markenvoyage

Montreal and Kathmandu are a world apart. Excluding stop-overs: 6 hours to Los Angeles, 17 hours to Bangkok then 4 hours to Kathmandu adds up to 27 hours worth of leg cramp, and not much sleep. It would actually have been slightly shorter (but more expensive) to fly the other way around the world. But before I can start trekking, there's a 10-hour public bus ride to survive, switch-backing for hours as we climb to a high pass then dig-zagging down to a river crossing, only to repeat the cycle over and over again. Other than a ruptured break line and my first meal of dal bhat (more on this delicacy later), the bus trip from Kathmandu to Jiri was not too scary. Why on earth would I want to go through all that to ... read more

If you were discouraged about the state of Tibetan culture in Lhasa while reading my last Postcard, I am happy to report that rural Tibet remains distinctly Tibetan, for now. To see rural Tibet, in fact to just leave the two largest cities Lhasa or Shigatse, requires an Alien Travel Permit (in addition to the Alien Entry Permit required to come to Lhasa) and a way to get around since public transport is often non-existent. Most people get together into groups of 4 or 5, chose an itinerary and rent a 4x4 with Tibetan driver. Four-wheel drive is an absolute necessity. I was joined by Martijn from Belgium and a Chinese couple who also spoke English. This worked out well since our driver spoke Tibetan and Chinese but no English. Our 6-day itinerary took us from ... read more

Xi'an The term underground warfare takes on a new meaning in Xi'an, China's former and ancient capital. You may remember from my , the story of Emperor Qin Shihuang or First Emperor who lent his name to the Qin Dynasty and to China itself. Qin was incredibly successful as an iron-fisted ruler in the 3rd Century BC but failed miserably in his quest for immortality. Xi'an is the place where farmers drilling a well in 1974 discovered one of the immense underground chambers containing battalions of Terracotta Warriors guarding Qin's tomb. There are thousands of life-size, individually hand-crafted ceramic soldiers, including infantrymen, archers, officers, generals and even horses. Most have yet to be excavated. The scale of this archeological site is mind boggling. Some of the swords found with the warriors were coated in chromium to ... read more

One of the things that I've learned in my past travels is the importance of having some basic knowledge of the history and politics of a country before even setting foot there. Without this context, it is too easy to be overwhelmed by cultural differences as they wash over you without at all soaking in. The trick it seems, is to do one's homework. This problogue may serve as a useful primer for readers of my China Postcards. A Short History and some Tall Tales of China Civilisation is nothing new in China. Up to 7000 years ago, when european civilisation was still in diapers, forerunners of the Chinese were busy making silk garments, carving intricate figurines from super hard jade and firing high quality ceramic pottery. Artifacts show sophisticated government by about 2000 BC but ... read more

Four countries in 2 weeks make a lot of material for this update. On April 14th, after 51 days of rice, I finally left Asia for Egypt, but not before relaxing for 4 days in the South of Thailand and making my way via Malaysia to Singapore. Watch my Thailand/Malaysia/Singapore VideoBlog ! A FEW DAYS OF ISLAND R&R I chose Koh Lanta, a relatively little known island just across from Kho Phi Phi where "The Beach" was filmed. Its mostly deserted beaches have "Chunks Ahoy" rocks baked into cookie coloured sand. The water temperature was a spa-like 34 degrees C - soothing if not refreshing. I did a bit of swimming, some reading and quite a lot of pacing up and down the beach. What you rent here is called a bungalow but that can mean ... read more