Eight months and counting….this is our current trip. Pretty self-explanatory, we started in Cameroon and are heading for Japan, by road (and sea) as much as possible.
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.
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.
By train, or bus, or boat, or rickshaw – it’s rare that we’ve not been able to get somewhere we want to go. Except the time India wouldn’t let us in in the first place. However, once we’re inside the country we’ll find a ride one way or another. And keep in mind, India is huge. Bangladesh, on the other hand, is tiny. But it doesn’t always feel so tiny, when you’re traveling by public transport.
When we reached the Wagah border in Pakistan, we’d been on the road for almost seven months. Starting all the way back in Cameroon, we’d seen some wild places and done some amazing things. Still, we were looking forward to a bit of a break someplace restful and chill – like…India?
It’s true that Pakistani hospitality is legendary amongst travelers. We’ve been here before and have always been met with kindness and generosity. On the other hand, some people are so keen to help us I get the feeling that they think we are nearly helpless, if left to ourselves.
We’ve been to Pakistan before. It felt familiar and comfortable. But I was too quick to let my guard down. Literally. The immigration officer reappeared and informed us that it wasn’t safe for us to travel alone to Peshawar. As foreigners we wouldn’t be allowed to spend the night there, either. And so we found ourselves in the back of another taxi, this time riding through Khyber Pass with an armed guard in the front seat.
So this was it. We drove slowly through the greyness over the Friendship bridge between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. There was no time to question the wisdom of our decision. I couldn’t think about it anyway, what with ‘I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus’ still stuck in my head.
Everyone knows it’s not easy to get into Turkmenistan. Ok, a lot of people probably haven’t heard of Turkmenistan. But once you do, you mainly hear how hard it is to visit. Starting our pre-travel research, I read: ‘The country is known for its autocratic government and large gas reserves’. Sounds fascinating, right? Well, having got the visa, we can say that yes, it definitely is.
I felt like I could just stay in Istanbul, breakfasting and hanging out with cats, but it was time to get this show on the road. We were bound for Iraqi Kurdistan: an autonomous region in northern Iraq. Still, we weren’t in any rush to get there. We had time to kill and a bit of Turkey to cross.
From meerkats to lions and everything in between – puff adders come to mind – roadtripping and camping in southern Africa is next-level. It took us exactly one camp cooking session and a single night in the roof tent to start considering stealing the truck ourselves and becoming vanlifers.
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.
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.
By train, or bus, or boat, or rickshaw – it’s rare that we’ve not been able to get somewhere we want to go. Except the time India wouldn’t let us in in the first place. However, once we’re inside the country we’ll find a ride one way or another. And keep in mind, India is huge. Bangladesh, on the other hand, is tiny. But it doesn’t always feel so tiny, when you’re traveling by public transport.
When we reached the Wagah border in Pakistan, we’d been on the road for almost seven months. Starting all the way back in Cameroon, we’d seen some wild places and done some amazing things. Still, we were looking forward to a bit of a break someplace restful and chill – like…India?
It’s true that Pakistani hospitality is legendary amongst travelers. We’ve been here before and have always been met with kindness and generosity. On the other hand, some people are so keen to help us I get the feeling that they think we are nearly helpless, if left to ourselves.
We’ve been to Pakistan before. It felt familiar and comfortable. But I was too quick to let my guard down. Literally. The immigration officer reappeared and informed us that it wasn’t safe for us to travel alone to Peshawar. As foreigners we wouldn’t be allowed to spend the night there, either. And so we found ourselves in the back of another taxi, this time riding through Khyber Pass with an armed guard in the front seat.
So this was it. We drove slowly through the greyness over the Friendship bridge between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. There was no time to question the wisdom of our decision. I couldn’t think about it anyway, what with ‘I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus’ still stuck in my head.
Everyone knows it’s not easy to get into Turkmenistan. Ok, a lot of people probably haven’t heard of Turkmenistan. But once you do, you mainly hear how hard it is to visit. Starting our pre-travel research, I read: ‘The country is known for its autocratic government and large gas reserves’. Sounds fascinating, right? Well, having got the visa, we can say that yes, it definitely is.
I felt like I could just stay in Istanbul, breakfasting and hanging out with cats, but it was time to get this show on the road. We were bound for Iraqi Kurdistan: an autonomous region in northern Iraq. Still, we weren’t in any rush to get there. We had time to kill and a bit of Turkey to cross.
From meerkats to lions and everything in between – puff adders come to mind – roadtripping and camping in southern Africa is next-level. It took us exactly one camp cooking session and a single night in the roof tent to start considering stealing the truck ourselves and becoming vanlifers.