Ilona in Armenia |
People travelling along the way
- Filip Novotny (Me): Czech Republic → Korea
- Ilona Krejcova: Czech Republic → Kyrgyzstan, my initial travelling partner
- Natalia Kolosova (Nata): Armenia → Iran, Kyrgyzstan, met in Armenia
- Poly Shimkevich: Armenia, Georgia, met in Armenia
- Janyl S.: Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia
Timeline by country
- Czech Republic: Nothing much, lots of goodbye and rain
- Slovakia: Same
- Hungary: Same
- Croatia: Last goodbye to our friends
- Serbia
- Bulgaria
- Turkey: Some hiking, nothing too fancy
- Georgia:
- Summary: Really kind people, hospitality everywhere and too much alcohol.
- Highlights:
- Sad story of Abkhazia, occupied region: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/06/abkhazian-border.html
- Armenia
- Summary: We went to a festival full of hippies, discovered the drunkest country in the
Rainbow gathering
world and the breath-taking Sevan Lake. Met Nata, troublesome russian hippie with princessy manners. Got shot at with rockets while climbing the highest mountain in Armenia. Travelled with Nata & Poly (russian-israeli girl) to Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan province controlled by the Armenian army) without passport. Got surrounded by drunk sex-hungry armenians, two times. Got engaged to Nata. Ilona falls in love with a British-Armenian guy. Got a key to an apartment in Tehran (Iran). - Highlights:
- Climbing the highest mountain: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/07/climbing-up-to-4000.html
- Getting engaged to Nata: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-want-to-marry-you-natalia-k.html
- Surrounded by drunk armenians: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/07/geysers-and-assholes.html
- Iran
- Summary: We are hitchhiking in 3 people: Me, Nata, Ilona. Held at gunpoint by Iranian military for trying to sleep at the border. We have our own (free!) appartment in Teheran
for 2 weeks. We organize underground countries. Nata finds herselfs an Iranian boyfriend. We try to climb the highest mountain in Iran. Nata leaves. I continue hitchhiking with Ilona. Ilona breaks up with her boyfriend. - Highlights:
- Hitchhiking in a restricted zone: http://takemeeast.blogspot.fr/2013/08/iran.html
- Climbing mount Damavand: http://takemeeast.blogspot.fr/2014/08/the-most-absurd-ascension-to-damavand.html
- Turkmenistan
- Cultural shock. First true dictatorship. Everything we do is illegal. We have 2 days to cross the country. We hide from military patrols, make it into Turkmen families, escape luggage check thanks to a rotten watermelon.
- Highlights:
- Kazakhstan (1st time)
- Summary: We hitchhike with a drunk millionaire, racing to the border before the visa expires.
- Highlights:
- Driving 170km/h with a drunk milionaire: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/08/170-kmh-with-vodka.html
- Kyrgyzstan
- Summary: We get sick, fear for our lives since our region is quarantined because of cases of bubonic plague. False alarm. We discover Issyk-kol lake the incredible Ala-Kol lake. We make ammunition. Ilona leaves. I find myself a girlfriend and cancel my engagement with Nata. I teach english in schools. I have my own yurt inn 3000 meters of altitude. I hike away from wolves. I get arrested, Nata rescues me. I travel with Nata, Nata becomes
Ala-kul lake - Highlights:
- Most beautiful place in the world: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-most-beautiful-place-in-world.html
- The tradgedy of a kyrgyz family getting robbed and sinking into debt: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/09/janelas-tragedy.html
- How to date in Kyrgyzstan: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/10/dating-kyrgyz-girl.html
- Nata rescuing me from the police: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/10/nata-me-and-police.html
- Going to Son-kol lake: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-went-to-son-kol-and-lived.html
- Kazakhstan (2nd time)
- Summary: I cross to China, in snowy Autumn, I don't have warm clothes yet.
- China (1st time)
- Summary: I cross the chinese border. Cold, frustration, hunger, desert, nobody helps. I get arrested countless of times. Police pays me buses and hotels. A hospital hides me from the police. My blog crashes. People throw me away into -20°C cold. I almost give up and fly home. Saved by wonderful people in Beijing. Winter is coming, I have no warm clothes. I leave towards Mongolia.
- Mongolia
- Summary: I ride across the border hanging from an open door of a soviet car. I hitchhike in no-man's land. See the moonrise and get lots of warm clothes. I meet the son of a very famous mongolian writer. I spend new year in a yurt in the middle of nowhere. I hitchhike in -40°C in the coldest place in mongolia. Ride the jeep of the minister of economy & development of Mongolia. Reunion with my girlfriend in a buddhist temple owned by the son of that writer. I receive warm clothes and a mongolian winter police uniform. I get robbed, hitchhike back with absolutely no money, sleep in mining camp. Get back to China.
- China (2nd time)
- Summary: After Mongolia I try to hitchhike across the sea. I try to hitch commercial planes, wake up helicopter pilots, sneak into the Qingdao harbour, try to hitch a cargo ship, finally hitch the ferry.
- Highlights:
- First boat hitchhike: http://takemeeast.blogspot.fr/2014/01/how-i-hitchhiked-ferry-to-korea.html
- Korea
- Summary: Everybody is kind and helpful. Too boring, too easy. I hitch a plane to Jeju. I climb and sleep on Hallasan, visit U-do, give dancing classes, meet a vietnam war veteran, sleep inside Seonsan, hitch a boat back, free ticket from the company.
- Highlights:
- Getting a free airplane ticket: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-craigslist-ad.html
- Climbing Mount Halla on Jeju island: http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2014/02/climbing-halla-mountain.html
- Japan:
- Summary: I arrive to Japan with only half of my things. I have a free airplane ticket from Korea to Osaka, Japan. Free ticket for me but not for my luggage. By coincidence, my Korean friend also goes to Japan. He takes my luggage with him. We plan to meet in Tokyo and I take my things back. I climb into a volcano. I get arrested and thrown in a japanese detention center. I live in an empty box for 10 days. My friends and family freaks out and files a missing person report. The police breaks my computer and 'loses' some of my things. I am released! I visit the disaster area destroyed by the tsunami. Sad stories. I end up at a hippie festival in that disaster area. All the weed in Japan is probably there. I hide in the ferry towards Hokkaido. I climb cape Shiretoko in east Hokkaido and see a wild bear. I write an open letter to the president of the ferry company and get a free ticket.On my last day in Japan, I visit mount Rishiri, the mountain in the sea, ticket generously offered by the ferry company. My budget is 2 dollars per day but it turns out that I have not spent
Sakura tree - Highlights
- To Japan without a tent, http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-last-unknown.html
- Detention center in Japan, http://takemeeast.blogspot.fr/2014/04/i-am-locked-inside-empty-box-staring-at.html
- Disaster area, http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2014/05/through-disaster.html
- Ferry to Hokkaido, http://takemeeast.blogspot.com/2014/05/hokkaido-luck-and-ferries.html
- Russia:
- Summary: I arrive to the eastern island of Sakhalin and I get my minute of fame there. I then hitchhike another boat to the mainland. There, I hitchhike to Khabarovsk where my hitchhiking trip officialy stops. I take a plane to Siberia to see my girlfriend. We spend a few days in Tomsk.
- Highlights:
1. Hitchhiking a boat accross the narrow sea: http://takemeeast.blogspot.fr/2014/06/famous-on-floating-piece-of-junk.html
Music in Iran |
Mongolian yurt on New year's eve |
Airplane hitchhiking |
your blog is one of the best about travelling I could find online. Thanks so much, and glad to see there are some adventurers out there :)
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