ktoverland

Hey! You may have noticed that this entry same title as my photos from the same period (I can send you a link if you're not on facebook...and I actually know you), and I would like to acknowledge Mr O'Donnell for the excellent Dad joke that I smirked at in a superior manner, and have used ever since. My lucky Indian adventure began with a very paranoid trip to Varanasi. My friends in Nepal had primed me well. "India is SO dangerous, yeah, you'll get harrassed ALL the time, the people only want money..." etc. Cue being the ONLY woman in my carriage from Gorekpur and the only westerner on the train. PARANOIA!!! The rickshaw drivers weren't so bad (they watched from a distance while I got out my Lonely Planet and then moved in to ... read more

Hello! You'll have noticed that I haven't blogged in a while. Not since Lhasa...where, according to some enthusiastic and prolific messages and comments on my blog, my American ass (it didn't know it was American and is now in counselling) shouldn't have been. If anyone would like to discuss the Tibetan situation and my thoughts on the Chinese occupation, feel free to send me an email? And maybe try to limit your use of fvck?? Jules - thanks for your comment! It was lovely and the nicest that I had! So, I wasn't going to write any more - rather I thought I would rely on the happy medium of facebook, where I get to choose my friends. However, after discussing blog-merits with a lovely gentleman while enjoying the pleasure of lining up for an Indian ... read more

Hey! Again, I've been slack and offline for ages, and now I have too much to tell you and not enough time to say it all. So, in the interests of internet brevity, and my own sanity please find a 5 weeks in China executive summary and a fun Chinese quiz below: Yangshou - a 'unique' landscape equalled only by Halong bay (Vietnam) and Krabi (Thailand) was lovely, though I was there when GOLDEN WEEK hit - and about 120,000 chinese tourists descended on a city with only 50,000 beds. So I left and went to: Dali City - where I stayed longer than I anticipated due to travel companion dramas, delicious food and a very comfortable hostel (not in that order). Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge - no tiger leaped that gorge, but it was ... read more

As mentioned in the previous entry (which I was unable to edit, but could actually publish) written earlier this month, its been difficult to get a computer that doesnt have conniptions when I try to load this site. So stop whinging that you dont know where I am, here is news in postcard form! Ulaan Ude (Russia, more than a month ago) - Enjoyed some delicious shaslik (kebabs) and seeing the biggest Lenin head in the world. WHY? WHY?? Ulaan Bataar - (see last post). Everyone should go to Mongolia! Everyone. Even if you dont like fermented mares milk, you should try the cheese. Remember when everyone used hankies, and you'd find an old forgotten one in a coat pocket at the beginning of a winter? Those hard bits are Mongolian cheese! Same texture (concrete hard), ... read more

Hey guys Sorry - its been AGES since I've last written, entirely due to the complete lack of internet so far between Moscow and here. You don't know how happy it makes me to click on the 'siberia' region in Russia at the top of this posting. :) St Petersberg to Moscow - We started the journey with the lushest train that I've travelled in so far, counting both Western and Eastern Europe. Real sheets, blankets and a little vase of fresh flowers. Ahhhh! I read later that the same journey in 1978 took 8.5 hours, and ours took....8.25 hours, so I guess that not much has changed since then, apart from the quality of the linen!? Moscow - Was massive, and the divide between rich and poor was pretty pronounced. That may in part be ... read more

2 weeks - 2 long weeks (probably seem longer to me than to anyone reading this because so much has happened) since my last blog post. Having left the safety and happiness of Ukraine, I ventured across the border - with the cigarette smugglers - to the Disneyland style touristness of Krakow. I'm sad to admit, but it wore me out pretty quickly. After a day of 'come on my tour, buy my stuff, come and drink my expensive beer' I was almost done! I don't think that mid-summer isn't the best time to visit Poland. The locals seemed tired of tourists (there's nothing like walking into a shop and asking for something and having the shopkeeper say NIET! and then walk away), and the town seemed full of people doing the Prague, Krakow, Budapest loop, ... read more

Having managed to enjoy the dramatic Romania scenery, see more castles than you could poke a stick at and have my photo taken with Dracula (I paid 10c for the privilege), the closest I came to vampires were the bedbugs that gave me little bitey track-marks. Short of rubbing myself with garlic (sexy) or whittling 1000 little stakes - I moved hostel. But eventually the green pine-covered mountains and the stories of the backpackers who, failing to find the danger and adventure they were hoping for made up stories about wolves and bears, became too much for me, and I decided to go to Moldova. The only reference I had to Moldova was Tony Hawks 'Playing the Moldovans at Tennis' - and the 2 factsI could remember were that it was dangerous to walk around at ... read more

Its going to rain today, and the houses here have 'beaten metal' roofs, which require further beating at 7am...as they've all unbeaten themselves due to the 40+ degree weather. Due to the late arrival of my train (by only 5 hours) yesterday, I'm really lucky to have not only lasting imprints from sticking to the plasticky train seats, but also a room just under currently being beaten roof, in the attic. So, a rude awakening and a belated blog post! I spent more time, money and self-inflicted minor injury in 'no-rules' Turkey than I meant to. Being on a gulet (traditional *sailing* boat that did precious little sailing, though they did put the mainsail up for about 45 mins on the day that we had no wind so that the crew didn't have to do any ... read more

Hi, Sorry for the radio silence, I am alive and kicking in Turkey! Following an exciting and communist collector item fuelled trip to Sofia (and a trip to the beautiful mosiac filled Rila Monastary), I got the remainder of the Orient Express to Istanbul. Apparently there was drama at the Turkish border at 3am, and lots of American tourists complaining that the border guard had taken their passports and *shock horror* they were out of sight (in the polis station). I missed the whole thing by sleeping with earplugs, waking up with 10 mins to train departure time, sauntering out and getting my visa and stamp while the Americans were running around the platform like headless chickens. They were all traumatised. Poor things. So, the heat of Turkey! Delicious delicious Turkey. Home to Baklava, Turkish delight ... read more