Top Ten Countries: Number 10 - Slovakia

If I had a penny for every time I have been asked what my favourite country I’ve visited is, I would have quite a few pennies by now I expect! So it got me thinking, everyone likes top ten lists, and I could make one of my top ten favourite countries to visit. What a great concept for the blog, I thought! Whew so then I had to nut down a top ten… and suddenly it wasn’t such an easy idea! Especially as things change, as do opinions. Anyways, I resolved to blog about a top ten, and after much consternation I came up with a list. What will be number ten? Slovakia! What will be number one? Ahhhh see now you’ll have to wait for that one! Please join me over the next few weeks, as I count down my top ten places I have visited!

NUMBER TEN: Slovakia

You know, there are many hidden gems across the world, quiet little countries next to neighbours which see a lot of tourists, and Slovakia is one of those. I spent less than two weeks there in 2004, but it’s one country I would love to return to. It’s got mountains and cities, history and culture, and with the Czech Republic next door and Hungary to the south, Poland to the north, it is often the forgotten country of the region.

And more’s the pity because it really is a great place to visit, although part of its charm is that there aren’t so many tourists as the neighbours. It’s location makes it easily reached by train, in fact Bratislava, the capital, is only an hour or so from Vienna in Austria. A hilly city with a citadel on high, with the Danube flowing through below, it has a charm of its own.

Visit the citadel which features an impressive castle, take the trams, or visit some of the beautiful buildings such as the Primate’s Palace which is beautifully maintained in all its European splendour. The cobblestone streets curl their way around and just walking the old town is a pleasure in itself. I was there in Summer and there really weren’t a lot of tourists around, I almost felt I had the place to myself. There are numerous bars as well, and lots of lovely spots for a beer, with prices well down on Western European prices, and Czech prices as well. For a day trip from the capital, Devin castle, built by the Romans, is a great option further up the Danube.

I also visited the Tatra Mountains, not far from the Polish border. The town I stayed at was Stary Smokevic, a great little place in the mountains. Just getting there is half the fun, after the train I took a sort of cable-railway up the mountain to this alpine town. In winter, the skiing is supposed to be fantastic, but in summer hiking was the go. At just over 2500, Slavkosky Stit was cold and windy at times, but a great if at times challenging hike. I found myself above the clouds looking down at the peaks of the Tatras, some higher, some lower. Back in town there are plenty of

nice places to eat.

And that’s about the sum of my brief stay in Slovakia. It’s one country I know I want to return to someday and get to know a lot more about. It oozes medieval charm, natural beauty and so much more.

If you’d like to know MORE about Slovakia, please check out the chapter on kindle:

Dhaka to Dakar. Book Two: Europe. Chapter 12: Germany, CzechRepublic and Slovakia.

or the complete Book Two here: (just $1.99!)

Dhaka to Dakar. Book Two: Europe.

Next time: Number nine! What will it be? Stay tuned!

Loving Laos

Hello everyone,
I have been doing a little video editing lately, and put together a video on my time in Laos.

Luang Prabang

Editing the video of my time there in April 2011, and I realised and remembered what a wonderful and interesting time I had when I was there. It still receives less publicity and less tourists than its neighbours in Thailand and Vietnam, but in many ways that makes it more special.

 Phonsovan was my highlight of Laos, the Plain of Jars and of course the experience of learning about how the community is coping and working together to remove unexplored bombs and mines. A sleepy little place at times, but still my number one.

The Plain of Jars

Vang Vieng on the other hand was pretty sad, with its excesses and the fact that basically it's been taken over by white people to service their own desires and whatnot. Today I believe it has chilled somewhat. Tubing was stopped at one point early this year, but I believe it's back up but there are less bars these days, which when I was there was the only thing the visitors cared about. Seriously guys, you can get shitfaced at home. Vang Vieng is actually in a very beautiful area though, and if you don't go tubing there's still a lot to see without the drunken 20 year olds.

Vang Vieng

So please, take some time to look at my latest video. I made the decision to not put a soundtrack on it this time, because I think of peace and tranquility when I think of Laos, and a little bit about 'Friends' as well. Here she is, 'Loving Laos'.

Loving Laos - Youtube

Dhaka to Dakar - new covers :)

As many readers of this blog may be aware, I have taken to writing up some of my travels and made them available on kindle.
Recently I put a new one up - Short Journeys: Ethiopia

However, the original three books, the Dhaka to Dakar books (Asia, Europe and Africa) have been up for a while. In preparation for the new book, I did a littler reading into the best kind of covers for kindle and found that I had made a big mistake. The covers for the Europe and Africa books especially were complicated, comprising of several images, and looking at them again I realised just how bad they looked.
So, I have made new covers for the original three books. The individual chapters have sold ok, but the books themselves have not, so consider this a sort of rebranding. I have also reduced the prices too, each book is now $1.99 on Amazon.com. Here are the new images:

And on Amazon:

Dhaka to Dakar Book One: Journey Across Asia

Dhaka to Dakar Book Two: Europe

Dhaka to Dakar Book Three: Across Africa

Ethiopia - Short Journeys

Hi everyone!

Today I am happy to announce that I have a new book published on Amazon for Kindle. The first 'Short Journeys' is out, and the country in question is Ethiopia. Today I include an introductory excerpt for my blog to give readers an idea what's inside.

US Amazon: Short Journeys Ethiopia

UK Amazon: Short Journeys Ethiopia

Simien Mountains

This is the first ‘short journeys’ I have written. It was 2009 when I headed over to the horn of Africa to visit a country that had long held a big interest for me – Ethiopia. From outside it really came across as a very unique African nation, and I am glad to say that once I was there, it was equally unique. Ethiopia has a look, a feel, a rhythm and a way completely of its own. It’s not a country I can easily compare to other African nations I have visited, such as Mali or Cameroon.

A church in Lalibela.

It’s cuisine is quite unique too. It’s people have a wonderful love of their country, and are as unique as their homeland. Ethiopia’s history is rich, they have their own script and notable and deserved pride for their nation. A country that the world knows for several things, such as marathon and long distance runners, coffee, but perhaps more unfortunately, for poverty and famine.

The image that many have of Ethiopia is a starving people, the centre of the famine in Africa back in the 1980’s and still struggling today. Whilst there are significant areas in Ethiopia suffering from bad conditions, drought, desertification and famine, and

Monastery on the Zege Peninsula.

whilst this should never be forgotten, it is not fair that this is the central image of this amazing country. These common images are very negative ones, which sadly does nothing to help the country’s economy or its tourism industry. To those who are ‘in the know’ however, Ethiopia is a beautiful land of warm people, an amazing culture, brilliant trekking, history, and coffee! Not only that, but Ethiopia also produces a good amount of wine. There’ are many surprises awaiting those coming to Ethiopia.

I visited the capital, Addis Ababa, and places north of the capital. There are beautiful lakes, rivers and waterfalls. There are some stunning high mountains, ancient churches carved into rock, and wonderfully kind and warm people. The climate is cool to mild in the northern area which makes travelling more pleasant than some of the hotter areas of Africa. 

Included in the book:

Addis Ababa

Lalibela

Gondar

Debark

Simien Mountains

Lake Tana

Bahir Dar

Blue Nile Falls

A delicious Ethiopian meal.

Introducing 'Short Journeys'

This weekend sees the launch of the 'Short Journeys' - a series of ebooks I am writing about different places I have been in the last few years. The very first one is out in the next 24 hours, and it is about the amazing Ethiopia. Here is the front cover design for you and some information about 'Short Journeys'.

'Short Journeys'

‘Short Journeys’ is a series of stories about my travels to different countries. Whilst they are not intended as a guide book, I have endeavoured to include information about where I stayed, what I ate, what I saw and how to go about it if you were to visit the countries in question. My previous writings – the ‘Dhaka to Dakar’ books, were simply travel experiences. This time I wanted to go a little further for the reader.

I wanted to include any stories and experiences I thought were interesting, important or amusing whilst I was travelling. I want to encourage you the reader to read, think about, and then perhaps go there yourself. You will find information on the places I stayed and visited, and how I got there and around. Occasionally I may write about a place I didn’t stay at if say I stayed with a friend to give readers an option. However, please don’t use these writings as a guide book!

The countries covered will in the main part not be the most touristed of places. Hence they may be less literature out there for these places than say Western Europe, but they are places I found very interesting, beautiful, perhaps challenging at times, but essentially worthwhile. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself and head somewhere you may have never considered before. You won’t be sorry!

Hachimantai dreaming

Just north of Morioka is a place called Hachimantai. Whilst I can't comment much on the town, I didn't really go in there, I did get a chance to look at two places in the area and both were spectacular in their own ways.

The lava flow is an amazing area at the foot of Mount Iwate. 

For those who are interested, the volcano that is the mountain last erupted in 1919, where ash was sent into the air. The lava flow, known as Yakehashiri,  is from the previous eruption in 1732. 

http://www.thr.mlit.go.jp/iwate/kodomo/english/iwatesan_e/CON5/index.html

This is where I got my information from. Amazing - they have the internet on computers now! Anyways today it's a rather large area covered with rocks formed from the molten lava which obviously cooled in the years after the eruption, and today have a nice path marked out through them that people can wander at their leisure. It's a truly remarkable place I had no idea existed! I would put it right up there with any tourist site in Iwate.

Mount Iwate in the background behind the Yakehashiri Lava flow.

Also in the Hachimentai region is an old sulphur mining town. It's part of the town of Matsuo, and was known as the Matsuo Gouzan mine. The drive up was beautiful, on a beautiful clear day. Unlike the lava flow, there was not a lot of people there to visit it, although the odd interested passerby did pop in.

In fact, the mine closed way back in 1969. The mine itself you can't visit, but the small accompanying town is still there of sorts represented as a collection of old concrete apartment buildings. It is said to be one of the creepiest places on Earth. I was there on a cool but sunny Autumn day, so it wasn't so creepy, but never the less it is an amazing place.

Not the sort of place tourists normally frequent, the old concrete buildings have most of the innards ripped out today, as you can see in the picture. I'm not sure how safe the buildings are, but I was with a few people and we all made it out alive! It's certainly eerie, and beautiful in its own way.

So it goes to show, I've been here a year and half now but still discovering new and unusual places to visit. Both of these are free of course - although you're going to need a car to get to either of them! Viva Iwate!

Robocon

Sunday in Ichinoseki, and I went to one of the more 'different' events I have been to since I have been in Japan. Ichinoseki played host to 'Robocon' - where high schools from across the country come to enter their robots in a competition to rival the Olympics. Well, maybe the Maths Olympics.... That's a real thing, right? 

The challenge was this - to make a robot that could jump. Hence the theme of the convention was 'Shall we jump'. Robots had to go down a short course jumping rope several times. Get turned around, come back and then skip five times. The students made two robots, one to do this 'course' and one to help with swinging the rope around. They all had hydraulic workings of some kind. Some were quite small, some where quite big, and one was tall with an aerial and every time the rope went over the robot, it caught and the timing was put out.

The robots were all dressed up in interesting fashions, as were the students operating them. I don't profess to know how the robots worked or new when to jump, but some had some sort of infra-red thing attached, like the sensors that tell urinals when to flush. Some students were smart and held the rope very low to make it easy for the robots to clear it, others were not so smart and paid the price sadly. Robots appeared to be great and worked well, or didn't work at all and didn't come close to finishing the course in the three minutes that were allowed.

The students all wore costumes which ranged from the frankly silly to sublimely ridiculous. Many wore helmets for no reason at all. I felt a bit sorry for the students to be honest. They were on TV, probably national TV, and there was quite an audience with organised cheering and a count in (3-2-1) for the start of each 'match'. Two robots were pitted against each other in elimination style.

What can I say? There may be robot competitions in Australia, I'm sure there are, but it seems very important here. Japan has a love of robots, just look through anime and manga and you can't fail to see that! For me it was just another slightly surreal Japanese experience!

Autumn is harvesting time in Iwate!

Here in Iwate Autumn is well and truly upon us and as the weather cools and within a month will be quite chilly, the rice fields are saying goodbye to the crop that has been growing in them for a while now. I wanted to share some photos of the local area, most are around Senmaya and Kawasaki - there are MANY Kawasakis in Japan by the way, this is obviously the one in Iwate! 

The rice is harvested, by machine or hand, and then hung up to dry out on wooden structures with wires connecting them as you see below and above here.

The countryside is perhaps at its most beautiful right now, and flowers are still blooming which is nice because as the winter approaches the greens, reds, yellows pinks and blues will all be traded in for the white of snow. It's interesting living in such a rural community. Actually when I think about it this is a very organised rural community. That is why we will see in October and November many festivals - because everyone harvests at the same time (because it's the right time to harvest) and the end of the harvest is the reason that most of these local festivals began in the first place.

You can see below some farmers employ a different technique for drying out the rice. The rice spirls up a wooden pole, again guided by wires and sticks. We see rice everywhere in this area, it's easily the primary crop. The interesting thing to remember - Japan still imports a lot of rice!

So this is a little look into the pulse of the local community around Ichinoseki - an area which covers a hell of a lot of towns. Can I understand the life of a farmer in Iwate? No that still escapes me somewhat. But I do appreciate the order and planning which goes into it all. This area is something of a bread basket. What they lack in cattle they make up for in staples. I hope you enjoy these pictures!

Electioneering at its finest

It's October here in Iwate and the rest of the world too by chance, Autumn is here as the nights get a lot colder and the days cool down too.
Last weekend there were local elections in Ichinoseki, for the post of Mayor and other positions in town. I was up in Morioka on Sunday filming so I missed the big day, but I experienced the build up to the fourth election I have seen in three years in Japan. (2011, 2012 and two in 2013).
It seems elections are a regular occurrence in Japan. Every morning I drove to school at 7.30 I would pass a van parked on a main intersection and people with microphones would introduce themselves to cars waiting for the lights to go green.

A van outside my apartment building.

These vans then did the rounds most of every day up until about 8pm in the evening, with an introduction message repeated and several people with their hands stuck out the window with white gloves waving like the Queen of England. It's all very ... fake I guess. Apparently they are only allowed to talk policy in a forum with the other candidates present. More relevant for the parliamentary elections, but I wonder if people are voting for people depending on how nice they sound.
What is more amazing is the fact that people don't retaliate towards these vans, which truly appears as no more than noise pollution. I think if politicians went about elections this way in Australia the vans would end up egged very quickly indeed.
Still, elections are better than no elections. Right?

Vibrant Vietnam

A little video for you all. 2011, March, the main part of the trip started in Vietnam. Will be visited in a 'Short journey', probably next year.

Motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City

here is the link:

Vibrant Vietnam


Don't forget:

Dhaka to Dakar

Videos of Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

Back in 2009 I took what was an amazing trip to Ethiopia with two friends of mine. This will be the subject of the very first book in the 'Short Journeys' range, coming in around a month's time to a Kindle store near you (also know as Amazon).

Today I am very happy to be able to share with you two videos I made of that journey.

The first, Extraordinary Ethiopia, sees me visit the capital Addis Ababa, Lalibela, Gondar and Bahir Dar.

The second video remembers the trek through the Simien Mountains, a national park which was truly spectacular. One of the highlights of all my travels.

Please enjoy :)

Free Kindle chapter!

Hello everyone!
Just a quick blog to say that I have a promotion going on Amazon for the next five days. The very FIRST chapter of Dhaka to Dakar is available - Malaysia and Singapore. Yes, I didn't start the Dhaka to Dakar journey in Dhaka, strangely enough. So if you'd like to take a look into the book, this chapter (Chapter One overall, and first chapter of 'Journey Across Asia') is now FREE for download for five days!

Link here:

Dhaka to Dakar: Malaysia and Singapore

And for more info on the book and ALL the chapters:

http://dhakatodaker.webs.com/

More on the new writings and videos in the next few days! Take care!

Kazakhstan Videos

Everyone, in lieu of the new books I am working on, I am also working on some short videos of my time in different countries. Today I present one I just finished working on last night. This is a short summary of my time in Kazakhstan where I visited:

1/ Almaty and Medeu
2/ Semey
3/ Astana

It's shot with my old Canon video camera which used mini-DVD tapes. In particular it features some performances from the Museum of Kazakh Musical Instruments in Almaty which was great, and you can see a lot of the strange and wonderful buildings in Astana. Shot in June 2011. Enjoy!

Curious Kazakhstan

Short Journeys

Hi everyone.
I have started work in earnest on my next batch of ebooks, called 'Short Journeys'. They will chronicle my travels in different countries across Asia, Africa and ex-USSR.
I am working primarily on 'Short Journeys - Ethiopia' at this stage, and also have 'Short journey's - Kazakhsatn' in the pipleline. More information will be forth coming! I have visited many places that aren't covered in 'Dhaka to Dakar', so it was about time I started working on them! Incidentally, here'e the webpage again I made for Dhaka to Dakar:

Dhaka to Dakar, the book!

As for the new series, 'Short Journeys', I hope to have the first out by the end of October, and one or two more out by the end of the year, followed by maybe 6 or so next year. Eventually they will be available in three bigger volumes. Anyways, to whet you appetite, here are some photos from countries which will feature in the 'Short Journeys' range :

Ethiopia

Kazakhstan

Cameroon

Uzbekistan

Estonia.

Ishinomori, manga and boats

Space design for the museum.

It’s great to find a new place to explore, isn’t it? Just over a week ago I headed with my wife and friend to Ishinomaki, a coastal city around 70 km from Ichinoseki, and we saw a movie and had dinner. Three days ago I returned to this city to find out a bit more about it and see a couple of things.

In fact I thought it was a really nice place. It lies very low, with hills appearing here and there. This part of Japan I am told dropped something like a full metre into the ocean after March 11^th 2011. You can believe it when you visit Ishinomaki and see how high the ocean reaches in high tide. Ishinomaki was devastated by that tsunami. The before and after shots are horrific. Yet today,  two and a half years later, it seems to be doing ok. It’s a pretty busy, happening place.

We visited the Manga Museum. Ishinomaki is famous as the birthplace of Ishinomori Shotaro, who was a hugely successful creator of manga, including a story involving cyborgs numbered like British secret agents. I have to say, their 007 isn’t as cool as James Bond. The museum is housed in what on the outside looks like a space ship, not quite a flying saucer but flying saucer inspired. A section underneath opens out and anime figures, rather

small, pop out and music plays. Thankfully inside the museum was more interesting! (we were left underwhelmed by this)

Inside the girls dress up in some sort of space uniform, and on the second floor there is a display which is probably not worth the 800 Yen admission (the rest is free) but nice all the same. One part is examples of manga, some in English, as people continue on with his cyborg stories. The other part is slightly more interactive, angled at kids of course. There were lots of helmets from a TV series based on one his characters, and various other examples of characters from his work. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed for most of level two.

Level three had a couple of food shops and a library, and the first floor had the entrance and gift shop. We were also able to watch a 15 minute anime short which we both enjoyed.

The museum was hit but the tsunami. It’s on a small island in the bay, and must have born the full brunt of the thing. The island can only be about 400-500 metres long and 100 metres wide, and we were able to see before and after shots at the museum (in a photobook) and we could see there were a number of buildings on the island pre-tsunami. Today I think there were three. The museum survived, although a massive cleanup was needed and glass had to be replaced afterwards. Elsewhere on the island a much-smaller-than-the-real-one Statue of Liberty stands, missing part of its plastic exterior. It’s very eerie.

There is a Spanish galley moored in the harbour, next one along that is. It’s about 8 kilometres from the museum, and this particular harbor is really beautiful. The water was very still, the boats hardly moved moored in the bay. The San Juan is an immaculately maintained and restored galley from  Spain back when Europeans were trying to convert the Japanese – about three centuries ago. It looks brand new today, although the museum was closed and we couldn’t go on the ship, rather take a photo from a gate 30 metres away.

Outside the San Juan museum and centre it said the opening hours were 10-4pm. To be honest I don’t know if it’s reopened since the Tsunami. People were hard at work near the boat where they seemed to be constructing some of shaded viewing area. I wondered how much damage was done to the ship by the tsunami too. It’s a very strange feeling to stand next to the bay knowing what happened there in 2011. I was happy though that life seemed to be continuing for the locals. A lot of new houses being built, but still some people are living in emergency accommodation that we saw.

From the outside it appeared a fair amount normalcy had returned to Ishinomaki. But, who am I to judge that? I can’t comprehend the effect on people’s lives the tsunami had, and still has today. I was glad though that I was able to visit.

Hawking around

Howdy all
Just checking in with everyone to say hi! It's the first day of Autumn in Japan but it's been hot again. C'est La Vie I gues! Nevertheless I think we'll be seeing a cooling down over the next few weeks. School is about to go into exams, and I have started working on a new book, so more info on that soon. I will be revisiting my time in Ethiopia in the first of a new series called 'Short Journeys'.

Amazing birds

Yesterday I journeyed down to Ishinomaki to go and see a movie (Star Trek: Into Darkness) which I very much enjoyed. I'd heard bad things but I was happily surprised. I ventured down with a friend, Kevin, and we met my wife at the station (she had been in Sendai). It looks like a really nice interesting place, it was devastated by the tsunami in 2011 but we didn't head to the coast.

A hawk in flight!

The road we took to get there though was quite treacherous, on the top of a cliff high above a river on a road that was broken in parts and sloping down towards the river in others. We were lucky that on that stretch of road we didn't pass a single vehicle. Actually, the condition of the road was probably why no-one was using it.
A bit further on and we saw a bunch of hawks swooping around beautifully in the sky. It was quite a sight. Big, beautiful birds.

Ishinomaki harbour.

At Ishinomaki we had dinner at 'Big Boy', an American chain I have never visited although there is one here in Ichinoseki too. Their salad and soup bar was good value, as it was all you can eat. We also briefly visited the harbour for a quick snap! Took in the movie and went back via a different route. The heavens opened and kaboom! We were well and truly dumped on! The rain was so heavy it became very dangerous, and yet people in this part of the world don't seem to think they should stop tail-gating or turn the high beams off! Well, that's driving in Japan for you!

Bog boys at Big Boy!

Next week I hope to return, because the place looks interesting and there is a Manga Museum there I am keen to see. So stay tuned.
AND if you have any interests in my travel writing, don't forget the website now up and running.
The writings detail the journey I undertook from Dhaka to Dakar (Bangladesh to Senegal)  and you can buy the twenty chapters individually for Kindle via Amazon, or it's also compiled into three volumes -Asia, Europe and Africa. If you like the blog, please consider!
Thanks!

Dhaka to Dakar the website