Most people who think of Kazakhstan, think of Borat. Most people who have been to Kazakhstan might think of Almaty its former capital, and then there are some who decide to discover what the rest of the country might be like. I decided to go up north, and to keep me company along the way I went with an English man who went by the name of Tim, whom I had met in a rather decrepit dormitory in Almaty. Before long we were on a train riding up the steppes of Kazakhstan and I learned my first lesson on this country. [View Full Entry]

---

---

To tell you the truth, I am in actual fact not writing this blog in Urumqi. This would be impossible for me to do since the Chinese government has cut all internet connections to the outside world, all international phone calls and any other means of communicating beyond the province of Xinjiang. Why? Well Xinjiang like Tibet is rather sensitive and like Tibet it has a rather restive native population who from time to time shatter Beijing's dream of a glorious unified motherland where all nationalities live in peace side by side with one common goal in mind, which is to [View Full Entry]

---

---

As my flight coasted into Kathmandu I could see the great Himalayan range looming visibly up in the distance. The fact that I could see them this time round was in stark contrast to five month ago. When I last left the place and visibility was near to zero. At that time it was impossible even to see the hills surrounding the capital, as they were clouded in a combination of dust and pollution. Apart from that difference, it was like I had never left the place. The five month inbetween seemed to have faded away like the dust that surrounded [View Full Entry]

---

---

Five month ago I came home in high spirits, seeking as always to find a trial fast to top up my bank account. But things never turn out the way you have planned it and though I found a trial quickly, it got cancelled almost as speedily. And than? Nothing! That was it for a long time. At first I thought I would find something else, but as May turned to June my hopes of a quick buck faded, since the summer is a slow season for trials. What to do? Well, I didn't mind too much, I needed a long [View Full Entry]

---

---

Not far from Dubai lies Oman, and in Dubai lives my sister with her family and for this reason I find myself writing about a little camping trip that she took me on. Six Arabian nights we spend under the moon of Oman, and in doing so I discovered what beauty is hidden away in the folds of the Hajar Mountains of this country. Now camping with a family is of course different than camping with friends, but my nephew Teagan of five and my niece Zara of three behaved very well considering the amount of driving and hiking they were [View Full Entry]

---

---

It's a question I have been asking myself the last few days and it isn't the first time. And it always arises when I am tired of the travelling, weary of the constant moving and drained by the constant stream of new impressions. The only difference is that normally I am able to travel for much longer before getting this feeling. I have only been away for three month and I am ready to go back to Europe, which to my luck I will also be doing very shortly. But why have I tired so quickly? Perhaps this is a more [View Full Entry]

---

---

There is a song that twirls through my head every time I see the sun setting in the hazy skies that dominate Nepal at the moment. It's one of Jimi Hendrix songs called Purple Haze and that is just what the sky looks like every evening. As I left Pokhara I was hoping the weather would improve, but it was not to be. At first things did look up, on my second day in Bandipur I managed to get a glimpse of the Himalayas and I took this as a sign of improving weather conditions. Not that Bandipur doesn't have anything [View Full Entry]

---

---

As told in my last blog, I have left India for the last time. But so as not to give my system too much of a shock, I ventured to Nepal, which is a nice transition country. Here Hinduism meets Buddhism, lowland meets highland and Hindi meets Nepali. The first thing I noticed as I crossed the western border at Mahendranagar was how relaxed and peaceful Nepal is compared to India. The change as you cross the border is immediate and quite astounding if you think about it. Within a space of perhaps 10 meters you go from the hectic hustle [View Full Entry]

---

---

As I was looking down upon the rooftops of Bundi, I realised that India is a voyeurs wet-dream. In India life takes place outside, simply because many people can't afford the luxury of privacy. They bathe at the ghats, rivers or at a water-pump, they do their laundry outside, they cook outside, they relieve themselves behind a small wall or a bush or just in a gutter and some even sleep outside. And all this within the watchful gaze of everybody else. Of course it is so normal that most people don't give it a second glance, it is only us [View Full Entry]

---

---

One of my fondest memories of Sri Lanka is having breakfast on the veranda of an old tea planter’s bungalow with the immaculately kept garden in front of us and the tea plantations starting at the end of the lawn. I remember the dew on the grass in the morning, the warm pancake bread (because that is what I used to call it in those days), the butter melting on it, the smells. When I grew older I always thought that the pancake bread probably was naan, roti, chappati or some other type of Indian bread, and I was a bit [View Full Entry]

---

---