Dudado's Life

Life in Ireland. part 1

2010-09-23T20:52:00.002+01:00

Darkness is upon us, the rainy season in Ireland has began. That means I have the time to go though my thousands and thousands of photographs. h a p p y

I already had a chance to see quite a few places in Ireland. West of Ireland is the most impressive and the most iconic: cliffs, green hills and pastures, herds of sheep, busy pubs and hundreds of B&Bs.

But there is no need to travel for 5 hours to be impressed by Ireland. A few weekends ago I was surprised by Wicklow Mountains National Park, just an hour away by car. Hills, waterfalls, and quietness.

Thirty minutes away from the center are beaches for wind surfing, kite surfing and other water sports. Luckily for adrenaline junkies, wind is not a rare commodity on this island. Indeed, the north and west coasts of Ireland are two of the windiest areas in Europe. Not only the winters are mild in Ireland, but palm trees grow in this country. Yes, palm trees! I would prefer the other side effect of the gulf streams - slightly more of that warm water from Gulf of Mexico to the shores of Ireland. I cannot imagine ever entering the waters here :(

But why I am still talking? Let's look! Ireland's map with links to my pictures or the album itself.

Hiking Scotland

2010-09-12T21:55:00.002+01:00

Hiking Scotland
Originally uploaded by dudado

A few photos from my weekend in Scotland.

It is who you are, not what you do.

2010-07-19T06:12:00.001+01:00

Finished Freakonomics today, a quick and fun read between San Francisco's Pier 39 and Tiburon. I could never describe my dream job until now - it is Levitt's job, who claims to be neither an economist, nor an anthropologist, nor a sociologist. He says he is not good with numbers, nor with econometrics. He just likes asking interesting questions and tweak numbers to answer them.

He is basically describing me - however, I am sure I am much worse with numbers and far less creative - but ideally I'd love to be answering interesting questions, especially about cultures and social behavior. Hmm, third degree is maybe luring :)

Farmers market in San Francisco

2010-07-17T23:11:00.001+01:00

Omg! Organic & homemade food extravaganza. California at its best. I have never been to a food market like that. Love it.

Location : 490 Bay St, San Francisco, CA 94133,

Catch me if you can

2010-07-07T22:36:00.000+01:00

1. Walked around gorgeous sunny busy London last weekend.

2. This weekend I will fall in and out of love again with New York, where so many memories defining me were created.

3. The next weekend I will spend shopping and eating sushi in airy San Francisco.

4. The fourth I'll be drinking beer and celebrating festivities of Gent in Belgium.

5. The fifth, but who is counting, in Riga celebrating my 30th birthday. The grand Finale of my crazy July.

And I still feel the need to book a real vacation ... to go, to go way.

Fifa fever

2010-06-15T11:43:00.001+01:00

Evolution of the World Cup ball

Location : 44-47 Barrow St, Dublin 4, Co. Dublin City,

Tuscany, Italy

2010-05-30T22:41:00.001+01:00

Long gone are the days of my short road trip in Tuscany, but the memories live on - partly in my pictures, partly on my waistline. Not really but anyway. Besides the beautiful green valleys ('on steroids' green), Tuscany amazed me with the food. Oh that pasta with truffles, that steak, that amazing wine.

Flickr with 19 pictures

Part 1: Settling in Dublin

2010-05-15T10:26:00.001+01:00

Dublin must be a girl - the weather changes as often as a girl changes her moods. One day this week we had all four seasons in a day - sunshine in the morning, hail in the afternoon, rain in the late afternoon, and warm &sunny weather in the evening. It is hard to be bored here if you pay attention to the changing skies and winds.

I just finished unpacking 7 boxes, and I had no idea that hanging clothes in my wardrobe could be so fulfilling and exciting. Settling in brings happiness... Everyone around me, however, doubts it is for long. I give myself another month to decide.

The irony of my unpacking is that after all the travels I have nothing to place in my glass shelves. I could have had an apartment full of the world souvenir but now I have to settle for one mask from Africa.

My two bedroom apartment with two wall closets is certainly too big for me – I am stuffless.

I put my current and filled passports under the glass table to serve as guest entertainment. It works very well - no one has paid attention to my magazines & books yet.

The remaining details of the move are uninspiring - I miss all countries I have lived in before for the simplicity of certain things in each one of them. There is no easy country, but OMG banking in Ireland is disappointing, so is my landlord. Getting internet & doctor appointments was a breeze thankfully.

First order of Tesco online done!

Now I want to select six pictures to print for my walls - just choosing is the labour of Hercules. What would you print out of my best pictures?

The great move

2010-05-03T08:54:00.001+01:00

Searched tracks called "This is it!" on my beloved spotify to commence the day of my great move.

Today is my last day in London, the first day in Dublin.

This is it! The life of small pleasures commences.

The things I have taken for granted will give me a sense of happiness. I am settling for now! Today I will walk into my apartment, the one I hope to call home for at least a year. I will memorize my Irish cell number today! I will finally update everyone on my new address. I will buy things and will not be afraid about moving them.

And... in about a month I will finally reunite with my possession after 2 years of separation [not that I need any of that stuff really but the thought is nice].

I will print my photographs again, and I will hang them on my walls again.

The photographs will be different, the apartment will be different, the city will be different, and I am different.

How exciting and amazing is it? I certainly think so.

50 things I love

2010-04-18T11:22:00.001+01:00

There has never been a better time to publish this post than today as I still cannot get back to London; hence feel somewhat miserable.

Here is a list of 50 things I really love, which I compiled on one of those long bus rides in Africa. For people who really know me, there must be no surprises or are there?

Black chocolate
Maps
Paper stationary
Eye shadows
Red wine
Diet Coke
Graffiti
Logos in retro fonts
Retro posters
Filing documents/articles/stuff
Ghost towns
Ethnic jewelry, big/special jewelry
Colourful funky watches
Contemporary architecture
Movies that make you think
Books that make you feel
Music that makes you dance
Other people's photography
my Nexus
Salads
Mountains with snow peaks
Black tea, hot, 'burning my tongue' hot
Snorkeling
Heavy puffy blankets
Conversations that take you further
Going places
Americano
Cuddling
Browsing through flickr
Large trees
Never ending deserts
Lying in a hammock
Writing emails/letters
Laughing till stomach hurts
Picking mushrooms
Cherries
Getting long letters/emails from friends
Browsing through book stores
Watching the city life go by...
Thinking
Exploring
Debating
Hot shower
Melodic trance
Great speeches
Reading my Google reader
Signs/ornaments
Industrial design
KBH
Cheese

Portugal pictures are on flickr

2010-03-28T22:07:00.001+01:00

Portugal Set on Flickr (lookie look)

Licensing of the photographs

2010-03-22T22:16:00.000Z

I changed my privacy setting for all pictures on flickr - from All Rights Reserved to Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works. The traffic has increased threefold. Is the change the reason? Why? Can I track where my pictures are used? I don't mind but I am curious.

Also, I used a handy plug-in to create two custom sets - SmartSetr.

150 Best Photographs

Shopping extravaganza

2010-03-20T15:14:00.001Z

After 3 hours of shoe hunting in South Kensington/Knightsbridge area of London, I concluded that there are too many shops & tourists. London is tiring and exhausting. I want to live in a far-far-away mountainous village.

sanity of my craziness

2010-03-19T23:06:00.001Z

it has been a crazy month preceding what yet is destined to be the apogee of my calamity.

last week on london tube I caught a woman reading a HBS case, reminding me of recent INSEAD past. having great side vision I captured the title - manage your energy, not your time. how timely, I thought. I managed to read the summary in brief faster than the girl! I guess my high speed reading class 12 years ago was not a complete waste! the article is great: it summarizes the well known principals of psychology and physiology. the trick is to actually use it. I will start by hanging the summary next to my screen at work.

so what's going on??

I started a new job in a new industry, function, and country. it's been a while since I was 1) working, 2) learning so much new, 3) overwhelmed, 4) challenged. one bullet point is enough to exhaust a person, but I have 4 of them. and two more:
- I am travelling a lot
- I am not settled and need to relocate

since mid-Feb
w1: London, 2 days Dublin
w2: Silicon Valley
w3: San Francisco
w4: London
w5: Dublin
-
w6: London, 2 days in Amsterdam
w7: London, then Tuscany
w8: London
w9: Dublin, weekend in Paris
w10: London
w11: Queen's day, Amsterdam
w12: relocating to Dublin, weekend in Riga

needless to say how exhausting travelling is, especially the late night/early morning departures/arrivals.

and on top of that I am still to find an apartment in Dublin, pack myself in London & Riga, get my boxes from France, find a doctor, a dentist, a yoga class and a bank.

This level of stress keeps me busy. I am still trying to do the impossible and actually have a social life in London, meeting my friends almost everyday I am here. And everyday I tell myself I should stop. This activity level is not sustainable. I've been there, done that. I know I need to take it easy before a major breakdown. So I decided no travelling in June - no Iceland I am afraid :)

Dudado rubber stamp

2010-03-13T18:01:00.003Z

random shop, what a find! rubber stamp with the 'long sign' sign I fell in love with in Vietnam. On their website I am looking at rubber stamps from Blade Rubber Company and they are so awesome!

Location : 8 Great Titchfield St, Paddington, Greater London W1W 8,

Update: 61 countries visited, and quite a few places still to go

2010-02-27T17:46:00.001Z

A friend of mine has a goal to visit 100 countries by the age of 33. My count as of today is at 61. I have always looked at the total total percentage (29%), and considered it to be quite small. Presentation of the numbers is everything! 61 looks more impressive than 29, so be it :)

Here is my next '15' to visit. Iceland - June? Nepal - December? Any takers?

1. Nepal
2. Iceland
3. Greenland
4. Mongolia
5. New Zealand
6. Australia
7. Antarctica
8. Oman
9. Syria
10 Iran
11 Turkey
12 Belize
13 China
14 Madagascar
15 Guatemala

Nairobi debriefs - part 2

2010-01-30T17:16:00.000Z

Still Thursday

I met Anna for a drink, another INSEAD alum, who is working at Technoserve and just launched a large program between Technoserve, Coca-Cola and Gates Foundation to help local farmers [story here]. It was interesting to hear her point view on expat life in Kenya.

Back at the backpackers world, I met Ben reading Seneca, a 24 year old from London, who bought a jeep and shipped it to Kenya for a 5 month drive in Africa with friends. With his law degree in Oxford, he is banking on a successful career as an M&A lawyer. He plans on working real hard for 14-16 years and then to retire, so now he is living the LIFE, driving through Africa, climbing mountains in Peru and Thailand. I am doubtful about his plan to give up on life for the next decade. You can never eat enough for a week, you will go hungry no matter how full you feel right now.

Friday: I was planning to enjoy my book and the sun today, but got an offer to join a trip to one of the Nairobi slums, where Katherina taught English for three months last year. The program is called Future Kids, supported by University Tier in Germany. By the time we reached Mathare North slum by taking a local bus and then matatu minibus I was already exhausted and dusty. It was hard to be looking around, and even harder to realize what life I was looking for. The sight was depressing to say the least. I would not be able to do what Katherina did, so I applaud her efforts. Best of luck to her at UN, and on a meeting with Barack Omaba's sister here in Nairobi.

The School's Chef - Chef #1

Future Kids, Mathare North slum

On Friday night Bob shared the craziest backpackers story he witnessed staying often in hostels (management work for mines in Africa, any MBA interested?)

- an Israeli guy hitchhiked to Mozambique from northern Tanzania for 7 days straight without stopping for a night in a hostel

- a Dutch lady that drove tractor from Holland to Africa, then shipped her tractor from Cape Town to Anartica to reach the South Pole [read the story on her blog - http://www.tractortractor.org/southpole/]

- a guy from East Timor who walked barefoot the African Continent for 12 years

a bit too crazy for me.

Overall, I am surprised how friendly Kenyans are. No hassling at all. You get an offer for a taxi once, you say no thank you, and you are being left alone. Even bargaining at the markets was a pleasurable experience.

Tomorrow I am off for my 11 day overland trip in Kenya/Tanzania. Pictures will be posted after the trip sometime in mid-February!

Nairobi debriefs - part 1

2010-01-29T16:51:00.001Z

I think I surprised myself when I booked a trip to Kenya/Tanzania on a whim. Having had experience in Africa before, I trusted my South African agent and booked a 12-day overland with Drifters.

I got into Nairobi almost a week before my departure, why not to read some books in +28C weather? I stayed at cheap Milimani Backpackers, chatting my hours away with WorldRace kids, volunteers, UN workers, backpackers and other travelers.

What a week, what an interesting bunch of people!

Tuesday. On my first day I met Laura, INSEAD alum, who is busy starting her own business – “Bush Adventures” – Maasai Warrior Training in the far-far away North Kenya. We chatted how INSEAD does teach you about developing marketing and finance plans but does not teach you where to buy towels! Taking it down to basics – I love it. I will do it one day. As with Laura’s trip, money in Africa will buy you hard-to-reach destinations, real wild life and undisturbed nature. And very often it is absolutely worth the money.

If you don’t have the money to fly into the bush, take the time to plan the trip. Time in Africa is essential. No online research will substitute backpackers’ stories or shopping around safaris on offer. I know now for a fact I could have done my safari for at least 60% of the price I paid.

Wednesday. I met Joel [his blog], a 23-year old Seattle native on the real around the world tour – over the last 16 months he visited 7 continents. Africa is his last one. I took some notes on his Antarctica & New Zealand experiences, what a great resource of information! He is the fourth person I have met so far who I would consult about my next destination.

Thursday. Souvenir hunting begins. During my 2008 trip I did not buy any souvenirs due to my backpack limitations. Also I think I have developed a reflex, vomiting spasm, to mass market curious. You will be surprised how alike the stuff is around the world, Made in China stuff. But there are exceptions. There are beautiful things that are hand made by local people, by people who really need the cash – jewelry, fabrics, masks, household items, carpets, etc.

Shopping for a wooden mask in Africa is an adventure through made up and true stories about the tribes, their history and traditions. As a tourist, you will never have access to the real antiques, so I decided just get something pretty for a reasonable price.

Having been told about a great location for curios shopping by Laura, I was excited. Directions on sms intrigued me even more – “a place called New Safety Line Lodge, Dubois Street, off Latema Road. There is a sign and a blue metal door with a dark staircase, go to the 1^st floor and ring a bell”. [for real?] I was promised glass beads, masks, wooden statues, bronzes from benin, cloth from West Africa and Congo. Since I was warned how dodgy the area was, I recruited three brave backpackers, emptied my pockets, hid my last euros and off we went.

Behind the bus stations where no tourist walks we did find Dubois Street, and soon I have spotted the Lodge. The sign read NO ROOM, FULL. We proceeded and rang the promised bell and entered the light courtyard, with rooms around it where a few men lived and sold their treasures. We were welcomed, toured around in silence, and not hassled at all. The stuff was amazing. At that point of time I decided I wanted to buy something for my-future-apartment-to–rent, but I was overwhelmed by the choice and clueless about the prices. I walked away with nothing. Too bad I was too chicken shit to take my camera with me, a few pictures would have been a nice memory to have, instead I have a few blurry shots from my blackberry phone.

Having walked through the busy City Market and Westland Triangle Curios Market later, I realized how great both the selection and prices were on Dubois street. Thanks, Laura.

[more pictures of souvenirs after the trip ]

London vs New York

2010-01-23T13:05:00.001Z

Oh that never ending comparison between the only two alfa++ cities in the world! [see GaWC world rankings after the jump] As a recent transplant from the west to the east, I have got only complaint - the midnight curfew of London. As the last underground train departs few minutes after 12pm, so does life from the city centre. Unaffordability of cabs does not help either. So one is stuck to hang out around the corner from your apartment flat. The idea of neighbourhoody life is lovely, but what if God forbids my friends live in another neighbourhood. Sleepovers are back in!

new york city

2010-01-19T10:19:00.000Z

I just got back from New York City. Arriving to New York was an overwhelming and confusing feeling. Twenty months have passed since I left New York. I felt I was coming back home. Things were familiar. Taking out US dollars from Chase ATM took my breath away, good I still remembered my PIN. But then I have already forgotten how coins look and what size means what denomination [I am so lost with coins in the UK, I must have a kilo now in my purse as I pay with notes mostly].

Manhattan, every street brought back memories of my life here. Very few things have changed except for every second person has an iPhone now, and is never lost with maps, never goes hungry with yelp, but still does not pick up the phone.

But then again – I knew I didn't live there anymore. I have never been so homeless in my entire life. ‘Your country of residence’ question on all the official forms makes me wonder every time. I have 5 mailing addresses, none of which is my real home. I have two mutually exclusive feelings about this fact. I am tired and ready to settle, I want my own place where I could store my shit after 2 years of begging people to look after it. But then again I am inspired by the freedom of movement, by the richness of my life, by the things I have witnessed and people I have been blessed to encounter. If happiness is not the destination, but the way – I have had a rather awesome way.

So I am emptying my pockets of random SIM cards and a few leftover boarding passes. I give myself another months and I settle.

Holiday issue of the Economist had a great article about being foreign. It ends it with the following line: But we cannot expect to have it all ways. Life is full of choices, and to choose one thing is to forgo another. The dilemma of foreignness comes down to one of liberty versus fraternity—the pleasures of freedom versus the pleasures of belonging. The homebody chooses the pleasures of belonging. The foreigner chooses the pleasures of freedom, and the pains that go with them."

Yucatan, Mexico

2010-01-15T03:23:00.002Z

I am spending the last of my Mexican days in a small colonial town of Yucatan - Volladolid. What a change from ~~needless to mention Cancun~~ Merida. The center is compact, lined up with colourful freshly painted colonial houses. It is absolutely not touristy, counting six gift stores and one coffee shop. Other stores, holes in the wall, sell either shoes, clothing, bread or housewares. Women are dressed in Yucatan white traditional dresses, men wear sombreros and eat tortas de cochinita (meltingly tender pork on a roll) from the corner street carts (delicious!). And there is absolutely nothing to do here! I agree with the Spaniards, the only complain for Valladolid is mosquitoes.

On this trip I have been blessed with awesome random travel buddies. Together with Stefan we have explored Cancun's Zona Hotelera, and we hit all the "cheesy" spots - an overpriced warm beer on the beach at the fancy ME hotel, exploring ME later (was seriously considering couch surfing inside, it was so nice), overpriced and bad Tex-Mex lunch with a bucket of ice cold Coronas and 2 hours of Michael Jackson concert in the background, more hotel hopping, beach wedding, and back to Cancun town where cheap tacos were on order.

Next stop was Isla Mujeres with its beautiful [quite crowded compared to Cancun] Playa Norte. The water colour was blue! No, I mean, it was so blue, shockingly blue. I was introduced to tomales, and of course more tacos. Second day on the island was stormy, so instead of going to Contoy Island, the sanctuary for thousand species of bird, I was left to get drunk on Mexican red wine with my fellow backpackers at Poc Na hostel. Not a bad way to spend a day too!

Merida, the capital of Yucatan, was next. Four Scots and me made a hell of a group! We explored Mayan ruins of Uxmal one day and Cozuma Cenotes (Waterholes) another one. I have never heard of cenotes before, but OMG they were amazing. Completely see-trough blue waters in the underground caves were lit by the sunlight coming through a small opening on the top, lighting up the caves' pinkish walls. Two out of three visited cenotes had long tree roots hanging from the ceiling or stalastices growing from the top. But pictures speak better than words:

Finally, I visited Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza with clapping Cancun tourist groups on the way to Valladolid.
-
I love travelling in Mexico. Second time around and I still love it. It is a beautiful and diverse country with friendly people, easy to navigate and good infrastructure, great food & crafts, history and nature.

I bring very few souvenirs back:

- a colourful hand made hammock from Merida, a place to shop for traditional Yucatecan hammocks - 1 week worth of work costs 280 pesos (medium size)
- simple silver earrings (Valladolid, 136 pesos) - shopping for silver in Oaxaca was definitely cheaper and better
- mexican re-usable shopping bag (Valladolid, 18 pesos)
- Frog necklace (Valladolid, 30 pesos). According to the Mayan calender, I am a frog (or 'muuch'), born between July 12 and August 08, still a fire sign under the planet of Sun, but cold blooded, analytical and calm. The last characteristic just revealed the horoscope's absurdity :)
- Olmec warrior head, a fridge magnet, for my little brother (Valladolid, 35 pesos)

[souvenir from Oaxaca can be seen here]
Kindly yours,
Muuch

Back on the road

2010-01-10T01:04:00.005Z

I am again on the road, travelling for 10 days in Mexico equipped with a small laptop, small backpack, feeling great.

This time around, there is free wifi in every hostel, so I tweet. I have neither energy nor time for long posts, so 140 signs on twitter work out well for me. Join in.

London: logos and books

2009-12-22T20:07:00.005Z

London has style, more style than New York City, sorry but it's true. Whoever does design for London Underground is a genius, I am your fan!

Another London logo that I find great is Visit London promo:

Today I discovered Stanfords', the world largest map and travel book store! Despite the Christmas frenzy around me I zoomed out and stepped into my favourite world of guidebooks, maps, notebooks and photo albums. What a stunning collection. Certainly another tick for London

Into the wild, into the real world

2009-12-22T19:25:00.004Z

We graduated 5 days ago, the INSEAD December 2009 pack. I graduated 5 days ago, unbelievable.

As Rachna put it during her graduation speech, this year we studied more, travelled more, ate more, drank more, danced more, laughed more - we did everything more except slept significantly less.

I maybe did not eat more or travelled more, but certainly felt more, experienced more, thought more, challenged myself more. 2009, aka INSEAD year, turned out to be one of the most memorable, important and defining years for me, if not the most. Time will tell. I have been blessed yet again to have experienced INSEAD - to start in Singapore and to finish in Fontainebleau, from pepper crabs and endless noodles in the Singaporean tropics to the most charming apartment of my life in Château de Fleury, endless wine and cheese tastings.

And now it is time for the real life to begin, maybe slightly less hectic and dense, but certainly full of INSEAD after parties!

I hope to London home after 2 years of being homeless. Let's see what happens!

2009-12-07T22:39:00.001Z

Last year's joke is still relevant today: "Balance Sheet: on the left side there is nothing right, on the right side there is nothing left."

Google

2009-12-07T22:37:00.002Z

Google googles and more - isn't it cool?

from Milan Kundera, The Joke

2009-12-05T11:38:00.002Z

“I had always liked to tell myself that Lucie was something abstract, a legend and a myth, but now I knew that behind the poetry of these words hid an entirely unpoetic truth: that I didn’t know her; that I didn’t know her as she really was, as she was in and to herself. I had been able to perceive (in my youthful egocentricity) only those aspects of her being that were turned directly to me (to my loneliness, my captivity, my yearning for tenderness and affection); she had never been anything to me but a function of my own situation; everything that went beyond that concrete situation, everything that she was in herself, had escaped me. But if she was really a mere function of my situation, it was logical that when that situation altered (when another situation succeeded it, when I grew older and changed), my Lucie vanished with it, because from then on she was only what had escape me in her, what had not concerned me, what was beyond me. And so it was also logical that after fifteen years I had not recognized her. She had long been to me (and I had never thought of her except as being "to me") a different person, a stranger.

The message of my defeat had been trailing me for fifteen years, and now it had caught up with me. Kostka the eccentric (whom I'd never taken more than half seriously) had meant more for her, known more about her and loved her better (not more, because the strength of my love could scarcely have been greater): to him she had confided everything - to me nothing; he had made her happy - I had made her unhappy; he had known her physically - I had not. And yet all I needed in order to possess the body I so desperately desired was one simple thing: to understand her, to know her, to love her not only for what she was to me but for everything in her that did not immediately concern me, for what she was in and to herself. I had been unable to do that and so had hurt myself and her. A wave of anger washed over me, anger against myself, at my age at the time, that stupid lyrical age, when a man is too great a riddle to himself to be interested in the riddles outside himself and when other people (no matter how dear) are mere walking mirrors in which he is amazed to find his own emotions, his own worth. Yes, for fifteen years I'd thought of Lucie only as the mirror that preserved my image of those days!”

Advise needed!

2009-11-19T16:24:00.004Z

On one of these late nights when my brain can no longer read another business case I take a break and do something... tedious. I organize my files, predominately my photos and MBA notes. My harddrive is constantly alerting me about its full capacity, my 1st external hard drive is full (320Gb), my 2nd hard drive of 450 Gb is being utilized. Now. I want security. Having lost my hard drive in Buenos Aires last year, I don't want to go through that pain again. Any geek around knows online storage service where I can dump about 1 terabyte of information? I will pay!

Adrenaline Rush

2009-11-10T00:55:00.004Z

[after a 3 month break I am back again!]

One month to go till my last class at INSEAD.

This period (aka semester) my classes are amazing. Just finished the full weekend class - Entrepreneurship in Action - business simulation game. Officially, I was the CEO of the company. Practically, I was both production planning guy and the secretary at the same time. I loved the team, we were so high on energy. I woke up.

I have a million item to-do list with #1 item on it is to find a job!

I thought I could only travel so much out of Singapore. I was wrong.

My schedule in P5:

Week1: Amsterdam
Week2: Moscow
Week3+4: nothing! guests!
Week5: Germany
Week6: Dublin
Week7: Berlin (back at 8pm, driving back home, leaving at 5.30am for London the next day)
Week8: London
Week9: Grad trip to Sri Lanka!

It is 2 am, and I am still not sleepy...

Lombok to Flores adventure

2009-08-10T07:36:00.001+01:00

From Lombok I took a 4 day-4 night boat to Flores visiting the islands of Komodo and Rinca, aka The Komodo National Park, home to komodo, dragons or how we called them – dinosaurs.

There are only two “budget” boats operating this route. The well-known Perama boat reaches Flores within 3 days and costs more than $400 and Kecana tour that costs merely $150 for 4 days. Given the savings, it should not come as a surprise that Kecana boat did not have any safety measures or any decent navigation system. The food was bare minimum, we slept on the deck, the “guide” did not really speak English, but since we have not drawn, I cannot complain. At times through I was wondering if we'd ever make it. To make us feel save we were told "if waves are too big, we will wait".

We have seen komodo on both Komodo and Rinca islands, but significantly more dragons on Rinca (as everyone says!). It was the mating season so we witnessed a magnificent dragon fight for a female. There is only one female for 4 male komodo. The most fasinating way to see the fight is to have photos lined up. I was impressed! Those heavy carnivores only seemed to be sleeping in the sun. Another second they were fighting with their blood vessels flexing scarily just about 3 meters in front of us.

On the way we also snorkeled at two superb locations. Satonda National Park was maybe the best coral collection I have seen to date. Snorkeling at Red Beach near Komodo was also amazing. The beach itself is also interesting. It is white from the far, but pink up close thanks to red coral pieces.

The landscapes on the way were stunning and different from anything I have seen before. Barren islands with no vegetation, life or people are surrounded by amazing warm blue waters with colourful corals. Some views:

Labuan Bajo is where we ended the trip. The place did not reveal anything special to me except for lack of decent budget accommodation. An expensive hotel outside the city was a nice change after 3 days without fresh water on the boat - we enjoyed the pool for $5/day.

Did I mention the earthquake? Yes, it happened while we were having dinner, but it was weak, not even our plates fell.

My advice is to book an ticket in advance to get out of Flores the very moment you arrive (in high season ppl get stuck there for 10 days). Unless, unless you dive. I heard diving is AMAZING but difficult around Laub Bajo (very strong currents). It costs $80 for two dives.

KOMODO TRIP album on flickr with more dragons and views

Next stop was Sulawesi with a day layover in Kota.

Dragons in action, Rinca Island, Komodo National Park, Indonesia

2009-08-09T17:33:00.002+01:00

more to come shortly

Portuguese Blues

2009-08-08T19:09:00.003+01:00

I will never catch up with my photography. I just came back from the beautiful (western) coast of Portugal. I have a number of great images, still on my SD card. I am still to go through some images from Indonesia (the amazing Sulawesi) and I am asking myself the same question over and over again. Why bother?

If anybody is reading it, let me know. That would motivate me somewhat to go through this torture of selecting images. I realize that blogspot is not as good as livejournal to create a snowball effect for readers. Flickr is definitely better at it, but I am still not ready to spend the time required for that. And besides I like telling stories even though recently I became lazy and somewhat paranoiac.

Regarding Portugal - after partying at sudoeste festival I concluded that Portuguese men are the best looking in the world, at least the part I have visited (the whole 25% of it). Sorry Israelis, you move to the 2nd position in my list. Comments?

Lombok

2009-08-05T10:08:00.002+01:00

I was lucky to get an individual tour of Lombok behind the adventurous, as he calls himself, travelmaster. Still undeveloped compared to the Gili Islands and Bali, Lombok felt like real Indonesia – Muslim, poor and beautiful. Three days on a bike (btw, my ass still hurts a month later!) and I began to discover this island - the green rice and tobacco fields, wild beaches of the north and south, waterfalls by the Rinjani, sunset over Bali, photogenic locals and hyperactive kids screaming “Hello Mister, where you going!?”, the worst roads ever in Southwest Lombok and an amazing cafe Ashtari.

Here is my "favourite" old lady that we caught by chance before sunset.

Other amazing photos on flickr.

Hopping the Gili Islands, Indonesia

2009-07-31T10:47:00.001+01:00

Gili Cat speed boat from Bali to Gili costs ridiculous $60, but if that was the only problem.

High season on Gili Trawangan and I wanted to kill myself how much I hated it. So many people, so much development, so little beach and quietness. I definitely did not understand what the hype was all about. Koh Phi Phi seemed like a paradise right there and then.

The next day I took a public boat to the next island – Gili Meno. I was happy I moved. This was more in line with what I was looking for. Quit and very tranquil Meno with its beautiful beaches won my heart over for the next 4 days. I met two sisters from Moscow, so the days went by very quickly, perhaps even too quickly. We took a snorkeling trip around the island and saw the turtles. The corals were not that great, so I just hope people who dive at Gilis are not disappointed.

In two days families with kids arrived to Meno, so kids-haters beware!

I heard Gili Air is the compromise of the party Trawangan and the quiet Meno. Still with magic 8 to 9 hour daily sleep, sun baths and swimming activities in the perfectly warm days (breeze + no humidity) I was getting my rest.

I stayed at Kontiki on Gili Meno. Good value for money.

More photos of Gilis

On another note.

Now I had time to read my Indonesia guidebook. Because of Bali tourism, arranging travel from Bali is easy. However, travelling between different regions of Indonesia appeared to be much more challenging, it requires significant amounts of time and best arranged on the spot. Thus, risks must be taken of flying into, say, Maluku, looking around for ferries that take ages (and sink?) or flights that fly couple of times a week. When I read Lonely Planet off-beaten path routes requiring 6 weeks to 2 months, I thought they were kidding or planning long breaks in-between destinations. No, that is just remote Indonesia. Given that 30 days is the longest tourist visa on arrival, I can’t see those areas (Papua, Maluku, Katinkalan) developing any time soon.

Bali stories, four days in Ubud

2009-07-26T23:29:00.001+01:00

Three hours of sleep, 4:20 am wakeup call and I am on a 6 am flight to Bali, half dead. What Indonesia? Why? Just put me to sleep.

Nevertheless, I opened my 2 kg Indonesia guidebook to read where I was going. Having been told multiple times NOT TO STAY in Kota, I figured I would head straight to Ubud (Kota was not too bad 2 weeks later, actually). I skipped the whole southern Bali with its surfing vibe for more Balinese inspired Ubud and surroundings.

An official taxi costs $19.5 for an hour and half ride to the center of Ubud (for the simplicity purposes I will mention all prices in dollars, US$1=Rps10,000). I chose to stay on a quiet street Jalan Bisma, romantic hideaway west of Forest Monkey road, next to my very own rice paddies. My advice would be to leave bags at fancy Café des Artistes and shop around for rooms. Rooms costs from $15 to $35/night. However, Bisma street is a 15-minute walk to the bulk of restaurants.

I fell in love with Ubud before I even reached the center. Streets of galleries and beautiful houses plot a dramatic entrance to town. For the first time I have experienced Balinese architecture and style with its attention to detail and embodied peacefulness. It made the city unique and I would say the most special I have seen in Asia. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering on Main road towards Monkey Forest and beyond. Every house had a temple inside the beautiful yard behind exquisite doors with sculptures of mystical animals at the doorsteps. Streets beyond the center are quiet and wonderful. I cannot recommend enough taking time to stroll.

That’s exactly what I did for 6 hours the next day. Equipped with Lonely Plan’s recommended walking tours and a map of Ubud’s surroundings I walked through amazing Campuhan Ridge to the small village of Bangklang Sidem and Payogan. Learn how to say “Selamat Pagi” (Good morning) as everyone nods at your appearance.

I then also toured artists’ village of Penestanan. Every house is a residency of an artist with his very own exhibition that seems to be unattended most of the time. After being lost for a couple of times I finally reached the Sayan Terraces (hotel) where one can hike down to Ayung River. Next door is Four Seasons Hotel with an amazing pool at the drop of the hill. If I had extra $600 (standard room rate) I would not mind a night there.

My third day I spent touring north-west part of Bali. I left Ubud at 7 am with a private driver ($30/day) and luckily was the first one to arrive to Lake Bratan and its Bedugul temple. Up and down the slopes we reached twin lakes of Buyan and Tamblingan and then the coffee plantations of Munduk. The highlight of the trip was the rice terraces at Jatiluwih. They are so amazing that tourists are being charged $1 to drive through them. Further climbing up Mt. Batukaru through some narrow roads and tiny old villages untouched by the development happening in Ubud/Kota, we reached lonesome, mysterious covered in green moss Batukaru temple. What a contrast was Tanah Lot Temple where I arrived 2 hours later – surrounding shops and vendors take more space than the Temple itself. It’s tourism at its worst. Too bad, the temple off the coast in the waves of Indonesian Ocean is impressive.

Bedugul Temple

Rice Terraces at Jatiluwih

Batukaru Temple

Tanah Lot Temple

Taxi drivers in Ubud start to annoy me. It is impossible to walk by without being offered transport service literally every 15 meters. iPod helped a bit.
Fourth day and last in Ubud I went to the east Lake Batur.

It’s time to leave Bali behind. Next week I am winding down on Gili Islands, the white beach paradise with famous dive sites.

40 more pictures on flickr

Travel Map

2009-07-26T08:08:00.003+01:00

After all the travel I did I only covered 27% of the countries in the world. And people say I have seen everything. Ha, just a mere quarter. And I love how I "cheated" with Russia after visiting only St. Petersburg.

Mt.Bromo, Java, Indonesia

2009-07-25T04:24:00.001+01:00

Two weeks before coming to Bali I spent one weekend in Java, witnessing sunrise over Mt.Bromo. It was worth the trip, but maybe not the Friday night spent in horrible Surabaya. NO decent budget accommodation was found and we spent a night in one of the worst hotels I witnessed in my life. Cockroaches were there too.

The viewing platform is easily reached by car early in the morning if you stay overnight somewhere in the vicinity. It was fully packed with Indonesian students due to the summer vacations in the country. The fight for the view was severe, but the foggy view over volcanoes is stunning. After the sunrise we head down to the valley to hike Mt. Bromo – over three hundred steps (??) to see the smoking mountain.

The pictures are on flickr.

Vietnam

2009-07-24T16:20:00.001+01:00

Part One, the south – Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) airport is brand new and quite impressive. Our pre-arranged visas through Vietnam Visa took about 20 minutes to get. ATM, getting dong and becoming milioners (having dollars have proven to be more useful), cab, and we are in Pham Ngu Lao, the backpackers universe of HCMC. The basic room costs $10, a slightly better goes for $15, a hotel room for $25 and up.

Once the first shock from endless flow of mopeds ended, I fell in love with Vietnam. I cannot even explain why. Maybe because touristy stuff and local go together in Vietnam. Next to the westernized café there will be Vietnamese street restaurants where locals squat on tiny chairs and tables. Maybe because Vietnam is so rich in cultural heritage. There is taste and style in a lot of Vietnamese things. It’s a pleasure to stroll through souvenir shops and find unique textiles, ceramics, jewelry and other hand made stuff.

We walked around, had coffee and pastries in a numerous cafes scattered around the city. We bargained for some beautiful souvenirs. We ate at a fancy Hoi An restaurant tasting gourmet Vietnamese food for about $30 per person (no alcohol). We visited the Reunification Palace and walked around China Town’s beautiful and empty temples.
Finally, we went on a one-day tour of Mekong Delta. In retrospect I would recommend to do minimum a 2 day trip with an overnight in the village as it takes at least 4-5 hours to get to interesting and less touristy parts of Mekong Delta.

Part Two, the north – Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

A couple of weeks later we headed off to Hanoi in the north for three and a half day get-away. The first full day we spent exploring Hanoi on foot. I enjoyed Hanoi even more than Ho Chi Minh City. The Old Part of Hanoi is compact with cute streets where shops specialize in different items. One street sells silk, another - eye glasses, the third – kitchen ware, etc. Getting lost and finding the way back in the 40 degree heat and 90% humidity was definitely an experience. A lot of textile from Sapa is being sold in Hanoi. Pictures of tours into the valley are also all over. Next time I would love to go trekking in the Sapa Valley.

We stayed in backpackers perfect guesthouse – Charming Hotel. For the price of $15 you get a small renovated room with a new bed, A/C , TV, amazing shower, free wifi and a decent breakfast. No wonder they were so busy. Highly recommended for simple lodging.

The next day we were picked up at 8 am to go to Ha Long Bay where a boat for 2day/1night tour was waiting for us. We booked Oriental Sails for $85 per person. Again, we were lucky because the boat was only 2 years old, the food was great and the stuff was friendly.

Ha Long Bay is touristy, but it is gorgeous. Thousands of tiny islands-cliffs stick out of Southern China Sea. The main activity on board is sunbathing and relaxing (our timing with super humid weather made it unpleasant after a few hours). Besides that we visited an Amazing Cave, fishing village and did kayaking at sunset. Indeed, great experience.

Vietnam is on my radar screen for more returns!

Flickr album here

Koh Phi Phi trip

2009-07-15T03:37:00.000+01:00

We flew into Phuket airport, 400baht ($13) and one hour we are at the pier to board a boat to Koh Phi Phi Island. Information on internet is misleading. It claims there are only two ferries at 8:30 and 13:30, but we appeared at about 11 am and caught a boat straight away. Advise – take a taxi to pier, buy a ticket, and go to the nearest mall if you have more than an hour to wait. Also don’t buy a return ticket. You never know how your plans change and most importantly, tickets from Koh Phi Phi are cheaper (450bht vs 600 we paid).

At Koh Phi Phi we immediately caught a long tail boat to Long Beach for 200 baht, no point to negotiate if you are two, prices are fixed. There are 7 hotels on Long Beach with the most reasonable (price/value) bungalow at 1500 baht/night ($50/night). Koh Phi Phi is no longer a backpacker destination. They have been priced out to Koh Lanta or Railey Beach. I would say go to Koh Phi Phi with a budget of no less than $120/night for accommodation only. Then stay at nice resorts, hire a long tail boat and enjoy the island. But is it mind-blowing?

Long-tail boats looked more romantic on a picture, beach felt better on Rawa Island. The only truly amazing thing to do on the island was to take a private long tail boat, leave early in the morning and tour the surrounding Phi Phi Leh and the island itself.

We were blown away by the beauty of lagoons and bays (Loh Samah Bay and Phi Phi Leh Lagoon), secluded wild beaches and stupidity of people who went on tours with 20 other people cramped on a speed boat. Private long tail boats cost only about 2000 baht a day.

The first day we went to Maya beach where Di Caprio’s movie Beach was filmed. Nice! Early in the morning we were the only ones there. Then snorkeling at Loh Samah Bay and swimming in Phi Phi Leh Lagoon.

The second day we went around Koh Phi Phi to Monkey Beach, Nui Bay, Bamboo Island and Mosquito island.

The afternoon we spent wandering around the village, sipping cheap fresh fruit juices. Eventually bored we changed tickets to go to Railey Beach, close to Krabi. That’s where the party is! Lonely Planet is outdated as Railway East has developed into backpacker enclave with quite a few nice modern villas. For 1250baht we got a cute looking bungalow. During the day we hiked to the northern Tonsai beach where herds of young people were climbing up the hills. Just to watch them is breathtaking.

Due to slow internet connections here in Indonesia where I am updating the blog, I am uploading pictures only to flickr. Please see turquoise lagoons here.

10 days LEFT in Indonesia

2009-07-14T10:30:00.003+01:00

I am sitting in a nice cafe with wifi in the middle of another country in Indonesia. It is called Kuta, Bali. It is the surfers' paradise with waves that seem not to end, millions of surf board shops, restaurants, bars and population of average age 25, white fit male that just stepped off Billabong advertisement. Rio is nothing compared to Kuta. Jeffrey's Bay was never found on the map...

Why am I here? It's been 17 days since I arrived to Indonesia. I saw the other Bali first (Ubud and the temples), relaxed on Gili Meno, discovered Lombok, made my way on a crappy boat to Komodo & Rinca, Flores islands to see some dragons and nice corals. Today I flew back to Bali to connect to Sulawesi. All the seats were sold out, so I got stuck for the night here. I left my backpack at the airport and decided to enjoy the civilized world before I head back to the real Indonesia. I am actually enjoying Kuta's vibe for the night.

I have all the gritty details as always but... I have been hoping to update my blog, but Indonesian internet is not cooperating with me at all. I cannot upload any pictures and it's been killing me. One day...

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2009-06-30T23:20:00.002+01:00

Another weekend trip that happened ages ago and I only got around now to post some pictures. We went to a city on Java Island of Indonesia that I have never heard of before. Yogyakarta is close to two UNESCO sights but still has not developed into a touristy enclave like Siem Riep. It is quite authentic - you will get plenty of sincere smiles and questions. For especially brave ones I would recommend to spend an afternoon in the bird market near the palace. Animal right activists would be very upset to see all those cute animals locked up in inhumanly tiny cages next to each other.

The highlight of the trip was the magnificent Borobudur, ancient Buddhist temple from 8th century that is built in 9 terraces with special stupas on top and Buddha in each of them. Early morning makes the vistas romantic with fogs hugging the valley and hiding the volcanic Mount Merapi in the far. Another hour and the temple is swamped with local tourists in groups, and so are we. I must be appearing on hundreds of pictures. Lesson learned- never say YES to a picture unless you are ready for hundreds of them. But seriously, school kids were super cute and shy and we were only happy to pose in not-touristy Java.

The next stop was the partly destroyed by 2006 massive earthquake Hindu temple Prambanan. I have to admit that the midday heat took away our ability to admire this beautiful temple.

The day ended with an amazing two hour massage at a local place for about $10. Not a bad weekend trip at all!

Yogyakarta set on flickr

The end of P3

2009-06-23T02:38:00.002+01:00

Four days are left in Singapore, 2 exams, packing, good-byes.

On Saturday morning I head out to Bali for my 30-day exploration of wonderful and mysterious Indonesia. While most of INSEADers embark on the discovery of Thailand/Vietnam/Laos in monsoon season, I start again my backpacking adventure... alone. Little do they know. I plan to see beautiful temples, volcanoes, isolated beaches, best diving sites in the world, dragons on Komodo, and orangutans in the wild.

Somewhere in a quite guesthouse in the middle of nowhere, where H1N1 virus cannot reach me, I will finally go through my thousands of pictures of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. My flickr shamefully has not been updated for ages.

Stay tuned! Soon I will have blog diarrhoea.

Cambodia - Siem Riep, Angkor Temples

2009-05-20T08:34:00.001+01:00

Another short break from studying and we go to Cambodia - to visit the ancient temples of Angkor Wat.

Some similarities between the India and Cambodia are visible in faces, the language, state of the infrastructure and even cuisine. We reach Siem Riep, a little paradise for tourists. Hard-core backpackers might be disappointed. Fancy hip westernised cafes align the main streets of Siem Riep. Isn't it nice - a cheap getaway with similar quality of food and service. Where is Cambodia do I ask?

It is 15 minutes away - floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake are among the poorest populated areas in the region. One can argue about the ethic aspects of a tour to such a village but I found very interesting. We took a boat and floated around the lake at the sundown, visiting one school and a crocodile farm.

The next two days despite the 35C heat outside we diligently spent exploring Angkor, the remains of Khmer Empire. As they say there are over thousand of temples in the area, the opportunities are endless. One can spend at least a week exploring the main temples inside the park area. Even though I am not a history fan, I was fascinated by the colours, shades, shapes, sculptures, details and the setting. If not for the mass tourism in place, I would have named it the most sacred place I have been to. But we were lucky in the morning when our group of friends would be the only one making noise in the silence of the jungle. Breathtaking, indeed.

Here are the most famous (and visited) temples in Angkor:

Bayon - 51 temple towers with faces on each of the four sides keeping watch

Ta Prohm or how we called it "the tree temple", where Tomb Rider was filmed and the secret was out

Classic - sunrise over Angkor Wat, the architectual masterpiece in fine proportions

Sunset on the top of Bakheng Mountain

and many more temples...

The set of flickr is here.

My first sale

2009-05-14T06:16:00.004+01:00

I was pleasantly surprised when a representative from Budget Travel magazine emailed me to say that they liked one of my photographs on flickr. Later they confirmed that the photograph will appear in July issue. I will get $XX [censored] richer. Sweet!

Flickr has the snow ball effect - the more clicks the photograph gets, the faster it comes up in image searches on google or yahoo. But how do I increase traffic on other pictures (that might be even better?) that's the question.

Последний бросок

2009-04-25T03:32:00.003+01:00

The last weekend before the last three exams of P2. I can't wait for it to be over for so many reasons. P3 should be better with my guests here, new people from Fonty, and electives.

It's 10:35 am, no motivation to go through corporate finance material. I think I will rather finish my The God of Small Things, an amazing book once you go through the first 50 pages.

New camera

2009-04-22T06:08:00.003+01:00

Speaking of photography, I am currently shooting with Nikon D70 that has completely depreciated over the last five years. It served me well, I cannot complain, but wear and tear is undeniable at this point as the sensor is beyond the repair. The camera survived sand storms of Burning Man, humidity of Thailand, and care-free backpacking all over the world. It is time to change and it is ONLY a question of money. I want Nikon D300 and maybe even a lens that is part of the set 18-200mm with all its cons, it has tons of benefits for someone like me - a lazy non-professional who likes versatility. My current 35-70mm lens is no good, my Nikkor 18-24mm/f 2.8 wide lens is still amazing.

I am wondering if I should just start with a Nikon D300 body and stop going out to save some money for it. Or buy the whole set and stop... eee... travelling?

Photo piracy

2009-04-21T16:13:00.004+01:00

Sometimes I do weird things - I look for my pictures appearing on other peoples' websites. I found one another day - the picture of the roof terrace of the Luis Barragan house in Mexico City.

It appears on Phillips Garden's blog with no reference to my website, flickr, anything. I am not asking for money, but this is not cool, right? And how did he get that picture anyway? My comment with a fair question of my copyrights he simply deleted. Out of sight, out of mind! It´s good I have my own blog! Ha!

Memory's slippery slope

2009-04-16T15:38:00.002+01:00

Guilty as charged, going back through 2008 pictures - Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia was one of the most impressive places in South America -

Pictures - good to have a camera after all

Indian Stories - Part 8 - the End - Goa, Karnataka, Kerala

2009-03-31T08:07:00.003+01:00

The remaining month of India I spent in a more relaxing pace. A few days in a very touristy but pretty Goa.

Then I spent two days wandering around magnificent Hampi in Karnataka state and back to the coast of Karnataka - Gokarna.

I spent one week in Gokarna area (Kudli beach, Om beach, Paradise beach) doing absolutely nothing besides hiking almost daily to Gokarna town itself. I cannot say enough good words about that small place. I think we shopped in every small local shop for Himalaya products, cotton sarong, bangels or homemade ice-cream. We also witnessed tradition ceremonial Yakshagana dance that lasted till the sunrise. I took pictures of male actors that were putting up pigmented make up on their face before the long show.

After Karnataka I head down to Kerala to meet up with my friend from London who did not yet know what I had prepared for her in my last two weeks in India. The plan was to travel back north from Cochin towards Mangalore escaping the touristy crowds of Varkala and Kovalam beaches and backwaters of Alappuzha (Alleppey).

I enjoyed Cochin and the Chinese Nets:

Then we went to Munnar, the tea plantation country, so far the most amazing scenery I have seen in the south of India.

After that we spent time in Kannur, the up and coming beach destination according to the Tourist office of Kerala. In reality Kannur is a small town with no facilities for tourists. No umbrellas on the beach, no hostels, no restaurants, no backpackers, a complete nightmare for some, a complete paradise for me. Even auto rickshaws did not speak English.

The romantic mist of Kannur:

Green scenery is passing by the window of general class train we took further north:

We managed to book a houseboat for 2 nights/3days in the backwaters of the north Kerala. This boat was all to ourselves with our own guide, chef, driver and electrician (for something like $300). The backwaters phenomena of Kerala was enchanting – swimming in the salty ocean water that looks like a river.

our houseboat (kettuvallam):

We felt special in non-touristy part of India, especially during the backwaters trip. All the kids would run out of the houses to wave at us and to take pictures of white foreigners. I have never felt more welcomed as a backpacker. It was absolutely adorable. I have at least 300 pictures of school kids, teenagers, moms and dads, elders who were greeting us with a sincere smile on the banks of those water channels.

Here is the whole class that came out to look at us: girls part

Backwaters of Valiyaparamba:

This post is the last about India. Thanks to everyone who managed to follow my long stream of photographs.

Full sets are on flickr - Goa, Karnataka, Kerala.

Let me know what you think.

DASH at INSEAD

2009-03-27T02:40:00.004Z

So today we are running DASH at INSEAD, one of the funniest events so far. Last December intake made a great video, watch it on youtube here.

In costumes we run from Heritage Apartments to INSEAD campus (10 min walking). I was The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland with Alice and The Queen of Hearts running after me in the race.

My fellow Inseaders don't stop to amaze me in their creativity. My favorites are Flinstones who created their car from scratch, The Incredibles and The Fruit Salad with the chef, and many many more.

Just now I walked alone to the nearby mall in my bunny constume, with ears, paws, clock, and a pink jacket - the whole deal. I never had so much fun before. People were laughing at me. The kid screamed "Rabbit" in the supermarket, and people asked me if it were my job. So I decided to continue with my role today and bought two packs of large carrots to chew in class.

Indian Stories - part 7 - Mumbai

2009-03-25T13:19:00.000Z

I was suffocating in Mumbai for 3 days. I do not remember a city more humid than Mumbai. I guess what was pissing me off the most was a complete lack of budget accommodation. The cheapest room was 10 times my usual expense per night, but in much worse condition. They say that the real estate in South Mumbai is more expensive than in Manhattan. To live far away from the centre is not only not much cheaper, but also very cuborsome given the size and layout of the city. Mumbai is the 4th largest city in the world with the population of 17 million people. The Mumbai's Suburban Rail Network transports about 7.2 million [source] commuters A DAY. See the post about the dangers (10-15 people die daily on tracks). To compare - 700,000 people pass daily Grand Central in New York and 3.7 million people pass through CST Station in Mumbai (former Victoria Terminus). So you get an idea.

The Victorian architecture and completely crazy Thief Market were the highlights of the stay before I was heading south.

Indian stories - part 6 - Udaipur

2009-03-24T08:46:00.000Z

Udaipur was a lot of fun. I got stuck there for 5 days because of Diwali or rather because of overbooked trains and buses in the whole country.

Finally I could relax and enjoy the view from the guest house's roof top.

My personal top in Udaipur:

- walking away from the touristy area one day before Diwali and during Diwali festival, experiencing the "shopping" fever in the local markets, eating Diwali sweets, seeing celebrations, festive dresses, games, fireworks and other traditions

Somebody even noticed my reflection in the black eyes of this cute girl:

- taking a car with a driver and going into Indian countryside - It can be quite in India. I tasted custard apples for the first time. Married women in the part of Rajasthan wear large nose rings. I managed to get one decent picture. I have hard times taking pictures of people, or rather asking for permission

- Udaipur town itself with its nice

Set of my best pictures from Udaipur

Indian stories - part 5 - Jodhpur in less than 24 hours

2009-03-16T15:38:00.000Z

I was passing by Jodhpur, the blue city of Rajasthan. I visited the Mehrangarh Fort, my fifth fort in 10 days. Haven eaten practically only in the guest houses (locals in Rajasthan do not really eat out), that night I was looking for McDonalds! Big mistake. Two days before a big holiday of Diwali (“Festival of Lights”), the city was going crazy. New beginning means new clothes, new everything, the whole country goes shopping.

The very next morning I fled to a smaller Udaipur.

A few other photos on flickr

Indian stories - part 4 - Jaisalmer

2009-03-16T10:10:00.000Z

If in Bikaner I felt "I finally found it" ["it" being that adventure, that discovery feeling about a place, hospitality and curiosity of the locals], then in Jaisalmer I lost it again. Jaisalmer Fort with its narrow streets inside, Jain temples and millions of souvenir shops is gorgeous. I look at every picture in my album and I love it - the colors, the shapes, the texture... but it was difficult. 10 days in India and I was still untrained in dealings with local annoyances. I had to escape the constant haggling in the privacy of four walls of my guest house.

Better late than never (only 5 months later) I will show the beauty of Jaisalmer:

I visited all three mysterious and beautiful Jain temples and I love my "alive" goddess. I admired the great detail in decoration, but I would not say I understood and remembered much about the ancient religion of Jainism. It is too complex to understand with my random visit to a temple or two.

The fylfot (swastika) is among the holiest of Jain symbols and as Jaisalmer has a significant Jain presence, swastikas (along with Ganesh) are seen everywhere, more than anywhere in Rajasthan. I even stayed in a guest house called Swastika [as an eco-conscious tourist I stayed outside the Jaisalmer Fort :)]

Lastly, no visit to Jaisalmer is complete without watching sunrise (or sunset) over the Sam Dunes in Thar Desert.

More pictures on flickr set. Please tell it is quite pretty, no?

Indian Stories - Part 3 - Bikaner and Thar Desert

2009-03-14T10:02:00.000Z

From touristy Jaipur I escaped to a small town of Bikaner (Rajasthan). The differences were striking. I was left alone to wonder around town, everybody would stare, but nobody would dare to speak. In the quest for old havelis (merchants' mansions of Northern India) I got lost only to be found by a gang of kids. In Hindi they would demand to be photographed, fighting for the spotlight, and later rushing to see themselves on the screen. Lots of fun.

Then I was saved by an English speaking teenager and my journey around Bikaner began. I saw havelis, I took more pictures of kids, I visited a Hindu temple, the bazaar, witnessed a wedding procession, talked to some curious tailors on the street (now with the help of my guide). Finally I ended up in his cousin's house where the girls were painting my feet with henna. My "go with the flow" theory has worked flawlessly. I could not have asked for a better day, but I got it - in the afternoon I visited the magnificent Junagarh Fort built by Raja Rai Singh.

It must have been not only its beauty, but also quietness of the fort that made such a strong impression on me. I spent at least 3 hours wandering around and still did not manage to see all the room and listen to the full audio guide. Each room had a story and its own design.

My next two days I spend flowing through the Thar desert on a camel's back. The camel safari around the area is known to be less crowded and more "authentic" than in Jaisalmer. The experience is a bit too slow as the landscape is not changing, but I appreciated a lot to experience the simple food cooked for us, the desert village life and sincere curiosity and smiles of kids on the way.

Also discussing the cast system in India with our guide was quite a revolution for me.

More pictures from Bikaner are on flickr set.

between regression analysis and game theory questions

2009-03-01T08:39:00.003Z

I have 4 exams within the next three days and all of us are going a bit insane with the studying. I am twittering in-between.

I have discovered a number of amazing things within the two months at INSEAD. I will have a pile of links, books, and ideas to go through in many years post graduation. Just this awakening was worth the tuition, but since I am getting so much more out it I am extremely happy I joined in.

My adaptation/integration/adjustment period is over and I feel 200% better now at INSEAD. Finding the rythm, the people, the goals, the balance, the compromise was truly important. And everyday "it" is getting better.

Indian stories - part 2- Jaipur

2009-02-26T15:52:00.002Z

The bus was beeping all the way from Delhi to Jaipur. I was happy. I was getting into the real thing.

Having heard so much about tourist hassling, I got to experience it first hand. As we were approaching the city center my face became more puzzled as to where to get out. On one of the stops the experienced rickshaw driver read my mind, he jumped into the bus and started waving at me – "Yes, city center, city center, ma'am, get off." It was suspicious, so I decided to get off later (a good rule of thumb – get off when the driver kicks you out, he knows 99% of the time where tourists go). As the bus was turning into the bus station, I saw the crowd of rickshaw drivers running behind the bus. The quick ones managed to jump up and knock on my window to get the attention. There was no way to escape - I honestly got scared, but I survived.

My small guest house with an adorable owner was my safety heaven. He told me how to book train tickets, what to see in Jaipur, where to eat, where to buy jewelry. I slowly felt acclimatized.

Jaipur is one the cities of the Golden triangle (Agra, Varanasi and Jaipur), which means the city center revolves around tourism. Infinite number of rickshaws are fighting for tourists and driving the rates down. I was going around with a rickshaw for the whole day for 400 rs ($8) - the cheapest day rate (I could have negotiated it further down) I came across in India.

Jaipur is known as Pink City as it got painted in pink in honor of the Prince of Wales' visit in 1853. The most impressive architectural complex is outside Jaipur - the Amber Fort, built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in 1727.

Amber Fort:

The Jal Mahal:

The old town enclosed by pink walls buzzes with everyday life, to watch which is a fascinating but very tiring experience. I have never seen anything more crowed. Each bazaar street consists of 6-7 "layers" of activities - shops, shopping alley, another line of sellers, people cleaning anything from plates to themselves, parking for rickshaws, more pedestrians walking, street food, washing facilities, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, occasional camel or elephant on the way to Amber Fort, cars, buses, mopeds, bikes. Everything that can make noise makes noise, everything that can beep - beeps. The city catches you and never lets you go. Not many people like Jaipur, but I was amazed at the intensity. Never visiting a city was more tiring.

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur:

First lesson learned:

As we were taught in rafting - let the river take care of you, do not fight it - the same with India, learning to go with the flow was essential to enjoy the trip.

Some pictures from the City Palace where the current Maharaja of Jaipur lives - His Highness Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur.

The rest of the pictures on flickr [link].

India - part 1

2009-02-24T13:10:00.001Z

Preface

One thing is nagging me almost everyday - my unshared stories and pictures from India. I arrived to Delhi on the 14th of October 2008, scared but excited to experience something extraordinary as predicted by a lot of fellow travellers. Even though everyone was telling me different things about India, one thought was shared - India is so special that it is indescribable unless you experience it. This notion is annoying at times you make travel plans, but I am forced to agree with it thinking back on my experiences.

India is everything you want it to be and ready to make out of it. It is a chameleon that can change and adjust to your moods and spirits. A very good thought from a book called Holy Cow! by Sarah Macdonald:

"India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes. India defies understanding. [...] What's more, India's extremes are endlessly confronting."

The first two weeks in India are crucial as all your senses are assaulted quite literally with different smells, noise, crowds of people, traffic, weather, pollution, weird food, etc. However, how you react will tell you a lot about yourself and that's the journey what makes India so special for everyone who opens up to it.

--

Part 1

India was the first country on my itinerary that I decided to attack without a plan. I certainly heard about Agra, Varanasi and Himalayas, but I did not even manage to buy a guidebook before arrival.

The first 3 days in India I stayed in South Delhi with the family of my former colleague. Never was I more hopeless than in that beautiful posh house. I was dealing with traditional Indian family hierarchy and procedures. I could not leave the house without a car, I could not get my own bus/train/plane ticket, I could not even get a guidebook without help. Nothing was within the walking distance of the house, and I did not feel comfortable asking for "secretary services".

The only thing that kept me sane was Indian pop music that I was watching for hours while confined within four walls. Indian pop music must be the best free antidepressant invented. When you watch Indian music clips with colourful synchronized group dancing you automatically start giggling, dancing and doing the hand twist movement. The gorgeous girls, hot guys, eye expressions, clothes, scenes are so entertaining that I was left wondering if they were for real. Is it a parody? But why? Later I learned that most of the songs are from Bollywood movies and are performed by the movie stars themselves. They can play, dance and sing. Needless to say I was converted into a big fun of Indian pop.

See what I am talking about:

Kabhi Kabhi was the song of my stay in India. Two weeks later I had it on my phone from a nice kid in Bikaner, Rajasthan.

Finally, I got my bearings together. Having decided to do the northern India in a better season, Varanasi and Agra in a more trained for India condition, I bought a bus ticket to Jaipur, Rajasthan. My real trip starts there and takes me on the following route:

[Read on soon...]

It's shitty all around

2009-02-24T07:15:00.001Z

It’s kind of scary outside the INSEAD bubble. The news from home country are worrying – my former macroeconomics professor describes the situation in Latvia as seriously depressing. I will collect real-life stories about the situation after my short visit next week. The developments in the US market are analysed by every news portal obviously and no light is visible in that tunnel either. So why study for the exams? Maybe extending INSEAD is not such a bad idea... [but unfortunately not a real option]

Rawa Dreams

2009-02-16T14:18:00.003Z

After an intense week we packed our bags and after a few hours of sleep on FridaY night woke up at 5 am to leave for a small paradise called Pulau Rawa in Malaysia. The island is tiny - it took us 30 minutes to circle it in a kayak. The water is unbelievably clear and the sand is really white.

INSEADers are hyper active and during 30 hours on the island we managed to snorkel, kayak, play beach volleyball, polo, Frisbee, hike, swim, jump off the jetty, get sun burnt. I personally could have used more hammock time with a book.

12 hours of sleep Saturday night helped and I am back in a 6-hour sleep mode in Singapore.

New Management Science

2009-02-16T07:31:00.001Z

I invented new type of management – free passport space management. It involves a number of stages:

Stressing out about failure to persuade the immigration officer to stamp passport on a certain page
Choosing strategically a smiling immigration officer
Smiling intensively and asking in the sweetest voice NOT to stamp a blank page
Stressing out even more when the officer shuffles hopelessly through the passport
Standing on toes to see what's going on behind the counter
Hear the "execution", i.e. passport being stamped
Check eagerly the passport. Upon success, booking another trip immediately. Upon failure, rethink the next 4 months in Asia.

At this point of time I have 2 blank pages in my passport. I need one page for Thailand for visa-on-arrival and the second for non-persuaded immigration officer. So far I managed with my new management science to get a single entry visa-sticker to Indonesia on a used page and two entry/exit stamps to Malaysia on used passport pages. It is getting harder by an hour. Ideally I will save my extra space for Indonesia or Vietnam or Cambodia in the summer break.

Jet lag

2009-02-11T13:06:00.002Z

What’s new on campus? I guess I am going through the hardest week of P1 at INSEAD. A number of cases are due, price games, individual cases, a quiz on Friday, another exemption exam also on Friday. Besides that I am organizing a trip for 10 people, participating in a student club and try not to fall back with other classes. Final exams of P1 are looming in two and a half weeks.

Interestingly enough my most productive hours aka when my brains seem to be awake are from 8 pm till 11 pm. Can I still be jet lagging five weeks after the landing in Singapore?

job market? what job market?

2009-02-02T11:08:00.001Z

Some of us are in the midst of applying to finance jobs (or rather what's left of it).

Others postpone the job search till later.

Nevertheless we eagerly read the news about INSEAD corporate recruiters on campus whose names keep piling up in the wrong list. (another one)

And of course "black" humor

Personally I believe the crisis will be far from over by the end of 2009 and we are here for a rough landing.

Academics

2009-02-01T07:57:00.002Z

Four weeks into the classes, half way through Period 1 and we start to feel the weight of the academic load. Classes move rapidly and the amount of the unknown, unread, not-calculated material increases in geometrical sequence. Thanks to our great professors and my daily minimum studying I feel I am still afloat. But I honestly expected the core courses to be 'mas o menos' repetition of my undergrad. Not really. One of the similar things between INSEAD and SSE (among many) is how we adapt the new words/concepts to daily communication. All of a sudden "sunk costs", "opportunity costs", "valuation" enter conversations over lunch. My $100 lost two nights ago was immediately labeled as sunk costs, thus irrelevant to the current mood. I know all that, but I still want sympathy! Active learning 101.

The classes themselves are a lot of fun. Either teachers make them interesting and entertaining, or us (e.g. bingo game) or the subjects themselves. Only last week we were eating M&Ms in Statistics class to demonstrate sample vs population statistics with counting red M&M before jumping into Central Limit Theory, confidence intervals (mind numbing material).

In Price & Markets Professor Dutt revealed the existence of a real cappuccino at Starbucks (called short cappuccino) vs. tall/grande/venti ones as an example to explicit market segmentation. Microeconomics is my least favorite subject, but here I am actually enjoying (maybe more the professor than the subject).

For Leading People and Organizations we were watching Twelve Agry Men before the discussion on leadership. Besides that it's an amazing movie, I guess it is the idea behind Mikhalkov movie "12".

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T14:50:00.008Z

I successfully missed Chinese New Year festivities in Singapore by spending the long weekend in the rain forest of Kuching, Malaysia (Borneo Island). True to its name, it was raining or rather pouring most of the time. Some of us applied the sunk cost concept flew back to Singapore earlier. Others looked at the opportunity costs and stayed. It was good fun, especially the dinner in Topspot seafood food court (raw fish on the picture to the left was in fact grilled as well as prawns, red snapper, stingray, and crabs).

I completely organized myself with the due dates - synchronized on all my calendars and multiple work stations. I bought a lovely Acer Aspire One 8.9" "big calculator" as I call it for $430 to carry with me to campus to check emails and write assignments. ThinkPad is too heavy to be running around with.

I am continuing to filter my pictures from India. I will take myself out to a big dinner if I ever finish the mission (from 3,000 to the best 100).

My final achievement of today was installation of Qlock application with 4 different times zones on my desktop to keep track of my around-the-world network.

INSEAD

2009-01-20T10:46:00.003Z

It has been 3 weeks since I started my MBA program at INSEAD. I have met more exciting, fun, interesting, chill people than I thought I would. Predominately due to that factor I am very happy here. Also perfect weather, pool, food courts with abundance of Asian dishes for $2 contribute somewhat.

First period consists of 5 core subjects (mostly analytical), out of which I exempted from Financial Accounting during the first week. So my workload is less. Also [so far] the course material is repetition from my undergrad, so my workload is even less. I am also not applying to any finance internships, so my "career" activities have not started, so my workload is even less. The result - I am not stressed the way I am supposed to be stressed if you listen to "the average" experience at INSEAD in P1.

But I am busy with the stuff I enjoy - talking to people, booking trips, reading, attending extra curricular activities.

Last weekend I spent on the "Singaporean beach", an Indonesian island of Bintan, a 45-minute ferry ride away. This weekend we are going to the island of Borneo, to Kuching, Malaysia. The experience hopefully will be more authentic and cheap. Tons of other ideas are floating around for the upcoming weekends and short break between our "periods".

To be continued...

Mozambique

2008-12-27T08:47:00.003Z

I am currently going through three thousands pictures from India, which is a big task for anyone especially for someone as lazy as me. But I hope to finish something before New Year’s, otherwise they will be rotting on my hard drive for eternity. In one week I make my way to warm and rainy Singapore and theoretically become serious about my future and all.

But that’s in 7 days. Today I want to publish some photos from my second overland trip in Africa. After visiting Apartheid Museum & Soweto in Johannesburg, Lion park in the vicinity and watching dozens of DVDs at Mufasa hostel, I was ready for another group exercise only two weeks later to make a vow never to travel this way in my life. But since I only had two weeks at my disposal before moving on to India “14-day Discover Mozambique” trip with Nomad was perfect.

We headed south to Swaziland where we went on a game drive in Hlane Royal National Park. We parked right next to the lion family with the cutest cups ever, almost crashed head to head with an elephant and watch white rhinos at the sunset.

The next two days we spent at Tofu beach, which can be easily reach individually from the capital, Maputo, on a hostel shuttle bus. I did snorkel with a whale shark, the largest fish in the world – breathtaking experience I have to say. The fact that the animal is incapable of biting half of my body off did not really calm me down – the size does matter!

Traveling north of Praia do Tofu is as I understand a bit more cumbersome, but very possible with the right amount of time and patience. We, however, needed not to worry as our half-empty overland truck was jumping over potholes of horrible road on the way to Vilanculos.

I fell in love with Mozambique immediately as it was different from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana; in the latter two you hardly ever see a person with the density of population at 2 pps per sq. km. Mozambique was much. North of Tofu (basically everywhere expect closer to the capital) people seemed to live like Himbas but dressed – in huts, no sewage, no electricity. All women wore sarong skirts and carried everything on their heads. Mozambique is a country of countless banana and coconut palm trees that was still curious about us, tourists.

From Vilanculos we did our two day “sail away safari” on Dhow boat to different islands. We were spoiled by the delicious food served on the beach, crazy clean blue waters, dolphins and sun. Snorkeling near Bazaruto Arhipelago at the Two Mile reef was a dream comes true for me. I cannot think of anything more beautiful than color combinations of those fishes. Were even names for those colors invented in any of the languages?

We spent another two days on the beach at Barra Lodge close to Inhambane and with a stop over in depressing Maputo we came back to South Africa. A small incident did happen at last in my travels! My small camera (and a bottle of perfume!) got stolen from the overland truck on the border of Mozambique and South Africa.

The next two days we spend in Kruger National Park. I finally saw plenty of giraffes that were crossing the roads, blocking the road – in other words, picture perfect behavior.

We took Panorama route on the way back to Johannesburg that absolutely gorgeous as well as touristy. My favorite stop was at the Bourke's Luck Potholes.

And a very logical ending to my African travels was a visit to the Moholoholo Rehab Center where the founder was screaming at the top of his lungs about the worsening conditions of pretty much everything in Africa for the wild animals.

The next night I flew to a very different world of India...

The album on flickr as always

My overdue update

2008-10-27T14:27:00.002Z

Thank you to everyone who expressed concerns about my well being... I am alive and quite sound here in India, finishing up my 2-week tour of Rajisthan. India has cured my internet addiction, so I am mostly offline. Or maybe I am reluctant to update my blog because I am just simply dead tired by the end of each day. India is by far the most intense country I have ever visited.

After two days of Diwali (Holiday of Lights) here in Udaipur I am going south to Mumbai, then state of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and maybe Tamil Nadu.

Most probably I will not upload any pictures until late December. I still want to show the world my pictures from wonderful Mozambique and only then go through thousands of images of India.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls - Baobab Land

2008-09-30T16:12:00.001+01:00

Day 17 - Gweta

Left Okavango Delta in the morning and after 5 hours of driving we arrived at the absolute paradise in the middle of nowhere. Baobab Planet is the best and stunning campsite of the trip starting from the pool, the bar, the showers and of course BAOBABS. These trees are insane, humongous, gorgeous.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls - Okavango Delta

2008-09-29T06:19:00.000+01:00

Day 13

We leave Namibia behind and cross into Botswana, the country of which 85% of land is taken up by Kalahari and another 3% is covered by wetlands of Okavango Delta. Despite that the country is quite rich thanks to discovered in 1967 diamonds that were put to good use (free education, free health care, infrastructure).

At the end of the first day we camp at Ghanzi where we meet local Bushmen community that perform Tribal Dancing for us. Bushman or rather San people is indigenous population of southern Africa with 60% of them left living in Botswana.

Day 14

The next day we drive to Maun, a gateway to Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta. In late afternoon I go on a scenic flight in a 7 seat jet. As we glide over the maze of islands and water we see elephants, buffalo, giraffes, termite mountains. I have never seen anything remotely similar to Okavango. I am still puzzled over what I see exactly below. Is the water deep? Is it a swamp? How do animals migrate from on island to another? What is it?

Day 15/16/17

Over the next two days we experience Delta up and close. We are taken to an island for bush camping by makoros (traditional canoes). The experience of sitting in makoro and being poled through the grass and waters of Okavango is amazing and relaxing. Still water makes picture perfect reflections as well as major sun reflector. By the time we reach our island I am sun burnt despite the sun protection.

We spend the mornings hiking, the afternoons hiding in the shade and evenings at the hippo "pool".

We also evidence something I have never seen before. At the sunrise we see the full moon and red sun in the sky at the same time.

More Okavango pictures

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-26T07:47:00.000+01:00

Days 10/11/12

We spend two and a half days in Etosha National Park, the best protected area in Namibia for wildlife viewing. With 23,000 km2 Etosha is huge.

We spend about 8 hours driving around on the first day and I was practically dead when we finally arrived to our campsite at sunset.

It is hard to get used the idea that the animals I have seen only on TV are now outside of my truck window. I believe I screamed from excitement when I first saw giraffes chewing on acacia trees (especially through binoculars).

In Etosha all vehicles are restricted to roads and one cannot get out of the car or on the roof. In fact, exploring park in the overland truck offers one big advantage - unobstructed view as we are much higher than any 4x4. Three lodging sites with camping and safari lodges are fenced and they open at sunrise and close at sunset. The opposite of the zoo.

The park is flooded with springbok and zebras. Funny how nobody stops for them after 30 minutes in the park. It's a pity because I find zebras with individual white-black-brown patterns to be among the most beautiful animals.

At lunch we arrived to Okaukuejo campsite with a water hole where quite famous photograph of Gerald Hoberman was shot (his collection is by far the dominating postcard material in South Africa and Namibia). It seems like nothing has changes since those times. The water hole is very busy with an elephant, springbox, oryx, kudu, zebra. Giraffes are approaching very slowly too. Amazing. I could have spent hours watching animals line up for water that hot midday.

In the afternoon we saw heaps of animals - families of elephants, giraffes, countless zebras, blue wildebeest, ostrich. We were lucky to spot one lioness and play a bit with her as she was crossing the road.

THE look:

We camped at Halali campground in the middle of Etosha NP. At night everybody who won over almost irresistible desire to sleep and went to the artificial Moringa water hole was rewarded. Leopard came out to drink some water. Professional photographers snapped masterpieces while the rest admired the graceful predator through 50x binoculars. Three black rhinoceros, jackals and steenbok appeared at the water hole during the 90 minutes we were there.

By the end of the first day my eyes were in great pain after hours of viewing everything through my camera viewfinder or binoculars. Game driving is exhausting!

The next morning we left the campsite at sunrise. Should I mention how beautiful the sunrise is again? We are spoiled by breathtaking sunrises and sunsets everyday.

We follow fresh footprints of lions. Three lioness rest under the tree by the road but relocate further away as the first passing by cars disturb them. Gorgeous cats.

We continue and soon arrive to another water hole with... four male lions. Their faces are covered in blood. They've just eaten and now are taking a early morning nap while the sun is still warm. Soon they will disappear in the shade.

We drive until 12 pm. We stop at Etosha Pan - what used to be a lake but now is a cracked dry surface 130 km long and 72 km wide. Salar de Uyuni in Africa?

I am so tired, hot and sleepy I head over to the water hole for some shade. I arrive just on time to catch a big family of elephants during the afternoon. I skip the afternoon game drive in favor of cold pool.

The night game viewing was quite eventful at our water hole as we see in action how a herd of elephants shares (or rather not) water hole with jackals, hyenas and rhinos.

On day 3 we are leaving Etosha NP, but still do a morning game drive. We see lions again - six of them. A number of jackals are running around and hyena is approaching:

There must have been a recent kill. Small predators are after king's prey.

Further away next to a large herd of zebras we see a dead zebra with a jackal eating out of its stomach. The zebra was pregnant.

My visit to Etosha could not have ended better - another viewing of leopard.

Seeing this abundance of wildlife made it a bit of surreal experience. Can it really be true? Are they really wild? Oh yes, those lions with red faces from blood and the jackal eating out of zebra's belly. It's just easy to forget because the wildlife is so accessible in this region of the world.

Hyenas won my congeniality award - I find their "mean" posture because of high shoulders and low back adorable and special.

A bit more pictures but most of them got censored for poor quality

Livingstone, Zambia

2008-09-23T09:03:00.002+01:00

My 20 day overland is over. Still more updates to come...

meanwhile

I have made the decision to toss out most of my stuff left in New York. It's crazy. While I am throwing away everything (donating to Salvation Army), I know that all those things would have supported a family or two in Zambia for a year. Zambia is the poorest country on my itinerary, so barter is quite common. Any salesperson on the market would have been so happy to receive really anything. All that clothing, linen, towels, even old pens, pins - anything. But the reality is that boxes are in New York and shipping costs make everything uneconomical and irrational. I can only day dream about what ifs and would have beens. For now I will give away my old t-shirts, elastic headbands, and anything I can find useless in my small backpack, which is not a lot as I have 4 more months to go.

I have never had too much stuff but even with all I had I felt wasteful by the time I had to pack it all up. I hope my lesson is learned.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-22T09:56:00.004+01:00

Day 9 – Himbas

Sunrise gets better every day, but my camera still refuses to capture its magic.

We drive north towards Etosha National Park. We pass Brandberg Mountains mysteriously hidden behind the mist. Some overland group camp there instead of Spitzkoppe and explore nearby Bushman painting (“White Lady” is quite famous).

Further we make a stop by the stalls of Herero women. Herero is the third largest ethnic group in Namibia, originally part of Batu herders arriving to Namibia in mid 16th century. In fact, Himbas is a subgroup of Herero but colonization has made the subgroups look (and live) very differently. Himbas remained seminomadic herdmen and non-Christians, and consequently half naked by the standards of the Western world (Himba women never show ankles, so tourists in flip-flops are half naked to them).

The Herero women dress in full-body length Victorian style massive dresses brought to them by German missionaries. On the head they wear horn-shaped hat. They sell look alike dolls and ask for N$5 for a picture. None taken.

From 11 am to 3 pm the sun is unbearable. We passed the time in a nearby empty lodge with a pool. The house was built between huge boulders with no clear plan. We were running around like kids admiring somebody’s crazy creativity.

At 4 pm we walked to Himba village nearby that also runs an orphanage project for Himba kids mostly from the north of Namibia. We were taught how to greet in Himba language and how to use a handshake (both hands, three times). The next 2 hours we spent walking around the village, taking pictures, greeting women, playing with kids and then watching the washing ritual of Himba women.

Himbas is the most photographed tribe of Africa, so I expected the experience to be touristy and I was OK with that. Some from our group walked back to the camp as they did not feel comfortable staring at Himba's way of life. But I find the Himba culture interesting, different and worth understanding before it disappears completely. Himbas are in fact paid to accommodate tours and do not mind pictures. They do not speak any English, but kids are picking up some words already. The guide told us there are about 10-12k Himbas left, but the number is slowly decreasing as more and more kids are sent to schools and change their lifestyle because of the economic reasons.

The Himbas women are famous for their reddish skin color that comes from the daily beauty routine that involves smearing themselves with a mixture of butter fat, ochre powder, and herbs. This kind of deodorant also protects them from the sun. Women never wash themselves with water, they take steam baths all their lives created by sitting with a towel over a bucket with cols.

The queen of the tribe:

A beautiful girl. Two braids mean both parents are alive. Heads of boys are shaved.

Women hairstyle - hair extensions covered in ochre mixture.

One parent is alive:

More pictures of Himbas on flickr

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-21T08:58:00.003+01:00

Day 8 - Spitzkoppe

I am well prepared for the trip after 4 months of backpacking through South America. These bumpy roads are not that bad after Bolivia. Camps are 5 star hostels compared to Bolivian hostels with no heat or hot water in altitudes above 3500 m. I am truly enjoying the drive. Every hour or so the landscapes slightly change – another hill, more stones, burnt yellow grass... I seem to find beauty in all of this. Namibia is an absolute paradise for desert terrain lovers.

Chameleon

We are leaving Swakopmund where some of us spent Sunday quad-biking or sand boarding, but I - updating my blog about the overland. We drive inland towards Spitzkoppe, a 1728 m high mountain that we see from a 1000 m base. Today we camp practically with no facilities. The campsite, run by a local community, consists of fire areas and two long drop toilets in the middle of the field with 3 walls around them. The 4th non-existent wall opens a view onto Spitzkoppe.

In the afternoon we explore Pondoks – enormous granite domes around the campsite. The Natural Bridge reminds me of Arches National Park in Utah. Bushman’s Paradise is an overhand with an ancient rhino painting.

We do not pitch tents – we are cave people today. We sleep in one of the rock hollows or a “cave” between boulders with the fire in the middle. Our roof is a humongous rock sitting in-between. An absolutely magic place.

More pictures on Flickr

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-07T14:35:00.002+01:00

overland pictures

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-07T14:15:00.000+01:00

Day 5 – 230 km

Day 5 is the day. We wake up before dawn and rush to Dunes Sea of Sossusvlei. We hike a 145 m high Dune 45 and watch the sunrise of the dune’s rim. Unbelievable sunrise of the huge red sun, unbelievable setting among orange dunes. This place is absolutely out of this world. My tries to capture “it” are nothing more than pathetic.

After breakfast we ride 15 km further into the park. We leave our overland truck for 4x4 and drive to the parking lot, from which a 1.5 km hike to Deadvlei (dead or dry lake) begins.

The contrast of white cracked bottom, black trees, orange dunes and bright blue sky has been capturing my imagination for quite sometime now. The place is surreal. I just took my sandals off and walked on the cracked bottom for an hour until the sun was just unbearable.

Sossusvlei is the paradise for professional photographers. I have seen the magic photo collections from the dunes. Maybe one day I will come back and see them properly.

Early in the afternoon we arrive to the smallest town in Namibia – Solitaire. It has a lodge, a gas station and a store with a postbox. Even the smallest town has its very personal landing strip of Solitaire International.

Day 6 – 290 km

We are already used to getting up in the dark, taking down the tents and leaving the campsite with the first rays of sunrise. The best time to travel (or hike or take pictures) is between 5:30 am and 10 am when shadows are long, light breeze cuddles your cheeks and the sun does not burn your skin. After 10 am the heat makes you dizzy and the quest for the shade begins.

We see oryx, springbok, zebras and a huge family of baboons – they too are avoiding the midday heat and only visible early in the morning (or afternoon).

Gorgeous Oryx that can survive without water for 20 years

Today we are leaving Namib-Naukluf National Park area crossing the Tropic of Capricon and driving through a beautiful Kuiseb Canyon. In the afternoon we arrive to Swakopmund on the Atlantic Ocean, the third largest city in Namibia with 30,000 people!

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-07T14:02:00.000+01:00

Day 3 – 210 km

Today we cross into Namibia, the youngest country in Africa. It got its independence only in 1990 when South Africa finally gave in to mounting international pressure and gave up control of the territory.

We are in the Kalahari semi-desert driving towards Fish River Canyon on the gravel road. We feel the first wave of heat. The landscapes are empty, flat and uninhabited.

By the time we stop by our first Quiver Tree (Kokerboom), which is actually a plant, I am just radiant. It is so quiet and distant.

The afternoon is spent hiking along the rim of the impressive Fish River Canyon. In the silky sunset light even grass looks amazing.

One can hike into the canyon only during three coldest months of the year. Our guide told us the 85 km Lowenfish hiking trail is the second most difficult in the world because of harsh conditions.

Day 4 – 610 km

It is the longest drive of the trip – 610 km to the next camp. We start off early – at 5:30 am the air is chill and the sky is pink. We see our first animals – zebras, springbok (gazel), oryx (antelope), kudu, and ostrich. The big red ball of sun is rising over the desert.

Never-ending desert plains for the next 10 hours of driving and only the shade of our overland trucks changes with the movement of the sun above. No wonder Namibia’s density is only 2 persons per sq. km. The word “namib” means empty.

In the afternoon we arrive to the amazing area of Sesreim. The camp is surrounded by fields of dry sun burnt grass and Naukluft mountains in the background.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

2008-09-07T13:55:00.002+01:00

Day 1 - 210 km
We are 12 people with 9 girls and 3 guys – 5 Germans, 2 Swiss, 2 South Africans, 1 American, 1 South Korean and me. I am trying to switch on my German, but only Spanish comes out. We are all in our twenties.

Today we are driving 210 km to the north towards Namibia camping in the Cederberg region, which is the only area in South Africa where rooibos tea is grown. It is the first day of spring and we pass the mountain range still covered in snow.

Day 2 – 535 km

We depart Western Cape and cross into Northern Cape, into the Namaqualand region that is famous for its spring wild flower bloom. In season purple, orange and yellow flowers carpet mountain terrains as far as the eye can see. We however were there a week or two too early. The flowers just started to bloom.

We camp on the South African side of Orange River.

Orange River that starts in the mountains of Lesotho and ends in the Atlantic Ocean is the border between South Africa and Namibia. Namibia starts on the other bank of the river (vs. the middle) and this fact is still being disputed between the two countries. South Africa is not too inclined to give up the river not because of the water but because of the diamonds in there. Some 80 km down the river there is the restricted diamond area where they say you will be shot if appear without any questions asked.

The Orange River is named after the Orange royal Dutch family when diamonds were discovered in 1980s, but the river will be renamed to Galieb River (in Afrikaans Galieb means river, so it will be River River) as many other places in South Africa in an effort by the current government to get rid of names reminding of colonization or apartheid times.

Starting overland tomorrow!

2008-08-31T12:41:00.002+01:00

I am getting ready to go on my big overland tour to Zambia through Namibia and Botswana. I am going to see the real Africa – as real as it will get for me this time. Preparation includes shopping for anti-malaria medicine and adaptors, making copies of my passport, visas, insurance; repacking, laundry, and arranging post-departure flights, accommodation and activities.

Since I did not get Zimbabwe visa, I am leaving my group on the last day of the overland to catch a local transfer from Botswana to the Zambian side of the Victoria falls. I spend fours night in Livingstone, fly back to Johannesburg, maybe visit Drankesberg Mountains (cannot enter Lesotho – visas again!) and head to Mozambique on my second 14-day overland through Swaziland and back to South Africa through Kruger National Park. The day after I fly to India.

A special thanks goes to Rob and Shawn from Detour Africa, a travel agency here in Cape Town. Without them none of this would have been possible. I would have still been arranging my visas and what not. The guys are absolutely charming, extremely helpful and knowledgeable. To my surprise I found that travel agencies here can offer you cheaper prices on tours than the tour operators themselves. Arranging everything with Detour has been definitely one of the highlights so far and I know how cheesy it sounds.

We were told to expect the unexpected along with no connection to the outside world for the next 20 days. I expect to get some kind of internet connection in Namibia and in the end of my overland in Livingstone. Internet in Africa is expensive; and you are charged for volume.

Mapping it all out:

South Africa - Garden Route

2008-08-30T13:10:00.000+01:00

Just came back from Garden Route, which I explored the lazy way - with Baz Bus, a hop-on hop-off bus service that shuffles backpackers from one hostel to another in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. It is quite convenient, but restricting - no interaction with the country.

I found Garden Route to be backpacker's paradise with the nicest hostels I have ever stayed at. All owners were super friendly; beds and sheets - soft and clean; bathrooms as good as at home.

My first stop was at Wild Tongue Backpackers in Nature's Valley where I spent the day hiking near Tsitsikamma National Park.

Next stop was Jeffrey's Bay (or how locals call it - J-bay), the mecca of surfing. Annual Billabong Pro contest packs this rather smalls village for a week. However, now in the winter on a cold day J-Bay was dead. At the hostel Ubuntu we were seven (max 26). On Sunday night we watched Casino Royal (every time I am trying to convince fellow travelers the main guy resembles Vladimir Putin, but I guess only Russians see it) on the big projector. Tucked between the pillows I felt I sneaked into somebody's house and should be kicked out. In fact, Ubuntu is the house of two surfers-owners living on the surfer's schedule - go to bed by 11 pm, rise at 7-8 am, check the surf. If the wave is good, surf.

The third stop was Storms River, where I tried Canopy for the first time. Maybe I was not swinging in the trees like Tarzan, but it was still pretty cool. Storm River is also home to the world's tallest bungee jump (216 m).

Then on to Wilderness, The Beach House Hostel with the views of the Indian ocean to the right, left and in front of you. I did nothing besides walking on the empty beach and hiking to Victoria Bay following the rail tracks.

The last stop was Swellendam, the third oldest white settlement in South Africa. Mountains, hiking trails and the town are charming.

More pictures on flickr

Almost perfect two weeks

2008-08-29T15:50:00.000+01:00

My good mood disappeared this morning when I realized my brand new jacket bought in Buenos Aires was stolen last night. I do not know how or why. Instead of being upset I am supposed to be happy that it was just the jacket, but I am not... Not to mention it is freezing in Cape Town too.

South Africa - Cape Peninsula

2008-08-25T02:56:00.001+01:00

A drive through Cape Peninsula towards the Cape Point has been so far the highlight of my week. I would have preferred to have done it on my own at my pace, but for now I did it with a tour.

We first stopped in Hout Bay where everybody went on a short boat ride to see a small colony of fur seals. Since no experience can top my encounters with them in Galapagos, I walked around the little port to take in the bright sun.

The next stop was unplanned. A little further south of Simon’s Town southern right whales (“right” is because they were right to kill for their oil and bones; story of their near extinct and revival) were playing by the shore. Literally. The whales are easily seen here between July and October as they pass by the South African shore. No boat or car needed, just stroll on the beach. The southern right whale is recognized by whitish-brownish callosities on its back and head. My camera is no good to take good pictures of wild life from a distance, but callosities are seen.

From Simon’s Town we continued on to a small national park of Boulders Beach with its colony of African penguins. They are cute little creatures and their synchronized strut through dunes is a very funny thing to see. Before the African penguins were called Jackass penguins for their donkey like sounds during courtship.

At about noon we reached Table Mountain National Park. We biked about 7 km among the stunning landscape to reach our lunch spot. A bit more driving and spotting a female ostrich and we reach the main parking lot for Cape Point. We hiked up to the original lighthouse, greeting a lovely baboon on the way there.

Apparently, New York is the furthest point on my itinerary nowadays.

Rio de Janeiro – 6055 km
Jerusalem – 7468 km
New Delhi – 9296 km
Singapore – 9667 km
London – 9693 km
New York – 12 541 km

A 45 minute hike to Cape of Good Hope was amazing, but as with the tours it usually goes it was horribly rushed.

I do not know if anybody would be disappointed to learn that the Cape Point is neither the most southern point of Africa nor where Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. Cape Agulhas is the place, about 300 km southeast of Cape Point. Nevertheless, the place is amazing.

We saw seals, whales, penguins, ostriches, baboons, and a snake during one day – not too shabby!

More animals and landscapes on flick.

South Africa - Cape Town

2008-08-23T20:22:00.000+01:00

Before I start describing my first week in South Africa I think I should first say where I am writing this post. I am sitting in a Wild Tongue lodge in Nature's Valley on Garden Route. I was the only guest staying on this huge farm under bright African stars. This place is absolutely amazing and stunning. Unfortunately, this place is being sold due to family issues.

* leaving Buenos Aires

The start was stressful. For no good reason I was late for my bus and got to the airport only 1 hour and 20 minutes before departure. My bag was checked in the last as it took the desk some time to figure out my passport, visas, flights and itineraries. I walk onto the plane 15 minutes before departure. The lines was enormous, but moved quickly. In the US I am sure I would not have been allowed on an international flight so late.

* arriving Cape Town

I arrived at 9 am in the morning, half dead as I watched the movies instead of sleeping on my 7-hour Malaysian Airlines direct flight. Nevertheless, I managed to arrange both Namibia and Botswana visas on the same day. After that I slept for 15 hours in my lovely hostel Inn Long Street.

The next day I spent walking around Cape Town. Some highlights include V&A Waterfront (touristy upmarket shopping and dining), The Bo-Kaap (Muslim colorful area of Cape Town), downtown and its Company's Gardens.

Pictures are on flickr.:

V&A Waterfront with Table Mountains vistas

The Bo-Kaap colors

The Company's Gardens

* First impressions

Everything in South Africa feels new and interesting. Driving on the left side, 6 languages to choose from in the ATM, even coins with wild animals are cute.

The best surprise were the prices. I dare to say South African is cheap. The prices for food and accommodation are not higher than in Argentina. The real expense comes in when you are trying to do anything touristy... like say safari, wine tours, diving with sharks. The latter I am not doing as my heart will stop right there in the cage.

Gone

2008-08-17T17:58:00.002+01:00

A month in one place and notwithstanding the amazing times here in Buenos Aires I am restless. I am happy to be packing, putting the heavy backpack on my back, and leaving! Africa is next!

Buenos Aires - food

2008-08-16T23:47:00.000+01:00

Sometimes picture speaks better than words. Asado from yesterday:

Asado for four people, we managed to eat half of it. There is a legend about one customer that has eaten it all.

Buenos Aires - photos

2008-08-15T16:20:00.002+01:00

Flickr set on Buenos Aires

San Telmo antique market on Sunday, Plaza Dorrego

Puerto Madero, Puente de la Mujer (architect Santiago Calatrava)

Palermo Hollywood

La Boca, Caminito street

Recoleta cemetery

Buenos Aires - food

2008-08-15T11:03:00.001+01:00

I think the true top 3 in Buenos Aires is to eat, to drink, and to party. The city is amazing for it. Don't expect Rio de Janeiro beauty here.

Having spent in BA a month, I learned a lot about what typical Argentinian is.

Everybody knows that no visit to Argentina can pass without steak and wine. Actually, Argentinians prefer asado (name of barbecue technique, so asado can be of ribs, meat, sausages (chorizos, morcilla (blood saugage)), etc) in their parillas (steak houses) to my favorite bife de lomo (filet mignon).

Argentinians are crazy about everything dulce de leche (slowly heated sweetened milk aka сгуженка in Russian). Dulce de leche is present in the majority of desserts, cakes and ice creams flavors. Argentinian ice cream deserves a separate entry in this blog, it is so good. Dozens of flavors are listed on the board in numerous ice cream parlors and one can only guess how a poor girl can choose two flavors from this variety. You cannot see the actual ice cream like in Brazil...

Here is an example of a small ice cream shop:

In the coffee shop Argentinians invented submarino (hot chocolate drink) - hot milk served in a tall glass comes with a piece of chocolate that you stir in the glass.

A day starts and breaks (a meal between lunch and dinner is called "merienda") with cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and medialunas (croissants) of three types - de manteca (butter), de grasa (literally fat, thinner in shape then de manteca ones), de manteca rellenas (with a filling? never tried). Medialunas are smaller than croissants in France and taste differently, but the shape is the same (half of the moon).

:)

The rest of the day Argentinians drink mate (herbal tea), which is art in itself foreign to me as I do not like green tea.

Buenos Aires - how cheap is cheap?

2008-08-14T21:47:00.001+01:00

If you listen to my classmates from the US, Buenos Aires is cheap, dirt cheap. If you listen to my friend from Belgium who lives here, Buenos Aires is not cheap.

So what is cheap? Eating out in Buenos Aires is cheap compared to USA and Europe. On average we spend 40-80 pesos each ($13- $30) per dining experience in a nice restaurant, which would include an appetizer, a good sized steak, and a bottle of wine.

To be more specific, filet mignon (bife de lomo in Spanish) costs from 27 pesos (La Plata in San Telmo) to 50 pesos (fancy Las Cabreras in Palermo), which is cheaper than the price is dollars in some comparable restaurants in New York. [dollar to peso = 1 to 3]

The cheapest (but decent) bottle of wine in the restaurant starts at 20 pesos, which is again cheaper than the price in dollars in New York. So on average eating out in BA is at least 3 times cheaper than in New York.

It gets pricey for me if I would have decided to eat out daily. To spend $30 on a nice meal is not a lot by New York standards, but by backpacker’s it is. It adds up, but it is cheap.

Buenos Aires - nightlife

2008-08-14T19:08:00.002+01:00

In deep pockets of my backpack I found teared out articles about Buenos Aires that I have been carrying around South America with me for three months. Having been here already two weeks, it was interesting to compare my first impression with the impression of the city articles are trying to build.

All articles but one were talking about tango. They identify Buenos Aires with tango, they recommended tango, they focused on tango. I actually forgot all about tango until I picked up those article clips. I did not see tango and I did not feel tango in the air. I just saw a very crazy city.

They say New York never sleeps. Well, compared to Buenos Aires, New York never even woke up. Nightlife is beyond insane here, it is unbelievably busy. I was ready for "eat dinner at 11 pm, go out at 2 am" schedule, but I did not anticipate "cannot get into club at 5 am - get in line".

No bottle service bullshit here, everybody dances!

Popular events weekly gather hundreds and thousands of people each day of the week! Big nights at club form lines I have never seen in my life. I though that only applied to clubs. No, bars are also packed at 5 am. Here one can party non-stop, especially from Thursday till Sunday night with a number of after hour clubs properly spinning the beats.

We are 10 people in the house. If we all go out to different venues, each of one of us reports back a packed club or bar or restaurant. It might be the culture, the number of bars/clubs, or the number of young people in Buenos Aires, but I cannot explain this phenomena.

The place to go on Monday is KONEX for the concent La Bomba de Tiempo. The performance space in a former warehouse gets packed by 5,000 crazy youngsters dancing to drums. The party starts at 7 pm ends at 10 pm (it is Monday afterall). If you show up at 8 pm, you won't get in until 9:30 pm (if ever) as the line hugs almost three blocks.

Club Museo is packed on Wednesday nights with after work party, so is Shamrock on Thursday on a slightly smaller scale. Club Niceto in Palermo Hollywood hosts the fabulous Club 69 on Thursdays. Fridays and Saturdays are just big nights everywhere with dozens of clubs in all parts of towns.

Special events such as James Zabiela last Saturday pack exhibition halls. I can only imagine insanity in Buenos Aires for Creamfields 2008 in November.

A great website for the ones appreciating electronic music with daily event listings in Buenos Aires is Buenos Aliens (in Spanish).

So, tango. Besides street performers in San Telmo and La Boca I have not seen tango and do not have any regrets. I am happy to have experienced the energy of the city in its winter mode.

African nightmares in Buenos Aires

2008-08-14T05:44:00.002+01:00

I have my passport with the South African visa in it (missing an official stamp to make me absolutely comfortable). Time line of this bad show is now irrelevant. I am leaving Buenos Aires on Sunday.

Summing up - souvenirs

2008-08-13T12:06:00.001+01:00

I have not shown my souvenirs since Colombian times. In fact, I do not have that much to show. I think souvenir shopping in Peru built a great immune system against shopping anywhere else. Bolivian stalls even though cheaper did not make my heart jump. I have seen it all in Peru. I have spent days bargaining for it all in Cuzco.

These is alpaca hat (chullo) and matching socks, woolen socks and mittens.

Silver in Peru is cheap and quite pretty, but the eye gets tired after a week of the same designs...

From left to right - my precious chacana (or Inca cross), which I guess can be considered the most important symbol of Inca culture', jewelry with coca leaves (hojo de coca), and a carved alpaca (or lama? or camel?) from stone.

In Bolivia I just bought a handmade belt that I am using as my camera strap.

The theme in Brazil was the Brazilian flag. I got myself Havaianas flip flops with a tiny Brazilian, sarong of the Brazilian flag's colors and a Gilson Martins' ipod case with Christ the Redeemer.

Summing up - photographs

2008-08-13T02:37:00.003+01:00

I created a new set on flickr - my favorite pictures/views from my 4 months in South America, time that lasted a second but felt like a century. It is a weird sensation to look back at my first pictures in Colombia or even from Peru. I cannot believe this part of my trip is over.

Best from South America (54 pictures) set on flickr

Any favorites I missed?

Summing up - beer route in South America

2008-08-11T01:31:00.000+01:00

My "relationship" with beer has started this year in Mexico, but it got stronger after backpacking through South America. Each of these brands bring back a lot of fun memories...

Bogotá, Colombia - Aguila
Cartagena - Club Colombia

Quito, Ecuador - Pilsner

Cuzco, Peru - Cusqueña

Arequipa, Peru - Arequipeña

Copacabana, La Paz and the rest of Bolivia - Paceña

Salta - Salta

Buenos Aires - Quilmes

Rio de Janeiro - Brahma, Skol

Big weekend in Buenos Aires

2008-08-09T18:11:00.003+01:00

Tonight a huge party

I remember SOS at WMC Miami 2008. They were in the room next door to RA vs. Kompakt Party at Pawn Shop.

Tomorrow we are going to an opening game of the season for Boca Juniors, the most famous football team in BA, against the team from Jujuy - Gimnasia.

Summing up - my route in altitude

2008-08-09T02:51:00.000+01:00

I created this little chart as an alternative way to look at my route. It is quite amazing to realize I have been going back and forth between sea level and high altitudes sometimes within one country!

Summing up - budgets

2008-08-08T23:15:00.008+01:00

Bolivia - 21 days

Airfare

Accom

Transport

Food

Activities

Fees

Internet

Souvenirs

Other

Total

$64

$69

$76

$144

$329

$27

$53

773

$16

$37

Bolivia turned out to be really cheap, dirt cheap in fact. My average accommodation costs are slightly screwed by dividing the total amount spent by 21 nights, whereas some nights (6 to be precise) were included in tour prices. Adjusted costs per night were $4.6.

For $329 spent on activities I got a 3-day jungle trip, 3 days in Pampas, 3 day Uyuni tour and a mine tour. Not bad at all.

Also appears I spent a lot of hours on internet :)

Chile - 2 days

Accom

Transport

Food

Activities

Internet

Souvenirs

Total

$20

$49

$33

$59

$166

$10

$25

$16

$30

$83

I only spent two night in San Pedro de Atacama and I did not feel it was THAT expensive. Dorms for $10/night, food - $8-$10 per menu. Three short tours costs me $59, again reasonable for Chile. A $50 bus ride to Salta (Argentina) hiked the daily average up to $83.

Brazil - 19 days

Accom

Transport

Food

Activities

Visa

Internet

Souvenirs

Other

Total

$273

$387

$273

$145

$20

$37

$74

$1,211

$14

$20

$14

$64

Even if a $64 average does not scream an EXPENSIVE country, I can assure you Brazil was the most expensive country I visited. On $64 a day I was lying on the beach, cooking at night for the first time on the trip, and trying to cut costs in all the ways possible. Obviously hostels are expensive - $14/night, or rather $17/night adjusted to 3 nights slept on buses. $145 spent on activities do not buy you much - just entrances to Sugar Loaf and Corcovado and a 3-hour boat ride. The killer category was transportation - I spent a whooping $387 ob busing within the country. I took a bus from the Bolivian border to Campo Grande, on to Sao Paulo, on to Rio, on to Foz de Iguacu. Expensive!

African nightmares in Buenos Aires

2008-08-07T14:56:00.003+01:00

So to continue my fabulous story...

This morning at the embassy - I have not yet had a chance to discuss your case with the consul. Please wait.

Twenty minutes later - We can refer your case to Russia, but we do not follow up. The Embassy has other priorities. If they get back to us, we will issue a visa, but in 50% of the cases they do not respond.

I suggested to send my case to Sweden as according to the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visas for RSA are processed there. She said she would verify and send it to the right embassy.

When?

When she gets to it. Maybe today, maybe today [read - maybe never]

Unfortunately, you have to learn it the hard way, she told me.

I asked if she could send my case later today, so I could follow up with them tomorrow. Indefinite answer.

Well, they are one hour behind. So you can follow up with them almost immediately.

me - Who is one hour behind? Sweden? How about 6 or 7 hours ahead.

the end.

*
What can I say at this point. I paid the fee. My best case scenario she sends my case somewhere on Monday. The case will be reviewed and sent to New York, the city of my residence or something like that. Or it will be lost or denied or forgotten.

I guess I am coming back to New York. And I think I can blame myself for not approaching the embassy the first week in Buenos Aires. I just could not have imagined what it takes to get a visa. The website says, I quote, "the normal processing period is 2 business days. Visas from non-Argentine or non-Paraguayan residents require special referral and may take up to 5 days."

5 days, huh?

African nightmares in Buenos Aires

2008-08-06T17:54:00.004+01:00

The Embassy of South Africa in Buenos Aires is the most ridiculous institution I have been to in my life. According to the visa department, there is a 50% chance the embassy will not accept my passport for processing BECAUSE I AM NOT A RESIDENT OF ARGENTINA. I was told I was supposed to apply for a visa in the country of residence. Nothing wrong with my application (I was though asked to present my itinerary in SOUTH AMERICA up to this date, entry and exit stamps in my passport are not enough!). Just procedure.

I did try to get a visa for South Africa in advance. In March the RSA embassy in New York said I could not apply so early in advance. I left two weeks later.

So far my impression about South Africa is beyond bad. I DO NOT COMPREHEND. I wish I could. I have obtained visas for Brazil in Bolivia, for India in Argentina and never heard that I could not apply for a visa in the nearest embassy. The RSA website says otherwise too - visa processing for non-Argentinean residents takes longer, but it does not say it is impossible. But then again, rules do not apply here. I can point to that website for days and years. I was told (do not understand meaning tough) - "We refer, but we do not follow up!". What did the lady mean? They would refer my application to New York, but would not follow up? Or do they ship my passport and forget about it? or they advise me to ship my application to New York? By the way, New York embassy does not seem to have out of the country service either, just out of state.

It might be just the way the embassy treats "unwelcomed" tourists. Maybe I have been spoiled so far and embassies are there to treat you like shit, to make sure you realize the entrance to their beloved countries is an honor. To spend money in their country is a privilege. Obey the letter of bureaucracy and remember you are NOBODY.

At this point I am so disgusted by the whole story I do not want to go. I understand I make no difference, but I wish I could bring this story to somebody's attention who does.

Even if my application is accepted, I take this personally. I consider myself the best visitor ever - I spend money, take beautiful pictures and advertise the country. Not even being understanding of my situation is outrageous.

African nightmares in Buenos Aires

2008-08-06T12:45:00.003+01:00

Today I can confirm that information is GOLD.

Over the last week I was going crazy about my upcoming trip to Southern Africa. It started off nicely - I was researching all the available overland tours, companies, their reviews on forums, etc. Then I started to look into my visa situation. To my surprise the embassies I needed did not really exist in Cape Town (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe). Everybody and everything was suggesting I should fly to another side of the country, to Pretoria, to obtain visas first. That would have ruined my already perfectly planned itinerary. I emailed the embassies in Washington DC, in Pretoria, to visa handling firms in South Africa, to travel agents, to tour operators, almost to anyone who would listen to me one simple question - how do I get Namibia and Botswana visas in the shortest period of time. I also realized I cannot end my overland tour in Zimbabwe (visa takes 8 days to process in Pretoria), have to go to Zambia (can buy visa on the border). Yet again I had to go through all the tours and note, which overland company ends in Livingstone (Zam) rather than in Victoria Falls (Zim). To confuse me even further, I was told on forum that due to political situation in Zimbabwe a lot of tours now end in Zambia anyway. All of this is very boring and not interesting, but challenging and quite stressful.

My life has changed yesterday when I talk to Rob from Detour Africa in Cape Town. He said, yes, he understands why I cannot go to Zimbabwe, not a problem, I can get transfer to Livingstone on the last day of the tour. And yes, it is very easy to obtain Namibia and Botswana visas here in Cape Town.

I go silent. WHAT???? Easy? I've been emailing half of South Africa because I cannot obtain visas in Cape Town.

Rob - Yes, give me 5 minutes to call. Yes, Namibia will cost you R465, 30 minute processing time, Botswana - R614, 1 hour processing.

me - WHERE?

Rob - in downtown of Cape Town, both countries have some sort of tourist offices here who issue visas.

I could not believe it. I got numbers and I called South Africa today to verify. Yes, it is true. I can get two visas basically within a day. Is it magic or what?? How is it possible that google does not know, LP forum people do not know, embassies of the respective countries do not know, tour operators do not know, but Rob does.

I am relieved, happy and excited. Yet again my persistence paid off.

Surfing through the net

2008-08-03T23:40:00.001+01:00

Above Namibia slide show by Clive Crook - something to look forward to!