http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Joel/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Joel en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:00:39 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:00:39 BST Crossing the border from Pakistan was no trouble at all and I was ushered through in less than an hour it was once I was in Iran however that things started to get more complicated. I was issued with an army officer and told that from now on for my own safety he would travel with me. This didn't make much sense because it is far more dangerous on the Pakistani side and I had no guard there but http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iran/West/Esfahan/blog-287294.html Pakistan Zindabad Long live Pakistan we all chanted as the Pakistani border guards marched back and forth swinging their feet up to touch their hats and then stamping them down with a loud slap on the pavement all the while glaring at their Indian counterparts on the other side of the border gate. These guys are picked for their height and strength and look very intimidating marching around pu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Lahore/blog-279512.html Nepal is like India on holiday. It has the same Indian flavours cows on the streets women in bright saris men clustered around chai shops in the morning but they are all watered down a bit diluted. Everyone isn't in such a hurry to get places and even though the traffic may seem chaotic it is nothing compared to Indian streets. The people are also more friendly and laid back prone to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-270508.html While traveling through India I learnt a lot about myself. It is often stated that travel has this effect but from all of the countries that I have been to India has been the biggest test to put it bluntly. I found myself in situations that I had never experienced before and sometimes discovered that I reacted to these situations in a very different way to what I would have expected. Pu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-266391.html Burma has suffered immensely over the last century. First there were the three AngloBurmese Wars with Britain. Then World War II with the Japanese and British fighting for control of Burma. Finally in 1947 Bogyoke Aung San the father of Aung San Suu Kyi met with the colony's executive deputy chairman of the Governor's Executive Council and signed a pact which stipulated selfrule within one http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-257617.html Two years on and I once again find myself starting off a year abroad in Thailand This time I had the pleasure and privilege to travel with Clara AKA Claz who was my buddy while I was studying in Vienna. The only complaint that I came up with after 5 weeks of travelling together was that she was too nice I'm sure if you asked her the same question she would rattle off a plethora of very re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Pai/blog-252495.html After a long break from travel following my year in Europe I once again managed to escape only for a month and decided to explore a bit closer to home. Initially the trip to NZ was going to be relatively small with Justin and me meeting Dan in Auckland and travelling around together but when the rest of our friends heard about it they decided to join too So it went from 3 to 10 and ended up be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/blog-211423.html This will probably be my last blog for a while so I decided to give you all a break from my treacherous writing skills and instead let the story be told through the photos. Thank you for all of your comments over the last year they definitely make all of those hours spent in internet cafes worthwhile http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-132031.html Says one man as we walk through the Grand Bazaar and are continually invited to enter different shops. Another common call is May I help you spend your money P Turkish people are extremely friendly and for the most part it is very genuine. We shared many an apple tea with shop owners without spending a penny in their stores. We were given a 30 minute lecture on the ins and outs of carpet m http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-127274.html Before I begin I would just like to say sorry for my title... I am quite tired after a sleepless night on the train from Ljubljana to Budapest so Im going to use that as an excuse for a total lack of creativity and imagination... PBledLike everyone says Bled is one of those truly beautiful settings. It doesn't seem to matter about the weather or what mood you are in you will always remember http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Ljubljana/blog-124440.html This trip was awesome but was also a little melancholy as with my time on exchange dwindling fast it really highlighted the differences between Austria and Australia for me. It is only 2 months now before I have to leave this beautiful country and I'm already starting to get sad... At least it has jolted me out of my complacency and I will definitely do my best to make the most out of the time t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-109038.html Cruising down the Autobahn at 220kmhr I was a little surprised to see Miro pull out his mobile phone and begin to sms someone occasionally looking up and braking heavily just in time to avoid a collision with the car in front... As if this wasn't enough to put us on edge he had told us only minutes before that he was from Slovakia and had a job as a meat worker. With thoughts of ending up in p http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-106220.html It is very hard to describe how excited I felt as I stood in the middle of a massive arena surrounded by thousands of dancing people flashing lights neon lasers and massive speaker arrays with just a curtain of water separating us all from the best Trance DJ in the world Before I forget to mention it check out this video on the left if you have some spare time. Travelblog just recently added http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovakia/Bratislava/blog-98534.html The Finnish people are probably one of the most interesting groups of people that I have ever encountered. In all of my travels I don't think I have ever come across a group of people that are so unique. Reserved friendly intellectual funny confident slightly unstable alcoholics. All of these words can be used to describe Finns but they do not fully capture the Finnish essence. All I can http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Turku/blog-96989.html About a week after getting back to Vienna I signed up for a trip organised by my University to Oktoberfest. I had missed out on a lot of the introductory activities and thought that this would be a good way to get to know some of the new students. The trip was only 1 day long so not much time for sightseeing but luckily I had already been to Mnchen before with Justin. The trip consisted of ca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-91708.html My last two weeks of travelling where a bit hectic but I managed to see a lot of places and get some good use out of my Interrail Pass so it worked out well. Sorry if this entry is really long with heaps of photos but I didn't know how to split it up.From Vienna I went to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic and stayed there for two days. It is one of the most picturesque medieval towns you will http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-88378.html The easy answer is that he never existed but I did find out about a very disturbing character called Vlad Dracul Tepes who had the nasty habit of sticking people on spikes and leaving them to die a slow and painful death. Dracul is derived from son of the dragon and Tepes means impaler thus you get the charming name of Vlad the Impaler son of the Dragon. This bloodlust led to the myth of t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transylvania/Brasov/blog-88375.html I think that the most lasting impression I will have of Sarajevo and Bosnia Herzegovina in general for that matter is that left by the Sarajevo Roses spread out throughout the city. A Sarajevo Rose is created when a mortar or artillery shell hit a piece of pavement. The force of the strike and the shrapnel create a flower like pattern and as the Government decided to fill in any of these spots http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina/East/Sarajevo/blog-84140.html After arriving from Tunisia in Palermo I took a train to the other side of Italy and caught a ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik Croatia. When I arrived I met up with Anna a Polish girl that I have been seeing in Vienna. She has lived in Vienna since she was 4 but definitely considers herself Polish so thats why I had to make that clear P We met about 2 months before the end of the semester and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Dubrovnik/blog-81467.html When I had first planned to come to Tunisia I thought that it would be a short ferry ride from Italy and a refreshing break from Europe. It was a very refreshing break from Europe but the ferry ride proved much more difficult to organise than I had previously thought. We wanted to take a ferry from Salerno but soon found out that the only ferry was full. It went via Palermo in Sicily though and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Tunis/blog-80611.html