http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/bedreddin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from bedreddin en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:01:55 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:01:55 +0000 It all began with a description in the regional introduction to Aceh Selatan in my little brochure a peaceful secluded bay 2km over a small hill from a village 12km south of the small town of Tapaktuan there is a small hut whose owners only occasionally come by. And where there is habitation there must be access to fresh water. I had spent a week bumming on beaches on Sabang Island aka Pulau We http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/blog-353861.html Ever since he pounced on me saying Orang Putih and knocked a Ringgit off the price he's become my regular fish vendor. The lady in front of me seems surprised presumably by my buying fresh fish and he explains something of which I only caught Duyong. Yup I stay in Pulau Duyong I explain in English pointing across the river to the little kampung island as LP would describe it. She smi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Kuala-Terengganu/blog-340855.html Hardware is good. It expands your horizons it empowers you and spurs you into action if you're lugging around a stove a metal pot an aluminum wok a melamine bowl spoons 3 a spatula and a knife you'd better be using them.So although I'd been reluctant to visit that most prominent of tourist destinations the Taman Negara lit. National Park of the world's oldest rainforest the thou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Taman-Negara-National-Park/blog-319577.html Large trees with footlong broad leaves and boxshaped fruits stretch almost parallel to the sand out towards the sparkling sea providing a natural canopy under which to escape the heat or the rain. Under the trunk of one is a triangular mosquito net mine with sand piled on its sides and attached to wooden sticks in the corners to keep out vermin and mosquitos. Draped widthwise and covering h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Perak/Pulau-Pangkor/blog-294665.html Take a banana. Wrap it in rice. Wrap the whole thing in a coat of banana leaves and grill it on a charcoal fire. Call it delicious.Wake up as early a possible. Rush to the market religiously as soon as you open your eyes. The villagers will be selling their wares women in sarungs with shawls draped crisscrossed around their heads or with straw sun hats crouched beneath their stall umbrellas. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-263170.html I can't possibly email all of the very few people who may be curious as to my safety... but in case you care I'm OK I was in a restaurant when the stuff hit the fan and we sat tight for a couple of hours turned off the lights shut the doors and pulled down the shutters.. then walked back to the hotel where we stayed in on the 28th when the entire city was shut down and you couldn't even http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Lahore/blog-231286.html The wine is a very light red. Like it's been diluted. It's reasonably strong though. I had too much to drink last night so I'm slowly sipping my single cup. Wali's brother is drinking with us and lets out a sigh of Ya Alya. It was supposed to be Allah but Pakistanis can't pronounce shit. Tonelessly blaring from religious cassette shops and carts prepubescent voices screaming Alya Alya http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Peshawar/blog-228519.html I'm sitting in front of a fire blazing in a fireplace. Timber rafters concrete floor windows and a door that don't quite close two beds covered with my junk. This is my room the family's guest room. There were 15 people sleeping here before I got here. Now it seems like there's hardly room for another person without crowding. Sitting on a plastic chair next to me is Wali Khan my landlo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/North-West-Frontier-Province/Chitral/blog-226731.html Gilgit. Northern Areas. Pakistan.Liberation Day Celebrations.As proof of the army's training professionalism and combatreadiness we the crowd are treated to a mock operation with soldiers repelling down ropes from an airborne helicopter to secure the area. I saw the same yesterday total and complete amateurs. One was too scared and had to be pulled back in. It took maybe 20 minutes for 8 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Northern-Areas/Gilgit/blog-222044.html Hopefully these will buy me some more time to procrastinate on my Iranian blog... but seriously how do you summarize Iran in a few hundred words or lessSo.. How was IranRiiight.All photos are courtesy and property of Big Dan X. http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iran/East/Yazd/blog-221796.html There's an eagle or otherwise large bird of prey perched on the frame of a satellite receiver. The call to prayer just began with two mosques managing to go in syllableforsyllable tandem for at least half of it. That's a first The sun has just set. There's a bit of fog gathering around and above the low buildings. There's a fair bit of motorcycle and rickshawdin my SW radio picks them http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Islamabad/blog-219284.html Seriously. First it was with all the hype before she arrived then the blast in Karachi that killed all those people then over in Rawalpindi the streets lined with an assortment of posters with pictures of her devoutly praying with eyes closed in ecstasy and her hijab casually slipped on to her shoulders a statement in itself with a mount halfopen in admonition and looking quite stern usu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Islamabad/blog-219272.html I found myself thinking I'd be writing this email in various forms to a number of people so it's best to just type it once and have people read it as they're boredHelloDid you know there's martial law in Pakistan i'm in this town called abbottabad to the north of islamabad. a guy yesterday said it was a political emergency situation... no tanks in the streets no soldiers performing ID c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Northern-Areas/blog-217048.html I guess the excitement began in Yazd Iran where all and sundry warned me about the road to Pakistan. You know about the Japanese tourist abducted while walking to the Arg from his hotel in Bam In Bam in Iran Now just imagine the next 24 hours or so before you get to Quetta through the lawless desert the Baluchi and Afghan drug smuggling tribes and across the truly awful Taftan desert. An http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Quetta/blog-216586.html Getting off a bus after sunset in the middle of Herat with absolutely no information neither map nor directions nor knowledge of prices unable to speak the language and with my enormous backpack and khareji clothes clearly a very stupid westerner in a country with an emerging appetite for kidnapping foreigners... no probably not the most intelligent move I've made. It's not like I was t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/blog-210871.html On the off chance extremely unlikely that there are people out there calling embassies and desperate to get news from me like I said very unlikely I'm alive and doing well although I still don't know what the penalty is for being a Khareji in Herat...I've been adopted by two really cool Hazara guys one with an amazing life story and pretty good english and the other who is just return http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/blog-209394.html Just a quick update to let my sundry following know that I'm alive and this time actually heading in the direction of China yeay though I've still only made it as far as Tehran... but this is as far east as I've gotten in 3 years on the road so it's not to be taken lightly. A major milestone.And what I really wanted to say is that travelblog.org seems to be blocked at most internet cafes I've http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iran/North/Tehran/blog-206384.html I confidently wave goodbye to my hosts and step outside hoping to catch the 1oclock marshrutka it's 115 if I'm not too late. An overcast day in Sukhumi a few drops of rain. I've spent the morning at the museum then at the botanical gardens then buying stamps and other souvenirs to bribe the Abkhazialovers back home. Pretty full day so far. Now I need to catch a marshrutka to Gali http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/Abkhazia/blog-173210.html A place like Georgia makes one realize how much we take for granted. For instance the assumption that a country has one or maybe two names. This is Georgia Gurcistan Gruzya or Sakartvelos depending on which language you're speaking. It's also a common assumption that progress is linear forward. I was once talking with Janvier about how Europe could have plunged into the Dark Ages and com http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/blog-161343.html EASTERN EXPRESSTrain from KarsA Turkish seater pullman wagon nearly full. The train is coming from Kars on the eastern border traveling 1950km to get to Istanbul in 36 hours. Most passengers at this point have gotten on much later after Ankara and are dressed in secular modern dress sports shirts and jeans on men most women uncovered and also wearing jeans. It's early afternoon and m http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-172785.html