What a day... Chaos, mayhem and I'm still in Rabat... Long story....
Got up early this morning to hand in my Mali visa application The whole week I was promised that if I hand it in first thing in the morning I will have my visa by lunch time. When I arrived there the woman working behind the desk said the chancellor is very busy and I can only get my visa tomorrow. After about 10minutes of me begging in my best broken French she said she will try her best and I can come and see at 15:00 if it is ready, but she can't promise anything, She spoke zero English, but was really sweet and helpful. Feeling a bit under the weather I went to DHL to ask to send my tyres to Marrakesh as I wanted to leave today. Guess what? The tyres where there. Very quick few days. Whoop whoop.
Instantly felt better and went to have them put on my bike. On Saturday I spoke to some guys at a very nice and smart looking tyre shop who promised it would be no problem. Easy to do. I took the tyres there and they had them swapped in no time. Actually too quickly, they where so rough with the bike and the inner tubes. I constantly had to remind them to be gentle and keep a close eye on what they where doing. There where two off them working at a frantic pace so I couldn't see everything they where doing. After they where done I went over everything to make sure all is ok. It wasn't. They managed to strip the thread for a very important bolt that keeps my front wheels in place and alignment. As soon I showed them this, their little bit of English disappeared, and they just pretended nothing was wrong. AAGGGHHH!!! Frustration galore. I tried for a bit to see if I could re thread it but didn't work. Rethreading is not such a big problem if you have the right tools. Which I didn't. And there is no way you can ride the bike like that. I spend about 20 minutes trying to explain to the guys what was wrong, but they kept on playing dumb. I finally got them to point me in the general direction of where I had to go to get it fixed. With a very wobbly and off balance bike I very very slowly set off to look for some better help.
After about ten minutes I saw this really dodgy looking scooter shop (basically hole in the wall), but they were busy with lots off people stopping for a chat and advice. I used my best sign language to explain my problem and immediately the guys new what was wrong. Phew. It took some work but we managed to fix the problem. When we where done I took the bike for a test drive but it was still wobbly and completely off balance. What now??? We finally figured out that the first guys didn't seat my tyres properly and that was causing the wobble. In the end it was another whole in the wall shop that re-seated the tyres. Instantly better. So amazing to see these guys with dodgy little shops knowing exactly what they are doing and doing a good quality job, while the nice smart tyre place was a complete f'up. I was just ecstatic that the bike was ok again. All this kept me busy till 3pm, didn't even have breakfast or lunch. So much for a quick easy tyre change. I was feeling great and very relieved, now my bike was ready for the rest off the trip. No more issues to sort out! Whoop whoop.
Arriving at the Mali embassy my visa was ready. Result. Think my luck is changing? I parked my bike in front off the hotel and went to the market for some food (the garage I normally keep it in was closed). Came back after a couple of hours to park my bike in the garage and the windscreen of my bike was smashed. Some female driver reversed into my bike, it fell over and broke my windscreen (hit and run)... I was speechless! What else can go wrong?
Luckily no major damage! But it's going to be very uncomfortable without a windscreen through the desert. There is no chance to find a replacement in Morocco. DHL again? This is turning into a very expensive joke!
I did meet a Danish guy who is doing much the same as I am. Seems like a very nice guy, so we are going to do the next few weeks together. Result, it's not all bad. And everything is done in Rabat, no more admin for a few thousand kilometres. Tomorrow we hit the road. Finally. Can't wait.
Got up early this morning to hand in my Mali visa application The whole week I was promised that if I hand it in first thing in the morning I will have my visa by lunch time. When I arrived there the woman working behind the desk said the chancellor is very busy and I can only get my visa tomorrow. After about 10minutes of me begging in my best broken French she said she will try her best and I can come and see at 15:00 if it is ready, but she can't promise anything, She spoke zero English, but was really sweet and helpful. Feeling a bit under the weather I went to DHL to ask to send my tyres to Marrakesh as I wanted to leave today. Guess what? The tyres where there. Very quick few days. Whoop whoop.
Instantly felt better and went to have them put on my bike. On Saturday I spoke to some guys at a very nice and smart looking tyre shop who promised it would be no problem. Easy to do. I took the tyres there and they had them swapped in no time. Actually too quickly, they where so rough with the bike and the inner tubes. I constantly had to remind them to be gentle and keep a close eye on what they where doing. There where two off them working at a frantic pace so I couldn't see everything they where doing. After they where done I went over everything to make sure all is ok. It wasn't. They managed to strip the thread for a very important bolt that keeps my front wheels in place and alignment. As soon I showed them this, their little bit of English disappeared, and they just pretended nothing was wrong. AAGGGHHH!!! Frustration galore. I tried for a bit to see if I could re thread it but didn't work. Rethreading is not such a big problem if you have the right tools. Which I didn't. And there is no way you can ride the bike like that. I spend about 20 minutes trying to explain to the guys what was wrong, but they kept on playing dumb. I finally got them to point me in the general direction of where I had to go to get it fixed. With a very wobbly and off balance bike I very very slowly set off to look for some better help.
After about ten minutes I saw this really dodgy looking scooter shop (basically hole in the wall), but they were busy with lots off people stopping for a chat and advice. I used my best sign language to explain my problem and immediately the guys new what was wrong. Phew. It took some work but we managed to fix the problem. When we where done I took the bike for a test drive but it was still wobbly and completely off balance. What now??? We finally figured out that the first guys didn't seat my tyres properly and that was causing the wobble. In the end it was another whole in the wall shop that re-seated the tyres. Instantly better. So amazing to see these guys with dodgy little shops knowing exactly what they are doing and doing a good quality job, while the nice smart tyre place was a complete f'up. I was just ecstatic that the bike was ok again. All this kept me busy till 3pm, didn't even have breakfast or lunch. So much for a quick easy tyre change. I was feeling great and very relieved, now my bike was ready for the rest off the trip. No more issues to sort out! Whoop whoop.
Arriving at the Mali embassy my visa was ready. Result. Think my luck is changing? I parked my bike in front off the hotel and went to the market for some food (the garage I normally keep it in was closed). Came back after a couple of hours to park my bike in the garage and the windscreen of my bike was smashed. Some female driver reversed into my bike, it fell over and broke my windscreen (hit and run)... I was speechless! What else can go wrong?
Luckily no major damage! But it's going to be very uncomfortable without a windscreen through the desert. There is no chance to find a replacement in Morocco. DHL again? This is turning into a very expensive joke!
I did meet a Danish guy who is doing much the same as I am. Seems like a very nice guy, so we are going to do the next few weeks together. Result, it's not all bad. And everything is done in Rabat, no more admin for a few thousand kilometres. Tomorrow we hit the road. Finally. Can't wait.
what a see-saw! Hope you get along well with the other guy and the wind screen is not too much of a problem. did you order a new one?
ReplyDeleteDad
hobbit, is jy 2weke onderweg en 3 maande agter skedule?
ReplyDeleteLekker lepellê!
ReplyDeleteOns het darem elkeen sy eie tent en slaapsak. Maar was so flippen koud vanoggend ek het amper gaan lepel le. hahaha
ReplyDelete