Day 11 { june 5th 2002 }
“Baba and the Bodensee”
Coming up: the Bodensee. But before my eyes meet this huge pond, I have to take shelter for a hefty shower. I will meet a man with a unique story, who will share an old Thai saying with me.
I wake up early, and snooze for a while.
Hundreds of birds welcome me on this new day.
The sun creates a surrealistic lighting in my tent. It’s nice and warm. Don‘t want to cycle...
The thought occurs once more how ‘un-me’ this is... I am not a traveller at all. But the contradiction
is that the past 4 days were great. Oh well. I guess it’s one of those small depressions. Once my Condor is on the road again, it will pass swiftly.
Rudolf woke me up last night by urinating outside of his tent... Gosh, Niagara Falls only 3 meters away! :) While I unzip my sleepingbag in the morning, I can hear him packing his stuff. When I stick my head outside the tent, his tent disappears in bags in a matter of minutes. Euh...dude, that’s impressive.
“Are you the two Aussies and the Dutchman?”
He explains to me that it is a tent for motorcyclist. It dries very fast. My tent doesn’t. It has to be put upright, turned towards the sun. Rudolf is generous and pays for my breakfast. He leaves afterwards, while I saddle up my Condor.
I leave the camping in good spirits and follow the trusty Swiss bicycle signs. My appearence starts to resemble that of Robinson Crusoe. Just curious to know how I will look like after not having touched a razor in 3 weeks...
To my amazement, I come across a perfectly flat asphalt road, as straight as a line. I follow it for a few miles.
A lovely tailwind boosts my speed up to 30 an hour. After that, it’s back to hard work again.
Demanding terrain; up and down, up and down...
While cycling to Frauenfeld, 3 cyclists ahead of me take a left
turn and head to the city center as well. Guess what? The two aussies and the dutchman!
“Stop staring at me!”
What a surprise. Some eyebrows are frowned when I enquire after their nationality. “Euh, are we famous ?”
They find it amusing and don’t mind if I join them for a while.
We have lunch in a park just outside the build-up area and inform one another about our experiences.
Rob is from Amsterdam and met Jason and Meegan some years ago whilst cycling through Europe. They got along well and
decided to join forces once more cycling to Italy.
Rob is a man of few words, and to a lesser degree, Jason and Meegan too. I sense after about 30 minutes that I intrude.
I was really glad I had found some ‘brothers in arms’, someone to join and talk to, but the feeling quickly subsides.
Apparently I’m not in such a need for company.
So after a quarter of an hour, it’s just me and my Condor back on
the road after I eat some croissants at a large bus terminal. Feel like an alien once more. Stop staring at me!
“A very steep hill proves to be demanding...”
When I leave, I feel relieved, and head westwards once more. Some miles further on, I cross a long, very old wooden bridge.
Shouldn’t have done that. I takes me about half an hour to get ‘back on track’.
After I’ve crossed the bridge near Bisschofszell, a steep sustained climb surprises me and makes me clench my teeth.
I must cross a railroadtrack down-town but decide to take care of my tummy first. A nearby supermarket provides me with everything I need.
I take a seat on a bench opposite the store and gulp down some dairy products and banana’s. All the extra power is needed, because after having turned to the left, after crossing the railroad track, another very steep hill proves to be demanding for my knees and legs.
After some hefty huffing and puffing I can pat myself on the shoulder. Raw power!
“A warm shower and a fresh smelling bed...”
The Bodensee is getting nearer... Around 16:30 hours, whilst cycling on top of a hill, I notice some very dark
clouds at very low level coming from various angles... This can’t be good. Time for pre-emptive cover. Good thinking!
The wind grows stronger and soon afterwards, it starts to thunder and rain.
My Condor is parked underneath the roof of an authentic wooden barn. Have to wait for 20 minutes before the circumstances
are acceptable for cycling.
The ride to the camping at Arbon, the closest city to the Bodensee, takes a bit longer than expected. The sky still looks threatening, and it rains in a modest way. Wearing the head-cover of my bright orange windstopper and my Vietcong-style black canvas hat makes me feel at least a bit cosy under these depressing circumstances.
Around 17:30 h I catch my very first glimps of the Bodensee. It’s huge! Much bigger than I had anticipated. About 30 minutes later, I park my Condor against a stone wall near a harbour in Arbon. Small lights in the far distance betray the presence of villages situated close to the coastal line. So peacefull. Underneath a sky dominated by grey clouds, I pitch my tent. I think of a warm shower and a fresh smelling bed...
“I am Dutch, so logically I use drugs...”
Around 6 o’clock, I decide to prepare myself some ravioli. Great stuff. While fiddling with my Coleman camping burner,
a bearded man approaches my tent. He has to be the owner of the extremely colourful looking family tent positioned underneath a
tree in a far corner of the terrain. There’s something about that site. There is no trace of a vehicle; a bicycle or car.
No tiretracks either... Plastic bags are hanging to dry outside. No activity of children. Actually, there is no activity at all
the whole evening. But the enigma might be solved now. Let’s see what he has to say.
Of course, the bicycle parked against
my tent is the opening topic, and soon the conversation is taken to another level. The man calls himself Baba, and has the combined
looks of Marty Feldman, John Lennon and Ho-Chi-Min. Chaoticly worn hair, the longest grey goatee I have ever seen, round spectacles, cross-sighted and a bit confused. He must be around 36. He speaks English with a heavy German accent.
He inquieres after my goal and
when I tell him I’m from the Netherlands, he offers me a joint.
I forgot. Stupid me! I am Dutch and therefore I use drugs. That’s logical.
“...makes these typical Stevie Wonder movements”
His real name appears to be Werner, “but in Thailand, they called me Baba”. Thailand? Oh yes, he left Switserland
some years ago and visited India, Indonesia and eventually Thailand. He had a scuba-diving school/shop over there.
A picture of a wonderfull, odd looking contraption in a tree(his home), held together by ropes and nails confirms this.
I can’t help but suspecting that diving was not his only activity. See, while telling his story, his head makes these
typical ‘Stevie Wonder’ movements. Think this man has seen too much ‘angel dust’. I feel sorry for
his brain-cells.
Anyway. It’s a friendly guy. Give him some slack! To make a long story short, that tent I described
earlier on is his home, and he tries to re-integrate into Swiss society after coming back from the East.
“Chanti chanti (slowly but surely)”
As a boy, he climbed into the very tree he lives under. He wants to see his children grow up and re-establish contact with his wife. I feel a sense of remorse... My food is ready, and that is the trigger for him to leave. With a bottle of beer firmly clenched in his hand, he disappears into the darkness, on his way to a friend. But before he leaves he shares an old Thai saying with me. ‘Chanti chanti’ (meaning slowly but surely). “You have chosen wisely to embark on this trip, the time was right for you”.
After sharing this with me, he walks in front of me, holds my head in his hands, and looks me straight in the eyes (to convey positive energy ?). One hell of a unique person, that is for sure. Unfortunately, there is no picture of him.
