Mike Going Right
In and around World
A 12-month solo backpacking trip around the world from Bristol, UK. It's 'Mike Going Right' because I am - going right on the map, right around the world!
I'm going: London - Argentina - Brazil - Bolivia - Peru - Ecuador - Chile - Rapa Nui (Easter Island) - New Zealand - Australia - Singapore - Thailand - Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos - India - Nepal - Tibet - London
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Mike Going Right
-
1
Travelling light
Forgot to mention this last time, but couldn´t believe how heavy my backpack was when I filled it and hauled it onto my back for the first ti... Continue reading »
-
2
All booked!
Well, four weeks to go and I finally booked the flight ticket last week!
Got it through Continue reading »
-
3
Arrival
Can´t quite believe I´m here...
After a very tearful send-off at the airport with Rach, and 16 hours wedged in a seat on a British Airways pl... Continue reading »
-
4
GOOOOOOL!!!
They say if you come to Buenos Aires, you have to see a Boca Juniors game, one of the five local teams and the nearest stadium to the centre. And t... Continue reading »
-
5
Hot in the city
It´s autumn here, but you wouldn´t know it from the weather. It´s strange to see the leaves falling from the trees when the weather´s st... Continue reading »
-
6
A day in Uruguay
A group of us had decided to take the catamaran and spend the day in Colonia, an hour away in Ururguay.
It´s a really pretty place and a welc... Continue reading »
-
7
'Good winds'
It´s been a week in B.A. already, or Bs As. as the locals seem to call it. The name literally means 'good winds´.
It´s been a good first stop... Continue reading »
-
8
Due South
[Click the link below a photo see see more on each blog entry, I always upload a few more!]
If you've never been to Argentina, chanc... Continue reading »
-
9
Whales or Wales
With only a couple of days stop planned, after another parilla grill night I had to figure out what to do with my couple of days in Puert... Continue reading »
-
10
Patagonia proper
[Been a while since I updated my blog last, so got some catching up to do! The internet is the last town was... Continue reading »
-
11
Ice Ice Baby
The town of El Calafate only exists for one reason - for visitors to the Perito Moreno glacier.
But after arriving late, I spent the first co... Continue reading »
-
12
The bus to the end of the world
Everywhere in Argentina is very far away from everwhere else. But people think nothing of jumping on a bus for a 20 or even 40 hour journey, when i... Continue reading »
-
13
It's the end of the world as we know it
Ushuaia (Oosh-waiya) is the southermost city in the Southern Hemisphere, even if that means its apparently... Continue reading »
-
14
The Beagle Channel
[Click the pictures to see, they explain a lot more than I can here]
The main thing to do here in Ush... Continue reading »
-
15
Recipe for a typical Patagonia town
To make your very own Patagonia town, you will need:
- Lots and lots of corregated tin for the roofs
- A handful of generic stre... Continue reading »
-
16
Hotel California
Back in March or April, I'd booked a flight back to Buenos Aires from Ushuaia, to take me north in 4 hours what had taken me 40+ hours south in a c... Continue reading »
-
17
Welcome to the jungle
[I'm liking the song title theme of my blogs, I might try and see how long I can keep it going!]
Afte... Continue reading »
-
18
Wonderwall
The falls in Brazil yesterday were pretty impressive, but from what i'd already heard they were nothing compared with the Argentinian side, so I was k... Continue reading » -
19
Go West
From Buenos Aires, I've been south to Patagonia and north-east to Iguazu, so as the place is on the east coast the only way left is west.
Thi... Continue reading »
-
20
Red Red Wine
Argentina is known for its steak and wine, and as I've already eaten more amazing steak than i've ever had in my life, it was time to hit the wine (tr... Continue reading » -
21
I Drove All Night (1)
[Click a photo for more!] My next hop was to Salta, the biggest city in the north of Argentina. And you ca... Continue reading »
-
22
Baby You Can Drive Mr Car (2)
After our breakfast of instant coffee and dried biccies and a quick wander around the town to buy some proper food (like Oreos), we hit the road again... Continue reading » -
23
The Long And Winding Road (3)
[As usual, click a pic to see some more!] Day three of our car tour, and it was just the three of us - me,... Continue reading »
-
24
Highway To The Danger Zone (4)
[Running out of car-themed song titles now!]
The final day of our car trip was back up to Salta, but not before we'd hit a couple of... Continue reading »
-
25
I'm On A Plain
After spending a couple of days back in Salta, I decided to 'nip across' to San Pedro in the middle of the Atacama desert in Chile.
Continue reading » -
26
We Are All Made Of Stars
There are plenty of tours to do in San Pedro, but most of them involve getting up in the early hours and bouncing around on a minibus for a couple... Continue reading »
-
27
Sing Sing Sing
We were all going our seperate ways from San Pedro - Hattie and Michelle to Iquique on the coast of Chile for a spot of paragliding, Nick to conque... Continue reading »
-
28
The Sound Of Silence
After Salta, I wanted to head north a few hours to a place we'd stopped off at quickly on our car tour, Tilcara.
It was somewhere I'd marked... Continue reading »
-
29
Take It Easy Chicken
There's not much more to say about Tilcara, except I really liked the place.
The atmosphere was nice, the weather was great and there would h... Continue reading »
-
30
Don't Cry For Me Argentina
[Obvious title really!]
So, some things I've learned about Argentina:
1) It's big.
2) There are two Argentinas: Bu... Continue reading »
-
31
Long Train (Not) Running
Tilcara was my last stop in Argentina, which meant going north and doing my first proper border crossing to Bolvia. The bus to La Quaica and the fr... Continue reading » -
32
Living In A Box
After a couple of days spent moooching around the friendly little town of Tupiza, I decided it was time to book myself on the tourist-compulsory Uy... Continue reading »
-
33
Jump Around
5am. That's an early start anytime, let alone when you've slept in a stone hut in the Bolivian plains.
But breakfast was good, our rucksacks... Continue reading »
-
34
Smoke On The Water
[As usual, click a photo to see more]
We were woken up at a more decent 8am on the third day, and I actually slept pretty well and k... Continue reading »
-
35
Walking On The Moon
The last day was the biggie, at least what we'd all come to see - the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world.
We'd all agreed we... Continue reading »
-
36
One
After the hellish 4x4 journey, I spent the next couple of days back in Tarija. The Sunday bus was full already, so it was Monday evening before I c... Continue reading »
-
37
Walk The Dinosaur
After arriving at the hostel, Hostal Cruz de Popayan, I pretty quickly met Ben from Oz and Rachel from Ireland, and we went for some food and drinks a... Continue reading » -
38
Sugar Sugar
Apart from my special dose of Bolivia Belly, Sucre´s whitewashed streets were proving a great place to relax in and explore.
Dave from Texas... Continue reading »
-
39
Sweet Child O' Mine
Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big fan of small dark spaces, so the idea of paying actual money to spend three hours down a hot, cramped, dust... Continue reading »
-
40
Relax (Take It Easy)
Next, I was going from the dizzy, chilly heights of PotosÃ, back through Sucre and overnight east to the lush green plains of Santa Cruz.
But... Continue reading »
-
41
Walk This Way
I'd met a couple of other backpackers, Adam from Durham and Halle from the USA in Andoriña, and we all decided to follow a walk in the hostal's hel... Continue reading »
-
42
New York, New York
I was sitting in a deckchair at the back of the hostel listening to my iPod, when Jeremy, the New Yorker I'd met in Sucre, walked in with a French... Continue reading »
-
43
Monkey Wrench
Samaipata was proving a hard place to leave. I was already there for longer than expected, and Aurelie left for the collectivo taxi one mo... Continue reading »
-
44
Strange Brew
[Click on a photo to see more, trust me it's worth it!]
After lazy days in Samaipata, I was jumping back up to height again and... Continue reading »
-
45
Welcome To The Jungle
[Again, more photos to see, click one to view the rest]
The rest of my days in dizzy La Paz were spent just walking around soak... Continue reading »
-
46
Sick & Tired
I've never actually properly projectile-vomited before like in the cartoons. But I woke up in the middle of the night under my plastic mosquit... Continue reading »
-
47
Jungle Boogie
While my internal affairs were coming and going in intensity, I was determined to make the most of of my time in the Bolivian lowlands, so we signe... Continue reading »
-
48
Highway To The Danger Zone
Back in La Paz, we decided to skip the organised madness of Adventure Brew for a decent hostal for the same price in the steep lanes behind San Fra... Continue reading »
-
49
Copacabana
Almost two weeks after first arriving, I was reluctantly escaping the madness of La Paz for the idyll that Copacabana and Lake Titicaca promis... Continue reading »
-
50
Mad World
I was finally leaving Bolivia for Peru after six weeks, but during my time I'd been writing down a few things I noticed on the way, and here are so... Continue reading »
-
51
I Will Follow
Hello everybody, and welcome to Peru. Home of the Incas, the Chankas, the Aztecs (no, maybe not the Aztecs) and generally lots of famous ruins... Continue reading »
-
52
Beautiful Day
After Puno, I was at a bit of a crossroads .I didn't know whether to head due north to Cusco and Macchu Picchu, or west towards the Pacific and Are... Continue reading »
-
53
El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
[Had to be that song, really!]
I'd shopped around for tours to see the condors in Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world afte... Continue reading »
-
54
White Lines
Leaving Areqipa, now I was heading up the Peruvian Pacific coast, first stop Nazca.
Nazca is famous for its lines and images in the des... Continue reading »
-
55
Yellow
Next stop after Nazca was the capital up the coast, Lima. On the Pacific coast and home to 8 million people, the place is just so Continue reading »
-
56
Take The A Train
[Some really nice photos for this trip, take a look at them big!]
Continue reading »
-
57
Body Rock
I'd been spat out by the train in Ayacucho, another dust and concrete town in the Andes, and now I had to get from there back south east to Cuzco (... Continue reading »
-
58
Hard Travellin'
[Don't say I don't flex my musical muscles for those song titles!]
I spent my 'day off' in Ayac... Continue reading »
-
59
Arrival
After a night's rest in my Anadahuaylas hotel, I took a taxi out to Sondor near the laguna, ex-ceremonial site of the Chankas, sworn enemies of the... Continue reading »
-
60
Long Road To Ruin
Getting to Macchu Picchu can be an expensive business. You would imagine you would just get there by minibus like Wally World, say 'one ticket plea... Continue reading »
-
61
Happy Birthday
Machu Picchu village, or Aguas Calientes, is the nearest (and only) place to stay to get to Macchu Picchu, and don't they know it.
It's not a... Continue reading »
-
62
The Boys Are Back In Town
After Machu Picchu, I got the train back as far as Ollantaytambo then shared a swift taxi the hour and a half back to Cuszco for only 15 Soles... Continue reading »
-
63
Fade To Grey
I needed to get myself further north quickly, so I booked up for the 8 hour trip straight up the coast to the colonial city of Trujillo.
Some... Continue reading »
-
64
Enter Sandman
Thaaat's more like it. The bus went through Máncora at 9am, which was lucky I was paying attention as th... Continue reading » -
65
Letter From America
Dear Peru,
By the time you get this, I'll probably have moved next door to see your neighbour Ecuador. But I thought I should share a few thi... Continue reading »
-
66
Break On Through (To The Other Side)
I could have easily stayed on the beach in Mancora for days or weeks, but time was slipping away and Ecuador was calling.
The only slight pro... Continue reading »
-
67
Green Green Grass Of Home
I'd not seen anything of where I was when I'd arrived late the night before, so it was nice to get up after a lie-in and see the place for real.Continue reading »
-
68
Gay Bar
Ecuador is a pretty titchy country compared with Peru or Argentina, but it was fast becoming clear that that the more I read about it, the more the... Continue reading »
-
69
Light My Fire
It was time for my local village tour, which I'd booked through the Mamá Kinua Cultral Centre in town, a Quichua-run organisation where all the mon... Continue reading »
-
70
Dry The Rain
After a nice few days in Cuenca, due mostly to the atmosphere and crowd in El Cafecito, I was ready to do what would be my last long stretch of bus... Continue reading »
-
71
You Spin Me Right Round
Typical luck, but the day I was leaving Baños the sun came out and it was a beautiful sunny, blue sky day, and I saw things in the place that I had... Continue reading »
-
72
Walk The Line
After another night in Latacunga after the village loop, I was catching what might be my final proper bus ride in South America, a couple of hours... Continue reading »
-
73
The End Of The Road
Pretty much every day since I'd arrived in Quito, it had been blue and sunny in the morning, cloudy by lunchtime, then colder or raining in the aftern... Continue reading » -
74
Ecuador
As I said, I felt I left Ecuador with more of a whimper than bang. But that doesn't mean I didn't like it, in fact the place must be the easiest of... Continue reading »
-
75
Learn To Fly
My next destination was not exactly near, but a six hour flight away by plane to be exact, more than halfway back down south the way I'd come month... Continue reading »
-
76
Paradise City
[As usual, click on the photos to see them bigger]
Well, that was lucky. After an overnight flight that was... Continue reading » -
77
Island In The Sun
My next destination promised to be the most exciting yet - I was off to Easter Island for a week.
Getting to the airport so early meant takin... Continue reading »
-
78
Stoned Love
[As usual, click a photo to check out more] They say you always meet people twice while travelling, and despite being thousands of miles away from... Continue reading » -
79
Leaving On A Jet Plane
I'd been five days on Easter Island, and from this angle a week was looking plenty to explore what the island had to offer. Luckily, I'd paced myse... Continue reading » -
80
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Flying away from South America, I was thinking back on my five months there.
The continent has a bit of an image of being full of gun-toting,... Continue reading »
Would you like to comment or ask a question?