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<title>Travel Blog | aidando</title>
<link>http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/aidando/</link>
<description>Travel adventures in journals and photos from aidando</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 09:49:14 +0000</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 09:49:14 +0000</lastBuildDate><item>
                    <title>Cultural Learnings In Almaty</title>
                    <description>As the plane landed I felt genuine trepidation. Why the hell am I in Kazakhstan. This question with the subject changing from time to time to another stan was to become a recurring theme of this trip. As I stepped through the plane doors away from the safety of the BMI flight I was confronted with sight of what can only be described as a North Koreaesque soldier. I felt like</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kazakhstan/East-Kazakhstan/Almaty/blog-616952.html</link>
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                    <title>Phnom Penh  Siem Reap The End</title>
                    <description>I was pretty wrecked as we crossed the border into Cambodia driving down a potholed partially flooded road flanked on both sides by grim looking casinos. Then as the bus stopped for a break the sky was completely filled with colour and I saw one of the best sunsets Ive seen in my life. You never know whats literally around the corner when youre travellingWe arrived at night and the bac</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-527706.html</link>
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                    <title>Hanoi to Saigon broke  in a hurry</title>
                    <description>Of all the painful 3rd class trains 2nd hand Chinese buses and pickup journeys I've endured Inle to Hanoi was by far the worst. I'm pretty tolerant of sleep deprivation and not eating properly hence dramatic 2 stone weight loss but I now realise I do have limits. 48 in transit is my breaking point. I left Inle at 2pm on a bus arrived in Yangon at 4 am. Spent the entire day in Yangon airport </description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-527409.html</link>
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                    <title>10 Burmese Days</title>
                    <description>Wifi hasnt quite reached Myanmar so I havent been able to update the blog. Ive just written one entry for my visit to the country. Hence why there are several pages of photosWhile the rest of SouthEast Asia is gradually turning itself into the new Club Med neighbouring Myanmar remains trapped in a parallel universe. The country's annual number of tourists is lower than an average Bang</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Myanmar/blog-524367.html</link>
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                    <title>Temples and sleaze... mostly sleaze</title>
                    <description>1.3 billion people in China and I bump into a friend from UCD on an Air Asia flight Its the same guy Danny I met in Shanghai. Weve stopped deliberately meeting up theres no point. Everyone backpacking in Asia just ends up doing the same route anywayFrom a combination of the Beijing Smog and sleeping under air conditioning units for about a week I ended up getting a pretty bad cold. I</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-524167.html</link>
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                    <title>Hong Kong  Macau</title>
                    <description>Nearly all the people may be Chinese but you know straight away youre back in the empire when you see orderly queues at the bus stops.  You havent really experienced Hong Kong as a backpacker until youve stayed in Chungking Mansions. Located in an area otherwise filled with nice hotels and shopping malls the building is basically a glorified asylum centre filled with cheap guesthouses ho</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-521064.html</link>
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                    <title>Shanghai World Expo 2010</title>
                    <description>Beijing is littered with signs of Chinas imperial past. In contrast everything in Shanghai points boldly towards Chinas future as a global hyperpower.  The citys benefited massively from the economic reforms of the 90s and has become chinas financial centre. This year its hosting the World Expo announcing its arrival on the world stage in the same way Beijing did with the Olympics.</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-520142.html</link>
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                    <title>Through Inner Mongolia to Beijing</title>
                    <description>I considered taking the easy option and getting the direct train from UB to Beijing but I couldnt resist one last budget border crossing adventure. First step was a hard sleeper to ZamynUud on the ChineseMongolia border. As soon as you get off the train there are dozens of taxi drivers shouting at you offering to take you across the border. It could not be easier. The border crossing was real</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-519421.html</link>
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                    <title>Mutton or horse meat</title>
                    <description>Getting to UlanBator was one hell of an experience It was too late to book a direct train ticket to UB so I had to take a slightly longer route. I was incredibly lucky though there was a Mongolian guy staying in my hostel who spoke perfect English Mongolian  Russian. I just followed him the entire wayPart one of the trip was a night train to UlanUde. I went for platzcart again since it was t</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-517822.html</link>
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                    <title>TransSiberian Baikal Irkutsk  3 days in a refugee camp </title>
                    <description>I booked my ticket to Irkutsk in advance with an English travel agent. I'm sure I was ripped off on commission but by the time I got to Russia the train was booked out so it actually worked out pretty well. I travelled by 3rd class platzcart because it was about half price. It's effectively an open carriage with 60 bunks. I went into it with the attitude that it probably won't kill me. I wrote mos</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Irkutsk/blog-517818.html</link>
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                    <title>Moscow</title>
                    <description>Russia is not the easiest country to travel around as a backpacker. The visas trains and even accommodation all require some forward planning. I got caught out with the train to Moscow. I tried to book just 2 days in advance and all that was left was really expensive 1st class or seat only on a 2am train. I should probably change the name of this blog to sleeping in uncomforable positions on the </description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-516328.html</link>
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                    <title>Saint Petersburg</title>
                    <description>One of Western Europe's most beautiful cities somehow ended up in Russia. Saint Petersburg is like a mixture between Venice and Paris the city is riddled with canals flanked by countless European style palaces. On the surface at least there's almost nothing Russian about the city.In contrast to get all the hassle queuing and paper work involved in getting a visa actually crossing the border was a</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Saint-Petersburg/blog-514956.html</link>
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                    <title>Baltic Blitz</title>
                    <description>Unfortunately I didnt have much time to travel around the Baltic states as the entry date on my Russian visa was fast approaching. The areas quite compact though and its extremely easy to get around.Buying the train ticket from Minsk to Vilnius was a bit of an ordeal but the surprisingly friendly staff and a Russian phrasebook got me through. Its only about 4 hours from the heart of Eu</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-513990.html</link>
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                    <title>Back in the U.S.S.R.</title>
                    <description>The land that perestroika forgot. While some of its neighbours are now fully fledged EU members Belarus classified by the US as an outpost of Tyranny is firmly clinging to its past. The last remaining European communist dictatorship current president Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. The economy is one of the most restricted in the world with controls on prices and wages. To top things o</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belarus/Minsk-Voblast/Minsk/blog-513136.html</link>
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                    <title>Kiev  Chernobyl</title>
                    <description>Welcome to the Ukraine say goodbye to the EU the Latin alphabet and any chance of finding locals who speak English. Its a bit of a cultureshock coming straight from Krakow but I guess thats what travelling is all aboutThe country used to have the same complex visa procedure as other former Soviet states. When it hosted the Eurovision a few years ago visa requirements were temporarily dro</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Kiev/blog-512527.html</link>
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                    <title>Krakow  Auschwitz</title>
                    <description>I used to last day of my interrail pass to get from Prague to Krakow. Trains are cheap in Eastern Europe anyway but it ended up being a pretty good deal. 5 days travel for 159 got me from IstanbulBucharestBudapestPopradPragueKrakow I paid about 14 extra this time to get a bed. Ive had enough of sleeping on the floor of trains for the moment anyway. I actually ended up with a really</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/blog-511885.html</link>
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                    <title>Prague</title>
                    <description>Since the fall of the iron curtain Prague has become one of the continents major tourist destinations. With historic buildings literally everywhere you turn and beer thats cheaper than water its hard not to see the appeal. There are parts of the city where youre more likely to hear an American accent than a Czech one but on the whole its not too bad. The only place thats genuine</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-511868.html</link>
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                    <title>The Czech republic's ugly sister</title>
                    <description>I hadn't heard many good things about Slovakia. Literally every person I know who went interrailing said the same thing avoid Bratislava at all costs. Then the Hungarians I met in Budapest argued it isn't even a country just a rebellious Hungarian province. On the other hand I'd heard the scenery in some areas was amazing so I figured I'd give the country a chance. Things did not get off to a go</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovakia/Presov-Region/High-Tatras/blog-511133.html</link>
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                    <title>Budapest</title>
                    <description>The trip from Bucharest was another over night train. A sleeper carriage was about 40 with an interrail pass a normal seat was only 3. Converting the difference into units of beer I went for the normal seat. Mistake number one.   There were 3 others in the compartment sprawled out awkwardly trying to sleep on the seats.  After a few hours I gave up and just slept on the floor. Seemed reaso</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Budapest/blog-510853.html</link>
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                    <title>Behind the curtain</title>
                    <description>Welcome to Bucharest famous for its dark past and bleak present brutalist architecture glue sniffing junkies 200000 stray dogs and pick pockets everywhere. The main tourist attraction is the train to IstanbulBudapest. It made sense to stop here for a night. I was not expecting much.The citys not without its problems but the reality is nowhere near as bad as preconceptions. Although the poi</description>
                    <link>http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Muntenia/Bucharest/blog-509349.html</link>
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