flytur oliuna sudur.  Rett fyrir utan Fairbanks er baer sem heitir einfaldlega NORTH POLE !  Thar er stort jolasveinahus og jolasveinninn alltaf til stadar og allt fullt af joladoti.  Thetta ku vera heimili Santa Claus theirra Amerikumanna.  Allur baerinn er skreyttur med joladoti allt arid um kring.  Mjog serstakt.  Ad sjalfsogdu sagdi eg Santa Claus og odrum tharna ad hinn eini sanni jolasveinn vaeri fra Islandi !  Vid gistum svo sidustu nott a littlu vegamoteli sem var agaett.  Mikil rigning og thrumur og eldingar voru i alla nott og svo i morgun logdum vid af stad i grenjandi rigningu og urdum gegnblautir fljotlega.  Leidin la til Dawson City, thar sem eg sit nuna og er thad merkilegur baer.  I fyrsta lagi var leidin hingad mjog serstok, la hatt upp og var nanast ofan a fjallstoppum alla leid.  Stor hluti leidarinnar var malarvegur og leiddist mer thad ekki.  En baerinn Dawson City er gamall gullgrafarabaer og hefur ollu verid haldi mjog gomlu her.  Thad er eins og ad detta inn i gamla biomynd ad vera her.  Krar og Saloon eins og madur ser i gomlu vestrunum og allt eftir thvi.  Otrulega gaman.  Vid aetlum ad eyda smatima her a morgun og skoda baeinn betur.  Sida holdum vid afram sudur

We’re now in Canada and everything is going great. I have good memories of Canada from when I was in Gimli and Winnepeg in 1989, studying flying. Canadians are very good people and everybody are friendly. It has been wet and windy since we left Anchorage. We rode towards Fairbanks from Anchorage and we almost reached the Denali national park the first day. We rode along the roots of the bigges mountain in North America , Mt. McKinley, but we never saw it because of all the rain. We stayed at a small motel called Mary McKinley hotel. It was a typical American motel with the mountain- and the Alaska feeling. But it was interesting talking to the owner of the motel who told us about her mother who had broken many records in Alaska and elsewhere. E.g. she had been to all the countries in the world, except the Southern Hemisphere. She even attempted to go there when she was ninety years old. She was also the first woman to climb Mt. McKinley in the winter, she walked the longest highway in Alaska etc. The owner (her daughter) also told us that there would be a movie about her in which Julia Roberts would star in! It was an interesting conversation. We went to the Denali national park the day after which was extremely big and beautiful. The sun had come up when we got there so it was especially beautiful there that day. For instance, there are 350 grizzlie bears, 2000 reindeers and over 2000 mooses there etc. But we soon got to Fairbanks, which has 32000 citizens. The oil from the north of Prudhoe Bay, is really important for the people there. From there, the famous oil pipe goes all the way to the south. Right outside Fairbanks there is a small town which is actually called the NORTH POLE! There is a big santa claus house there and there is christmas stuff everywhere. This is supposed to be santa’s house in America. But of course I told everybody that the real santa claus in from Iceland! But we stayed at a small motel that night which was fine. There was a thunderstorm the whole night and it rained a lot. The morning after we started riding towards Dawsons City, but that’s were I am right now. The road here was really special, was at a high altitude the whole way, we were almost riding on top of the mountains. A big part of the road was gravel which I found really fun. Dawson City is an old gold-digger town. It’s like I’m in an old movie when I’m here. Pubs and saloons, like in the old westerns. It was fun to experience that. But we’re going to spend more time here tomorrow and take a look at the town better tomorrow. But after that we’ll head South. Ttyl - Sverrir

Anchorage, Alaska

Kominn i adra heimsalfu !!!  Ja thad er gaman ad vera kominn hingad til Alaska.  Mikil breyting fra Russlandi og Japan.  Vid vorum ad leysa ut hjolin, og skrufa thau saman, og gekk mjog vel. Ekkert vesen med tollinn her og erum vid ad leggja af stad fra Anchorage nu a eftir.  Her er islenskt vedur, tad er, skyjad, svolitil rigning og hiti um 12 gradur.  Tad var mjog skritid ad vera um bord i flugvelinni a leidinni hingad, thvi hun var sannkollud timavel.  Eg er vel rugladur i tima her og dagurinn i gaer var lengsti dagur i minu lifi, eda um 40 klst.  Ja eg upplifdi sama daginn tvo daga i rod !!  Mjog merkilegt.  En nu erum vid semsagt komnir i bollu og botna landid, thvi her eru margir kallarnir med storar bollur og margar konurnar med storu botnana.  Thetta er mikil breyting fyrir okkur thvi nu erum vid komnir med malid aftur, getum talad vid folkid, og einnig getum vid nu lesid skilti og annad sem tharf.  Og til vidbotar vid thetta, er GPS taekid nu ordid fullvirkt aftur og thvi audvelt ad rata hvert sem er.  Thad er otrulega god tilfinning ad setjast a hjolid aftur eftir alla thessa bid og transit daga.  Their eru frekar leidinlegir en thvi midur ekki hja theim komist.  Ad setjast a hjolid adan og setja i gang og aka af stad var saelutilfining.  Kominn " heim " a hjolid og margir og spennandi dagar framundan i skemmtilegu umhverfi.  Vid forum af stad a eftir og tokum stefnuna til Fairbanks og i leidinni aetlum vid ad koma vid i Danali thjodgardinum sem er vist gridarlega stor og fallegur.  Mikid af villtum dyrum og fallegt um ad litast.  Hef thetta nog i bili.

 

We’re in a different continent now! It’s fun to be here in Alaska and it’s a big difference from Russia and Japan. We just got the bikes and were putting them together again, everything went well. There was no problem with the customs and we’re going to be leaving Anchorage in a little while. It’s a typical Icelandic weather here, cloudy, rain and around 12°C. The airplane ride here was a little bit strange because it felt like a time machine. I’ve never lived such a long day before in my life, or about 40 hours! I experienced the same day twice! But anyway, we’re in the land of big bellies and big behinds now because there are quite a few men with big bellies and quite a few women with big behinds here. To be here in America is a big difference for us because we can now speak to people again and also read signs. We also have the GPS working again now so we won’t get lost. But it’s good to be able to get back on the bike after all the waiting. It’s a nice feeling getting back on the bike and I’m looking forward being on the road again for the next days. We’ll be going to Fairbanks but we’ll stop at the Danali national park first, but it’s said to be very big, beautiful and lots of wildlife. But that’s enough for now. Ttyl - Sverrir

Viðtalið í dag / The interview this morning

Hér að neðan má heyra viðtalið á Rás2 frá því í morgun.  Aftarlega á línunni eftir fréttir og auglýsingar.

http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras2/?file=4331553

Tokyo, Japan - naestsidasti dagur i heimsalfunni !

Thad er ymislegt buid ad ganga a i dag og i gaer her hja mer og vid braedur bunir ad thvaelast med lestunum her i Tokyo fram og til baka, eins og thad er nu skemmtilegt.  I gaermorgun forum vid snemma af stad til ad hitta Hayashi, sem er fulltrui hja fyrirtaeki sem ser um flutninga.  Eftir taepa 2 tima i lestinni inn i midbae fundum vid stadinn og var tekid vel a moti okkur.  Tharna var sest nidur og byrjad a verkefninu, thad er, ad reyna ad koma hjolunum sem allra fyrst til Alaska.  Eftir klukkustundafund var nidurstadan thessi:  Thad aetti ad vera haegt ad senda hjolin a midvikudag, (morgun) ef allt gengi upp vardandi pokkun, pappira, tollamal ofl.  En til thess ad thetta gangi upp tharf hun ad fa heimilisfang i Anchorage, Alaska, sem ad vid ad sjalfsogdu vorum ekki med, einnig tharf hun ad fa flugnumerid fyrir flugid fyrir okkur sjalfa, sem vid vorum heldur ekki med, thvi vid vorum ekki bunir ad panta flugid.  Einnig thurftum vid ad skila af okkur hjolunum a Narita flugvollinn sem er i um 120 km fjarlaegd fra Tokyo og fyrir kl. 17:00 !  Vid semsagt hlupum ut og fundum stad thar sem vid komumst i tolvu og thar vorum vid i 2 tima ad finna flug og boka, og einnig ad finna odyrt hotel i Anchorage og boka eina nott thar, svo ad vid gaetum notad heimilisfangid thar.  Ad thessu loknu hlupum vid aftur til hennar og letum hana hafa thessar upplysingar og svo aftur af stad, kofsveittir, ut a brautarstod til ad na lestinni til baka thar sem hjolin voru.  Thad tok okkur aftur taepa 2 tima, og a leidinni hringdi eg i Anthony og bad hann ad hitta okkur thar til ad skila lyklinum ad ibudinni og ad kvedja hann.  En einnig vonadi eg ad hann myndi bjodast til ad fylgja okkur, thvi ad ef thad aetti ad vera einhver moguleiki ad na ut a flugvoll a rettum tima thyrftum vid helst fylgd thangad af manni sem ratar vel her.  En thad var nu ekki svo gott, hann hafdi ekki tima og var ad fa gesti til sin.  Thannig ad vid kvoddum hann og heldum af stad med sma leidarlysingu fra honum i farteskinu.  Thad var farid ad skyggja og rigna en mikill hiti og vid i ollum gallanum og svitinn lak i stridum straumum um allan kroppinn.  Einnig var svolitil spenna og stress i gangi.  En semsagt, vid komumst a leidarenda eftir ad hafa verid heppnir og komist i gegnum Tokyo og ut a flugvoll. Vid vorum thar um kl. 18:30.  Tha tokum vid til vid ad skrufa af hjolunum eitt og annad til ad minnka thau adeins i rummmali til ad reyna ad spara svolitinn pening.  Einnig skiptum vid um fot tharna og settum eins mikid og vid gatum af doti i toskurnar sem fara med hjolunum.  Thad er rosalega dyrt ad senda hjolin med flugi thessa leid og mer synist thetta muni kosta um kr. 375.000,- a hvort hjol !!!!!!  En vid hofum ekkert val og verdum bara ad kyngja thessu.  Thad er smidadur kassi utan um hvort hjol og toskur og annad sett thar inn lika.  Thetta er skilgreint sem "dangerous good" og thess vegna thurfum vid lika ad borga allskonar aukagjold,- bensingjald, serstakt haettugjald, pokkunargjald ofl.  Otrulegt en satt.  I dag kom svo upp vandamal med tollinn, hann samthykkti ekki i fyrstu ad toskurnar vaeru hluti af hjolinu, heldur ad thetta vaeri bara ferdatoskur, en their samthykktu thad ad lokum.  Allt thetta thurfti svo ad stadgreida og vorum vid uti um allar trissur ad redda peningum.  Thad tekur nokkra daga ad senda peninga a milli landa og thvi gekk thad ekki.  Visa kortid leyfir bara akvedid haar upphaedir a dag og einnig er bara haegt ad taka peninga ut a posthusum her, thannig ad vid hlupum a milli stada.  Svo vorum vid med dollara sedla sem vid vildum skipta og forum i banka til thess.  Tha kemur i ljos ad einhver vel sem sedlarnir eru settir i gegnum, samthykkti bara hluta af sedlunum og tha vandadist malid.  Medan eg skipti staerstum hluta sedlanna sem voru i lagi, hljop Einar og adstodarstulka fra flutningafyrirtaekinu a milli banka i midbaenum og i hverjum banka tokst ad skipta nokkrum sedlum og tok thad i allt 5 banka ad skipta ollum sedlunum.  Manni var farid ad lida eins og peningafalsara og aumingja stulkan sem hljop um a hahaeludu skonum sinum með Einari skildi hvorki upp ne nidur i thessum skrytnu monnum !  En allt gekk thetta upp ad lokum og nu sit eg her sidasta kvoldid og a ekki fyrir bjor, thvi allir sedlar bunir og get ekki tekid ut meira fyrr en a morgun.  Frekar fyndid !  En ad lokum sma til umhugsunar, vid fljugum fra Japan kl. 17:00 midvikudaginn 4. Juli, og lendum i Anchorage, Alaska kl. 17:15 midvikudaginn 4. Juli !  Thad tekur semsagt ekki nema 15 minutur ad fljuga hedan og til Alaska ??????????  Eda hvad ?  Heyrumst sidar fra USA !

 

There has been a lot going on the past couple of days. We’ve been traveling around Tokyo by trains but that’s not the most exciting thing in the world. We woke up early yesterday morning to meet Hayashi, a travel company’s representative. We found the place after about 2 hours in a train. We immediately sat down and tried to solve the problem which was to find a way to get the bikes to Alaska as soon as possible. After discussing things for about an hour we came to this conclusion: It should be possible to send the bikes to Alaska on Wednesday (tomorrow) if everything goes well. But in order for that to happen she needed a couple of things such as an address in Anchorage, Alaska and the flight number for our flight which we didn’t have because we hadn’t even booked our flight yet. But the worst thing was probably that we had to leave our bikes at Narita airport which is about 120 km away from japan, and that needed to be done before 5 pm.! So we ran out of there and found a computer to book a flight and a cheap hotel for one night so we could use that address. That took us about 2 hours but after that we ran back to Hayashi and gave her that information. Then it took us about 2 hours to get back where our bikes were but on the way Anthony called and asked us to meet him so we could return the key to the apartment and say goodbye. We hoped he could also lead the way to the airport because that would save us some time but he was expecting guests so he couldn’t do that. We were getting a little stressed and the heat and the rain didn’t help. But we made it even though not until 6:30 but then we had to take some stuff of the bikes to make them smaller. We also changed clothes there and put as much clothes in the cases which are going the bikes as we could. It’s extremely expensive to send the bikes, around 375,000 kr.- for each bike!! (Over $6000). The bikes and all other baggage is put in a box which is marked “dangerous goods” which means that we had to pay extra. We also had a problem with the customs today. They didn’t agree that the motorcycle cases were a part of the bike but simply regular suitcases. But they accepted it in the end, thank god. But we had to pay for all this with cash so we had to get some cash quick! The visa card only allows a certain amount of withdrawal each day so that was a problem. It also takes days to send money between countries so that was not possible either. So we needed to run between different places to get the money. We also had some dollars we wanted to change but the machine that does that only accepted a part of the bills. Einar, along with an assistant there, ran between banks downtown to get all the bills changed. And it actually took 5 different banks to change all the bills! I felt a little bit like a coiner and the poor assistant had to run around in her high heels and probably though that we were really weird. But it all worked out in the end and now I’m sitting here in front of the computer and don’t even have enough money for a beer. It’s the last night here in Japan! But finally, here is a thought, We’ll be taking off from Japan at 5 pm on the 4th of July and we’ll land in Anchorage, Alaska around 15 minutes past 5 pm on the 4th of July! So is it only 15 minutes from Japan to Alaska??? Doesn’t sound right ;) I’ll ttyl from the USA! - Sverrir

Tokyo, Japan

Loksins kemst eg i tolvu og get skrifad nokkrar linur.  Thessir dagar her i Japan hafa verid alveg otrulegir.  Eg hef vist sagt thetta nokkrum sinnum adur, en svona er thetta bara, alltaf ad upplifa nyja og skemmtilega hluti a hverjum stad.  Hluti sem eru svo allt odruvisi en madur hefur upplifad og sed adur.  Tho ad eg hafi ferdast toluvert um aevina, tha er thetta svo allt odruvisi.  Margir segjast hafa komid til Japans, eda Mongoliu eda bara eitthvert annad og thegar betur er ad gad, tha hefur vidkomandi bara komid i einhverja eina borg i einn eda kannski nokkra daga og tha segir hinn sami ad hann thekki landid.  Eg hef svo sem sagt thetta lika, en thad sem eg er ad upplifa nuna er svo allt allt annad.  Onnur hlid a londunum sem madur kynnist ekki nema ad ferdast a thennan eda alika mata.  Sidast thegar eg bloggadi var eg i islenska sendiradinu og var ad saekja gogn sem mig vantadi.  Kristin, sem er ritari tharna eda fulltrui eda eitthvad alika var svo elskuleg ad leyfa mer ad nota tolvuna hennar smastund.  Thetta var a fimmtudaginn.  A fostudaginn voknudum vid snemma og vorum i rolegheitum fram ad hadegi en tha kom Anthony Hardie vinur okkar til okkar og for med okkur i motorhjolabudina sem vid hofdum verid i daginn adur og nu attu bremsuklossar ad vera komnir sem Einar vantadi i hjolid.  Their voru komnir og bremsur ad aftan lagadar og um tvoleytid forum vid a japanskan hamborgarastad og fengum okkur borgara.  Eg pantadi mer einn med ananas og their eitthvad svipad og thegar borgarinn kom gat madur ekki annad en brosad.  Hamborgarinn var einfaldlega kjotpatti a disk med ananas ofan a og fjorar franskar med, ja akkurat fjorar a mann.  Ekkert braud ne annad med.  Thetta var agaett og gaman ad profa eitthvad odruvisi.  Tharna satum vid lengi eda til kl. 6 og tha hvaddi Anthony okkur.  Planid var ad hittast um morguninn kl. 6:30 og leggja af stad upp i fjoll.  Anthony kom a slaginu 6:30 og vid logdum af stad.  Vid hjoludum i ca klukkutima og stoppudum tha i utjadri borgarinnar og thar hittum vid svo hopinn sem aetladi med okkur.  Thetta er hjolaklubbur sem heitir GAJIIN RIDERS og samanstendur af utlendingum sem starfa og bua her.  Tharna voru maettir 3 Amerikanar, 2 Englendingar, 1 Astrali og 2 Islendingar.  Allir vanir hjolamenn og rotudu vel um sveitirnar her.  Svo var　vedrid frabaert og allir thustum vid af stad.  Til ad gera langa sogu stutta tha atti eg algjora aevintyrahelgi tharna i sveitinni og vegirnir sem strakarnir foru med okkur eru otrulegir.  Mjog throngir vegir og liggja upp nidur hlidar fjallanna og eru i otrulega miklum hlykkjum og svegjum.  Serlega gaman ad hjola tharna.  A laugardagskvoldi forum gistum vid svo i litlum husum, sem segja ma ad seu bara tjold ur tre.  Litil hus og ekkert inni i theim, ja og tha meina eg ekkert.  Bara tregolfid og veggirnir.  Tharna grilludum vid og drukkum 1 eda 2 bjora !!!!!!! Kannski 3, skemmtum okkur vel.  Skemmtilegt var ad fara i kjorbudina rett adur til ad kaupa matinn og drykkina.  Tharna var ad haegt ad kaupa ymislegt eins og gefur ad skilja en mig langar ad nefna nokkra skemmtilega hlut.  Til daemis var haegt ad kaupa margar tegundir af bjor i gjafapakkningum, mjog serstakt.  Ad sjalfsogdu er haegt ad fa nautakjot her, og tha er a bodstolnum kjot fra Japan, Astraliu og Ameriku.  Thad japanska er tvofalt dyrara thvi thad er seralid og mjog feitt inni i vodvanum sjalfum.  Ad sjalfsogdu fengum vid okkur svona og var thad mjog gott.  Allt kjot er mjog thunnt skorid og ekki haegt ad fa almennilega thykka nautasteik.  Thad verdur bara ad bida thar til vid komum til Ameriku.  Tharna attum vid semsagt skemmtilega kvoldstund og eftirminnilega.  Thessir strakar eru her af ymsum astaedum, og allir nema einn eru giftir japonskum konum.  (sem er ad sjalfsogdu skyringin a thvi ad their eru her.  Eltum vid ekki allir konurnar okkar !)  Tveir eru kennarar, einn er hemavinnandi husfadir, einn er ritstjori, einn er kokkur osfr.  Frabaerir strakar.  A sunnudeginu var haldid afram ad hjola og vorum vid ad allan daginn.  Eftir ad hafa kvatt hvern annan um 6 leytid for Anthony med okkur Einar serstaka ferd i gegnum Tokyo eftir hradbrautarkerfi Tokyo.  Thad er otrulegt kerfi.  Thad er byggd borg, hus og vegir og annad sem tilheyrir.  Sidan verdur umferdin svo mikil ad thad tharf ad gera eitthvad meira.  Tokyo menn leystu malid med thvi ad byggja hradbrautarkerfi inni i borginni og er yfir ollu odrum vegum, gordum, husum ofl tharna.  Hradbrautarkerfid liggur semsagt i 30 - 40 metra haed yfir ollu, med brum og odru tilheyrandi.  Thad er otrulegt ad hjola i gegnum/kringum borgina ad kvoldlagi og sja oll ljosin og husin.  Thetta er eins og endalaust flod af byggingum og odrum mannvirkjum.  Thad er eiginlega ekki haegt ad lysa thessu, thetta var svo otrulegt.  En vid hjoludum semsagt fram a kvold og vorum komnir i hus um kl 01:00.  Vorum semsagt bunir ad vera ad hjola fra kl 9 um morguninn.  Sem sagt otruleg helgi og skemmtileg.  En nog i bili, blogg meira a morgun og segi fra deginum i dag (manudeginum).  Setti inn líka nýjar myndir í albúmið.

 

Finally I’m able to use a computer to blog a little. These past days here in Japan have been amazing. I’ve probably said the same thing about other places, but that’s just how it is, always discovering new things. I’ve been traveling a lot throughout my life but this is quite different. A lot of people say that they’ve been to Japan, Mongolia or just some other place, but when you ask them about it you’ll find out that they’ve only been in one city and maybe just for a couple of days. And these people even say that they know that country from their “experience” there. I’ve been guilty of this before but what Einar and I are doing now is totally different. You get to see a whole other side of the country by traveling like we do. The last time I blogged I was in the Icelandic embassy picking up some documents I needed. Kristin, who worked there let me use her computer for a little while and that was very nice of her. This was last Thursday. We woke up early on Friday and were just taking it easy until Anthony Hardie showed up and took us to the motorcycle store we’d been in the day before. They now had what we needed to fix Einar’s brakes and afterwards we went to get some burgers. I ordered a burger with pinapple and when I got my order I couldn’t help but smile. The hamburger was just a piece of meat with a pineapple on top of it along with 4 french fries, yes exactly four french fries for everybody. But it’s always fun to try something new. We then said goodbye to Anthony but we met him early next morning again when we headed out to the mountains. We rode for about an hour before meeting all the other guys who were coming with us. It was a motorcycle club called GAJIN RIDERS og consists of foreigners who work and live here. There were 3 Americans, 2 Englishmen, 1 Australian and 2 Icelanders. The weather was great and to make a long story short, we had an amazing adventure over the weekend in the country. The roads were very narrow and wavy but it was really fun to ride around there. We spent Saturday’s night in small wooden houses. There was nothing inside these houses, just the walls,floor and the ceiling. We worked the grill and had a couple of beers and had a great time. I had some fun shopping in the supermarket earlier that evening and I want to talk a little bit what they were selling there. You could buy many different kinds of beer in gift baskets. That was very strange. We bought ourselves some Japanese meat and had an excellent evening like I said before. The guys in the motorcycle club are here for many different reasons. First, all but one are married to japanese women. (Don’t we all follow our women anywhere?) Two of them are teachers, one works at home, one is an editor, one is a chef etc. Great guys! We rode for the whole Sunday and said our goodbyes around 6 pm. After that, Anthony took us for a trip in the Japanese highway system which is an unbelievable system. The highways are about 30-40 metres over all the houses and streets on the ground.! It was an unbelievable experience to ride around the city in the twilight and I really can’t describe it. We rode all evening and weren’t back until around 1 am and we had been riding since 9 am. It was an unbelievable weekend and it was a lot of fun. But that’s enough for now but I want to reming you all that I put some new pictures in the album. Ttyl - Sverrir

Viðtalið í dag / The interview today

Hér að neðan má heyra fimmtudagsviðtalið á Rás2 í morgun.  Aftarlega á línunni eftir Rod Stewart lagið.

 http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras2/?file=4331548

Tokyo, Japan

Loksins i Tokyo, Ótrulegt en satt eg er buinn ad runta um i midborg Tokyo a hjolinu ! Vid hjoludum þvert yfir Japan og tokum hraðbrautina þvi eg vil reyna ad nota timann sem best og leysa malin med flutninginn, og reyna sidan ad hjola eitthvad her. Anthony Hardie, Englendingur sem buid hefur her i 17 ar, hitti okkur og lanadi okkur ibud her i uthverfi Tokyo. Hann og felagar hans eru bunir ad bjoda okkur i skemmtilega hjolaferd um helgina og vona eg ad vid komumst med. Þeir hittast reglulega, utlendingar sem bua og vinna her og hjola mikid saman. Veðrið hefur verid mjog gott en mikid mistur yfir og i dag er 36 stiga hiti og rakt. Vid skildum hjolin eftir vid ibudina og tokum lestina inn i bæ, thad er svo erfitt ad hjola i borginni og i miklum hita. Vid forum tho i morgun og leitudum ad loftsiu i hjolin, thvi thaer eru vaegast sagt mjog slaemar. Thaer voru ekki til, en Einar og starfsmadur tharna skaru pappasiuna i sundur og settu olivaettan svamp i stadinn til ad leysa malin. Thad var mikil upplifun ad sja Tokyo Tower i gaer. Eg hreinlega vissi ekki ad their Japanar aettu sinn Eiffel turn. Their eiga turn sem er nakvaem eftirliking af Eiffelturninum ! Nema nokkrum metrum haerri. Mjog fallegt. Nu er eg i islenska sendiradinu i Japan og er buinn ad fa oll gognin sem eg let senda hingad. Simakort, kreditkort og tryggingapappirar. Gott mal. A eftir aetla eg ad reyna ad kaupa mer síma. En vona ad eg komist i tolvu fljotlega og blogga meira.

We’re finally in Tokyo and I’ve even cruised around in the city on the bike a little bit. We rode straight across Japan on the highway because we wanted to be on good time to be able to take care of all the things we need to. Anthony Hardie, The Englishman who has lived here for 17 years, met us and lent us an apartment here, in a suburb of Tokyo. He and his pals have asked us to join them on a little motorcycle trip next weekend and hopefully we will be able to do that. They get together regularly and they are all foreigners who live and work here in Japan. The weather has been good but sometimes foggy, today it’s 36°C and humid. We left the bikes by the apartment and took the train down town because it’s hard to drive in the city in this temperature. But we went to look for an air filter this morning because ours are not good. They didn’t have it where we looked but Einar and a man who worked there cut the paper filter and put a sponge smothered in oil instead. It was great to experience Tokyo Tower yesterday. I didn’t realize that Japan had it’s own Eiffel tower. They basically have a tower that is exactly like the Eiffel tower, just a few metres taller. But now I’m in the Icelandic embassy in Japan and I’ve got all the documents I’ll send here. Phone cards, credit cards, insurance papers etc. I’m going to attempt to buy a cell phone later today. Hopefully I’ll get a hold of a computer soon to blog more. Ttyl - Sverrir

Toyama, Japan !!!!!

Otrulegt en satt ! Kominn til Japans a japanska motorhjolinu minu alla leid fra Islandi !!  Thetta er skritin tilfinning og varla buinn ad atta mig a thessu.  Thegar vid forum af hotelinu i Vladivostok kl 12:00  tha hjoludum vid nidur a hofn og logdum hjolunum thar og tha byrjadi bidin !  Ja undanfarna daga ma segja ad adalverkefnid hafi verid ad bida.  Klukkan 17.00 komust hjolin loks um bord i skipid og svo bidum vid fyrst uti og svo inni til kl 01.00 um nottina og loks um kl 02.00 for skipid af stad.  Otrulega mikil bid eftir einhverju.  Thad skritna vid thetta allt saman er ad thad er ekkert merkt tharna.  Madur er vanur thvi ad thegar um svona stora ferju er ad raeda og tekur mikid af bilum og folki, skyldi madur aetla ad thad vaeri einhverskonar afgreidsla eda bidsalur.  Nei, ekki hja Russunum, thar er ekki neitt !!  Enginn vissi hvar vid attum ad fara og thvi urdum vid ad leita og giska og horfa a annad folk med toskur.  "Bidsalurinn" fannst ad lokum og var thad afgreidsla tollsins og utlendingaeftirlitsins i kjallara huss tharna rett hja.  Merkilegt nokk.  En semsagt vid komumst af stad og thetta skip sem kom med 300 bila fra Japan til Vladivostok, for med 2 motorhjol til baka, ja motorhjolin okkar voru einu farartaekin um bord !  Og svo voru ca 180 manns med skipinu.  Siglingin var god og thaegileg, og kaetan okkar var nidur i kjallara og thad for vel um okkur thar.  I gaerkvoldi var svo hljomsveit ad spila, gamlir threyttir musikantar sem eru ad enda ferilinn sinn tharna, drekkandi kaffi og vodka og reykja mikid.  Svo var slegid i kvoldvoku, og fekk eg mer saeti framalega til ad fylgjast med.  Upplifunin var frabaer, thetta var svo skemmtilega hallaerislegt,  nokkrir leikir thar sem karlar og konur voru latin leika tviraed atridi, svo ad mikid var hlegid.  Fyrir Russa, er thetta mjog erfitt, og thurfti stjornandinn, sem var ung kona, oft og mikid ad hafa fyrir thvi ad fa einhverja upp a svid.  Inn a milli song svo ungur madur og greinilega buinn ad aefa sig mikid fyrir framan spegilinn, thvi ad tho ad engin vaeri ad hlusta,  let hann sem ad hann aetti salinn !  " ALLIR MED NUNA" !!!  Og enginn leit upp.  Ad morgu leyti minnti hetta a kvoldvoku i Kerlingarfjollum fordum daga.  En i dag um kl 11 komum vid loks til Japans og tha hofst enn ein bidin.  Fyrst var ad tolla okkur, leita i klefum og skoda pappira.  Sidan var utlendingaeftirlitid, meiri pappirar og stimplar en allt gekk vel en bara haegt.  Sidan hofst sagan um hjolin.  Thau voru tekin fra bordi og sett i laest voruhus.  Vid somdum vid skipa midlara sem var tharna um ad adstoda okkur vid ad fa Carnet tollpappirana samthykkta, thvi thad hefdum vid thurft ad vera bunir ad gera adur en vid logdum af stad, en engin let okkur vita af thvi.  Thess vegna thurftum vid ad fara skrifstofu JAF sem var i odrum littlum bae ekki langt fra.  Thessi skipamidlari keyrdi okkur semsagt a skrifstofu JAF og thar gekk allt ad oskum og tok thetta ekki nema um 3 tima ! Thad er mun minna en mer hafdi verid sagt.  En tha var okkar staersta vandamal eftir, thad var ad fa tryggingu fyrir hjolin i Japan.  Okkur hafdi verid tjad ad tad se skylda ad hafa tryggingu en enginn gat bent okkur a hvar og hvernig vaeri haegt ad nalgast hana.  Ad vera i Japan, skilja ekki neitt, hvorki skrifad ne sagt, akandi um i mikilli umferd, og thar ad auki i vinstri umferd, og vera ekki med tryggingu var ekki god tilfinning.  Fyrir tilviljun tha spurdi eg, eda Einar bilstjorann sem var ad keyra okkur um trygginguna.  Hann skildi nu mjog takmarkad i ensku, en vard svolitid hugsi og gaf nu ekki mikid ut a thetta.  Skommu sidar hringdi hann eitthvad og thetta endadi allt saman thannig ad vid forum til baka a skrifstofu skipamidlarans, bidum thar i 2 tima og viti menn, their utvegudu okkur tryggingu fyrir hjolin og malin leyst !!!!!  Thetta var thvilikur lettir fyrir okkur ad thad er erfitt fyrir adra ad skilja thad.  En loks fengum vid hjolin og vid logdum af stad ut i rokkrid, thvi nu var tekid ad dimma.  Thvi var ekki um annad ad raeda en ad hjola af stad og stoppa a fyrsta hotelinu sem vid findum, thvi ekki viljum hjola i myrkri. ( og thar ad auki i mikilli vinstri umferd !!)  Fyrsta hotelid sem eg sa var oskop fint og renndum vid ad thvi.  Thetta var svolitid skritid hotel ad okkar mati, thvi engin gestamottaka var, heldur for madur bara i staedi og thar var mynd af herberginu og verdlisti.  Ef ther leist a, forst thu bara inn um hurd og upp gang og beint inn a herbergi.  Okkur leist agaetlega a thetta og fannst verdid bara agaett og frekar odyrt.  En tha for mig allt i einu ad gruna eitthvad og eg veit ekki hvad thad var, en nidurstadan er su, ad thetta hotel er bara "drive in" melluhotel !! Og verdlistinn er midadur vid halftima, klukkutima osfr.   Otrulegt en satt.   Eg er hraeddur um ad thad hefdi ordid skritid upplit a okkur og domunni hefdum vid badir maett, i ollum motorhjolaskrudanum, med toskur og farangur og arkad inn a golf !!!   En vid misstum af theirri upplifun.  En thad sem merkilegra er, ad vid forum framhja nokkrum svona hotelum og thetta er greinilega business her.  En nuna sit eg inni a godu hoteli og er ad gera mig klaran fyrir spennandi dag a morgun.  Bless i bili.

I’ve made it to Japan on my Japanese bike all the way from Iceland! It’s a strange feeling and I haven’t really realized this yet. We left our hotel in Vladivostok at 12 pm and rode down to the harbor and started waiting. We finally got the bikes on board at 5 and we had to wait until 2 am until the ship finally left the harbor. The weirdest part about this trip is that there were no signs, waiting rooms or services, simply nothing. Nobody knew where to go so we just had to follow other people. Also, this ferry that had carried 300 cars from Japan to Russia only went back to Japan with 2 bikes! Yes, our bikes were the only vehicles on board. But there were about 180 people on the ship though. The sail was comfortable, our room was down in the basement and it was nice. There was a band playing last night, old and weary musicians who are ending their musical careers there. There was also a lot of other things going on. Everybody was having a great time, people were playing games and everyone was laughing. But it wasn’t easy to make everybody have fun, especially for the Russians, so the overseer had to work hard. There was this young fellow who sang kareoke and had clearly been practicing in front of the mirror because he was feeling it there on stage and he obviously thought that he was a star although nobody was even listening. But we arrived to Japan at 11 am but that only ment more wating. First there was customs, searching our cabin and viewing our papers. Then the people from the Alien’s office replaced the people from customs. The bikes were then taken from the ferry and put in a locked warehouse. We got some assistance in getting the Carnet customs papers approved but we had to already have that approved before we even left Russia, but nobody let us know. That’s why we had to go to the JAF’s office which was in another town not so far from where we were. The shipbroker, who was helping us, drove us to JAF’s offices where everything got solved in less than 3 hours which was a record time. But we still hadn’t faced our biggest problem yet, getting insurance for the bikes here in Japan. We had been told that it was a requirement to have an insurance but nobody could tell us how or where to get it. It wasn’t a good feeling riding around in Japan, where you don’t understand a single sign, in heavy and left sided traffic and with no insurance. But we decided to ask our driver about the insurance, he made a phone call, drove us back to the shipbroker’s office where we got our insurances! It was a huge relief for us even though people back home might not understand it. We finally got our bikes and headed out into the twilight. We stopped at the first hotel we saw because it was getting dark. The first hotel we saw looked nice so we decided to stop there. We immediately noticed that this hotel was rather strange, because there was no reception, just a parking space where you could see a picture of the hotel room and a catalog. If you liked it, you were supposed to walk through a door, walk the hallway and to your room. The rooms and the prices were good so we decided to give it a try. That’s when I got a little suspicious. I don’t know how and why I realized it but I finally noticed that we were at a drive through hooker hotel!! So the catalog was just for a half hour, on hour etc. Unbelievable. But we kept on driving and realized that these kind of hotels are clearly a ralatively big business here. But now I’m sitting in a good hotel getting ready for an exciting day tomorrow. Ttyl - Sverrir

Vladivostok, Russland !

Borgardagur III og IV.  I gaer forum vid i godan gongutur fyrir hadegi og skodudum storan gamlan russneskan kafbat sem smidadur var 1936.  Hann er til synis nuna og er a thurru landi og buid ad gera hann ad syningarsal.  Thad var mjog skemmtilegt.  Um kl 14:00 forum vid til tollaranna og eftir ad hafa bedid thar smastund og horft a domuna stimpla og skrifa undir morgum sinnum, tha fengum vid ad vita thad, ad vid eigum ad maeta med hjolin til theirra a sunnudaginn kl. 16:00 og tha held eg, (vonandi) leysist malid endanlega.  Thetta a ad stemma thvdi skipid fer ekki fyrr en um kvoldid.  Restin af deginum for i rolegheit og hangs og gengum svo nidur hofn i gaerkeldi og horfdum a mannlifid.  Eins og venjulega var skemmtun i gangi alla nottina a hotelinu og vid thad baettist ad eg hef bordad einhvern andsk......@%^%$ og thvi margar klosettferdir hja mer i nott.  I dag er eg bara buinn ad taka thvi rolega og thegar lidur a daginn aetlum vid af fara a hjolunum nidur a hofn, thvi vid hittum motorhjolamenn thar i gaer og hittast their gjarnan tharna a laugardogum.  Thad verdur sma tilbreyting og skemmtilegt ef einhverjir maeta.  Einar hitti svo i morgun par fra Bretlandi, sem eru a leid um heiminn a Terracan jeppa og aetla ad vera i nokkur ar.  Komu keyrandi hingad fra Bretlandi og eru i dag ad reyna ad komast til Koreu. Halda svo afram naestu ar.  Otrulegt !  Einnig eru her Astralar, tvo por,  sem komu med jeppana sina og annan bunad til ad fara Road of Bones til Magadan, en thau eru svo oheppin, ad thau eru buin ad vera i 3 vikur ad reyna ad koma bilunum i gegnum tollinn !!!  Thau hafa meira ad segja thurft ad lista upp allt, og tha meina eg allt sem thau eru med.  Spritt a primusinn, - hversu mikid og af hverju, hversu marga gafla og hnifa,- og af hvarju, osfr.  Otrulegt.  Thannig ad ekki kvarta eg lengur.  Vedrid her er mjog gott nuna, sol og hiti og fallegt ad horfa ut yfir sjoinn og sja alla batana og skuturnar.  Eg er buinn ad vera i sambandi vid thyskan mann i Japan vardandi tryggingar fyrir hjolin og er hann ad reyna ad hjalpa okkur med thad.  Thad er svolitid brosott.  Einnig fekk eg tolvupost fra nokkrum motorhjolamonnum i Japan sem eru i klubb og eru ther tilbunir ad hjalpa okkur og keyra med okkur eitthvad og hafa gaman.  Vid sjaum til hvernig thetta throast.

Day 3 and 4 in the city. We went to see an old submarine yesterday made in 1936. It’s for display on dry land and has been made into a showroom. It was really interesting to see that. Around 2 pm we then went to the customs and found out that we needed to bring our bikes at 4 pm and then the problem will finally be solved (hopefully). It makes sense because the ferry doesn’t leave until sometime in the evening. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and just hanging out, walked down to the harbor and just watched the people. As usual, there was a party for the whole night at the hotel and it didn’t make things better that I ate some bad food so I spent most of the night on the toilet. I’ve just been relaxing today but later today we’re going down to the harbor because we met some bikers there yesterday who told us that they usually all meet there on Saturdays. That’s going to be fun if somebody actually shows up. This morning, Einar met a couple from Britain who are travelling the world on a Terracan jeep and they plan to travel for several years. That’s unbelievable. There are also two couples here from Australia who are going to drive their jeeps along the infamous Road of Bones to Magadan. But they haven’t had any luck with the customs because they’ve been hassling with the people there for 3 weeks. They’ve even had to list all their stuff, from forks to spirit lamps. After hearing about that I don’t complain any more. The weather here is excellent, it’s sunny and the temperature is good and it’s beautiful too look out over the sea to see all the boats and vessels. I’ve been in contact with a German in Japan about insurance for our bikes and he’s trying to help us with that but it’s not going too smoothly. I also received an e-mail from several bikers in Japan who are members of a motorcycle club but they are willing to help us when we get to Japan. We’ll see how that’ll develop. Ttyl - Sverrir

Viðtalið í morgun / The interview today.

Hér að neðan er viðtalið í morgun á Rás2.  Aftarlega á línunni eftir fréttir og auglýsingar.

 http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras2/?file=4331543