Budapest to Beijing ................and Beyond (hopefully!)
In and around World
Magyars, slavs, Turks, Kurds, Persians ...............just for starters.... they're en route. An overland mission to sus out exactly what is happening in these lands. Axis of evil, or cradle of friendship? It's all ahead.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Taisteal
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1
Budapest: It All Begins
Departure
And so the journey begins. Departing Dublin at 14:50 headed for Budapest. All goodbyes are said at the airport and... Continue reading »
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2
Brasov: Transylvania Investigated
Arrival in Brasov
Nobody had told me about the hour time difference coming into Romania, just one more thing to add to the s... Continue reading »
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3
Ceaucescu Territory
Bucharest Arrival
And I arrive in Bucharest, the capital of all things bad in the 1980's. The train station is a very big im... Continue reading »
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4
Beauty in the Bulgarian hills
Entering Bulgaria
The train from Bucharest was empty. There were four carriages. My carriage had two other people in it. The... Continue reading »
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5
One Bus to Another
The bus from Veliko Tarnovo to Istanbul was an overnight due to arrive at 06:30. Miserable sleep was had with all the starts and stops. I exit Bulg... Continue reading »
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6
Pilgrimage for Abraham
Istanbul-Urfa
The bus from Istanbul to Sanliurfa (Urfa) was interesting. I'm sitting in the lounge of the bus company i... Continue reading »
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7
Mt Nemrut Awaits
I have an early start from Urfa to get to Kahta, the base from which I wanted to visit Mt Nemrut, famed for ....... heads. The minibus journey is t... Continue reading »
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8
Ode to the Kurds
I had seen what I wanted to in Khata, so next stop to the capital of all things Kurdish in Turkey, Diyarbakir. During late march there actually had... Continue reading »
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9
The Plains of Mesopotania
I shall be brief!
I arrive in Mardin as the sun is setting. The streets wind unforgivingly uphill with 14kg on your back. I eventually find a... Continue reading »
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10
Oh Beautiful Tigris
Arrival in the Countryside
From Mardin, I caught the only direct bus to Hasankeyf early in the afternoon. I met a Dutch guy... Continue reading »
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11
Van: Modern Look to the East
So I arrived into Van on the bus from Hasankeyef. The approaches around Lake Van brought me around beautiful peaks flecked with unmelted snow.... Continue reading »
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12
The Shadow of Mt Ararat
Iran could have been entered yesterday from Van. There was one important item still on the itineracy that had to be ticked off. Dogubayazit sits in... Continue reading »
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13
Tabriz: Mission Iran Overland
Arrival At the Border
And so I head for the border. The first to greet me is one of these very pleasant (not) moneychangers... Continue reading »
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14
Zanjan to the fabulous Soltaniyeh
Arrival from Tabriz is on an afternoon bus. I had intended stopping off in Zanjan to visit Soltaniyeh and continuing on to Qazvin. What I was told... Continue reading »
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15
Masuleh: Middle Eastern Paddy Fields ........and much more
Arrival in Rasht
I departed Zanjan for what I'm first told is a 2 hour journey, turned out to be 5 hours, so I didn't g... Continue reading »
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16
Alamut: Castles of the Assissins
Getting There
For Masuleh the previous day, at least I knew how I was going to get there, but to go to Alamut and the Castle... Continue reading »
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17
The Axis of Evil
A Step Back in Time
After my early start in Gazor Kahn I was wrecked by the time I got to Tehran. I traveled from Qazvin by... Continue reading »
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18
Mullahs, Mullahs Everywhere
I'm starting to get used to the comforts of my shared taxi's. I leave Tehran something after two o'clock and an hour later arrive in Qom.
Th... Continue reading »
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19
The Heart of Iran
Mission Darkness: Imam Square
I arrived in Esfahan, and my sole mission for the evening was to see the fabulous Imam Square... Continue reading »
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20
The Center for Iranian Culture
Shiraz, Out and About
I ended up staying for a few days. A nice city in itself, but nothing extraordinary. I had been on the... Continue reading »
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21
Approaching the Iranian Desert
My arrival in Yazd was late on a Thursday night. My hotel the fabulous Silk Road Hotel with the rooms in the old restored home set around the... Continue reading »
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22
Desert Oasis Breaths Life
I was told that the bus departure to Khur was at 07:00, and from there a taxi would complete the journey to the desert oasis of Garmeh. I was heade... Continue reading »
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23
The Journey South
A quick stopover on the way to Pakistan to break the journey, Kerman turned out to be a much warmer place than I expected. What I though might ha... Continue reading » -
24
The Resurrection of Bam
Bam has really been through the mill over the past few years. In December 2003 and earthquake flattened the city killing 40,000 people, half of the... Continue reading »
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25
Farewell Iran
My departure from Iran was plotted from the outpost of Zahedan. Not regarded by Iranians as the safest of places, I wasn't wandering too far. Next... Continue reading »
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26
Good Morning Asia
The 15 hour bus from the Pakistani border to Quetta was certainly an experience. The door of the bus was left wide open for the desert sand storms... Continue reading »
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27
Quick Stopover
Just a quick stopeover in Lahore on the way to Delhi to visit my Indian friends there.
The Golden Temple, the military show at the borde... Continue reading »
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28
Relaxing In India
After stopping off for a night in the Golden Temple in Amritsar (will get to all from Amritsar when I return there on Wednesday), I headed for Delh... Continue reading »
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29
The Sikh Capital of the World
Amritsar is a place I have been in before, but is a place you could never get tired of coming back to. En route to Delhi I stopped off in both dire... Continue reading »
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30
Sufi Mayhem and Moghul Forts
Back in Lahore again, this time to do some sightseeing.
But if it's Thursday in Pakistan, it must be Lahore. Before the Sufi madnes... Continue reading »
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31
A Civilised City on the Sub Continent?
Grassy, tree lined streets. Shiney new cars. Totally organised and planned. Surely it couldn't be in Pakistan. Islamabad was a purpose build capita... Continue reading »
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32
K2 Conquered ........ Next
One of the jewels in climbing, the face of K2 is not an easy beast to get a peak of. To be in with a chance, you have to trek for 8 days. Nothing i... Continue reading »
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33
Shandur Polo: Not as The Royals Know It
Polo is a game thought of world wide with Prince Charles prancing about on a horse. What a lot of people don't know is that this is a game that the... Continue reading »
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34
Entering the Kalasha Valleys
In a country where quite a lot of the population is predominantly made up of conservative Muslins, the Kalasha valleys are like an oasis in th... Continue reading »
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35
Knives and ........... more knives
Dir is a small town about 20km from the Afghan border. It's speciality: pocket knives ........... and a few knives that might be a bit too big to s... Continue reading »
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36
A Sprinkle of Madness in the Wild West
If reputations were anything to go by then nobody would even live in Peshawar, let alone visit the place as a tourist. A frontier town that as stor... Continue reading »
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37
Peace in the Swat Hills
Not too much to report from Swat. A valley that has seen it's troubles in the past, and still has plenty of guns stocked away. The town of Madyan w... Continue reading »
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38
The Circuit Completed
The journey up to Gilgit though held in store more than I expected. After coming from Swat I stopped off for the night in Besham, a stopping point... Continue reading »
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39
The Hunza Valley
It was strange that the further north I traveled in Pakistan, the less conservative it was. This trend certainly wasn't reversed heading up through... Continue reading »
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40
Farewell Pakistan
Heading to Passu
Again the one hour journey up to Passu was through beautiful green valleys leading to the rocky slopes... Continue reading »
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41
Kara Kule Stop Off
From the Chinese border, strangely for all the might of the Chinese, the road which lead along a plateau in the mountains was in a terrible st... Continue reading »
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42
Hello Western China .......... or is it????
Many routes through the Middle East and China claim to be routes that the traders 1500 years ago traveled, but they all have one thing in common: K... Continue reading »
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43
Mt Kailash Awaits
Into Western Tibet
Traveling into Western Tibet is one of the favourite stories that hardened travelers have to tell. Dodgin... Continue reading »
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44
Back in Civilisation
Into Shigatse
Well the sight of a town that might actually have running water and electricity for more than an hour a day wi... Continue reading »
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45
Prayer Wheels and Tangkas
Yoghurt Festival?
So I had finally made it to the Tibetan capital. Now converted into a Chinese city, it's hard for even the... Continue reading »
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46
Terracotta Warriors on the Loose
Well Xi'an, what can you say really that a Google search won't? In reality, it was a little strange arriving in a place like Xi'an, home of one of... Continue reading »
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47
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48
Mao's Capital
All the exciting details are contained in the entry for my second visit to Beijing, the unmissible 'Back for a Second Look at Mao'. Continue reading » -
49
Capital of the Greatest Empire of Them All
I think my first impression of Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar were fitting, really freezing. The first cold snap of the year had been a day before my arr... Continue reading »
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50
Wandering With Nomads
Into the Countryside
Considering that 50% of the population of Mongolia still lead a nomadic life, I was really looking forw... Continue reading »
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51
En Route for Eagles
The full story of the trip to the eagle hunting festival appears in the next entry, for Olgii. This one is just to keep the map interesting. We did pa... Continue reading » -
52
Bring on The Eagles
Just to simplify the map, I haven't diverted it back to Ulaanbaater to start the trip.
Eagle Hunting - An Introduction!
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53
Back to the Capital
Ulaanbaatar
Before my departure from Mongolia there were a few things left to see in the capital. The first was the Ganden M... Continue reading »
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54
Back for a Second Look at Mao
Beijing is a bit of a strange one. First impressions of the place are of a city that has about 2% of the character that is should have. The Chinese... Continue reading »
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55
Anyone Seen a Giant Panda?
Chengdu is a big Chinese city. It's possible to wander onto the backstreets to see the more traditional side, but you're never too far from the con... Continue reading »
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56
Biggest Buddha in The Whole Wide World
Once again there was an early start to head two hours south from Chengdu to the town of Leshan. There's only one reason that people flock there, it... Continue reading »
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57
More Tibetan Than The Tibetans Themselves
It's termed the back door route to Yunnan, but the route through Western Sichuan holds much more than an alternate back road to get to South West C... Continue reading »
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58
Shangri-La ......... I Think Not
Shangri-La??
Zhongdian is a town that locally is now just known as Shangri-La, the mythical place surrounded by he... Continue reading »
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59
Paradise Lost
The town of Lijiang really demonstrates the changes that have taken place in China over the past ten years or so. The guidebook in it's introductio... Continue reading »
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60
Another Old Town With Walls - But This One I Like
Where Lijiang is the city of the Naxi, Dali is certainly the stronghold of the Bai people. Much smaller than Lijiang, it also has a bit more of it'... Continue reading »
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61
Harvest Festival Time
The train from Kunming to Guiyang, the capital of the Guizhou provence was an overnight affair, not too bad at a mere 12hours. The chance encounter... Continue reading »
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62
Terraces and More Terraces
From Zhaoxing I headed for Longshen, the base for exploring the nearby Longji Rice Terraces. As with my travels through eastern Guizhou, to join th... Continue reading »
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63
How Many 7-Eleven's Can a City Have??
My quick visit to Hong Kong was an unscheduled stop off. My old friend Vicky from when I had worked in Bangkok was back to her home town... Continue reading »
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64
One Last Day In China
The city of Nanning has nothing to capture the imagination. It was my point of exit from a total of three months in China (apologies, but this incl... Continue reading »
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65
Motorbike Mania
People's biggest gripe about South East Asia is usually the rip off culture of the Vietnamese. I came close to skipping visiting the country, but d... Continue reading »
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66
Cruise Time
I had restricted my time in Vietnam and travel methods had to be adapted to suit. Even though winter had just come to Hanoi a couple of weeks ago I co... Continue reading » -
67
Just a Taste of Rural Vietnam
To wrap up my visit to Vietnam, I headed a couple of hours south of Hanoi for a couple of days. No ground breakers in the area, but some interestin... Continue reading »
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68
Flying Visit
I just spent the night in the capital. Would have avoided doing this if I could have!
The border crossing went very smooth. My overnight bus... Continue reading »
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69
Peace on the Mekong
Tucked away about six hours north of the capital, the center of the town is actually listed as a world heritage site. It's mix of Buddhist temples... Continue reading »
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70
Flying with Gibbons
There was certainly one reason only for my stopping off in Huay Xai, to visit the local Gibbon Experience Eco Tourism project. Not one that you eve... Continue reading »
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71
To Longneck or Not to Longneck??
Back in Thailand for the first time in over six years, the main reason for my stop-off in Chang Rai was to see the longneck people in the area... Continue reading »
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72
Ping Pong???
Not too much to report of my return to Bangkok. Afterall ..... Bangkok is Bangkok! It may even have calmed down a little since I had worked here back... Continue reading » -
73
Men in Skirts???
As Internet access in fairly hit and miss in Myanmar, all entries are written after my return to Thailand. My route took me all the way north to My... Continue reading »
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74
Happy Christmas Buddha
It was December 23rd and everyone seemed to be on the move for December holidays. We had planned to go and see the famous Golden Rock and that fact... Continue reading »
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75
Walking Among Locals
The unofficial trekking capital of the country, Kalaw is a patchwork of hill tribes. It really was refreshing to set off with Sam's Trekking. His f... Continue reading »
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76
Life on the water
Inle Lake is one of the country's biggest tourist attractions. For this reason both Idan and myself were very skeptical. We got to our hotel and in... Continue reading »
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77
Town of a Thousand Spires
The Bus Trip!
The master plan was to take the early morning bus from Inle to Bagan to celebrate new years. All going to plan... Continue reading »
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78
More Bloodied Smiles
The Boat Trip
A recurring theme throughout my Myanmar entries are the epics than getting from A to B turned out to be, and t... Continue reading »
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79
Civilisation Gone Mad
In Search Of Sacrifice
The reason behind heading to the far north of the country was to hit the Kachin State Day Manau ... Continue reading »
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80
Orwell's First Station
George Orwell's first work of creativity, Burmese Days, was based on his time stationed in the northern town of Katha. A mandatory companion f... Continue reading »
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81
Back in The Melting Pot
Nothing to report from my return to Bangkok. Koh San Rd is the place to be to get things sorted and that's exactly what I used my time there to do. Th... Continue reading » -
82
Diving for PADI
With a few months on the horizon in the Philippines and Indonesia, a stop off in Koh Tao to get a dive licence seemed like a wise move. Probab... Continue reading »
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83
Thaipusam Madness
The individual viewing of all photos on this entry is mandatory! My visit to Malaysia is very much dominated by two topics: Indonesia visa and the... Continue reading »
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84
Anyone for a Spot of Cock Fighting?
My time in Manila consisted of two short hop visits. The first after my arrival from Kuala Lumpur. People say that the Philippines is a strange pla... Continue reading »
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85
Trekking in the Terraces
Before heading coastal in the country of over 7,000 islands, I made the trip north to see one of the countries most famous sights, the rice terrace... Continue reading »
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86
Diving the WWII Wrecks
Fortunately for me, the transport situation for getting to Coron was very comfortable. I booked myself a cabin on the large ferry, which kept me ou... Continue reading »
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87
The Bacuit Wonderland
As has now become a common theme on my travel in the Philippines so far, my tale starts with woes about getting to destination. I wanted to ge... Continue reading »
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88
Heading Underground
My journey out of El Nido was an interesting one. The guesthouse that I was staying in tried to make a reservation for the 6am bus the next morning... Continue reading »
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89
Boating to Iloilo, an Act of Madness??
Hindsight is a powerful tool. I certainly would never have gotten on a boat in Puerto Princesa if I know that it would take about 40 hours to reach... Continue reading »
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90
Chocolate Hills and Funny Little Primates?
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Bohol gets top billing from the Philippine tourism people and fortunately it didn't let me down either. My first stop off was on Pa... Continue reading »
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91
Swimming with Whale Sharks
It's not very often that an opportunity like the experience in Padre Burgos presents itself. To swim with a whale shark is an experience not to be... Continue reading »
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92
Philippine Farewell
Last Stop: Davao
I was really hoping to make one more stop off in Camigun before reaching Davao to leave the Philippines. My... Continue reading »
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93
Tiny Diving Paradise
In Indonesia
Well I got to Indonesia in one piece. I was interested by the fact that customs was cleared at the airport befo... Continue reading »
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94
Torajan Cultural Treasure Chest
Back in Muslim Territory
I arrived safely from Manado to Makassar, from one end of the spider shaped Makassar to the other,... Continue reading »
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95
The Wilds of Papua
Off to the Wilds
The word Papua is one that means nothing to many. To more it's a lawless place that only the bravest would... Continue reading »
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96
Muli Colours of Kelimutu
On a Pelni
Getting to Flores meant only one thing, this was the start of my journey towards Singapore to take me homeward.... Continue reading »
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97
In Tune With Village Life
Bajawa Arrival
A trip to this part of Indonesia is on the recommended list of most travel guides, why it's not up there wit... Continue reading »
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98
In Search of Dragons ............ Seriously!
If legends are anything to go by, then a stop off in Labuanbajo has plenty in store. It's main claim to fame is the fact that it's the gateway to t... Continue reading »
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99
Time for a Bit of Balinese Culture
There is only one picture that comes to mind when the word Bali is mentioned: partying beaches. With me being as sensible as I am, my objective was... Continue reading »
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100
Holy Smoke, It's Mount Bromo
I have to admit that I was a little scared of travelling on to Java. Not because of any personal risk or danger, but by the fact that it's half the... Continue reading »
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101
The Wonders of a Hindu and Buddhist Past
Heading for Jogja
The world knows Indonesia as a Muslim country, and associates all Islamic stereotypes with it. The realit... Continue reading »
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102
My Five Minutes of Fame
A quick stop-off in Solo on the way to Singapore. It turned out to be my five minutes of fame in Indonesia. 'Jogja TV' happened to be on the train... Continue reading »
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103
They Think It's All Over ........
Well it's all at an end. Sitting at home in Ireland writing my last entry, I wonder if all of the things I have written about for over a year now c... Continue reading »
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