Sunday, January 22, 2012

South American hitchhiking trip 2011/2012

Not many highlights from this trip. It was a short trip (8 weeks) with the goal of visiting the 8 countries in South America that I hadn't been to before, and to hitch as much of the route as possible. I didn't bring a proper camera with me on this trip and tried not to take any pictures on my iPod either. The pictures I did take where therefore definitely the highlights.



The Ferrobús that runs the Sucre to Potosi route. Bolivia has some of South America's only surviving passenger rail service. The route to Potosi is spectacular and stops in many villages that aren't served by roads.



Hiking in the Atacama desert in Chile. The driest place in the world. No rain has been recorded here for as long as Europeans have been keeping track, over 400 years. I did a 2 day trek, alone, near San Pedro de Atacama.



The ghost town of Santa Laura. Also in the Atacama, Santa Laura was a Saltpeter (nitrate) mining town abandoned in 1960.



This part of Chile was previously a part of Peru until Chile decided it wanted the nitrates for itself, a conflict known locally as the Guerra del Pacífic.



The Santa Laura extraction plant.



Nitrates were of major importance in early 19th century agriculture. Chilean nitrates were the finest in the world.



Carrefour in Colombia! My 28th Carrefour country.



Meeting Juan and Laura in Colombia. Juan aka Acrobat of the Road, has been a major influence in my travels. I've been reading his blog for 5 years now and his stories inspired me to add hitchhiking to my travel repertoire back in 2006. Five years later and I'm pretty much a full time hitchhiker.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

East Asia 2010/2011


Nagoya castle


Shanghai Wonderful!




Street food in Xian


The walls of the Ancient City of Pingyao


Yungang Grottoes


The Chinggis Khaan Monument near Ulaanbaatar


On a standing room only train the night before Golden Week


Wild Great Wall


I hate tea, and I really hate when people are surprised I don't want to drink tea, like it's the fuckin' greatest thing in the world or something (what's wrong with just drinking plain old room temperature tap water - boiled first of course here in China?). Anyway, this tea was interesting because it had stuff floating in it. Usually stuff floating in the tea (hair, crud, etc.) is just another reason why I don't want to drink it, but this time it gave a nice flavor and was a bit sweet. As a side note I did meet one guy who filled my glass tea bottle with tea and it turned out to be awesome because it was really sweet and perfect, he knew why I liked it too, when I told him how good it was he said "candy" in English, but that is a different story, this is supposed to be about how I hate tea.


7 kinds of Haw. Haw is my favorite sweet in China, and one of the only things about the country I'm sure to miss.


A really good meal in Kunming!


Vegitarian food in Dali, from a US$.75 all you can eat lunch and dinner buffet!


Nice camping place


In Luangprabang, Lao PDR


A good meal in Ayutthaya


The Death Railway on the River Kwai with the train now going over the Wampo Viaduct


The highlight of a day in Bangkok, a free vegetarian breakfast at the Sikh temple! And always with a sweet dish too!


The first good thing I found to eat in Cambodia. This is yams and bananas cooked in honey and shreaded coconut. It's sweet and delicious and very filling, and only US$.50


My first meal in Vietnam after not eating for about 36 hrs. Eggs and peanuts over noodles with some greens. It was really good, and it's only US$.75


Another sweet, the ball things have coconut chunks inside them.


Inside a Cao Dai temple during prayer


In the Imperial City inside the Hue Citadel




The Vietnamese have money to burn


Halong Bay


Near Yangshou on the Yulong River


This was a good ice cream!


Zili Village, part of the Kaiping Diaolou UNESCO site


The Kaiping Diaolou are these tower houses built by Chinese coming back to their villages after working overseas (mostly in the US and Canada) around the end of the 1800's and begining of the 1900's


Also part of the Zili village site is the Fang Clan Watch Tower, and when I went the Fang Clan was there having a picnic!


The tower is on a hill surrounded by graves of the Fang Clan


And of course they invited me to eat with them. They were very sweet, it was a great moment!


Jellyfish aquarium behind reception at The Wynn Macau


Hong Kong




Zhenchenglou, part of the Fujian Tulou UNESCO site in Hongkeng village


The Nanjing skyline as seen from the train station


I did a lot of hiking in Korea, one time when I came down from the mountain like some Buddhist hermit, a group of picniking Koreans down below fed me. It was really good! They also let me take all of the leftovers with me!


In Korea a car full of kids driven by two women picked me up outside a village. The kids spoke pretty decent English for ages 12 and 13. The little boy in back is 9. Two other kids aren't pictured.


Short road trips 2010


Mud Volcano!!


Salvation Mountain, Slab City


winter wonderland


I wish I had a beard like Brigham Young


Death Valley


Union Pacific line