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Published: December 1st 2005
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As you might know, I have undertaken to complete a large trip and do what I have always dreamed to do: take the time to travel at a leisurely pace, avoiding planes as much as possible. My trip will take me about 5 months.
For weeks now, I have suffered a worrying collection of jabs with the most interesting side effects; my passport is full of stamps and visas; my bag full of guide books and medical kit and my mind full of potential mischief which will be adequately turned into exciting adventures to be told as after dinner stories. This is, of course, provided that I shall return.
Today is the big day, the day I have been maniacally preparing for: I am officially leaving on my trip. My mother is very kindly taking me to Bruges tonight. Tomorrow, I am going to Antwerp to meet Mr Spenke and leave with him my suitcase full of books and supplies to meet me in Mumbai in three months time. I am then, finally, setting off tomorrow evening (after a final jab and a very copious meal) from Brussels to Berlin by night train.
Arriving in Berlin on Tuesday morning and after having spent the day in Berlin I will take the night train to Warsaw, spend a couple of days in my old house (the house where I have lived the longest in my life) and then move on, through Byelorussia, to Moscow by train where I will meet my parents on the 24th for a few days, carrying on the Nostalgia by staying in our old residence. On the 27th, the real adventure starts: the trans-Siberian to Irkutsk. If I survive the Russian love for vodka and snoring for 6 days, I will hopefully arrive in Irkutsk on or around the 2nd of July.
From Irkutsk, I should be able to catch the trans-Mongolian train down to Ulan-Bataar, where I will be arriving just in time for the great Nadaam Festival, which is the biggest festival of the year for Mongolians. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and highlights the greatest athletes in horse racing, archery, and wrestling - Mongolia's most popular sports. Women participate in all but the wrestling category. Great shame really. Competitions will take place on the first two days and merry-making is reserved for the third. This sounds absolutely fabulous to me and a great plan if I ever heard one.
Should I survive all of this excitement, I will be on my way by train, as ever, to Beijing, stopping for one last look at the Great Wall on the way to some creature comforts and restoration at the French Ambassador’s Residence. After a few days rest, I am heading south to Chengdu to catch a plane, donkey, car, yak or anything at all that moves and can carry me, to Lhasa for a few days of meditation and much needed spiritual healing, then onwards to Kathmandu, make some friends with the locals Maoists before flying in a tiny propeller plane to Bhutan, where I have been invited by the minister of trade and tourism to join him at an archery tournament. I will be the only foreigner at the time in the entire country. After having left the amazing Dragon kingdom I will fly to India where I will join my cargo ship in Mumbai, the “Atlantic express” to go round Africa, with a week long stop in Durban, South Africa.
The ship should leave me (if still alive) at Antwerp, where I will make my way back to London, thus completing the loop.
This journey will take me through 18 countries and make me travel an estimated 30,000 kms, most of it overland.
And now, for the tear jerking Oscar moment, this would of course not have been possible without the invaluable help and support of my parents, who have been extremely kind and generous in their support both financial and emotional. They have put up with all my wishes and supported all my mad ideas. They have provided me with the most invaluable expertise and advice as well as giving me access to all their contacts and generously agreeing to fund this very expensive expedition. By the same account, the embassy in London has been exceedingly helpful in assisting me in sorting out visas and other vital arrangements for my trip. I would mainly like to thank Rena, Arianne and Joe for all their hard efforts in securing me the permits to travel and ironing out any differences with the other embassies.
By the same occasion, I would like to thank enormously the Belgian embassies in Poland, Russia and China for the great help they have already provided me in negociating, on my behalf, with the local authorities, buying tickets as well as having agreed to put up with me during my passage though their jurisdiction. Great thanks also go to the French Ambassador and his family in Beijing, the Guelluy family, for agreeing to let me stay in their most wonderful residence in Beijing. My biggest and warmest thanks goes to Mr Hebbalkar, my most valuable and kind contact in Mumbai, who has organised my transfer on the ship, my journeys in India and will no doubt show me the delights of India in a way I could never have done on my own. I could not have done without the kind help of Mr Spenke, the Managing Director of Contilines, who has arranged all my shipping for the travel and done all the liaising with the shipping agents in Mumbai and Durban to ensure that I have a safe and pleasant trip. Thanks also go to all my friends for their support and in building up possible scenarios in which I am invariably either spending the rest of my life in jail or being used as a sex slave for a Mongolian warlord. I would like to thank particularly Maryse Simon as she has been most kind in organising financial assistance for the ticket from Lhasa to Kathmandu as a birthday present. Thanks again to all those who have been contributing towards it.
In any case, thanks to you all for this superb opportunity, to the risk of sounding cheesy, this fantastic trip of mine would not have been feasible without all of you.
Lunch and last minute preparations or panicking are calling, so I must return to my more important duties. But keep checking this page for new events and entries.
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shaahnaah dyz Athlandys, Imperatrice de l'Empire du Soleil couch
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Entre Moscou et Varsovie, mon coeur balance ....
Thank you for your Oscar Speech Chris - you must have done a wonderful travel ! I have done the same, but travelling from London to the Nile, where I also had the chance to spend a wonderful moment with my Father in our Volcano and with my Grand-Father on our Mountain. I am back now in London ... It is no more the same ! Monsieur Thierry de Gruben a brise mon epee de l'honneur et mon coeur a saigne. le sang coulant dans le Nil devenu rouge de la colere du fer. Mes respects, naah