Sea, sand dunes and a mountain
This is a bonus post about my travelings on the coast of Vietnam. In the mean time the blog posts of Magy and Tim are for Micronesia and their life with sharks there.
adventures
Lombok – heavenly beaches and how we fought a band of robbers
Selong Belanak
24.08
We wake up early in the morning before tourists and restaurant staff start coming. We pack our bags, then suddenly I feel a strong stomach discomfort. I feel better as late as of noon. We go back to the port where we start looking for a truck driver who will be willing take us and thus not pay for tickets. Mr. Shushtari is walking among the trucks and then one driver offers us by himself to take us hitchhiking in his truck on the ferry. Continue reading
Luxury experiences in a rich man’s house, magical living root bridges, Meghalaya – the shockingly different India
Living root bridge
06.11
We arrive at 4:20 a.m. at Guwahati’s railway station. The sun hasn’t risen yet and the weather is cool. We leave behind us the broken roads of West Bengal, the egg and beet rolls and the men wearing blue striped skirts. Assam State welcomes us with humid tea plantations and people with Asian features. Sadly we won’t have time to see much because traveling next to the border promises to be slow and extreme and our visas will expire soon.
Assam is famous for its black tea, which is exported all over the world and with its extremist groups, communists and strange tribes. The situation in the north states is pretty insecure, but Guwahati is safe. Continue reading
Bodhgaya – under the tree of enlightenment, Kolkata – clean but boring, first train experiences in India
Victoria Memorial
23.10
We head to Bodhgaya, Bihar State hitchhiking. This again is a place of great importance to Buddhist community. The distance we have to pass is 200 km. and we are not sure we will be able to reach the city today. I really want us to succeed because today is my birthday and I want it to be filled with the energy of the place as the whole year ahead.
We cross all the ghats on foot and we reach a bridge over Ganga. We catch a shared rickshaw to Mughal Sarai – a small town close to which the highway to Kolkata passes by. From there we decide to catch another one because walking in the dust and the noise is not pleasant. Continue reading
Mystic rituals at amazing monasteries, golden Buddha statues, secret magical temples and sleeping on the swampy wet ground before Sisir La Pass
Views from Kashmir
14.07
After some intense cooking and a freezing bath in the river (it is absolutely necessary to wash oneself even in the cold water – 4-5 degrees Celsius (39-40 Fahrenheit) where I almost got hypothermic) we are ready to start hitchhiking. We go to see the monastery for one last time and we find a room with some very old writings on the wall which up to now was always closed. Continue reading
The hitchhiker’s luck, mysterious caves for meditation surrounded by wild roses and visiting the incredible Hemis Monastery
Kanda La Pass – 5000 m. (16 405 feet)
04.07
We get up at six in the morning, boil 15 eggs, have breakfast and pack our things. The people from the guest house turn out to be really nice and don’t want to take our money for the yesterday’s breakfast. In addition we used their bathroom, took a hot shower everyday and laundered some clothes. The guesthouse is called Zal Guest House and if you pass by Leh and want to stay in authentic home-like atmosphere this is your place. Continue reading
First bivouac into the wilderness and the Hazaras-saviors
On the way to Muree
02.05
We get up late and we start hitchhiking. We need to take three mini buses to get out of the city. This time there are no fights and no crowds because it is Saturday. We have breakfast in the outskirts of Islamabad – samosas and airan (yoghurt mixed with water and supposedly salt). Every time we order airan we ask not to put sugar in it, but they almost always do anyway. The other thing one should be careful about is, when one orders fresh or sugar cane juice, not to let them put salt in them, which happens quite often especially with the street vendors.
Traveling like in a Persian fairy tale and our stay with the joyous Iranians
Park in Iran
13.04
In the morning we wake in the cool park where we pitched our tent and after breakfast and making our morning toilet at the mosque’s bathrooms we go for a walk. Around noon it gets pretty hot and it is even more difficult for me to bear because I wear black dress and black veil on my head. All the day I enjoy the holes under my armpits that Mommy (that is how everyone call my mother – even my friends) made for my Iranian dress – the good thing is nobody sees them but they keep me cool.
Magic Kervan 