http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/chrisafir/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from chrisafir en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:25:14 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:25:14 BST As a rule I like to travel with only a small bag which is not such a good idea in Tibet in the middle of November sleeping at altitudes of over 4000m. Wearing everything that I owned was still not enough to prevent the cold from creeping in through every little gap in my defences. While the sun is shining you can get away with wearing a tshirt and shorts but the minute you enter the shade the t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tibet/Friendship-Highway/blog-221379.html Before itrsquos opening in July last year the Qinghai to Tibet railway was expected to be the final nail in the coffin for Tibetan culture in China. Opening up this once inaccessible province to the thousands of Han Chinese who now walk the streets of Lhasa. Since the Chinese invasion in the 1950s Tibetan culture has been steadily pushed aside in the name of progress but this progress has come http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tibet/Lhasa/blog-218460.html Yunnan Province tucked away in the south west corner of China is bordered Laos Burma and Tibet giving it a unique un Chinese atmosphere. Nowhere else in China for example would you see shops full of pipes and bongs on every street corner. Not for smoking Weed which strangely for China is also in abundance here but for smoking cigarettes. Not a day goes past without seeing an old man squa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Tiger-Leaping-Gorge/blog-217031.html You sit down on a makeshift stool outside a roadside dumpling shop. The old man behind you lights up a cigarette as his bowl of noodles arrives. He slurps at them noisily moving each hand up to his mouth alternating between food and smoke. He is a picture postcard Chinese wearing a blue Mao cap and matching button down shirt. A handful of wispy white strands of hair hang off his chin and he is s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-214421.html I have been sitting on my arse in Seoul complaining about the ugliness of the city for more than two years but I have finally become motivated enough to go and seek out somewhere more beautiful in Korea before I leave forever in a few days.Kyongju is the Old capital of Korea and is in the south of the country close to the East Sea. that's the Sea of Japan for anyone not in Korea The city could http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeongsangbuk-do/Gyeongju/blog-209346.html We crossed the border in search of cheaper accommodation. We never realised it would be free.The bus to the border town of Silopi took about an hour maybe more the most intriguing thing about the journey was the queue of oil tankers waiting to get in to Iraq. Thousands upon thousands of them parked in a long line that stretched for a hundred miles along the road. Next to them were little tent co http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iraq/North/blog-204130.html November 2004 As beautiful as the north of Pakistan is which is extremely by the way there is not so much to do. Most of the day can be spent outside exploring the glaciers or walking down the river bed but as soon as the sun dips behind a mountain the temperature plummets past uncomfortable towards unbearable. Being outside ceases to be an option. Unfortunately for us in November the sun sets http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Pakistan/Northern-Areas/Gulmit/blog-138107.html November 2004 Perhaps foolishly I thought that that the transport to Herat would only take one day however after thirteen hours cramped in to a toyota pickup truck with ten other people the sun had begun and finished its descent to the west and we were still in the wilderness. We had been driving since 3AM the previous morning through rivers and over mountains. we had endured two punctures http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/blog-136736.html I have never seen a border like the Torkham border before. I suppose it is because it is the tribal areas and not strictly Pakistan but anyway there were hundreds of people wandering back and forth everywhere. Loads of children dragging sacks this way and that trying to avoid the policemen's sticks and of course a huge queue of trucks. To top it all off we were all up to our ankles in liquid m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Afghanistan/East/Kabul/blog-130204.html We arrived in Erbil flustered but unscathed where we found ourselves in yet another police station but this one had a large wall around it and many more soldiers milling around some of whom escorted us through the building and in to a small office surrounded by a well tended lawn and some rather nice looking trees. Inside our handcuffs were removed and we were given cigarette each and allowed to http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Iraq/blog-129924.html Moscow was nothing like I expected it to be although the only images that I had of it before were those from James bond films so they were hardly accurate. We were met at the airport by a friend of a friend who not only let us stay in his apartment but went to stay somewhere else so we had the place to ourselves.On our way back from dinner that night we emerged from the subway to be met by two http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/blog-129646.html Just minutes after waving goodbye to the Iranians I was met by Armenian border guards. Girls with long blonde hair flowing from their uncovered heads and the shortest miniskirts that I had seen in a long time. This was a welcome relief from the all in one black blobs that live just the other side of the river.The police here were so surprised to see me that I began to wonder if I had made the righ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Armenia/blog-129644.html It only cost 2 to get from the Armenian border to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Much like Yerevan Tbilisi is seriously lacking in cheap hotels that I could find anyway so I ended up in a strange place that was a small room above a restaurant for a staggering 40. thankfully it was heated and had hot water and lots of space for the rabbit.As I had no idea about Georgia no maps or no guide boo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/blog-129640.html I Arrived in Turkey to find myself in Europe although I am still being woken up at some ungodly hour by the call to prayer and can never quite manage to drop off again. This not helped by the fact that it is snowing outside and I left both of my blankets on the bus and so am sleeping in all of my clothes again. Took the opportunity to sneak into an empty room and relieve the future occupant of http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-129633.html At 9 am I went to the press centre as instructed only to be met by all manner of professionals that made me feel like the ultimate fraud. Here I was a hanger on for a newspaper that isn't even in print and I was being introduced to people from the New York times The LA Times CNN Reuters and others too numerous to mention. I didn't even have business cardWhen I agreed to this job I thought th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gangwon-do/blog-129627.html