On the blog...
Here on the blog you’ll find (at least some of) our stories from the road, plus itineraries and plenty of first-hand advice that we like to think is useful.
Obvious exceptions like Turkmenistan or Bhutan aside, we travel on our own, sorting out the details as we go. Which works most of the time. Story, guide, or trip-report-hybrid, I write about what really happens to us as a direct result of this kind of independent travel. What we do, the people we meet, and everything else that rolls up together to make a great trip (…or not. But mostly great).
Since we travel by road (or rail, or sea) most of the time, there’s a lot of exactly that here – getting around on local transport in one form or another. And for some of our best self-driving adventures, I’ve laid out our itineraries and how to plan a similar road trip for yourself.
This type of travel inevitably involves more than a few border-crossings. So you’ll find plenty of posts explaining the ins-and-outs of some of the more complicated borders we’ve come across.
If you’re irresistibly drawn to the endless adventures and challenges that come with overland travel, then have a look below. Happy travels:)
Roadtripping in Mongolia: an off-road adventure
Maybe it’s just me, but the first word that comes to mind when I think of Mongolia is ‘hordes’. But for a place once famously home to all sorts of hordes, it’s pretty empty now. Actually, it’s the least densely populated country on earth. The Gobi desert, the endless steppe, the taiga – all that vast emptiness – waiting to be explored.
How to cross the border from China to Mongolia
This post is based on our experience crossing the border from Erenhot (China) to Zamiin-Uud (Mongolia) in May 2024. There are two typical ways to do this border-crossing. You can take the Trans-Siberian train from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar. Or, you can string the journey together with a bus on one side of the border, and then a train. So, if you ever wondered how to cross the border between China and Mongolia by road, then read on.
Getting a visa for China in Kathmandu
Getting a Chinese visa outside your home country can be a bit of a gamble. But, you can get it at the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Kathmandu. This post is about our experience getting a tourist visa for China in Kathmandu, in April 2024.
Onwards and upwards: from India to Nepal
We got a taste of the mountains ahead on the bus ride to Syrabru Besi. The road was worse than the trek itself could possibly be. It involved teetering on hairpin bends of the sort that made me close my eyes, although I noticed that other passengers seemed to relish the views of certain death, should anything go wrong. Then, we set off on the trail and spent seven days hiking the Langtang valley.
Trekking Langtang valley without a guide: itinerary and planning
This post is the itinerary and planning for our seven day Langtang valley trek. It’s about how we arrived at this plan, and how it went. Feel free to copy our itinerary directly, or use it as a base to kick off your own plans.
India: scratching the surface
I’ve been to India many times before, but I just keep going back. India never ceases to amaze me. In part because no matter how much time I spend there, it still feels like I’m just scratching the surface. Here are a few of the things that – for us anyway – make a trip to India….such a trip.
Life and death in Varanasi
We had a night train to catch to Varanasi. ‘The City of Learning and Burning’, on the banks of the Ganges: Varanasi is one of the holiest places in all of India.
Bhutan: in the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon
Bhutan: a tiny Himalayan kingdom with a pricey entrance fee, and a border crossing in the middle of a city that straddles two countries. Standing on our hotel balcony in India, we looked across the street and into the next country. Surrounded by mountains, Bhutan really is a world of its own.
Bangladesh: there’s something about train travel
Dangerous driving on bad roads is a given in Bangladesh. But you don’t have to get around only by bus: train travel is a great way to go. Especially if you follow my advice below.