Motorcycle Tour - The Dangerous Shortcut that Almost Killed me Ep. 18
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TravelTranscript
00:00As-salamu alaykum and good morning everyone from Albania.
00:27This place is called Tepelini.
00:29It's a small village.
00:31But I am staying at a motel next to the highway, where I had booked a room.
00:36If you have watched my previous vlog, you would know that today's vlog will be about the route I am taking from Albania.
00:44The plan is that my main destination is Turkey.
00:49But to reach Turkey, I will have to cross 3-4 countries.
00:55So the best option is North Macedonia.
00:59There are two routes to reach the border of North Macedonia.
01:03The first route is the same as the one I took from Tirana yesterday.
01:07So I will have to cross the boring route of 170 km, which is the highway, and it will take me 4.5 hours.
01:15The second route is from here, but it goes through the mountains.
01:20There are some small roads and some off-road sections.
01:23It will take me 7-8 hours to reach there.
01:26I had planned to take the same route from Tirana and reach there as soon as possible.
01:31But I have decided that I am not here to race to reach the border as soon as possible.
01:37I just want to enjoy the journey.
01:39And I just love Albania.
01:42So I thought that if I like it, I hope you guys will like it as well.
01:48So I am taking the shorter route from here.
01:52There are a lot of other things that I want to share with you guys.
01:54But first, I am gonna have my breakfast here.
01:58I have almost packed my stuff.
02:02My bike is parked outside. You might be able to see it.
02:04Where did it go?
02:06Here it is.
02:08Let's get it ready and then we will leave.
02:11And I will keep sharing my thoughts with you guys as we are riding.
02:16So this is my breakfast.
02:18I think it's good.
02:20Coffee, orange juice and some toast.
02:22They had brought toast but it had ham in it.
02:24So I have sent it back.
02:26Now he is changing the toast.
02:28Hopefully he doesn't take out the ham from the same toast and give it to me.
02:30Or make a new one for me.
02:32He has told me that he will change it for me.
02:42This is my room.
02:44And I have paid only 20 Euros per night.
02:46With air conditioning.
02:49Now I have to pick up my stuff and take it down to Rangeli.
03:05I had kept my mobile phone with me.
03:09Alright.
03:11Bismillah... In the name of Allah
03:13May Allah make this a safe day for us.
03:18Let's go.
03:22I don't have enough fuel.
03:24Let's get it filled from here.
03:31But I want to pay with my card.
03:33Let me ask him.
03:48Okay.
03:54Okay. It's free.
03:58Bismillah... In the name of Allah
04:04So we are on our route now.
04:06The first address I gave is 70 km away from here.
04:08There are two roads leading to that village.
04:10One goes towards the mountains.
04:12And the other...
04:14Both are mountains.
04:16I think one of them is off road.
04:18And the other one is asphalt road.
04:22So we will go there and decide how much time we have.
04:26And which road we will take.
04:28We are leaving from Teppalini now.
04:31Let's go.
04:43There was a lot of police presence here last night.
04:46They were checking the cars coming from here and there.
04:49They told me that I can't go there.
04:51I should go this way.
04:53So I took my room on the other side.
04:55I think there is a lot of theft here as well.
04:59There is a lot of theft here.
05:01But I didn't see much of an issue.
05:04I didn't feel anything dangerous.
05:06We have just got down from the highway.
05:08We have taken this small road.
05:10Hopefully the scenery will be good.
05:13And we will enjoy it.
05:30Teppalini
05:37I think this area is mainly Muslim.
05:40Because there are mosques in every village I have visited.
05:44This is a mosque as well. It's quite small.
05:48And the people here are nice.
05:50I am thinking of having a cup of coffee somewhere.
05:53The people are nice.
05:55But there are so many tourists here.
05:57I don't think any tourists come here.
05:59Let's go back and sit somewhere.
06:04I don't have time for a cup of coffee.
06:07But it's okay.
06:09Let's have a cup of coffee with the locals.
06:12Let's see where is the place.
06:14Let's sit there.
06:16There are beer shares here.
06:19Let's sit here.
06:28Hello.
06:30Do you have coffee here?
06:32Coffee?
06:34Yes, coffee.
06:36Express?
06:38Yes, with milk.
06:44Let's try.
06:46Yes, coffee.
06:57Do you have a place to sit here?
07:07Look at this chair.
07:19It's almost 11 in the morning.
07:22And everyone is drinking beer here.
07:24But no one is ready to talk.
07:26Because they are very scared.
07:28They are like those people who don't talk to anyone in Japan.
07:32Everyone is staring at me and wondering what I am talking about.
07:36I have ordered a cup of coffee.
07:38Check this out.
07:40They have given me two big sachets of sugar.
07:43And no milk at all.
07:45I don't need that.
07:47They don't drink with coffee.
07:49It's a Muslim village.
07:51But the beer is very common.
07:53I can't see anyone here.
07:57But everyone is drinking beer.
07:59And it's 11 in the morning.
08:01Everyone has already started.
08:16150...
08:18Can I pay you in Euros?
08:20Yeah.
08:21Perfect.
08:23She will give me Euros.
08:36Bye.
08:42Hopefully we are on the right track now.
08:47We are going towards a very narrow road now.
08:50We are leaving the road behind us.
08:56Bye Bye.
09:01The next 31 km is on this road.
09:05You can easily go up to 40 kmph on this road.
09:10But on average, the speed will be around 30 kmph.
09:21This is the start of the off road.
09:24Let's see how the off road is going to be today.
09:44Amazing.
09:50I am talking about the views, not the road.
10:02I think that's the top in front of us.
10:06It's getting closer.
10:11No, it wasn't close. It's further ahead.
10:21I think we have come to the wrong place.
10:26Oh I see.
10:28We were supposed to go this way.
10:51Okay.
11:00Okay. Thank you.
11:03I will try to find...
11:05I think Google has sent me to the wrong place.
11:10We took a wrong turn from here.
11:14I didn't even realize that there was another road here.
11:17We had to take that one.
11:19Google has sent us 2-3 km ahead.
11:25Thank God it didn't whistle and tell me that we are going the wrong way.
11:44This road is much more dangerous than the other one.
11:48And...
11:51There are huge rocks on this road.
11:55Jeeps run faster on this road.
11:59Jeeps don't run on this road at all.
12:04And...
12:09Oh God!
12:18Oh my God!
12:48We are almost there.
13:19So...
13:31It's getting very hard.
13:33The bike has fallen down twice.
13:35And...
13:38There is only one solution.
13:40Either I go back 8-10 km from here.
13:43Or I go 6 km ahead.
13:46I am giving one more try.
13:48If I don't make it in this try, I will return the bike.
13:52Right now...
13:53I hope I can complete this section.
13:59But...
14:02The views after this...
14:06Look at this.
14:08There is no jeep track here.
14:11There was a jeep track down there.
14:13It would have been easier.
14:15And I was thinking that at least the entire track would be like this.
14:19But unfortunately, the entire track is not like this.
14:43Let's go.
15:08No, this won't work.
15:13No.
15:43No.
15:59Unfortunately, there is no road here.
16:02These are all stones.
16:04And there is no jeep track ahead.
16:06And I think if I keep pushing my luck like this,
16:09I might get into some trouble.
16:12First of all, I am a solo.
16:14That's why I should not take such risks.
16:16Especially away from the people.
16:18This bag...
16:21Let's see if it can handle this.
16:26Let's take the name of Allah and move on.
16:28To that village.
16:30And from there,
16:32I will take the road that was running next to the village.
16:35And move ahead.
16:38Off road here...
16:40This is very hard.
16:42For this,
16:44one, you should have less luggage.
16:46And...
16:48two, you should have good skills.
16:50Unfortunately, I don't have both.
16:55I have a lot of luggage.
16:57And my skills are limited as well.
17:04The bike has a couple of issues.
17:06First, it's broken.
17:09You can see the hand protector on the right side.
17:13The plastic part is broken.
17:16I have to get out of here carefully.
17:19I hate loose rocks.
17:28Now I have to get down carefully on the jeep road.
17:38The road is very steep.
17:40I have to be careful.
17:42I have to be careful.
17:44I have to be careful.
17:46I have to be careful.
17:48I have to be careful.
17:50I have to be careful.
17:52I have to be careful.
17:54I have to be careful.
17:56I have to be careful.
17:58I have to be careful.
18:00I have to be careful.
18:02I have to be careful.
18:04I have to be careful.
18:07It's 3 in the afternoon.
18:09And I am at the same place where I started at 9 in the morning.
18:14The plan was that if the navigation is correct,
18:18we will reach the border in 4 hours.
18:21But unfortunately, nothing goes according to the plan in an adventure.
18:25And today, everything has gone wrong.
18:27After a 6 hour journey, I am back at the same place.
18:30And now it's another 270 km ride.
18:33And now it's another 270 km ride.
18:36Let me take my words back.
18:38Today we will do the rest of the journey on the highway.
18:41Because if I get lost again,
18:44I won't be able to find out which road is asphalt and which is not.
18:50I was thinking that the yellow roads that Google is showing,
18:54are all asphalt roads.
18:56And the other ones are off road.
19:01So, when I left in the morning,
19:03I was taking the yellow roads from my side.
19:06Anyway, I have just taken a break.
19:09I have ordered my lunch.
19:11I have Greek salad here.
19:13And to eat something,
19:15I hope that we will reach the border of North Macedonia at 6.30 pm.
19:21My bike is in a terrible condition.
19:23A couple of things are broken.
19:25Hopefully, it won't be a problem.
19:27Let's go and show it to someone.
19:30I think it's just a cosmetic problem.
19:34Nothing else.
19:57As I was passing through here,
19:59I thought of checking the internet
20:01and checking the apartment nearby.
20:03Because I am not far from the border.
20:05It's quite late and I am quite tired.
20:07I don't have a plan to cross the border today.
20:10The guy was nice.
20:12So, I thought of cleaning the bike.
20:14Unfortunately, the bike has taken a lot of damage.
20:17Especially the fall.
20:19There are some cosmetic errors.
20:23One of my bags is broken.
20:25There are two bags on the side.
20:27I have noticed that one of the plates is broken.
20:31And the hand protector is also broken.
20:37It's made of aluminum.
20:39I will have to fix it.
20:41It will protect my hand.
20:43So, I have booked an apartment.
20:45Let's go there.
20:47I will discuss the rest there.
20:55Hello.
21:10Hello.
21:11I think this was the most adventurous day of my trip.
21:15I was thinking that after the off-road section,
21:18and after driving 300 km,
21:20when I reached here,
21:22I thought that this is the end of my day.
21:25I will go to my room and rest.
21:27I will start the next day from tomorrow.
21:29But there was one more adventure waiting for me.
21:33Normally, when I book a room,
21:35I book it in the evening.
21:37I use booking.com or Airbnb.
21:39I saw from Airbnb that I was getting a good apartment.
21:42It was with a local family.
21:45When I reached the apartment,
21:47I put the address in the navigation.
21:49I drove there.
21:51There was no apartment there.
21:53I thought that this is the right address.
21:55Maybe I have reached the wrong place.
21:57There was a coffee bar nearby.
21:59I talked to the local there.
22:01I asked him to call me on this number.
22:03He called me on this number.
22:05I talked to him for 15-20 minutes.
22:07I don't know what he was talking about.
22:09Then he told me that this is the guy.
22:11He told me to wait for 5 minutes.
22:13He told me that he was coming to the cafe.
22:15I waited for an hour.
22:17He came after an hour.
22:19He was very drunk.
22:23He told me that he didn't have internet in his apartment.
22:27He didn't know.
22:29He told me that he will take me to a hotel.
22:33I agreed.
22:35He took me to a shady hotel.
22:39I told him that I am not staying in this hotel.
22:42I thought that my stuff could be stolen.
22:46He told me that he had 3-4 apartments in the mountains.
22:51He told me to go to one of them.
22:53I told him that it was 10 pm.
22:56I was on the phone with a drunk Albanian.
23:00I told him that I am going to the mountains.
23:02He told me that he has stuff and a German nationality.
23:07He must have money.
23:09I told him that I am not going to the mountains.
23:12He told me to cancel the apartment.
23:15I told him that I will go somewhere else.
23:17He shouted at me.
23:19I told him that I will take him there.
23:21I told him to get out of here before he gets himself into trouble.
23:26I drove for another half an hour at 10 pm.
23:30I saw a motel.
23:33I asked for a room.
23:36I got a good room for 20 Euros.
23:39He asked for a room for 20 Euros.
23:42I said okay.
23:44We will stay here for the night.
23:46There was a nice restaurant nearby.
23:48I had a good meal there.
23:51They serve local fish.
23:54Not sure if it was local fish or not.
23:56But I told him that it was local.
23:58We will start the next day tomorrow.
24:01We will go to Macedonia.
24:03Hopefully, you liked today's vlog.
24:05If you did, don't forget to hit the LIKE button.
24:08See you in the next one. Allah Hafiz.
24:14Don't forget to subscribe.